Overall, men have more control over their income than women do, and men tend to spend more of their income on themselves. To improve women's incomes and thus family nutrition, women need to have their own income-earning activities. A major challenge facing women who need to earn more income could be finding the time for it. Researchers who have studied the daily workloads of men and women say that in every country studied, women work longer hours than men. In hard economic times, women take on most of the extra burdens, said Quisumbing.
Environmental degradation exacerbates the problem of time scarcity by adding to women's workload.
For example, erosion and deforestation have made firewood more scarce and added to the time that women spend gathering wood. A generation ago, gathering firewood in the Himalayas took no more than two hours a day. Now it takes a full day of trudging further up the mountains to collect a day's supply of fuel. The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action will be presented to the United Nations General Assembly for endorsement during the body's 50th anniversary this fall. The document covers some areas considered critical for reform by researchers who study the role of women in agriculture, food security, and nutrition.