Women aid cuts have left at least one million women and girls without access to life-saving support over the past year, according to a new UN Women report that warns humanitarian organisations are being pushed beyond capacity.
The report found that nearly nine in 10 women’s organisations can no longer meet rising needs on the ground, despite demand for their services increasing sharply since January 2025. The findings come after what the agency described as the steepest decline in global aid funding on record.
UN Women said the cuts are creating critical gaps in humanitarian coverage at a time when around 120 million women and girls worldwide require humanitarian assistance and protection. The agency warned that women-led and women’s rights organisations are often among the only groups able to reach women and girls in crisis settings.
Women aid cuts push organisations towards closure
Women aid cuts are threatening the survival of local organisations that provide frontline assistance in conflict and crisis-affected countries.
The UN Women report was based on responses from 855 women-led and women’s rights organisations across 52 crisis and conflict-affected countries, including Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Haiti.
Around 40 percent of the organisations surveyed said they are at risk of shutting down temporarily or permanently within the next year because of funding shortages. Many groups said they are already reducing services, cutting staff or turning away women and girls who need help.
The findings suggest that the effect of aid cuts is not abstract or administrative. It is being felt directly by survivors of violence, displaced mothers, girls pushed out of school and families struggling to survive in crisis zones.
Services reduced despite rising demand
The majority of organisations surveyed said they can no longer meet current levels of need. Sixty percent said they are reaching fewer women and girls than they did before January 2025, even though demand for support has increased.
The contradiction is severe. More women and girls need help, but fewer can be reached because funding has declined. In practical terms, this means fewer safe spaces, fewer case workers, fewer emergency referrals and longer waiting lists for basic protection services.
Half of the organisations surveyed said they had introduced waiting lists or were turning women and girls away. More than three-quarters said they had cut staff roles, while 65 percent said staff members were working without pay to keep services running.
These figures point to a humanitarian system operating under extreme strain. Local women’s organisations are trying to sustain essential services with fewer resources, fewer workers and growing needs.
Gender-based violence services under pressure
Gender-based violence services are among the areas most affected by the funding crisis.
UN Women said 62 percent of organisations reported that safe spaces were no longer available or had been reduced because of the cuts. Case management services for gender-based violence have also declined.
The reduction comes at a dangerous time. Cases of conflict-related sexual violence doubled last year, according to the report. That means services are shrinking just as risks to women and girls are increasing.
Safe spaces can provide confidential support, psychosocial care, referral pathways, legal assistance and protection for survivors. When those spaces close, survivors may have nowhere safe to report abuse or seek help.
The effect is especially serious in conflict areas, displacement camps and fragile communities where state services are weak or absent. In many such places, local women-led organisations are the most trusted and accessible source of support.
Foreign aid cuts widen humanitarian gaps
The funding crisis has been driven by reductions from several major donors. The United States, previously the world’s largest aid donor, cut billions of dollars in foreign assistance this year. Other international donors have also reduced aid budgets due to fiscal pressures and higher defence spending.
Those cuts have quickly affected humanitarian programmes. Women’s organisations often rely on short-term grants and donor funding, leaving them especially vulnerable when aid budgets are reduced.
The report shows that funding reductions are not only affecting large international agencies. They are weakening community-level organisations that provide direct services to people who may not be reached by larger humanitarian actors.
This is particularly important because women-led organisations often understand local risks, languages, social norms and protection needs better than outside agencies. When their funding disappears, the humanitarian system loses both capacity and trust.
Girls face growing risks as services shrink
The impact of women aid cuts is also being felt by girls. UN Women said reductions in support are contributing to worsening poverty, school dropouts and reduced access to protection services.
In crisis settings, girls are especially vulnerable to early marriage, exploitation, trafficking, unpaid care burdens and loss of education. When aid organisations reduce services, families under pressure may be less able to keep girls in school or protect them from harm.
The loss of gender equality and leadership programmes is another concern. UN Women said one-fifth of organisations had suspended activities promoting women’s leadership and gender equality because of funding cuts.
These programmes may not always be described as life-saving, but they help women participate in local decision-making, access services, organise community protection and advocate for their rights. Their suspension can weaken women’s long-term position in crisis recovery.
Local women’s organisations carry growing burden
The report highlights the central role of local women-led organisations in humanitarian response. These groups often operate in areas where international staff have limited access or where communities rely on trusted local actors.
They provide services that include protection referrals, support for survivors of violence, livelihood assistance, legal guidance, psychosocial care, community outreach and emergency aid distribution.
Yet many of these organisations operate with limited reserves, unstable funding and staff who are already underpaid. When donors cut support, they may have little ability to absorb the shock.
The fact that 65 percent of surveyed organisations said staff were working without pay shows the extent of the pressure. It also raises sustainability concerns. Humanitarian response cannot depend indefinitely on unpaid labour from frontline workers.
Aid cuts risk long-term setbacks for women
UN Women warned that the funding crisis is part of a broader backlash against gender equality. The suspension of leadership and rights programmes suggests that the impact may extend beyond immediate humanitarian needs.
If women’s organisations close, the loss may be difficult to reverse. Staff may leave, community networks may weaken, survivors may lose trusted reporting channels and years of local capacity-building may be undone.
The consequences could last beyond the current funding cycle. Women and girls who lose access to support during displacement, conflict or disaster may face long-term harm, including untreated trauma, interrupted education, poverty and exposure to further violence.
Humanitarian funding decisions therefore have gendered effects. Cuts that appear to be budget adjustments can directly reduce protection for women and girls in some of the world’s most fragile settings.
UN Women calls for urgent investment
UN Women is urging donors to restore and protect funding for women-led and women’s rights organisations working in humanitarian settings.
The agency says these organisations should not be treated as optional partners. In many crises, they are essential providers of protection and support. They are also often the first responders for women and girls facing violence, displacement and poverty.
The report suggests that funding models need to change. Local organisations require predictable, flexible and direct financing so they can plan services, retain staff and respond to rising needs.
Without renewed investment, more organisations may close, and more women and girls may lose access to help.
Women aid cuts expose wider humanitarian crisis
Women aid cuts are exposing a wider crisis in humanitarian financing. At least one million women and girls have already lost access to critical support, while many more could be affected if funding continues to fall.
The numbers show a system moving in the wrong direction. Around 120 million women and girls need humanitarian assistance and protection, but many of the organisations best placed to help them are losing staff, closing services or facing shutdown.
The immediate risks are severe: survivors of gender-based violence may go without support, displaced mothers may lose access to assistance, and girls may face higher risks of exploitation and school dropout.
The long-term risks are also serious. If women-led organisations collapse, humanitarian systems will become less able to reach women and girls in crisis settings.
The UN Women report makes the central point clear. Funding cuts are not only reducing budgets. They are removing life-saving support from women and girls who are already facing conflict, displacement, poverty and violence.
Published in SouthAsianDesk, July 11, 2026
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