EditorialThis issue of WIA features and analyses the impact of the food crisis on women, especially poor rural women, women farmers and fish workers in the global South. The dominance of grassroots women’s views on the crisis, testimonies on their lived experience, reflection on their struggles and hopes in their initiatives are extremely valuable and crucial. This, as much of the analyses on the crisis have come from a rather academic and economistic perspective.

The challenge then is how we can go beyond this crisis:

How can we transform these women’s voices from different corners of the world and integrate their visions into policy processes at the international, regional, national and community levels? There is still little information on the impact of policies and emergency measures being implemented by the goverments on women. We must think of further demands and measures to ensure that women’s needs and concerns are being addressed, that their voices are being heard, that their initiatives are considered in the planning and implementation of policies and coping mechanisms.

In this globalised world, no crisis can occur on its own and can be solved without a holistic set of strategies.

Fortunately, several articles in this issue of WIA contribute insightful analyses on the inter-linkage of the food crisis with other compounding crises such as the economic, climate and energy crises and its implication on women and the latter’s access to social justice. However, there are some issues which are equally important to further discuss and address as these are likely to be aggravated by the food crisis: the right to food in situations of armed conflict and in contested territories. It is hard to imagine how food security can be achieved while some women are raped or even killed on their way to farmland so as to feed themselves and their families.

We thank all those who shared their stories, critiques and perspectives on the food crisis. We also thank our guest editor and Isis International’s co-founder Marilee Karl, who has been passionately working on this issue, among many others for decades. Their contributions have made this issue of WIA truly empowering.