Cutting SNAP Means Cutting Lifelines: The Trump Administration’s Deliberate Attack on Women and Children
The government-backed decision to cut Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the latest gender-based attack in policy form. Across the so-called United States, women, especially single mothers, disproportionately rely on SNAP to feed their families. Nearly two-thirds of adult SNAP recipients are women, many of whom are holding families together through low-wage work and unpaid labor of caregiving.
While Trump and his ruling class cronies court billionaires to fund a ballroom and expand the US imperialist military, 42 million people are having their benefits used in a political showdown between the executive and judiciary branches of government.
The numbers are stark. In 2023:
39% of SNAP users were Americans under the age of 18
19% of SNAP users were 60 or older
60% of SNAP benefits went to families with children
The Government Accountability Office reports that 70% of wage-earning adults who rely on government programs like SNAP and Medicaid work full-time. This includes workers at immensely profitable corporations like Walmart and McDonald’s, where executives pocket the profits while workers are not paid a living wage. Reducing SNAP benefits deepens structural gender inequalities. It forces women, particularly women of color, trans people, and caregivers in low-income households to make impossible choices between food, housing, healthcare, with many being pushed into the sex trade as a means of survival.
Federal funding for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) is also running out, threatening access to infant formula and groceries for families led by working women. WIC serves 6.7 million participants each month, including 41% of all infants in the U.S.
Across the country, Head Start centers are closing, cutting off nutritious meals to children who depend on them. The National School Lunch Program, which provided more than 4.8 billion lunches in fiscal year 2024, is being gutted.
AF³IRM demands the immediate and permanent restoration and expansion of SNAP benefits. Access to food is a right, not a tool to control women’s bodies, labor, or survival. Economic justice is gender justice. We refuse to remain silent and we will fight back against every attack on our lives and our livelihood.
California:
Find a food bank in California
Find food and more in California
Bay Area restaurants are offering free or discounted meals
Los Angeles Unified School District is offering bagged suppers
Sacramento: The Awkward Gardeners Community Table
Hawai‘i:
Find a food bank in Hawai‘i
Pop-up food distribution events from Hawai‘i Food Bank
Massachusetts:
For those in need
Find a food bank in Massachusetts
For those who can help
New York:
Find a food bank in New York
Access Food Help NYC
City Harvest Free Food Map