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Daily Maverick
2 days ago
- Business
- Daily Maverick
When we think about hunger we don't think about peace — here's why we should
Hunger isn't just about food. It's about power. It's about who gets to eat, who decides and who is heard. If we're serious about justice, then no one should be hungry. In South Africa, hunger is not just about empty stomachs, but also about unequal systems. It exists in crèches that exclude children whose parents can't pay fees, in homes where grant applications fail quietly, and in the lives of people with disabilities navigating systems that overlook their most basic needs. The student who is excluded from funding because they are considered too poor to afford university, yet not poor enough to qualify for state assistance, caught in the gap of eligibility. The woman who sits at the traffic lights with her child asking for small change or food. The problem is not that the country does not produce enough food, the problem is about who eats and who does not. Hunger is not just about food, it is about power, it is about peace, and it is deeply gendered. Women, especially Black women, carry the heaviest load in South Africa's food crisis. They cook, stretch budgets, sell in the informal economy and absorb the emotional violence of food insecurity. They go hungry so children can eat. And when food runs out, so does safety. As we've seen time and again, from the Covid lockdowns to the July KwaZulu-Natal unrest, scarcity breeds violence and is expressed against Black bodies. Despite producing enough food to feed everyone, South Africa has more than 63.5% of households facing food insecurity. We live in a country with one of the world's most progressive constitutions, in which section 27 guarantees the right to food and water. Yet every day millions go hungry. And too often we forget who exactly is being left behind. Hunger is a multidimensional crisis that undermines health through malnutrition, poor disease resistance and skipped medication. It fractures social cohesion, creating stigma, shame and desperation, worsening economic outcomes, especially for women and young people already at the margins. Women in informal settlements skip antiretrovirals because they can't take them on an empty stomach. The missing population that is not reported on include those not in employment, education or training, outside of the Not in Education, Employment or Training (Neets) active or inactive. There are people who are not in employment who are not receiving social grants and are not in the youth category, including children who are not in early childhood development, and are left without resources to access food. Despite policy interventions such as school feeding schemes, social grants and the 2023 SAHRC-led right-to-food study commissioned by the Department of Agriculture, significant structural gaps remain. Many interventions are not reaching those outside formal systems – such as children excluded from early childhood development programmes or people with disabilities navigating inaccessible services. These omissions reveal a deeper issue: our food security mechanisms are not designed with the most marginalised in mind, reinforcing cycles of invisibility and exclusion. This is not just a failure of delivery. It is a failure of vision. If we think of hunger only as a developmental or nutritional issue, we miss its full impact. Hunger is relational. It creates shame, fuels desperation and destabilises communities. We need to stop treating hunger like an economic inconvenience and start addressing it as a political and peace issue, one that is deeply gendered. The Centre for Social Justice, under the leadership of Professor Thuli Madonsela, has reframed hunger as a constitutional crisis. In the recent expert symposium I attended on 10 April in Pniel discussions rightly rooted the right to food in section 27 of the Constitution, making the case for structural change that is systems-based and a rights-driven approach to food insecurity. The research on Gendered Dimensions of Hunger and Peacebuilding by the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation and University College Dublin drives the conversation further, urging for a widened lens where food security is a catalyst for peace. Because hunger, when it intersects with gender, exclusion and poverty, becomes something even more dangerous – a disruptor of peace. A participant in the ongoing research said that in one of the dialogues they conducted a man asked: 'How do you expect me and my people to engage on peace when we are hungry?' Let's be clear: we have the policy tools, we have the research and we have the constitutional mandate. What's needed now is a shift in mindset from hunger as a welfare issue to hunger as a peace and justice imperative. When hunger intersects with gender inequality, disability and exclusion, it fuels gender-based violence, erodes trust in the state and drives protests, looting and resentment. As the UN Security Council warned in 2025, hunger isn't just a consequence of conflict. It's a cause. We must act like it. That means embedding