Women control 65% of world's consumer spending, report says

MANILA, Philippines - A report by the non-government organization Oxfam revealed that women who make the majority of decisions about the food their families eat control around $12 trillion or 65 percent of the world’s annual consumer spending.

The report, “The Food Transformation: Harnessing Consumer Power to Create a Fair Food Future,” said consumers, in particular women, can dramatically turn things around by making “positive food choices.”

A survey conducted by Oxfam for the report also revealed that they want to know what changes they can make to the way they buy, store and prepare food to help the environment and tackle hunger.

Overall, 73 percent of mothers living in urban areas questioned in the survey of six countries said they wanted to know how to make a difference when they shopped for food.

Filipino mothers posted the highest percentage at 88 percent.

The survey of over 5,100 mothers living in towns and cities in Brazil, India, the Philippines, UK, USA and Spain showed that 83 percent of all the mothers included in the survey said they wanted to know how to use less energy when cooking, and over three quarters of women also said they were happy to make other changes such as feeding their family a meat-free meal once a week.

Eighty five percent of Filipino mothers were willing to give up meat and 96 percent of them wanted to know how to use less energy when cooking.

“The survey shows Filipino women can be a force to fix the way we manage food. Filipino women – and men, who must begin to share this responsibility – can do this through positive food choices, choices that redound to the good of our food system,” said Kalayaan Pulido-Constantino, Oxfam spokesperson for the Philippines.