Women and girls account for 53 per cent of the additional 22 million people projected to face food insecurity across 28 countries, according to a UN Women analysis. Disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, rising food prices and existing gender inequalities are increasing the risks.
When food becomes scarce in a household, the impact is not always shared equally. Women may reduce their portions, skip meals or settle for less nutritious food so that children and other family members can eat. In communities already struggling with conflict, displacement and poverty, these decisions can become part of everyday survival.
A new analysis by UN Women warns that this inequality could deepen as the economic consequences of the escalating Middle East crisis spread through food supply chains and household economies.
An additional 11.7 million women and girls across 28 countries could face food insecurity by the end of December 2026, according to the analysis released on October 2. The estimate is based on a moderate scenario and comes on top of an estimated 208 million women and girls who were already food insecure or undernourished across the countries examined before the escalation.
Women and girls account for 53 per cent of the projected 22 million additional people who could face food insecurity in these countries.
The figures point to a crisis that extends beyond the availability of food. They also highlight how unequal access to income, land, financial resources and decision-making within households can determine who is able to obtain sufficient and nutritious food.
How a Middle East crisis can affect food on household tables
The analysis links the growing risks to the escalation in the Middle East and disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a strategically important maritime route for global trade.
Disruptions to shipping can increase the cost of transporting goods and essential commodities. According to UN Women, the resulting pressures are affecting energy, fertiliser and transport costs, with consequences for food prices and humanitarian operations.
The impact can extend far beyond countries directly affected by conflict.
Higher energy and transport costs can make it more expensive to move food from farms and production centres to markets. Rising fertiliser prices can increase the cost of agricultural production. For households that depend on purchased food, even a sustained increase in prices can make regular meals harder to afford.
The pressure is particularly serious in countries where families are already dealing with conflict, displacement, weak livelihoods and limited access to essential services.
The UN Women analysis examines 28 countries and identifies overlapping risks in places including South Sudan, Sudan, Haiti, Yemen and Palestine.
These countries face different humanitarian and economic circumstances, but women and girls are exposed to multiple vulnerabilities that can intensify when food becomes more expensive or difficult to obtain.
One in seven women and girls in South Sudan could face additional risks
The distribution of projected risks across countries shows why the crisis cannot be understood only through the total number of people affected.
In South Sudan, the additional number of women and girls who could face food insecurity represents around 14 per cent of the country’s female population, or approximately one in seven women and girls.
This is the highest proportion among the countries examined in the analysis.
In Lebanon, the additional number represents nearly four per cent of the female population, the second-highest proportion.
The report also identifies countries where women and girls account for a particularly large share of the projected additional population facing food insecurity.
They represent:
- 60 per cent of the people who could face food insecurity in Afghanistan.
- More than 57 per cent in Yemen.
- Nearly 56 per cent in Sudan.
These percentages describe the gender composition of the additional population at risk in the respective countries. They should not be confused with the percentage of all women in those countries who are food insecure.
The distinction is important because the scale of a crisis and the proportion of the population exposed to it are two different measures.
More populous countries may have larger numbers of women and girls at risk, while countries with smaller populations may experience a much greater impact relative to their female population.
Why women may eat less when food becomes scarce
Food insecurity is not simply the absence of food. It also includes the inability to access sufficient, safe and nutritious food consistently.
For women, the problem can be intensified by inequalities that exist long before a crisis begins.
In many communities, women have limited ownership of agricultural land and fewer opportunities to control the resources needed for food production. They may also have less access to agricultural inputs, credit and financial services.
When families depend on food purchases, women with limited control over household income can face additional difficulties in securing adequate food.
UN Women Deputy Executive Director Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda highlighted a recurring pattern during the October 2 Geneva press briefing: when food becomes scarce, women often eat less, eat last or skip meals altogether to prioritise other family members.
They may also switch to less nutritious diets as the cost of food increases.
This pattern has consequences beyond immediate hunger. Reduced food intake and poor dietary diversity can increase the risk of malnutrition and other health problems, particularly among adolescent girls, pregnant women and women with existing nutritional needs.
The burden can also extend to women’s daily responsibilities. When food is difficult to obtain, women may have to spend more time securing supplies, preparing meals or finding ways to stretch limited household resources.
Limited financial access leaves women with fewer options
The ability to withstand a sudden increase in food prices depends partly on whether a person has access to savings, credit or financial assistance.
UN Women identifies limited access to financial services as another factor that can make women more vulnerable to economic shocks.
In Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan and Yemen, fewer than one in five women owns a bank or mobile-money account, according to the analysis.
Without access to an account, women may have fewer options to save money securely, receive remittances or cash assistance, or obtain financial support when household income falls.
They may have to depend on relatives, other household members or informal lenders to meet essential expenses.
The consequences can be particularly serious for women who are widowed, displaced, heading households or living in communities where formal financial services are difficult to access.
The analysis also highlights the relationship between employment insecurity and food access.
In Egypt, Iraq, Palestine, Sudan and Syria, more than 80 per cent of women are outside the labour force. In Afghanistan and Yemen, the proportion rises to around 95 per cent.
Among employed women, vulnerable employment exceeds 80 per cent in Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Haiti, Mali and South Sudan.
These figures illustrate the limited economic protection available to many women in countries facing food insecurity. When income is uncertain and financial resources are restricted, rising food prices can quickly become a household emergency.
The hidden inequality inside households
One of the most important concerns raised by UN Women is that existing food-security data do not always reveal how food is distributed within individual households.
A household may be classified as having access to food, but that does not necessarily mean every member receives sufficient or equally nutritious meals.
Women may reduce their own consumption to protect children or other family members. An adolescent girl may receive smaller portions, or a woman may skip meals while continuing to prepare food for the rest of the household.
These experiences can remain hidden when data are collected only at the household level.
UN Women has warned that available evidence does not consistently establish who within a household is eating less or last, whose diet is becoming less diverse, or who is taking on additional unpaid work to secure and prepare food.
This gap matters for designing effective humanitarian responses.
If assistance is provided to a household without understanding how resources are distributed among its members, the needs of women and girls may remain overlooked.
Food assistance, therefore, needs to be accompanied by better information about access, nutrition and decision-making within households.
Food insecurity also creates health and protection risks
The consequences of food insecurity extend beyond nutrition.
When women have to travel longer distances to obtain food, water or other essential supplies, they may face increased exposure to unsafe conditions.
Displacement, economic dependence and the breakdown of community support systems can further increase vulnerability.
During the Geneva briefing, Gumbonzvanda also drew attention to the relationship between food insecurity and gender-based violence. Women who have to take more difficult or risky routes to secure food may face additional protection concerns.
For adolescent girls, inadequate nutrition can affect physical development, health and well-being. For pregnant and breastfeeding women, insufficient access to nutritious food can create additional health risks.
The effects may also continue after the immediate crisis has passed. Lost livelihoods, weakened household resources and prolonged nutritional deprivation can make recovery more difficult.
This is why food insecurity needs to be understood as both a humanitarian and a gender-equality issue.
What needs to change?
UN Women has called for an integrated response that combines food and cash assistance with nutrition services, protection, livelihood support and agricultural assistance.
The analysis also stresses the importance of strengthening women’s access to land, credit, essential services and productive assets.
For women farmers, access to agricultural inputs and resources can help protect food production and household livelihoods when prices rise or supply chains are disrupted.
Humanitarian assistance also needs to reach communities where several risks overlap, including conflict, displacement, climate vulnerability and limited access to public services.
Timing matters. Support delivered before important agricultural seasons can help protect livelihoods and prevent households from losing their ability to produce food.
Equally important is the collection of gender-disaggregated data that goes beyond household-level food availability.
Policymakers and humanitarian organisations need to understand who is losing access to food, who is eating less, who is experiencing worsening nutrition and who is assuming additional unpaid responsibilities during a crisis.
Without this information, assistance may reach a household without adequately addressing the needs of the women and girls within it.
A food crisis that exposes existing inequalities
The projected 11.7 million additional women and girls facing food insecurity are not the only people affected by the disruption. The overall estimate across the 28 countries includes 22 million additional people at risk, of whom women and girls account for 53 per cent.
But the gender distribution of that risk reveals an important reality: the consequences of a global economic and humanitarian shock are shaped by inequalities that already exist.
Women with limited control over land, income and household resources may have fewer ways to protect themselves when food prices rise. Girls may experience nutritional deprivation and reduced access to essential services, while women take on additional responsibilities to keep households functioning.
The UN Women estimates are scenario-based and not forecasts of what will necessarily happen by December 2026. They nevertheless identify the scale of the additional risk under the moderate scenario examined.
The larger challenge is ensuring that women and girls are not treated simply as members of food-insecure households, but as individuals whose access to food, nutrition, financial resources and protection must be measured and addressed.
When food becomes scarce, counting how many people are affected is essential. Understanding who goes without food within those numbers is equally important.
