Gender and <i>Food Resourcism</i> in Sahelian Zone of Cameroon

ABSTRACT The question of livelihoods allocation to ensure food security (FS) is linked to the concept of food resourcism . When coupled with the gender approach, it is of greater interest to development partners. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda is a perfect illustration. In the Sahel region of Cameroon, the issue of gender is at the center of the debates and represents a factor fueling inequalities in various forms (education, health, access to resources, food, etc.). This work highlighted the impact of the gender approach on the well‐being of rural households in the Sahel area of Cameroon. The analyses reveal that in the area, the components of the livelihoods are strongly associated with each other respectively. The holding of livelihoods is unevenly distributed within rural households according to the sex of the chief; the disparity observed is significant for all types of capital (financial, natural, physical, human, social). Households headed by men have more considerable resources (financial: 25,269 F, natural: 1.70 ha, physical: 2.76 Tropical Livestock Unit‐TLU, human: 4.17 active, social: 19 points) than those of women (financial: 75,370 F, natural: 0.92 ha, physical: 1.17 TLU, human: 2.93 active, social: 13 points), because of the exclusion they suffer. On the other hand, this disparity is not significant in terms of diet. The food situation experienced in rural households led by men (Food Diversity Score [FDS]: 4.27; Food Consumption Score [FCS]: 41.92; Food Security Indicator [FSI]: 0.14) is significantly similar to that of women (FDS: 3.37; FCS: 32.37; FSI: 0.10). Despite the low level of livelihoods held by women, they manage to promote at least food resourcism by satisfying their dietary well‐being than that of men.