Attachments
The Gaza Gender in Humanitarian Action (GiHA) Working Group produced this Gender Matters Bulletin: Sustaining Families Alone to highlight the experiences and realities of women-headed households in Gaza. This complements the Household Vulnerability Assessment published in August 2025. During the two-year conflict, an estimated 16,000 women lost their husbands.i Now more than 1 in 7 families – 57,200 households – are led by a woman. According to the household survey, women-headed households are more likely than men-headed households to have had a member with a healthcare need in the past month, particularly for consultations or medications to manage chronic illness. They are also more likely to require consultations or medications to manage chronic illnesses yet face barriers to accessing and affording treatment. Women-headed households experience greater difficulties accessing essential supplies from markets such as food, water, and other essential supplies. With limited sources of income and livelihoods, they more frequently rely on coping strategies such as monetary or in-kind support from friends, relatives, or community networks. They also prefer multi-purpose cash assistance to give them more dignity, flexibility, and choice to meet their family’s needs, however they continue to face barriers in accessing due to high transaction costs. This new generation of women-headed households are managing households, caring for children, and making life-or-death choices alone, amidst famine, displaced, and collapsed services.
“I care for my five children—three boys and two girls, the youngest just nine months old. They have many needs and I have become both mother and father to them.” – Woman head of household, Deir El Balah
Notes to editors
The GiHA Working Group aims to collectively coordinate and advance gender equality in humanitarian action in Palestine. The GiHA Working Group is co-chaired in Gaza by UN Women and the Palestinian women-led organization, the Women’s Affairs Centre. The group includes members from humanitarian organizations such as United Nations agencies and international, national and local non-governmental organizations, including women-led organizations.
For information or to arrange an interview, please contact:
- UN Women: Manal Musleh, manal.musleh@unwomen.org
- Women’s Affairs Centre: Amal Syam, amal.syam@wac.org.ps