gender, peace and inclusion into every food policy. It means tracking how hunger affects social cohesion, how it exacerbates violence, how it chips away at democratic trust. It means giving voice and space to those most affected not after the fact, but as architects of the solutions. If we are serious about building a future rooted in justice and peace, then we must start treating hunger as both a political emergency and a moral failure. This means going beyond food parcels and short-term aid. We need women-led food and peace councils that place care, equity and lived experience at the heart of decision-making. We need disability-sensitive food access tools that acknowledge the everyday barriers disabled people face in reaching nourishment. And above all, we must ensure that no child goes invisible simply because their stomach is empty outside of school hours. Hunger is not just a symptom it is a warning signal. And ignoring it now means paying the price in conflict, unrest and fractured futures. Hunger isn't just about food. It's about power. It's about who gets to eat, who decides and who is heard. If we're serious about justice, then no one should be hungry – not a mother, not a child, not a person navigating hunger with a disability. Because food justice is peace work. Because peace doesn't start in Parliament – a place where conflict should be dealt with – it starts in homes where children eat, with women who aren't forced to trade their bodies for bread, and with the ability of persons with disabilities to access food without stigma. Where food security is not a charity but a human right. So, what would it look like to build a hunger strategy rooted in gender justice and peace? We are at a turning point. With the National Food and Nutrition Security Plan (2024-29) in development, and a government of national unity on the table, the political moment is ripe. But the question remains: will we continue with business-as-usual? Or will we reimagine hunger as the crisis of dignity, justice and peace that it is? As one working at the intersection of gender, hunger, and peace, I say this: until hunger is addressed as a breach of peace and women are recognised as leaders in healing it, our democratic promises remain half-written. We don't often think of food when we talk about peace. But we must – because in every empty stomach lies a silent protest against injustice. If we want peace to flourish, it must begin with food security, dignified women and inclusive food systems. DM Naledi Joyi is a gender programme officer at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation. Her work focuses on the intersections of gender-based violence, food systems and structural inequality. She has conducted research across rural and urban South Africa and post-conflict Liberia, exploring how violence is embedded in institutions, economies and everyday survival.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
How porn and gaming sapped young men of their desire to work
'I am 22 and unemployed,' one person writes on the question-and-answer website Quora. 'I am wasting [my] entire day watching porn and browsing Facebook. What should I do in my free time which is more productive?' The answers from well-meaning strangers are telling. Do a course, join the military, or learn to code so you can create fun apps for all the other bored 20-somethings out there who are watching porn all day. 'Or try going outside,' jokes another. 'I heard there's stuff to do out there. Supposedly, there are people and places outside that you can interact with.' Such complaints are growing increasingly common. Since Covid, Britain has been plagued by a worklessness crisis that is dragging down the public finances and creating a headache for ministers. Many believe that mental health is to blame, with easy access to online pornography and video games keeping young people stuck indoors. According to the latest figures, more than 900,000 16 to 24-year-olds are not in education, employment or training (Neets), the highest level since a decade ago when the jobs market was still recovering from the financial crisis. Most of those are men, with almost half a million male Neets compared to 425,000 women. Economic inactivity among young male Neets – which covers those who are not studying or working and are not looking for a job – has also risen by 48pc since the eve of the pandemic. The equivalent figure for young women is up by less than 10pc. The scale of this gender divide has captured economists, politicians and teachers alike, with some claiming that technology is responsible for driving young men away from work and into the online world. 'This is a secondary problem which came out of Covid, as a lot of work has been distributed online and education has become more device-focused,' says one senior secondary school teacher, who did not wish to be named. 'That means more people gaming, and porn is almost entirely online given that lad mags have died a death. 'We've surveyed parents who say they feel their children are online too much and children who say parents worry too much – there's a disconnect about what 'too much' is. 