Aid cuts leave at least one million women and girls without vital support

The warning appears in a new report, Beyond the Breaking Pointwhich found that agencies providing essential services to women and girls were forced to reduce or suspend programs as global humanitarian needs reached historic highs.

According to latest figuresaround 120 million women and girls around the world now need humanitarian assistance and protection. But the local women’s organizations that are best able to reach them face severe funding shortages, even though they often operate in places that international institutions cannot reach.

Fight to survive

Playing a critical role in some of the world’s most severe humanitarian emergencies, including Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Haiti, they have remained on the ground even after international attention has shifted elsewhere, namely providing assistance to survivors of violence, displaced families and vulnerable communities.

“Every dollar withdrawn from women’s organizations is a dollar withdrawn from survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, mothers who are refugees, girls forced to drop out of school, and communities struggling to survive.,” said Sofia Calltorp, UN Women Head of Humanitarian Action.

UN Women warned that its agencies and partners were being forced to pause their programs at a time when they were needed most.

Main findings

The report, based on responses from 855 women-led organizations in 52 countries affected by crisis and conflict, found that:

• At least one million women and girls has lost access to critical aid since January 2025 as a direct result of the sharpest annual decline in aid on record.
• Nearly nine out of 10 organizations can no longer meet current levels of need, while 84 percent report an increase in demand for their services.
• Women and girls who have the fewest alternatives will be affected first – 63 percent of organizations have reduced services in remote and hard-to-reach communities.
• Gender-based violence is increasing. Eighty-six percent of organizations reported increasing levels of gender-based violence, while 62 percent said safe spaces had been closed or significantly reduced.
• One in five organizations has cut jobs on women’s leadership and gender equality along with funding cuts that exacerbate a global backlash against women’s rights.

Work without pay

Many women who lead humanitarian organizations live in conflict or displacement, but continue to work despite a lack of resources. Nearly two-thirds reported that staff were working without pay to maintain essential services.

At the same time, almost half said staff fatigue increaseswhile 88 percent reported worsening mental health among the women and girls they support.

Service evaporated

The impact of the funding crisis has been felt by the communities affected by the crisis.

Half of the organizations surveyed have introduced waiting lists or turned away women and girls because they can no longer meet demand.

Meanwhile, 92 percent report increasing poverty among the women they serve, and 82 percent see more girls dropping out of school.

Behind these statistics are women arriving at shelters that have closed, pregnant women forced to travel hours to access health care, and mothers unable to provide food for their children.

Apart from the humanitarian response

UN Women warns that the consequences will go beyond just a humanitarian crisis.

The loss of women’s organizations also undermines efforts to encourage women’s leadership and participation in community decision making. More than half of respondents reported a decline in women’s involvement in local leadership roles.

UN Women calls for continued investment in women’s organizations, and describes them as indispensable first aid agencies, defenders of women’s rights and important partners in recovery and peacebuilding.

“Without immediate action, organizations that have kept women and girls alive are going through the world’s worst crisis risk becoming another casualty of war,” Ms. Calltorp concluded.