Week Two: Reimagining Economic and Food Security
What We Will Do

At the Women and the New American Dream summit in March, we plan to address the feminization of poverty and increasing food insecurity of women and girls, but we are also interested in imagining new opportunities for higher education to address and advocate economic mobility and opportunities for women and girls.

Toward that end:

We will host a Community Actions Poverty Simulation (CAPS). Facilitated by The Ohio Association of Second Harvest Food Banks, this event is an interactive learning experience in which participants role-play either as members of a family living in poverty or as service providers from community institutions (e.g., banks, grocery stores, social services, shelters, child-care providers, schools). The Poverty Simulation provides family participants the opportunity to experience—if only for an hour—the life of a person living in structural poverty, as well as understand the barriers that prevent people, especially women and children, from escaping it.

We will host a Oxfam Hunger Banquet. Based on OXFAM's international model, this Oxfam Hunger Banquet is a unique simulation that brings to life existing food inequalities in the United States. The participants randomly draw tickets that assign them to different income levels, based on the latest statistics about the number of people living in poverty. Depending on where they sit, some receive a filling dinner, while others eat a simple meal or share even sparser portions. In this way, the quality and quantity of the meal are entirely dependent on the randomly drawn income level. Throughout the meal, participants reflect on the meaning of food insecurity and are challenged to suggest solutions. They also will experience the real-world implications of socio-economic inequality and mobility, as well as gain an increased understanding of the way in which our decisions affect others in our greater communities.

We will offer thematic sessions centered on the impact of economic and food insecurity on women and girls. Several concurrent sessions will focus on what we increasingly know about the ways in which women and girls experience poverty and hunger, from action research on working glass girls to new data on women and food insecurity. Strategy sessions will share best practices from the Otterbein Community Garden's hunger alleviation program, campus speak-outs and teach-ins on policy and legislation affecting working class families, and campus programs to develop food pantries and benefit banks.

Why We Will Do It

While many Americans suffer from poverty and food insecurity, data consistently tells us that women and girls are the majority of individuals living in poverty in every state and the District of Columbia. Most striking are the women who are the head of their households (often with children and no spouse present), but older women on fixed incomes, women who serve as caregivers for elder persons in their family, and women with physical or intellectual disabilities prove equally vulnerable. These women, who struggle daily with the impact of poverty, are also likely to be food insecure. In fact, women (and the children of single mothers) are more likely than any other demographic to be affected by food insecurity. It is not a stretch to say: the face of economic and food insecurity in this country is increasingly female.