'Children are now digital natives, but their ability to calculate risks isn't fully formed yet. We do see students whose relationship with the online world has become unhealthy. 'Some [are] as young as year seven, who see their relationship with forums as being a real-life interaction worthy of pursuing at the expense of other things.' This can leave students feeling so disconnected from real life that they lose interest in work or further study, the teacher suggests. As he puts it, the online world is a 'synthetic replacement for real-life interactions'. This frequently sparks mental health issues down the line, experts say, which in turn damages prospects for employment. A US study in 2017 warned that young men were spending more of their free time on video games 'and other recreational computer activities'. The economists behind the report said the increased time spent gaming had fuelled a drop in working hours for young men between 2000 and 2015. For some, the rise of easy entertainment online has made the idea of employment seem like a lot of effort for little return. Graham Cowley, who works with unemployed young men in Blackpool, said last month that there are 'kids on the internet 24 hours a day, and they don't want to work for anything less than 40 grand'. As evidenced by the figures, this problem is disproportionately skewed towards boys. Some believe that issues start at an early age, particularly as almost all children own a smartphone by the age of 12. This has fuelled concerns that boys are being influenced by porn, gaming and toxic online role models. For example, in 2023, the third most Googled person in the world was Andrew Tate. The virtual world is reshaping real-life behaviour. Around 90pc of those using the National Centre for Gaming Disorder, which was set up in 2020, are male. And a report published earlier this year by the Centre for Social Justice warned that men aged 18-29 were far more likely to watch porn every day or most days than women (25pc compared to 2pc). In education, an increasing number of female teachers and pupils are also reporting sexual harassment from male pupils in school. Men who have been unemployed for years and now feel trapped in a digital world are searching the internet for signs of hope. A 29-year-old man seeking support on online forum Reddit writes how he is jobless, isolated and has had an addiction to porn since the age of 12. 'I have no motivation to do anything,' he writes. He is not alone. A 2023 study published in the US Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease found that anxiety and depression were 'strongly related' to problematic pornography consumption. Last year Mel Stride, then the work and pensions secretary, blamed porn and video games for the surge in jobless men. He argued that technology had a different impact on boys' and girls' mental health, with women more likely to suffer because of unrealistic ideals portrayed on social media platforms such as Instagram. 'For boys … things like gaming, and certainly pornography and things like that, are a more prevalent factor,' he told the work and pensions select committee. Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt has made that point in the past, claiming boys invested more of their time in computers and video games during the early stages of the technological entertainment revolution. That was before social media drew girls in in the late 2000s. He once argued that as the virtual world becomes more enticing for boys, the 'real world, and especially school, becomes more frustrating: shorter recess, bans on rough-and-tumble play, and ever more emphasis on sitting still and listening'. But not everyone agrees that online porn and gaming is to blame. Some argue that it's little wonder young men seek solace online when faced with the depressing reality of unemployment, the exhausting cycle of unsuccessfully applying for low-paid jobs and living at home. After failing to find a job, some may conclude there is no point even bothering. Lord Elliott, the former Vote Leave chief who now runs the Jobs Foundation, argues that 'blaming worklessness on video games and porn is a sound-bite diagnosis of a serious issue'. 'Rewind several decades – there were more opportunities for solid, rewarding jobs, and the property ladder was in reach for everyone,' he says. 'Good jobs are still out there, but the jobs market is less easy to navigate than it used to be, and buying a home is increasingly beyond reach. 'Since the global financial crisis, we have seen GDP per capita decline in the UK. People are, on average, poorer than their parents were, which is creating a sense of helplessness.' He adds that the 'root cause of worklessness is a wider malaise, which has grown over the past few decades'. In essence, he claims online addiction to porn or gaming is the result of the void left by unemployment. Maxwell Marlow, director of public affairs at the Adam Smith Institute, agrees. 'People are on video games at home because they can't find any work – it's what people do when they don't have a job,' he says. And what about porn? 