MANITOBA – More than two-thirds of the food bank clients who responded to Harvest Manitoba’s latest survey are women, a marked change from past surveys.
The Harvest Voices 2024 report, released this week, tells the stories of some of the clients of Harvest Manitoba — the province’s biggest food bank — and looks at key factors that drive people to rely on food banks.
It’s based on a survey done via phone, email and in person at food banks from May to September 2024, with 649 responses from clients offering a snapshot of food bank use during those months.
Meaghan Erbus, the advocacy and impact manager at Harvest Manitoba, noted a shift from last year’s report.
“The number through the demographics that we would see would be single males. Now what we’re seeing is the majority of folks accessing our food banks are women, around the age of 40,” she said.
The increase is due to a number of factors, Erbus said.
“Women are disproportionately affected by poverty because they are often caregivers, whether that’s a caregiver to children or to an older adult in their family,” she said.
This makes it harder for women to find viable employment, and they end up taking low-paying jobs, she said.
Among the people who took part in the survey, 45 per cent were employed either part-time or full time, 62 per cent had children and 50 per cent lived with disabilities.
For more on the story: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/women-food-banks-harvest-report-1.7402565
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