We all know that the climate crisis is an inequality crisis. Related disasters disproportionally impact marginalised groups. The people who have contributed least to human-caused climate change are the ones experiencing climate impacts every day. This imbalance between responsibility for the climate crisis and those suffering correlates with existing inequalities, of which gender is one. While it may be hard at first to see why the climate crisis is a sexist issue, when you look closer you’ll find that women are constantly dealing with the implications of the climate crisis in their daily lives.
During and after the disasters caused by climate change, women are four times more likely to die than men. This can be due to several reasons. Firstly, woman, on average, are the caretakers of children and land so often don’t have the time when safety practices and lifesaving skills are discussed in communities. This means they are less likely to know how to safely respond to natural disasters compared to men who are prioritised in such discussions. Some cultures also require women to have the permission of their husbands before they can evacuate their homes or have dress codes which decrease mobility. Inequalities such as these put women at a much higher risk of death during climate caused disasters.
In addition, of the people who survive natural disasters, 80%of those being displaced are women. One reason for this is that, in some areas of climate instability, traditional gender roles are still in place. Women are generally responsible for collecting water, food, and fuel for their families, so when these resources become scarcer, due to extreme climate events, they are also those who are forced to put themselves in more danger and travel further to locate these resources. Women can often take a lead in agriculture which is becoming harder as drought frequency increases and soil nutrients are depleted.Therefore, many women are forced to leave their homes. Female landowners are also less likely to receive compensation for land damage, or forced displacement, causing them to lose income which pushes some into poverty. This can make it harder for them to be financially independent by further increasing the gender pay gap and decreasing their access to leadership or decision-making opportunities. When climate caused disasters affect agricultural work, girls are also often the first to be taken out of school to support their families,further reducing girls and young women’s access to education.
Conflict also often arises from the mass movement of displaced people, whether that be from ethnic tensions or due to lack of resources. During these times studies have shown that cases of human trafficking and sexual violence increase which affects women and girls far more than men and boys. The women who survive disasters and are not displaced are also at a disadvantage because they are primarily responsible for cleaning up the aftermath. One example of this was highlighted in an Oxfam report in 2017 which found that,following a hurricane in Puerto Rico, it was the women who were leading the community’s recovery.
Women across the world are also leading in climate solutions.For example, Professor Wangari Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement which empowers women and girls to plant over 51 million trees in Kenya for climate resilience efforts. Artemisa Xakriabá is a 19-year-old climate activist and uses her immense knowledge of the Amazon rainforest as an indigenous woman to fight forest fires, droughts,and land degradation caused by deforestation by the Brazilian government. Women are also very often the first you’ll find behind banners, leading the fight against climate inaction. These examples show how women at the forefront of the crisis hold the knowledge needed to support others facing ecological and climate breakdown.
Despite all of this, women are few when discussing the climate crisis at policy talks. Even though women, especially those in the global South, are often those with the most knowledge on natural resource management and the use of environmentally sustainable practices, they are not included at decision-making tables. At COP26 in Glasgow, for example, the UK had originally planned an all-male leadership team and, although this was revised, the 45%of women present were less likely to be involved in the negotiations and more involved in event planning. This underrepresentation shows how much further we need to go before women, in particular Black, Indigenous and Women of Colour, are given the same leadership opportunities and power as their male counterparts. It also highlights the gender imbalance within climate policy, despite a study showing that women are generally more concerned about the climate crisis than men and, in countries where women are in positions of power, climate policies are more ambitious.
In short, the injustice caused by the climate crisis is extensive. The number of groups disproportionally affected by it must all receive the justice and support they need when faced with climate disasters. This justice cannot be achieved without acknowledging the extra dangers women face during the climate crisis. Putting their experience and knowledge at the centre of climate policy work is therefore essential for our recovery and fight against the climate crisis to succeed.