'That's up to them – the state has nothing to do with that.' But addiction is powerful – a Cambridge University study found in 2014 that porn triggers brain activity in sex addicts in the same way that drugs trigger drug addicts. The research also found that the younger the user, the greater the neural response to porn. Jobless men write online about feeling stuck in a loop, turning to porn or gaming simply to stave off boredom. However, they often know that finding work could break the cycle. 'I remember my therapist asked me if I have a job and I answered 'no' – he told me that a job will fix almost everything f---ed up in my life,' one Reddit user writes. 'It will force me to sleep and wake up at the same time every day, get out of my parents' house, make friends and get in a relationship.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
‘Covid generation' left behind by Labour's bid to beat worklessness
Youngsters whose education was blighted by Covid are now too old to benefit from the latest scheme for jobseekers, the Government has been warned. Those who studied for their A-levels or college qualifications during the first lockdown are now typically 22 or older – but the new jobs guarantee scheme applies only to those aged up to 21. Stephen Evans, the chief executive of the Learning and Work Institute, a think tank, warned that people who lost out on getting a job because of lockdown are now at risk of missing out again. He said: 'The Youth Guarantee, which is a good idea, is focused on 18 to 21-year-olds, making sure they get help to find a job or apprenticeship, and actually it really needs to be 16 to 24-year-olds. Your problems don't stop when you turn 22.' Half of all 22 to 24-year-olds who are not in education, employment, or training – officially known as Neets – have never had a job. At that point 'it becomes more and more difficult', said Mr Evans. 'Employers look at your CV and see you have no work experience, and you end up at the back of the queue. We need urgent action for that group, not just the 18 to 21-year olds.' Liz Kendall, the Work and Pensions Secretary, launched the £45m jobseekers scheme at an event in Liverpool, promising to help match young people with jobs or training programmes. It comes as new figures show there are 923,000 people aged 16 to 24 who are Neets. While down from the peak over winter, it is still up from 750,000 before the pandemic, according to the Office for National Statistics. Almost 500,000 of them are aged between 21 and 24. Mr Evans said: 'You have got a bit of the pandemic generation coming through here, who had disrupted education and then disrupted transitions into work, and you've got the longer-term decline of people working alongside education as well, the classic Saturday jobs. 'This is particularly worrying.' In a shift from historical trends, young men are now roughly as likely as young women to be classed as economically inactive Neets – those who are neither in work nor looking for work, nor in education. In part that is because girls and women tend to leave school, college and university with better grades, while women are less likely now than in the past to care for family members or to look after the home, said Mr Evans. But there has also been a sharp rise in male inactivity. As well as the pandemic effect, there has 'been a rise in the number of young men inactive due to long-term sickness, particularly citing mental health conditions', Mr Evans said. Other government policies are not helping, with the rise in the minimum wage and the increase in employer National Insurance contributions (NICs) proving particularly painful for younger staff. The threshold at which employer NICs start to be paid was cut last month from a salary of £9,100 to just £5,000, meaning more low-paid and part-time workers' jobs have been dragged into the tax net. This harms employment prospects in industries including retail and hospitality, which often give youngsters their first positions. Sarah Yong, at the Youth Futures Foundation, said more youngsters are becoming stuck in unemployment. She said: 'Around one in four unemployed young people who are Neets have been looking for work for over a year, highlighting the persistent nature of this issue. 'Among this group, one in five lack any formal qualifications – double the rate seen across the wider youth population. 'Being out of work and education can have a scarring effect on young people even decades later, impacting their wellbeing, future prospects and much more. 'Aside from the moral imperative to act, there is a clear economic case: if we could put in sustained effort as the Netherlands have done and match their Neet rate, which is the lowest in the OECD, this would be worth £69bn to our economy and would mean approximately 500,000 more young people earning or learning.' Eight regions in the UK will receive £5m each for the 'trailblazer' jobs and training schemes, which will particularly focus on vulnerable youngsters. This includes those leaving care, of whom 40pc are not in education, employment or training. Ms Kendall said: 'Every young person should have the chance to thrive. Today's data shows progress, with 64,000 more young people earning or learning. However, there are still nearly 1m young people locked out of the system and being written off. 'I am determined to change that, which is why we are breaking down barriers to opportunity through our Plan for Change by investing £45m in our Youth Guarantee to give every young person the chance to get on in life.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
