A renewed U.S. blockade in the Strait of Hormuz is choking aid routes and driving a global crisis that hits women and girls hardest.
In the weeks since the U.S. and Israel launched an attack on Iran, the conflict in the Middle East has created massive humanitarian need, while further shattering the global aid system. Now, a fragile ceasefire is under renewed strain, as the United States has begun a naval blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz—an escalation that threatens to further disrupt already fragile supply routes and deepen global instability.
Even before this latest move, only limited numbers of ships were able to safely transit the strait, with many avoiding the waterway amid fears of mines, military enforcement and retaliation. The blockade signals a shift from tentative reopening to active restriction, with immediate consequences for the delivery of food, medicine and fuel.
As the conflict evolves, the effects of war do not simply linger—they compound, with women and girls continuing to bear the heaviest burden when humanitarian systems fracture.
The Strait of Hormuz: A Lifeline for Women Severed
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz sent shockwaves through the global aid system—and women and girls are still absorbing this blow.
Iran’s initial closure of the Strait of Hormuz devastated the aid system over several weeks, with over 90 percent of shipping disrupted, leaving $24 million in health supplies and medicine—alongside critical food supplies—to languish in shipping containers.
As one-quarter of the world’s oil flows through the strait, energy prices soared, disrupting humanitarian supply routes linking the Middle East to East Africa and South Asia—regions where women and girls already face some of the world’s worst rates of food insecurity and maternal mortality.
Shipping costs reportedly rose by 50 percent as organizations scrambled to reroute aid.
Airspace closures across the Gulf further severed the movement of cargo and staff.
Already, 72 percent of assessed humanitarian needs went unmet in 2025, with continued aid cuts further constraining delivery this year.
Though limited transit through the strait has resumed, safe passage remains highly uncertain amid ongoing military enforcement and the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports. Without assurance of a sustainable and secure shipping corridor, women and girls who depend on these systems will suffer further.
Oil, Fertilizer and the Feminization of Global Poverty
Despite a fragile ceasefire and ongoing negotiations, the lingering economic effects from war in the Middle East will continue to plunge women and girls into greater precarity. These effects are felt globally.
Oil prices spiked by at least 60 percent following the war’s onset, and the targeting of oil reserves in the Gulf could drive continued price instability for years. The IMF estimates that every 10 percent increase in oil prices amounts to a 0.4 percent increase in global inflation. Women—who globally hold less wealth, own less land and are more likely to live in poverty—absorb these shocks with less cushion than men. Rising prices erode not just household budgets but the value of humanitarian aid itself, while deepening the poverty that makes women most vulnerable.
Fertilizer, which is essential for farming for food supply, is also under threat, as nearly one-third of the maritime fertilizer trade passes through the Strait of Hormuz. Disruptions to fertilizer use can reduce crop yields by nearly 30 percent—a crisis that lands hardest on women, who are the backbone of smallholder agriculture across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
Women and girls … often eat last and least when food is scarce.
In Sudan, engulfed in one of this century’s worst humanitarian crises, approximately 54 percent of fertilizer comes from the Gulf region, compounding hardship for female-headed households already bearing the brunt of the country’s food crisis. These disruptions translate directly into increases in food commodity prices—notably for staple crops like wheat that undergird aid deliveries.
Humanitarian agencies often rely on cash and voucher transfers to purchase food on global markets; continued food inflation means they can obtain less with existing budgets. The WFP warns the war may push 45 million people into acute hunger in the next three months, with a further $200 million needed to maintain food support across 10 countries.
In Gaza—where the threat of famine has loomed for months—flour prices have already risen by 270 percent due to global shipping disruptions and Israeli blockades.
Beyond Gaza, even stable Gulf countries face acute vulnerability: 85 percent of food consumed in Saudi Arabia, Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain is imported, 70 percent of which passes through the Strait of Hormuz.
Women and girls comprise nearly 60 percent of people experiencing extreme hunger right now, and often eat last and least when food is scarce. This is not coincidence; it is the product of patriarchal structures that systematically deprioritize women’s access to nutrition. A worsening food crisis will deepen those inequities.
Conflict-Driven Environmental Harm and Displacement
The bombardment of Iran has triggered environmental harm—already visible as “black rain” and toxic pollution—imperiling access to clean water, housing and agriculture for years. Iran was already facing a generational water crisis; the bombing of a desalination plant cut off water access to at least 30 villages, and a drone attack on a plant in Bahrain raises further alarms.
These harms fall disproportionately on women, who often bear primary responsibility for collecting water, managing family nutrition under scarcity, and shouldering primary caregiving responsibility. These roles are more likely to put women in direct contact with polluted water and other materials. Moreover, insufficient access to clean water undermines women and girls’ access to adequate sanitation and hygiene, including during menstruation.
These climate shocks often exacerbate vulnerabilities faced by those forced to flee from their homes—another devastating impact of the war. These compounding impacts of climate and displacement are felt not only in Iran but in other countries impacted by conflict.
Lebanon, for instance, faces intensive bombing, as Israel insists Lebanon is not part of the current ceasefire agreement. More than one million people in Lebanon were already displaced by Israeli airstrikes in just two weeks.
Displacement strips women of safety networks, healthcare access, and economic footing, and leaves them exposed to gender-based violence, early marriage and exploitation. These risks are exacerbated by the simultaneous erosion of the international aid system.
What Must Happen Now
The war with Iran has further strained an already weakened aid system. U.N. humanitarian relief coordinator Tom Fletcher recently warned the global system is in a “moment of grave peril,” following deep cuts to aid funding with the closure of USAID and broader international cutbacks.
The United Kingdom, once the fourth largest donor to Africa, just slashed its bilateral aid to the continent by 56 percent—emblematic of how major donor countries are redirecting aid budgets toward military spending, even as those same military actions generate more humanitarian need. Failing to recognize how these dynamics specifically and disproportionately impacts women and girls risks further magnifying and entrenching harm—even if a lasting ceasefire is achieved.
Efforts to draw down the conflict must more effectively map and center how maneuvers in Washington, Tel Aviv and Tehran, and wider reverberations of conflict in the Middle East, are affecting humanitarian pipelines to those most in need. Measures that better center the humanitarian impacts on women could include prioritizing and negotiating safe passage for humanitarian goods through the Strait of Hormuz as it reopens—potentially through multilateral expert groups to monitor and advise on constrained aid delivery—and investing in alternative pathways such as emergency air bridges. Throughout these negotiations and decision-making, the voices and needs of women must be heard.
A holistic security vision for the Middle East and beyond—one that includes robust investment in women’s wellbeing and human security—is urgent. Centering these concerns in the effort now to bring an end to the conflict must be a core priority of a robust global security agenda.
