Hunger Is an Often Overlooked Cause - and Effect - of Gender Inequality

Feb 25, 2020 | Annie Reneau
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Around the world, women and girls face many obstacles to advancement, such as unequal access to education, lack of economic opportunity, and disproportionate rates of violence. But one disadvantage women and girls experience often gets overlooked, even though it contributes to and is perpetuated by other gender inequality issues—hunger.

According to global statistics from the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), the face of hunger is largely female. From mothers sacrificing food for their children to girls' needs being neglected due to discrimination, women and girls experience food insecurity at disproportionate rates. Nearly 500 million women and girls don't have enough to eat, making them 60% of the world's food-insecure population.