COVID-19 could push 265 million people into a dire food insecurity situation in 2020, according to the World Food Programme. Women are more vulnerable to food insecurity, because they are less likely to have job stability, access to social benefits, or substantial savings.  Our database documents numerous examples of how COVID-19-related lockdown measures and border closures, significant losses in income, and price increases for basic food items have exacerbated gender inequalities and women’s access to food around the world.

In Iraq, where 4.1 million people are in acute need of humanitarian aid, refugee and internally displaced populations have been disproportionately affected by the food shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The majority of the most vulnerable families are female-headed. In South Africa, Black women living in rural areas have been at higher risk of food insecurity because they have lower rates of land ownership.