Too many women are already in a cradle of chronic hunger due to extreme poverty exacerbated by climate change. They often suffer from chronic hunger because their daily energy is below what they would need for a healthy and active life. Women are extremely vulnerable to coping with hunger in ways that are dangerous to their health. They are more likely to skip meals so their children have enough food, raising their likelihood of illness.
Research shows that women are mostly affected by hunger, with food insecurity being more present in households headed by single women. The impact of hunger on women is often less evident, but the truth is hunger takes a very real toll on women. Women shoulder a lot of responsibility that puts their food security at risk. Caretaking responsibilities often fall on women. They increasingly shoulder the burden of child care, family caretaking and the cost and impact of pregnancy.
Following the global economic decay caused by the Covid 19 pandemic. Food insecurity is on the rise. While the world tried to make progress in reducing hunger on a global scale. Women already bear the brunt of hunger. 60% of the hungry people and 76% of displaced people in the world are women and girls. And woman-headed households are the most likely to suffer from a food crisis.
Evidence shows that the change in temperature has affected our food productivity and the overall security of women. Right now, the effects of climate change are already being felt by people across the world. For most women climate change is a threat multiplier. It threatens to exacerbate food security and economic vulnerability.
Increased temperatures, water scarcity, and extreme events like droughts and floods, and carbon emissions in the atmosphere have already begun to negatively impact staple crops around the world. Maize and wheat production has declined in recent years due to extreme weather events, plant diseases, and an overall increase in water scarcity. We have even seen a decrease in rainfall over large parts of the Southern Africa, and an Increase in parts of Central Africa. Over the past 25 years, the number of weather-related disasters, such as floods and droughts, has doubled, resulting in Africa having a higher mortality rate from droughts than any other region.