Gender and Climate Change
By Sanjoli Gupta
Women are disproportionately affected by climate change in comparison to men. This is because of a variety of factors, including dependance on natural resources to sustain their livelihoods, difficulty moving up the socioeconomic ladder, and the extreme pollution of developed nations.
Women are often the primary caretakers of the children and hold the responsibility of ensuring the access to basic resources needed to survive, such as food and shelter, are available. This makes them more likely to face displacement during natural disasters while also shouldering the burden of keeping the children alive.
Their livelihoods are often dependent on the resources immediately surrounding them. The worsening of droughts and burning of forests make it difficult for women to continue living in their communities. They find themselves spending more time bringing home basic necessities, such as water, instead of focusing on making an income to lift themselves out of poverty (McCarthy 2020). In Senegal, girls dropped out of school just because they needed more time to bring water so they could survive (“Fact Sheet”). Unfortunately, an education is necessary to help with better agriculture and learning practices that help increase their efficacy when battling “climate-related risks” (Yavinsky 2012)
Women in Mexico made cheese for a living, but when the water availability in the area dropped, the owners of cattle replaced them with cattle who needed less water so they could survive in the existing conditions. However, these cows also produced less milk, making the women travel even further to areas with healthy cows and more water than they have to sustain their livelihood (McCarthy 2020).
In times of hardship, violence perpetrated against women skyrockets, making it even more difficult for them to provide accordingly. When it comes to recovery specifically, BBC news explains that it's difficult for women to find housing, a livelihood and more after a disaster because they have “less socioeconomic power than men.” (Halton 2018)
According to the UN, “Seventy per cent of the 1.3 billion people living in conditions of poverty are women. In urban areas, 40 percent of the poorest households are headed by women. Women dominate in the world's food production (50-80 per cent), but they own less than 10 per cent of the land” (“Women…In the Shadow of Climate Change”)
Since women are more likely to live in conditions of poverty, they are also more likely to deal with issues such as climate displacement. Developed countries, such as the US, create the problem through high fossil fuel consumption and other acts to grow their economy. However, they aren’t impacted by the problem nearly as much as developing countries because they have the financial and technological capability to adapt as necessary (“Climate Change:”).
Works Cited:
Climate Change: Impacts, Vulnerabilities and Adaptation in Developing Countries - UNFCCC. https://unfccc.int/resource/docs/publications/impacts.pdf.
“Fact Sheet Climate Change & Women .” Oxfam, 2009, https://s3.amazonaws.com/oxfam-us/www/static/media/files/climatechangewomen-factsheet.pdf.
Halton, Mary. “Climate Change 'Impacts Women More than Men'.” BBC News, BBC, 8 Mar. 2018, https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-43294221#:~:text=Women%20are%20more%20likely%20than,when%20flooding%20and%20drought%20occur.
McCarthy, Joe. “Understanding Why Climate Change Impacts Women More than Men.” Global Citizen, 5 Mar. 2020, https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/how-climate-change-affects-women/.
“Women...in the Shadow of Climate Change.” United Nations, United Nations, https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/womenin-shadow-climate-change.
Yavinsky, Rachel. “Women More Vulnerable than Men to Climate Change.” PRB, 26 Dec. 2012, https://www.prb.org/resources/women-more-vulnerable-than-men-to-climate-change/.
Image from: Ensia
