Women have a crucial role to play in the fight against hunger. As mothers, farmers, teachers and entrepreneurs, they hold the key to building a future free of malnutrition. Here are ten reasons why empowering women is such an important part of our work. 

1. Women make up a little over half of the world's population but in many parts of the world, especially in Asia and South America, they are more likely to go hungry than men. (Source: Women in Agriculture: Closing the Gender Gap for Development, FAO, March 2011)
2. Following natural disasters, women and girls suffer more from shortages of food. (Source: More Women die than men as a result of natural disasters, London School of Economics, 2006)
3. Research confirms that putting more income in the hands of women yields beneficial results for health, education and child nutrition. (Source: Women in Agriculture: Closing the Gender Gap for Development, FAO, March 2011)
4. Closing the gender gap in agriculture by giving women farmers more resources could bring the number of hungry people in the world down by 100 - 150 million people. (Source: Women in Agriculture: Closing the Gender Gap for Development, FAO, March 2011)
5. Surveys in a wide range of countries have show that women provide 85 - 90 percent of the time spent on household food preparation. (Source: Women in Agriculture: Closing the Gender Gap for Development, FAO, March 2011)
6. Rural women produce more than 55 per cent of all food grown in developing countries.(Source: EcoSoc)
7. Worldwide, for every 100 boys out of school there are 122 girls. But in some countries the gender gap is much wider. For every 100 boys out of school in Yemen there are 270 girls, in Iraq 316 girls and in India 426 girls. (Source: UNESCO Global Monitoring Report, 2007).
8. Educated mothers have healthier families. Their children are better nourished, are less likely to die in infancy and more likely to attend school. (Source: The State of Food Insecurity in the World, FAO, 2005)
9. Around half of all pregnant women in developing countries are anaemic. Iron deficiency causes around 110,000 deaths during child birth each year. (Source: Progress for Children: A World Fit for Children, UNICEF, 2007)
10. Malnourished mothers often give birth to underweight babies who are 20 percent more likely to die before the age of five. Up to 17 million children are born underweight every year. (Source: Progress for Children: A World Fit for Children, UNICEF, 2007)