We believe that the poor, illiterate women are the key to ending world hunger. When given a voice, these women become powerful and important change-agents in raising their families and their villages out of poverty. Unlocking the creativity, leadership, entrepreneurialism and productivity of the poorest of the poor is what we do. We build leaders. We especially build women leaders.

Why Does The Hunger Project
focus on empowering women?

Women bear almost all responsibility for meeting basic needs of the family, yet are systematically denied the resources, information and freedom of action they need to fulfill this responsibility.

Around the world, millions of people eat two or three times a day, but a significant percentage of women eat only once. And, now, many women are denying themselves even that one meal to ensure that their children are fed. These women are already suffering the effects of malnutrition, which inevitably will be their children's fate as well. The impact of this cycle of malnutrition will be with us for many years.

This is why women are at the centre of our strategies. Because studies show that when women are supported and empowered, all of society benefits. Their families are healthier, more children go to school, agricultural productivity improves and incomes increase. Women and girls can create change when they are educated, have access to loans and understand how to create income-generating businesses, can get health services and have a voice in their community. When women are empowered, their communities become more resilient.

And yet, the fact is that the majority of the 1.5 billion people living on US$1 a day or less are women and that the gap between women and men caught in the cycle of poverty has not lessened, but may well have widened in the past decade.1

In many parts of the world rape is not considered a crime, goes unpunished and continues to be used as a tool of war and repression. Female sexual slavery and forced prostitution are still terrible "facts of life" for poor, often very young, women. According to the UN, genetic testing for defects of the unborn is used in some parts of the world to determine the sex of the fetus, so that females can be aborted5, while in some countries, female infants are buried alive. Forced marriage and bride-burning are still prevalent in the Asian sub-continent.2 A pregnant woman in Africa is 180 times more likely to die of pregnancy complications than in western Europe.7 Women, mostly in rural areas, represent more than two-thirds of the world's illiterate adults.3

When a community has gone through Gender Equality training, and are empowered, they are less likely to die in childbirth. Their babies are more likely to be born healthy. An empowered woman is more likely to send their children to school, and is better able to protect their children from HIV, and sexual exploitation.