Why women don’t eat

“Why should there be hunger and deprivation in any land, in any city, at any table, when man has the resources and the scientific know-how to provide all mankind with the basic necessities of life? There is no deficit in human resources. The deficit is in human will.” - Martin Luther King Jr

If Martin Luther King Jr was still with us today there is little doubt that his inspirational words would reflect the unacceptable situation that women in developing countries are facing each and every day.

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates that more than 60% of the 1 billion people going hungry each and every day are women.  However in some countries the situation is even worse.

Cultural practices in many societies, particularly in Africa and South Asia, result in women and girls easting last, eating least and often not eating at all. Within communities the most marginalised and the most excluded face the greatest discrimination in accessing food.

Women toil in most of the world’s fields- from planting potatoes in South America to harvesting maize in Africa and sowing rice in the farms of Asia. Yet many don’t own the land they work on, can’t access extension services, subsidised credit or membership of cooperatives or farmers unions.

On average women own only one percent of land and women receive less than 10 percent of credit provided to farmers. In Sub-Saharan Africa women farmers only benefit from only 7% of farm extension services.

Improving women’s status means that the whole family eats better. Women with high status have higher levels of nutrition and are able to provide higher quality care for their children.

So where are some answers…  Strengthening women’s rights to own, inherit and control poverty in their own right, rather than only through a male relative, is a critical step towards achieving equality for women and unlocking improvements in food security.

Increasing women’s access to the means of agricultural production as well as decision making authority within households is crucial to increasing food security and improving the nutritional status of children.

Most developing countries, with the exception of China, Brazil and Liberia, are failing to help women to build their own futures. At ActionAid the issue of a women’s right to own land and access to services to benefit from that land is one of our key policy influencing and advocacy issues.

We are working with excluded women across the world to attack this challenge, end inequality and secure their human rights. Join us!

>> More on our approach to women’s rights

>> More on ActionAid’s global HungerFREE campaign