The Relationship of Male and Female Pastoralist Income with Household Food Security and Nutrition Status in Tanzania: Maasai, Sukuma, and Barabaig Ethnic Groups.

Although previous work provides a significant baseline for understanding the impact of gender on household decision making and resource (i.e. income and food) allocation, there are gaps in evidence for important groups, including East African pastoralists. Previous authors have noted that pastoralists’ gender roles and relations appear to be resistant to change, potentially impeding household development. This paper attempts to assess the relationship between male and female pastoralists’ income control and household food security and nutritional status in Tanzania. We use three surveys: a household-level livestock health and economics survey, a household food security survey, and an individual woman-level survey on diet, nutritional status, and health. The surveys were administered to 196 pastoralist households from three tribes (Maasai, Sukuma, and Barabaig) in Tanzania in 2012-13. The results support what the majority of the previous studies find, that women’s income has a positive association with dietary diversity but also differ from the previous studies since women’s income has a negative association with household food security. While previous studies show that women’s income will have a larger positive correlation with household food security and dietary diversity than men’s income, our findings show that not only does men’s income have a negative association with household food security and dietary diversity, but also that women’s income does not have a statistically significant, larger positive correlation with household food security and dietary diversity than men’s income. We also find that chicken ownership and education for the head household in the pastoralist communities have a significant positive association with household food security and nutrition status. Advisor: Christopher R. Gustafso