One of the most relevant news stories in recent months about the gender food gap is the confirmation, by United Nations agencies, that the difference between women and men in access to food is increasing again on a global scale after a few years of slight improvement. The data shows that women continue to suffer more food insecurity than men in all regions of the world.
According to data released by the United Nations Network for Nutrition, in 2024 26.1% of women experienced moderate or severe food insecurity, compared to 24.2% of men. In addition, women and girls represent nearly 60% of the population suffering from extreme hunger in the world.
The novelty is not only that there is hunger, but that hunger increasingly has a gender inequality component. Several international reports indicate that factors such as poverty, discrimination in access to land, armed conflicts, climate change and the burden of care work particularly affect women.
The 2026 Global Report on Food Crises warns that 266 million people suffered from acute food insecurity during 2025, while UN agencies warn that the situation could worsen between June and November 2026 in several critical points such as Sudan, South Sudan, Gaza and Yemen. In these contexts, women are often the most vulnerable.
The case of Sudan: an example of food inequality
One of the most striking examples is Sudan. Data shows that households headed by women are approximately three times more likely to suffer from food insecurity than those headed by men. War, forced displacement and loss of livelihoods have exacerbated this situation.
The gender food gap measures the difference in regular access to sufficient, healthy and nutritious food between women and men. The most recent data show that women continue to be more likely to suffer from moderate or severe food insecurity in all regions of the world. In 2024, 26.1% of adult women were in this situation, compared to 24.2% of men. This represents more than 822 million women affected, compared to 759 million men.
This gap is not due to biological factors, but to social and economic inequalities: lower wages, less access to land, fewer property rights, a greater burden of domestic and care work, and a greater vulnerability to economic crises, armed conflicts and extreme weather events.
The fact that has generated more concern among experts is that the gap between women and men, after some years of stabilization, has grown again. Several UN agencies have warned that the global recovery from the pandemic, wars, food inflation and climate impacts is not benefiting everyone equally. Women continue to be the last to regain access to adequate food.
This situation is particularly serious in sub-Saharan Africa, West Asia and several conflict-affected countries, where many female-headed households have levels of food insecurity that are much higher than the national average.
The annual report "The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World" (SOFI)
The main global reference is the annual report The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI). The Food and Agriculture Organization, International Fund for Agricultural Development, United Nations Children's Fund, World Food Programme and World Health Organization jointly produce this document, considered the most authoritative source on hunger, nutrition and food security in the world.
It is not a single individual author, but a collective work coordinated by teams of statisticians, economists, nutritionists, epidemiologists and development specialists from the five UN agencies. Among the most prominent technical leaders in recent years are FAO economists such as Máximo Torero, one of the most influential voices in the global analysis of food security.
The most recent edition of the SOFI was published and officially presented on 28 July 2025 during the events linked to the United Nations Summit on Food Systems. The report was released simultaneously by the five UN agencies responsible for the document.
The study provided an apparently positive figure: global hunger decreased slightly, from 688 million people in 2023 to approximately 673 million in 2024. However, this improvement hides deep inequalities. The reduction has not occurred uniformly and the difference between men and women remains persistent in all regions of the planet.
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