Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • COMMENT

To ease the world food crisis, focus resources on women and girls

The global effects of the Ukraine war hit girls and women the hardest, exacerbating inequalities. Aid programmes must adapt.
  1. Elizabeth Bryan

    1. Elizabeth Bryan is a senior scientist at the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington DC, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  2. Claudia Ringler

    1. Claudia Ringler is a deputy division director at the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington DC, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  3. Nicole Lefore

    1. Nicole Lefore is a director at the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture in College Station, Texas, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

In the wake of Russia’s war on Ukraine, the global community is scrambling. The World Bank, the G7 group of the world’s largest developed economies, the European Union and the United States have collectively pledged more than US$40 billion to avert food and humanitarian crises (see Supplementary information). Yet these massive funds are unlikely to get women and girls the help they need. The investments might even exacerbate inequalities.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 609, 28-31 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-02312-8

References

  1. UN Women. From Insights to Action: Gender Equality in the Wake of COVID-19 (UN Women, 2020).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Kugler, M. et al. How Did the COVID-19 Crisis Affect Different Types of Workers in the Developing World? Jobs Working Paper No. 60 (World Bank, 2021).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Selva, M. & Janoch, E. Food Security and Gender Equality: A Synergistic Understudied Symphony (CARE Research Report, 2022).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Brinkman, H.-J., de Pee, S., Sanogo, I., Subran, L. & Bloem, M. W. J. Nutrition 140, 153S–161S (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Brown, C., Ravallion, M. & van de Walle, D. Rev. Econ. Stat. 101, 631–644 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. MIET AFRICA. The Impact of COVID-19 on Adolescents and Young People in the Southern African Development Community Region (MIET AFRICA, 2021).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Moscoviz, L. & Evans, D. K. Learning Loss and Student Dropouts during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Working Paper 609 (Center for Global Development, 2022).

  8. Gentilini, U. Cash Transfers in Pandemic Times (World Bank, 2022).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Quisumbing, A. R. et al. Helping Women Respond to the Global Food Price Crisis (International Food Policy Research Institute, 2008).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Buchmann, N., Field, E. M., Glennerster, R., Nazneen, S. & Wang, X. Y. A Signal to End Child Marriage: Theory and Experimental Evidence from Bangladesh. NBER Working Paper 29052 (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2021).

  11. Boyer, C. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 119, e2200262119 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Olney, D. K. et al. Mat. Child Nutr. https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.13378 (2022).

  13. Gentilini, U. et al. Social Protection and Jobs Responses to COVID-19: A Real-Time Review of Country Measures (World Bank, 2022).

    Google Scholar 

  14. Kim, J., Elsamahi, M., Humphrey, A., Kadasi, A. & Maxwell, D. Sharing to Survive: Investigating the Role of Social Networks During Yemen’s Humanitarian Crisis (REAL Associate Award, 2022).

    Google Scholar 

  15. Demirgüç-Kunt, A., Klapper, L., Singer, D. & Ansar, S. Global Findex Database 2021: Financial Inclusion, Digital Payments, and Resilience in the Age of COVID-19 (World Bank, 2022).

    Google Scholar 

  16. FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP & WHO. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2021 (FAO, 2021).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Supplementary Information

  1. List of co-signatories, acknowledgements and methodology

Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

  • Postdoctoral Position

    We are seeking highly motivated and skilled candidates for postdoctoral fellow positions

    Boston, Massachusetts (US)

    Boston Children's Hospital (BCH)

  • Qiushi Chair Professor

    Distinguished scholars with notable achievements and extensive international influence.

    Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

    Zhejiang University

  • ZJU 100 Young Professor

    Promising young scholars who can independently establish and develop a research direction.

    Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

    Zhejiang University

  • Head of the Thrust of Robotics and Autonomous Systems

    Reporting to the Dean of Systems Hub, the Head of ROAS is an executive assuming overall responsibility for the academic, student, human resources...

    Guangzhou, Guangdong, China

    The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou)

  • Head of Biology, Bio-island

    Head of Biology to lead the discovery biology group.

    Guangzhou, Guangdong, China

    BeiGene Ltd.

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links