Food security, gender, and occupational seasonality in urban low-income households.

This paper examines an adaptive strategy using occupational choice that can be undertaken by household members especially women in urban poor areas to help ensure their access to food. Our investigation focuses on working women and men in seven predominantly slum communities in North, South, East and West. This study tries examines how women in urban low income households through self-mechanism ensure their households access to food by being employed in some or the other kind of enterprise. This paper attempts to answer following questions: Does concern for household food security influence the choice of women's work in urban low income households? Does seasonality affect the income and skills of women? To answer these questions we analyze the possible relationship between household food security and occupational constraints in slums of Delhi spread across seven clusters. We have used both qualitative and quantitative information from the field interviews. This study takes into account the likely influence of occupational choice of women on gender ascribed roles, seasonality and many more factors which affect the condition of women and adds to their vulnerability status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]