Understanding of the Intra-Household Resource Allocation. Process and Its Relation to Food Insecurity

Academic Paper from the year 2014 in the subject Sociology - Social System, Social Structure, Class, Social Stratification, grade: 1,1, , language: English, abstract: This qualitative study examined the relationship between intra-household food allocation with food-security in disadvantaged households supported by Imam Khomeini Relief Committee. Participants are recruited from 30 women by purposeful sampling who are the head of their household. The data has been collected by semi-structured and unstructured interviews. This study used a phenomenological approach and is grounded in the analysis of everyday lived experiences. The data was analyzed by using conventional content analysis. Data analysis results demonstrate that mothers' personal, social and cultural characteristics, her authority, her educational and occupational status in the low-income female-headed household, plays a crucial role in the quality of nutriment of the family. In addition, the income or financial wealth of each member of the family changes the level of food security of the household. The food that a person consumes not only satisfies hunger but also has an impact on health, work, life, and success. Sometimes people are not well supplied with nutriment, because of various reasons such as economic problems. The nutritional status of an individual is influenced by a set of reasons from the most superficial to the profoundest, like culture and beliefs, social capital, social norms, gender and etc., that determine the quality and quantity of food.