Font Size: 

The aim of this work is to study the existence of a relationship between food security, gender and microfinance. On the one hand, most empirical studies detect the existence of a positive impact of women participation to microfinance program on social empowerment. On the other hand, women have always played a key role in the management of food purchase in the household; however, they are more exposed than men to food security issues. Using a cross-sectional database on beneficiaries of Wekembe microfinance program in Uganda, we empirically test the existence of a link between women and men participation to microfinance program – Wekembe – and food security – proxied by the amount yearly spent on food. We explicitly consider the difference between women and men food purchase. We find that the participation to Wekembe microfinance program in terms of amount of loans received significantly improves food security for both men and women; however, a gender difference between the amount of shillings spent in food between women and men remains. Surprisingly, the number of loans received does not influence food expenditures for both genders.

Microfinance, Gender, Empowerment, Food security