Don’t Overegg the Pudding
No-one needs to go hungry
The director of the Women’s Budget Group, a British organization that campaigns on issues affecting women, claims that women are the ‘shock absorbers’ of poverty. Too true.
She is further reported as saying, ‘In families, it’s more likely to be mothers that skip meals, have shirts with holes in them, don’t have winter coats, in order to make sure their kids have food on the table and are properly clothed.’ (1)
Here we go again.
The world undoubtedly is in a mess, but the people who want to put it right have a regrettable habit of exaggerating to prove their point (overegging the pudding as we Brits say)
It is scandalous that anyone in an advanced economy like the UK needs to visit a food bank. That has to be said, again and again, until the government listens. But let’s take a closer look at the above statement.
There is no need for campaigners to tug at our heartstrings and claim that mothers are skipping meals. There is a world of difference between not eating a proper, balanced diet and not eating at all. Of course many parents find it difficult to provide a varied, balanced menu, week in, week out. Of course many of them go short to feed their kids. However, no-one needs to go hungry. A 500g bag of oatmeal costs 69p in a…
