As food prices rise around the world, women such as Deeba from Afghanistan are increasingly struggling to feed their families.
"I'm head of a big household. I was a teacher. We lived on a 4,000 to 5,000 Afghanis ($64-$80) monthly salary, but now we live with big problems," she told humanitarian non-government organisation CARE International.
The price of food staples — such as flour, rice and oil — had nearly doubled, making them less affordable, she said.
"Previously, one bag of flour was 1,700 to 1,800 Afghanis ($27-$28), but now it's 2,500 ($40)," she said.
"People can't buy flour, rice and oil. I'm poor too and I can't buy them."
A new CARE International report released today found 150 million more women than men were "food insecure" in 2021, meaning they could not get enough food.
It found the gap between women and men was eight times greater than in 2018, when only 18 million more women than men were food insecure.
The report based its findings on data sets and global trends, and compared gender equality and food security data.
CARE Australia chief executive Peter Walton said the dire food security situation was being driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and the war in Ukraine.
The war in Ukraine has sent shock waves through global food supply chains. Russia and Ukraine account for 30 per cent of global wheat exports and 20 per cent of global maize exports, according to the World Food Programme.
Mr Walton said the food insecurity trend was consistent across the globe, including in Australia, where women are more likely than men to go hungry.
"This is a particular concern for single mothers and women who have experienced domestic violence," Mr Walton said.
"It is a global issue and certainly Australia is not immune from that either."
The report — Food Security and Gender Equality: A synergistic understudied symphony — found that, even when both men and women lacked food, men often ate smaller meals while women skipped meals altogether.
For example, in Lebanon, 85 per cent of women ate smaller portions compared to 57 per cent of men at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Women who didn't earn an income and didn't get support from men with household chores were more likely to experience food insecurity and a poor diet.
The CARE report also found higher gender inequality was linked to higher food insecurity. It found, as gender inequality decreased, so did food insecurity.
Nations with high gender inequality — such as Yemen, Sierra Leone and Chad — experienced the lowest food security and nutrition, the report said.
Employed women reduce household food insecurity
The report found households where women were employed and earning money, or when they are directly involved in farming their own food, were less likely to experience food insecurity.
Bule — a farmer from Vanuatu — told CARE she earned an income growing goods to sell at the local markets and said gender norms had changed in her community.
She works with other women to share ideas on how to maintain food production in the face of disastrous weather events that can wipe out crops.
"When there is heavy rainfall, water floods our gardens. This causes difficulties for us, because the crops rot in the soil, and we have nothing to eat," she said.
"Growing your crops uphill or on a slope is the best because water will flow downhill into creeks during heavy rainfall. Gardening on flat areas is chaotic. You feel like you're diving into water to harvest your crops."
Bule said that, while her community's fathers were previously heads of the households, attitudes had changed and "children, father and mother are all the same".
"No one has a higher ranking than the other."
CARE's report found that households where women were employed were about 11 per cent less likely to experience food insecurity.
Having a woman supporting a household's income could also improve children's health and reduce malnutrition, it found.
However, the most significant factor to achieve that was a woman's education.
Mr Walton said the Australian government should commit $150 million to combating the food crisis and support programs that target women and girls.
"We shouldn't be talking about famine in 2022," he said.