24-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
‘Covid generation' left behind by Labour's bid to beat worklessness
Youngsters whose education was blighted by Covid are now too old to benefit from the latest scheme for jobseekers, the Government has been warned. Those who studied for their A-levels or college qualifications during the first lockdown are now typically 22 or older – but the new jobs guarantee scheme applies only to those aged up to 21. Stephen Evans, the chief executive of the Learning and Work Institute, a think tank, warned that people who lost out on getting a job because of lockdown are now at risk of missing out again. He said: 'The Youth Guarantee, which is a good idea, is focused on 18 to 21-year-olds, making sure they get help to find a job or apprenticeship, and actually it really needs to be 16 to 24-year-olds. Your problems don't stop when you turn 22.' Half of all 22 to 24-year-olds who are not in education, employment, or training – officially known as Neets – have never had a job. At that point 'it becomes more and more difficult', said Mr Evans. 'Employers look at your CV and see you have no work experience, and you end up at the back of the queue. We need urgent action for that group, not just the 18 to 21-year olds.' Liz Kendall, the Work and Pensions Secretary, launched the £45m jobseekers scheme at an event in Liverpool, promising to help match young people with jobs or training programmes. 'This is particularly worrying' It comes as new figures show there are 923,000 people aged 16 to 24 who are Neets. While down from the peak over winter, it is still up from 750,000 before the pandemic, according to the Office for National Statistics. Almost 500,000 of them are aged between 21 and 24. Mr Evans said: 'You have got a bit of the pandemic generation coming through here, who had disrupted education and then disrupted transitions into work, and you've got the longer-term decline of people working alongside education as well, the classic Saturday jobs. 'This is particularly worrying.' In a shift from historical trends, young men are now roughly as likely as young women to be classed as economically inactive Neets – those who are neither in work nor looking for work, nor in education. In part that is because girls and women tend to leave school, college and university with better grades, while women are less likely now than in the past to care for family members or to look after the home, said Mr Evans. But there has also been a sharp rise in male inactivity. As well as the pandemic effect, there has 'been a rise in the number of young men inactive due to long-term sickness, particularly citing mental health conditions', Mr Evans said. Other government policies are not helping, with the rise in the minimum wage and the increase in employer National Insurance contributions (NICs) proving particularly painful for younger staff. The threshold at which employer NICs start to be paid was cut last month from a salary of £9,100 to just £5,000, meaning more low-paid and part-time workers' jobs have been dragged into the tax net. This harms employment prospects in industries including retail and hospitality, which often give youngsters their first positions. Sarah Yong, at the Youth Futures Foundation, said more youngsters are becoming stuck in unemployment. She said: 'Around one in four unemployed young people who are Neets have been looking for work for over a year, highlighting the persistent nature of this issue. 'Among this group, one in five lack any formal qualifications – double the rate seen across the wider youth population. 'Being out of work and education can have a scarring effect on young people even decades later, impacting their wellbeing, future prospects and much more. 'Aside from the moral imperative to act, there is a clear economic case: if we could put in sustained effort as the Netherlands have done and match their Neet rate, which is the lowest in the OECD, this would be worth £69bn to our economy and would mean approximately 500,000 more young people earning or learning.' Eight regions in the UK will receive £5m each for the 'trailblazer' jobs and training schemes, which will particularly focus on vulnerable youngsters. This includes those leaving care, of whom 40pc are not in education, employment or training. Ms Kendall said: 'Every young person should have the chance to thrive. Today's data shows progress, with 64,000 more young people earning or learning. However, there are still nearly 1m young people locked out of the system and being written off. 'I am determined to change that, which is why we are breaking down barriers to opportunity through our Plan for Change by investing £45m in our Youth Guarantee to give every young person the chance to get on in life.'
