(Bloomberg) -- As the pandemic pushes tens of millions of people toward hunger this year, the impact is hitting women hardest. But so far, groups working on solutions to the crisis are leaving that fact out of the picture.
That’s according to Care, a hunger relief and advocacy group that examined 73 global reports published by funders and policy makers proposing solutions to the hunger problem. Of the reports surveyed, 34 never mention women and none of the studies provided data showing the difference in women’s experiences.
That was the case even as women and girls make up 60% of the population facing chronic hunger across the world, the Care report said, citing data from the United Nations. The gender gap is even greater among people who are poorer, less educated, or unemployed, the group said.
“We’re trying to raise awareness of the fact that this is actually mission critical,” said Tonya Rawe, a director at Care and an author of the report. “If we want to avoid the worst of the hunger crisis, we have to make sure that we’re addressing gender inequality.”
Covid-19 is laying bare some of the deeply entrenched inequalities of the world, including as they fall along gender, racial and socioeconomic lines. Groups that have always been marginalized are seeing a disproportionate toll from the pandemic -- both in terms of its health impacts and also its economic fallout. In the U.S., eight of the 10 counties with the highest food insecurity rates are at least 60% African American, according to Feeding America data.
Globally, women are often tasked with buying, growing and preparing food, Rawe said. If meals are scarce, women are most likely to eat less or even skip out on food in favor of feeding the household.
“It makes no sense to not think about and address the different ways that men and women, boys and girls, are experiencing what’s going on right now,” she said. “You can’t ignore half of the equation and still get the result that you want.”
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