Gendered suffering in famine
In an essay for the World Peace Foundation, Feinstein Research Assistant Professor Merry Fitzpatrick shares insights on how men and women experience starvation differently and how gender roles shape their experiences.
Her essay highlights the difference between social rules imposed from outside and internalized values, revealing how many gendered sacrifices—mothers giving their food to children, men taking deadly risks to provide—reflect choices made in line with deeply held beliefs.
Drawing on cases from Tigray and Gaza, Fitzpatrick shows that men often face higher mortality, while women who survive may suffer deeper long-term consequences. Yet numbers alone don’t tell the full story.
By examining famine as a series of impossible moral decisions, the essay challenges readers to rethink gendered suffering and asks whether true protection comes from changing norms or preventing the extreme circumstances that force people into life-and-death trade-offs.
