It is truly clear that when wars are fought, women, girls and children bear the brunt, not only in Sudan and Gaza, but everywhere else in the world.
As a refugee woman myself, I speak of my experience and the experiences of thousands, if not millions, forcibly displaced by conflicts, wars and worsening climate change.
Record levels of displacement and a growing backlash against gender equality, international law and humanitarian principles have left millions of women and girls living within 50km of a deadly conflict, and at heightened risk of harm, in Sudan, Gaza, in the Congo and even in my own home country, Cameroon.
By the end of June 2025, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 117.3 million people had been forced to flee their homes globally due to persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations or events seriously disturbing public order. Among them were nearly 42.5 million refugees, with women and girls accounting for 50% of them.
Starvation, sexual violence as a weapon of war
In Gaza and Sudan, a huge percentage of the population has been displaced, civilian infrastructure has been deliberately destroyed, starvation has been used as a weapon of war and attacks on humanitarian and medical targets have decimated some of the last remaining lifelines for communities.
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) use sexual violence extensively as a weapon of war in Sudan. The experiences of women and girls in both Gaza and Sudan are, tragically, pervasive in conflict and displacement crises around the world ‒ from Afghanistan to Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Myanmar to South Sudan and beyond.
When global mechanisms that advance global human rights, gender equity and sustainable peace are ignored with impunity, women and girls suffer the greatest harm.
Gendered impacts of food insecurity
Gaza is experiencing a man-made famine in plain sight. While every resident faces acute food insecurity, women and girls experience particular risks of hunger and starvation.
Research by the Women’s Refugee Organisation, The gendered impacts of food insecurity and famine in Gaza, drawing on secondary data, key informant interviews and testimonies, illustrates how aid blockades and militarised food distribution mechanisms systematically exclude women and girls.
By June 2024, at least 557,000 women in Gaza were classified as severely food insecure. More than one million women and girls now face mass starvation. Frontline clinicians describe daily presentations of fainting, severe weight loss and micronutrient deficiency among women who report skipping food for 48-72 hours so their children can eat.
The report concluded that Israel’s suppression of a professional humanitarian response, coupled with mass casualties and continuous forced displacement, exacerbates pre-existing gender inequalities in Gaza and has resulted in a psychological collapse that may last for generations.
Sudanese futures on hold
In 2025, the Women’s Refugee Commission, in collaboration with the Global Refugee Youth Network and Hopes and Actions Foundation, produced the Futures on hold report on Sudan. It showed how the rapid decline of humanitarian support means that displaced young Sudanese women face greater risks of malnutrition, violence and exploitation.
Food insecurity and famine have led to high rates of malnutrition for pregnant women and caregiving young women, especially among displaced populations.
Access to healthcare, particularly sexual and reproductive healthcare for reproductive-age women, adolescent girls and survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, remains limited. Over 2.5 million girls, representing 74% of school-age girls, are now out of school in Sudan.
There is a vital question that needs to be answered: How did women survive through these tough times and crises, and how can they move forward, past the tragic loss of lives, material goods and even their own sanity? DM
This article is based on Mary Tal’s presentation to the Living Rights Festival, at which she was a panellist, on Friday, 21 November.
Mary Tal is CEO of the Whole World Women Association, a multicultural, women-led nonprofit organisation based in Cape Town. Tal initially practised as a lawyer in Cameroon before joining the Human Rights Defence Group.