Hunger and Poverty has been a severe topic that is constantly progressing, there are forms of putting an end to it but without Government resources we cannot. Hunger is caused by many aspects such as; poverty, war, agricultural infrastructure, job instability, food shortages and climate change. Those who suffer from hunger tend to be pregnant women, infants, children, and women population. These groups get to be discriminated and pulled away from the resources of food for themselves or their children. Men have a higher possibility of gathering food for them because they are told they work harder and are head of house so they must eat first, the children and women eat second if there is any food. It is unfortunate that the number of women and children who are malnourished around the world with little to no help. There are many great resources that assist many women and children.
For example here in California there is a WIC program, I am currently enrolled in it and they help women from pregnancy than once the child is born they help nourish the child up to age five. This program helps women learn the nutrients a child and pregnant women need to not be malnourished and have a healthy infant. There are many other organizations worldwide that educate women on how to find those resources needed and raise the awareness.
This topic relates to our class because as we previously presented on organizations who help world wide with hunger and poverty, they also talk about the neglect and empowerment of women in the topic. We are learning about hunger and poverty and the statistics world wide. I chose to write about this topic because I personally want to raise awareness, I like to help my community and volunteering for my organization made me realize how many families are malnourished, living in horrible situations, and are being neglected. Writing this paper will give me more of an idea nationally how many women and children suffer and the conditions their country is to access resources. I am a mother and grateful for always having meals for my son and I, but I cannot imagine the worry of food a mother, pregnant women, or child feels. The articles I will talk about in this paper go over the gender discrimination, hunger, and poverty in women from the Urban and Eastern region.
Problem and Solutions
In the article, Between Worlds: A Yemeni Mother’s Experiences of War, Separation, and Resettlement, authors Al-Qubati, D., & Ostler, T., talk about ongoing wars, violence, hunger, and humanitarian crises in Arab. The authors briefly went over gender discrimination and separation of refugee families who just wanted to survive and save their children. This article goes over the lives of women and children in Yemen (poorest in Arab). Dahlia is a participant in this article, she writes about how she had to be separated from her family to give her young son a better life, away from the violence and war in Yemen. At the time she was pregnant and her feelings ranged from fear but also hope. In Yemen, many women are potential objects, due to the war going on women were not able to find any food resource or Government help. Many families had to separate because their children were malnourished and unsafe during the war zone and they had to flee from the home. Areas around have tried to help these poor places but Government does not allow it because there are safety regulations and since help cannot come to the citizens/communities they must flee, if capable. Some families have successfully found safety and are now refugees in nearby regions. These solutions of fleeing are long term for children because they will develop in a healthier community and receive an education and new beginning and raise awareness of their hometown.
Author Hammelman, C. , talks about survival strategies of migrant women living in urban poverty food landscapes in their article, Investigating connectivity in the urban food landscapes of migrant women facing food insecurity in Washington, DC. This study had 31 migrant women in Washington DC, be participants to show that urban environments with low-income migrants are malnourished but strive to find affordable resources throughout their food landscapes. These migrant women face food insecurity due to working capability and consumption. These women since they are migrants they were not granted many resources to their reach, they worked and did not consume enough nutrients and little did their children as well. One of the highlights from the study was trying to find a nearby food source these migrant women can rely on and consider access for food. The success of these authors reached was that they went out to the food landscapes and further investigated the food insecurity and the women got help. This will be short term in my opinion because this time the women got help from others but they will not be their constantly for others. One thing these researchers did do was that they gave the women the education to possibly teach others who are developing in the same rural area.
In the article, Characteristics of Food Insecure Older Adults by Gender in the League of Arab States authors Olfat Sheikomar and Nadine Sahyoun talk about current development in nutrition. Women in the League of Arab States (LAS) are known to have a lower educational attainment than men and are neglected and unemployed, which leads them to a high risk of food insecurity. This article did not have any solutions to the issue of women in Arab being malnourished and uneducated. I suggest that women should try and find help to get educated, women need to empower one another to carry along with their families and raise awareness of what their lives look like.
Conclusion
Overall, writing this research paper let me understand possible ways of fixing this issue within my community and supporting other organizations. I learned new statistics from other countries and this will raise my awareness to speak about this topic and have others engage in their community. It is unfortunate how many people in the world are suffering from poverty and hunger. Children in my belief are the ones who suffer the most, out of this research paper I have seen videos of how in Pakistan due to conflict many children pass away from malnourishment because mothers cannot feed them a meal or breastfeed them due to them being malnourished as well. Poverty leads many others as well to pass away due to illnesses and not having the money or being in debt to get medications. I am blessed to have enough to survive and since I started volunteering it opened many doors for me to gather resources and help those in my community who are in need. I have learned that we must ensure the education of women so they can learn and raise awareness of hunger and poverty. The empowerment of women is important and we must slowly begin to put an end to it.
