Public Debt and the Right to Food: A Gender Issue

Gender-based violence and injustice are not only reflected in the impacts of the contractual terms of debt but also in the fiscal policies that underpin it. This is further exacerbated by the absence of participatory processes that could challenge these policies.

Public debt is often promoted, imposed, or justified by powerful domestic groups at the expense of others in society. It is these vulnerable groups who are forced to work and produce to repay the debt, even at the cost of sacrificing their rights to save enough for creditors.

In this article Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky delves into the impacts of foreign debt on women´s rights. He calls for reform of institutions and rules governing public debt to effectively address the urgent food challenges facing the world, including the gender inequities they create.