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As if genital excision, domestic violence, and the Bush Administration's prohibition against condom distribution through US-funded UN programs weren't enough, women are now the hardest hit victims of the food crisis.

Soaring prices for food and fuel have pushed more than 130 million poor
people across vast swaths of Africa, Asia and Latin America deeper into
poverty in the past year, according to the U.N. World Food Program (WFP). But while millions of men and children are also hungrier, women
are often the hungriest and skinniest. Aid workers say malnutrition
among women is emerging as a hidden consequence of the food crisis.

"It's a cultural thing," said Herve Kone, director of a group that
promotes development, social justice and human rights in Burkina Faso.
"When the kids are hungry, they go to their mother, not their father.
And when there is less food, women are the first to eat less."

A recent study by the aid group Catholic Relief Services found that many people in Burkina Faso are now spending 75 percent or
more of their income on food, leaving little for other basic needs such
as medical care, school fees and clothes.

Pregnant women and young mothers are forgoing medical care. More
women are turning to prostitution to pay for food. And more families
are pulling children -- especially girls -- out of school.