By Helen Barnard, @Helen_Barnard, Director of Policy, Research & Impact at the Trussell Trust

It is often said that women are the ‘shock absorbers’ of poverty. They are not only more likely to live in poverty; they are also often the people trying to manage a tight budget, working out how to stretch it to cover what everyone in the family needs. Many times, they go without, not only to protect their children from hardship but also to protect other adults in the family. Now new research from the Trussell Trust has laid bare the scale of hunger across the country, and the disproportionate impact it has on women.

Women make up half the population of the UK (51%) but 57% of people facing hunger, with some groups of women at especially high risk. The combination of racial and gender inequality is reflected in the far higher risk of hunger among ethnic minority women (27%) compared to compared to white women (14%). In recent years, poverty rates among single parents (the vast majority of whom are women) have climbed alarmingly and we see this reflected at food banks.  Across the UK single adults living with children make up 3% of the population, but they account for 11% of people facing hunger and a fifth (20%) of those referred to food banks in the Trussell Trust network.

This pattern is driven in part by inequalities in the labour market. One in five people referred to a food bank in the Trussell Trust network live in working households. Across the country, 15% of people in working households have faced hunger – work is clearly not providing reliable protection from extreme hardship. But it is part-time work in particular - the majority of which is concentrated among women to enable them to balance caring with earning – which offers poor protection from hunger.  A fifth (21%) of part-time workers have faced hunger, compared to just 13% of full-time workers.

In addition to fewer hours, part-time jobs are far more likely to be low paid and are less likely to provide opportunities for training or progression to better paid roles. Women find themselves trapped in low paid work, for which they are often over-qualified, because they need to hold on to the flexibility so essential to maintaining family life and caring responsibilities.  In addition to needing flexible jobs, childcare often poses a major barrier for women wanting to get a job, and can force some to reduce their hours or even lose their job altogether.

“ I have a third child and I don’t have any childcare, so even if I was working, my wages, that’s only £120 a week and it’s £50 each day for each child for childcare, that was what the price was last year, it’s probably up again now, and I just couldn’t afford that.” (Female, age 35-44, three children, receiving UC and Child Benefit, Northern Ireland)

Adverse life events (such as bereavement or becoming sick or disabled) play a significant role in tipping people into hunger and needing to turn to a food bank. Among women, domestic violence is the most common adverse life event for those facing hunger.  Almost one in five women referred to food banks in the Trussell Trust network (19%) have experienced domestic violence in the previous 12 months.

Women escaping such situations often find themselves facing further trauma, homelessness and deeply uncertain futures. People who had left their homes to escape abuse often left with limited possessions and found they had to ‘start from scratch’, making their journey back to secure housing and financial stability even more challenging. Living in temporary accommodation brought extra costs, making it even harder for people to afford even the bare essentials. People find themselves unable to plan meals or reduce costs when they have no fridge or freezer to fill with cheap food, or have to rely on a kettle and a toaster to feed a family.  Women can be stuck in these appalling living conditions for years – on average, families with children spend between two and five years in temporary accommodation.

The feeling of living in limbo, unable to settle into a community or create support networks is especially difficult for families with children. One mother spoke about having no idea of how long she would be in her temporary accommodation, meaning she felt unable to get comfortable and spend money making the house more liveable for herself and her children.

“ I didn’t know whether to paint because I could have been there anything from three months to three years, so I didn’t know whether to try and make the bedrooms colourful for the girls in the house, to make it more liveable. It wasn’t very nice. It was again, ‘Am I wasting money on paint and then they could come and go, ‘Right, you’re going now,’ or shall we just stare at drab walls and I could be there for three years and we’re all looking at drab walls and not unpacking anything.” (Female, age 35-44, four children, Wales)

The health and well-being of their children was a constant worry for parents referred to food banks.  They tried all they could to shield their children from both the material and emotional impacts of their deep financial hardship. Mothers could feel their own mental health deteriorating, whilst finding it more and more difficult to protect their children’s mental health. The sense of shame, of having somehow failed their family is often tangible when you speak to parents in this position.

“I don’t want my children to be worried or see me worried.” (Female, age 35-44, in part-time work, single, two children, England).

“Because it had got to the point where I’d just got basics in my cupboards, there was beans and my daughter was saying, ‘Mum, have we got to have beans again? Can’t we have this? Can’t we have that?’ And not being able to feed, I’ve failed my family because I couldn’t feed them properly.” (Female, age 50, in part-time work, two children, single, England).

This report does not make for easy reading. It paints a sobering picture, revealing the unacceptable scale of hunger across the country, and the pressure bearing down on the women who carry so much of this burden. But we also see the stubborn hope of a growing network of people who believe better is possible, and an ever-clearer roadmap of how this might be achieved.  This roadmap demands change in multiple areas of policy – at the local, devolved, and national level – if we are to meet our ambitious, but achievable vision for a UK without the need for food banks.

The research shows the need for changes in the labour market, housing and in the services that should support people facing hard times. And it makes clear that an inadequate social security system is the most significant driver of food bank need. That is why introducing an ‘Essentials Guarantee’ into our social security system – a change to legislation which would ensure that the basic rate of Universal Credit is always enough for people to afford the essentials - is so vital to turning back the tide of hunger. Our research shows that achieving this is especially important for women – we must reduce the weight of poverty, hardship and hunger that is threatening to crush so many women.

We are working with more than a hundred organisations to campaign for this policy change – asking the government and every political party to commit to enacting the Essentials Guarantee. You can join the campaign here.