Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls. International Women’s Day 2026

This International Women’s Day, we stand behind the global theme: Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls.

To create a world without hunger, we must  secure the rights and access to justice that allow women to thrive. At The Hunger Project, we know that hunger is a direct consequence of systemic inequity and the denial of fundamental rights. When women are legally and socially sidelined, the cycle of poverty and malnutrition continues.

The latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI 2025) report reveals a stark truth: while global hunger rates have seen a slight decline, the progress is fragile and deeply uneven.

• Widening Gaps: The gender gap in food insecurity is widening again. Globally, food insecurity remains more prevalent among women than men in every region.
• Nutritional Injustice: Two-thirds of women aged 15–49 still do not meet the minimum dietary diversity required to lead a healthy life.
• Persistent Health Barriers: The prevalence of anemia among women of reproductive age has risen to 30.7%, a trend that demands urgent, systemic action.
• Economic Pressures: High food price inflation, which peaked at 30% in low-income countries continues to strip away the purchasing power of rural women, who are often the last to eat and the first to sacrifice.

Across our programs, we work alongside communities to dismantle the barriers that prevent progress: low school completion rates for girls, limited representation in local government and the persistent threat of early marriage and gender-based violence.

When women have the power to exercise their rights, they transform their families and their entire communities. They are the driving force behind a resilient world without hunger.

How We Invest in Women.

Our work in At The Hunger Project, our commitment to fostering thriving communities begins with our first program pillar—Start With Women. Across our programs, we work to dismantle the systemic barriers that prevent women from exercising their fundamental rights, ensuring they have the tools and the justice necessary to lead their communities out of hunger and poverty. Our work elevates and supports women globally to thrive in the following areas: 

• Indigenous Knowledge and Women’s Empowerment: In the highlands of Oaxaca, Mexico, we support women to be the catalyst for justice. Ingenious community leader Nereida Hernández is an example of how this systemic approach comes to life. In 2025, through our Municipal School for Community-Led Development, Nereida stepped into her own leadership, transforming from a participant into a catalyst for change. She mobilized hundreds of Indigenous women to claim their right to economic agency and take a stand against gender-based violence. By leading workshops on equality, Nereida ensured that rights were not just abstract concepts but lived realities, proving that when a woman finds her voice, she becomes a guardian of justice for her entire community. Listen to her story here. 
• Elevating Women-Owned Businesses: Across Africa, this action takes the form of financial sovereignty. In Malawi and Uganda, where the 2025 SOFI report highlights widening food security gaps, women are working to create security through collective power. In Malawi’s Champiti District, access to electricity and micro-investments allowed women to launch businesses that fund their children’s education and build resilient homes. Meanwhile, in Uganda, the “His Grace Mothers’ Club” saved over 8 million Ugandan shillings in 2025, reinvesting that capital into sanitation and community enterprises. By securing the right to resources, and as a follow on, the right to make more decisions, the women have effectively ended child marriage and school dropouts in their villages, demonstrating that when women are the primary change agents, the path to a hunger-free world becomes clear.
• Strengthening Women’s Leadership: In India, our work centers on the belief that when adolescent girls are supported at the right time, they dream and lead. For nearly a decade, the Adolescent Girls Program in Bihar has evolved from nurturing individual confidence into a movement of active citizenship, where girls are now the primary architects of demanding their rights, justice and action. Through safe spaces like the Sukanya Clubs, girls are building networks of trust and care to resist child marriage, challenge caste and gender discrimination, and address sexual violence.
• Achieving Self-Reliance:  Our Epicenter Strategy collaborates with empowered communities to take the reins of their own development. Through integrated and holistic approaches, we achieve synergy among programs in health, education, water and sanitation, adult literacy, nutrition, improved farming, food security and microfinance.

Follow our social channels to learn more about our work with incredible women around the world. Use the hashtag #IWD2026 to share your commitment to gender equality.

Image Credit: Zambia 2025 © The Hunger Project