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
‘Covid generation' left behind by Labour's bid to beat worklessness
Youngsters whose education was blighted by Covid are now too old to benefit from the latest scheme for jobseekers, the Government has been warned. Those who studied for their A-levels or college qualifications during the first lockdown are now typically 22 or older – but the new jobs guarantee scheme applies only to those aged up to 21. Stephen Evans, the chief executive of the Learning and Work Institute, a think tank, warned that people who lost out on getting a job because of lockdown are now at risk of missing out again. He said: 'The Youth Guarantee, which is a good idea, is focused on 18 to 21-year-olds, making sure they get help to find a job or apprenticeship, and actually it really needs to be 16 to 24-year-olds. Your problems don't stop when you turn 22.' Half of all 22 to 24-year-olds who are not in education, employment, or training – officially known as Neets – have never had a job. At that point 'it becomes more and more difficult', said Mr Evans. 'Employers look at your CV and see you have no work experience, and you end up at the back of the queue. We need urgent action for that group, not just the 18 to 21-year olds.' Liz Kendall, the Work and Pensions Secretary, launched the £45m jobseekers scheme at an event in Liverpool, promising to help match young people with jobs or training programmes. It comes as new figures show there are 923,000 people aged 16 to 24 who are Neets. While down from the peak over winter, it is still up from 750,000 before the pandemic, according to the Office for National Statistics. Almost 500,000 of them are aged between 21 and 24. Mr Evans said: 'You have got a bit of the pandemic generation coming through here, who had disrupted education and then disrupted transitions into work, and you've got the longer-term decline of people working alongside education as well, the classic Saturday jobs. 'This is particularly worrying.' In a shift from historical trends, young men are now roughly as likely as young women to be classed as economically inactive Neets – those who are neither in work nor looking for work, nor in education. In part that is because girls and women tend to leave school, college and university with better grades, while women are less likely now than in the past to care for family members or to look after the home, said Mr Evans. But there has also been a sharp rise in male inactivity. As well as the pandemic effect, there has 'been a rise in the number of young men inactive due to long-term sickness, particularly citing mental health conditions', Mr Evans said. Other government policies are not helping, with the rise in the minimum wage and the increase in employer National Insurance contributions (NICs) proving particularly painful for younger staff. The threshold at which employer NICs start to be paid was cut last month from a salary of £9,100 to just £5,000, meaning more low-paid and part-time workers' jobs have been dragged into the tax net. This harms employment prospects in industries including retail and hospitality, which often give youngsters their first positions. Sarah Yong, at the Youth Futures Foundation, said more youngsters are becoming stuck in unemployment. She said: 'Around one in four unemployed young people who are Neets have been looking for work for over a year, highlighting the persistent nature of this issue. 'Among this group, one in five lack any formal qualifications – double the rate seen across the wider youth population. 'Being out of work and education can have a scarring effect on young people even decades later, impacting their wellbeing, future prospects and much more. 'Aside from the moral imperative to act, there is a clear economic case: if we could put in sustained effort as the Netherlands have done and match their Neet rate, which is the lowest in the OECD, this would be worth £69bn to our economy and would mean approximately 500,000 more young people earning or learning.' Eight regions in the UK will receive £5m each for the 'trailblazer' jobs and training schemes, which will particularly focus on vulnerable youngsters. This includes those leaving care, of whom 40pc are not in education, employment or training. Ms Kendall said: 'Every young person should have the chance to thrive. Today's data shows progress, with 64,000 more young people earning or learning. However, there are still nearly 1m young people locked out of the system and being written off. 'I am determined to change that, which is why we are breaking down barriers to opportunity through our Plan for Change by investing £45m in our Youth Guarantee to give every young person the chance to get on in life.' Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
