Humanity is today threatened by the vagaries of climate change: droughts, storms, and floods and the resultant alterations in economies, economic development, and human migration. Every individual on the planet will be affected by these events. However, research has demonstrated that women, especially in the emerging nations, bear the brunt of acute weather events because of draconian cultural norms and traditional iniquities in the distribution of roles, resources, and power.
Women make up the major share of the bottom of the economic pyramid. They are depended on natural resources for survival more than men do. Women have lower incomes and are, more often than not, economically dependent. In case of severe weather effects such as floods for instance, men can use their economic independence to adapt and find alternative sources of income. When food is scarce, owing to drought or unseasonal rains, women tend to prioritize the nutritional needs of their children and their before their own. To make matters worse, women have close to no access to information that would help them manage climate-related risks to their (mostly agriculture based) livelihoods. Women lack the critical access to critical information on flood alerts, rainfall patterns etc., affecting their ability to respond effectively and fast.
In many parts of the globe, women are stuck in their traditional roles of motherhood and and family caregivers. This seriously cripples their capacity to migrate for reasonable economic opportunities. Unlike men, women are expected to remain home to care for children, elderly or sick relatives. Climate change has considerable impact on obtaining water, food, and fuel. It is usually the women who are the responsible for making sure there is enough of food and water. In times of drought and erratic rainfall, women and girls struggle to collect sufficient amounts for their family. Girls may be forced to drop out of school to assist their mothers with securing food and water, continuing the vicious cycle of illiteracy, inequity and vulnerability. Severe effects of climate change impact crops and livestock, and women, adding to the misery of women responsible for producing food.
Lack of independent decision making power cripples women's freedom to adapt to climate change. Women cannot, by themselves, replace existing crops with varieties better suited to the changing environment. Traditional constraints on women’s mobility preclude women's access to knowledge and services. Moreover, during floods, droughts etc., women may need the permission of a male relative to relocate. Studies have established that, on average, climate disasters kill more women than men and diminish their life expectancy. Consider the Asian tsunami of 2004, for instance, where fatalities were much higher among men than women. This imbalance is caused by several interrelated socioeconomic reasons.
Women have to lead the change to correct this inequity. When women have control of resources, they tend to use them for family health and financial stability. Research has demonstrated that women could switch strategies and decisions that minimize risk much better than men do. These qualities imply that empowered women can be very effective in the adaptation to climate change.
References:
- Care International, "Adaptation, Gender and Women's Empowerment," Care International Climate Change Brief (2010), accessed at www.careclimatechange.org/files/adaptation/CARE_Gender_Brief_Oct2010.pdf, on Oct. 16, 2012.
- World Health Organization (WHO), Gender, Climate Change and Health (Geneva: World Health Organization, 2011).
- Eric Neumayer and Thomas Plümper, "The Gendered Nature of Natural Disasters: The Impact of Catastrophic Events on the Gender Gap in Life Expectancy, 1981–2002,"Annals of the Association of American Geographers 97, no. 1 (2007): 551–66.
- Neumayer and Plümper, "The Gendered Nature of Natural Disasters."
- CARE International, "Adaptation, Gender and Women's Empowerment."