Disproportionate Gender Impacts of Climate Change in Developing Nations
By: Isabel de Kiewit
Climate change poses one of the greatest threats to ways of living, health, livelihoods, security, and safety, especially for women and girls in developing countries. But however valuable women’s full and equal contribution is in climate change adaptation and mitigation, their voices are rarely heard. Solving this should be a primary concern in the fight against climate change. Without gender equality today, an equal and sustainable future remains unfeasible.
Climate change and the gender gap in the Global South
Climate change poses a major threat to agriculture and food and resources security across the world, but primarily in developing countries that heavily rely on subsistence agriculture. In developing areas, women bear an excessive responsibility for securing water, food, and fuel. Thus, they depend more on natural resources than men, while, paradoxically, they have less access to them. Consequently, these women are most affected by climate change. These effects go far beyond agriculture and also include increased risks of domestic violence, trafficking and sexual violence, limited access to healthcare and services, enlarged risks for maternal and child health, limited excess to education, and more. This is seen, for example, in Bangladesh, where women living near the coast are 30% more likely to miscarry compared to women who live inland. Scientists believe this has to do with increased amounts of salt in the water, which is caused by climate change. [6]
Climate change is a threat multiplier, indicating that in conflict-affected and fragile environments, it can escalate existing political, social, and economic tensions. Across the world, but mainly in the Global South, women and girls are already more susceptible to these pressures. When climate change amplifies them, a vicious and ever-increasing cycle of vulnerability to subsequent climate disasters is created. [5]
The social lens of intersectional feminism
It is common to discuss inequality based on gender as separate from inequalities based on race, social class, sexuality, education, economic status, and more. However, these oppressions frequently overlap and people are often subject to all of them. The experience of these systems is not solely the sum of its parts. Those who are most impacted by gender inequalities, are also the most marginalized and impoverished — Afro-descendent and indigenous women and girls, living in remote, rural, conflict and disaster-prone developing areas who identify as LGBTIQ+, live with disabilities, or have a migrant background. [4] In the US, women have a 22% higher rate of living in poverty compared to men. These numbers are 40% for women of colour, 101% for disabled women, and 65% for bisexual women. [7] The fact that they are also most impacted by the destructive effects of climate change and natural disasters is not a simple coincidence.
Intersectional feminism offers a lens through which one can observe how many different forms of inequalities often function together and amplify each other. It explains the connections between all existing battles for liberation and justice and demonstrates that fighting for equality means rooting out all different forms of oppression. Intersectionality can also discuss social inequity with respect to social structures unique within each country's ecosystem, such as how apartheid has widened the gap between rich and poor in Africa, or the caste system enforced in countries in Southwest Asia. Through this framework, robust and inclusive movements can be built that aim to dismantle overlapping systems of inequality simultaneously. [4] This ensures that climate change solutions are focused on, and secure, intersecting and interacting needs and opportunities, solving root causes of injustice, inequality, and insecurity.
Gender equality as a measure to fight climate change
Even though women in developing countries are most affected by climate change, their realities, needs, and views are rarely taken into account in discussions and policy initiatives. They are consistently underrepresented in decision-making bodies that draft climate policies or design climate actions, both on an international and a local scale. However, as farmers, consumers, workers, community leaders, and entrepreneurs, these women have valuable local knowledge, experience and an enormous influence, so their input is highly needed in climate projects.
Both at the local and political levels, climate-related policies and projects led by women have proven to be more effective by the UNFCCC. [1] Especially in those areas where people are dependent on natural resources for livelihood, as in many developing countries, women’s capacity to develop climate solutions that cross ethnic and political lines, thereby delivering sustainable peace, has been crucial. Furthermore, the implementation of investments, projects and policies without substantial participation of women can decrease their effectiveness.
At the same time, the ongoing shift towards a greener economy is creating millions of new job opportunities. By placing women in a position in which they can fulfill these jobs to their fullest potential, abiding gender inequalities and income gaps existing in the labour force could be reduced. By correctly directing climate resources, significant progress can be made on climate change and gender equality simultaneously. Women-led efforts are able to dismantle persisting gender stereotypes and empower women to contribute to climate decision-making in their communities.
Moving forward: prioritizing women through gender mainstreaming
Centralizing gender equality in climate change solutions entails the integration of various gender perspectives across enduring and holistic environmental, climate, and disaster risk reduction programs and policies. Climate change solutions must invest in and improve gender-specific data and statistics. This will enhance the relationship between climate and gender, enforce and strengthen land rights and promote women-focused and women-led sustainable solutions, particularly grassroots and indigenous nature-based solutions, food production activities, and resource management. Furthermore, these solutions must take a gender-responsive financing approach, in which sufficient and equal funding is provided to women-led actions to achieve a green and just transition.
In developing nations, clean cooking and off-grid renewable energy solutions involving women entrepreneurs and crop insurance, climate-smart agriculture, or weather information services directed towards female farmers can adapt to and mitigate climate change and reduce gender inequalities at the same time. [2] Redistributing productive resources among women’s smallholder farms, would improve soil fertility, protect ecosystems by reducing the pressure for deforestation and increase their farm yields by 20 to 30%, thereby contributing to the reduction of world hunger by 12 to 17% [3]. As we move forward, we must not only understand the disproportionate impact of climate change on women, but we must actively center them in policymaking and implementation. The time fr gender equality is now.
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