Climate change debate continues to be loaded with political difficulties but it is not only a political issue; it’s not only carbon emission; not fighting between states blaming each other. It is not only to accentuate the gaps between the worlds’ rich and poor, it also put different burden on men and women. It creates serious new challenges for societies around the world and also a threat to human security in general. Developing countries are likely to experience the heaviest impact of climate change, with women bearing the greatest charge.
Women make up a large number of the poor in communities that are highly dependent on local natural resources for their livelihood and are disproportionately vulnerable to and affected by climate change. Women’s limited access to resources and decision-making processes increases their vulnerability to climate change. They are likely to become direct victims (mortalities and injuries) of climate change disasters, such as hurricanes and flooding. During natural disasters, often more women die than men because they are not warned, cannot swim or cannot leave the house alone. Women made up 55-70% of the Banda Aceh (Indonesia) tsunami deaths, and in the worst affected village Kuala Cangkoy, in the North Aceh district, 80% of the deaths were women. When poor women lose their livelihoods, they slip deeper into poverty and the inequality and marginalization they suffer from because of their gender, increases. Therefore, climate change presents a very specific threat to their security. (for more see: Empty Promises: Gender Scorecard of World Bank-Managed Post-Tsunami Reconstruction in Indonesia by Suzanna Dennis & Warisha Yunus)
Women in rural areas in developing countries have the major responsibility for household water supply and energy for cooking and heating, as well as for food security, and are negatively affected by drought, uncertain rainfall and deforestation. Women’s hardship in the face of climate change can also have a negative effect on reproductive health. For example, during the dry season in parts of rural India and Africa, 30 percent or more of women’s daily caloric intake is spent on fetching water alone. The enormous physical strain placed on women’s bodies because of those tasks has resulted in higher reproductive health risk among these populations. In rural Peru women typically have low access to education, specialist technical assistance, healthcare, or control over the family’s productive resources. These widespread and profound inequalities put poor women in and their children in a situation of particular vulnerability to food insecurity during El Niño. Widespread malnutrition exposed women and children disproportionately to epidemics (acute respiratory and diarrhoeal infections, malaria, dengue, and cholera), which increased significantly during El Niño. (for more information , see Gendering responses to El Niño in rural Peru, Rosa Rivero Reye, Oxfam publication)
Gender differences in property rights, access to information and in cultural, social and economic roles, and the effects of climate change are likely to affect men and women differently. Long-term climate change will have an impact on agriculture, and ecological and human systems, and is therefore likely to have ramifications for gender relations. Obviously, adaptation mechanism must reflect recipient’s needs constraints and priorities. Therefore, it is important to identify gender-sensitive strategies for responding to the environmental and humanitarian crises caused by climate change.
Rahnuma Afroz
Program Associate, PPD