Women are more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change due to gender inequalities and traditional gender roles.
Women’s Health East
According to Merriam Webster, climate change is referred to as the significant and long-lasting change in Earth’s climate and weather patterns. This phenomenon gives an impression of having an equally disastrous impact on all the living beings in the planet. However, recently links that portray a relationship between climate change and gender equity have been established.
Climate change has an adverse impact on those sections of the society that rely heavily on natural resources for their livelihood. 70% of the world’s poor are women and their lives are mired by traditional gender roles. This affects their resilience and ability to adapt to climate change. As a result of this women are more likely to suffer on financial, health and social fronts.
Climate change exacerbates the pre-existing gender inequality and consequently women’s unequal participation in climate-related policy making comes at a huge cost to the environment. Women, being the primary caretakers hold a significant responsibility in providing for their families. Hence, women notice environmental damage first, because when resources are depleted feeding their families become a burden. Women living in poverty are the least responsible for climate change, yet the most burdened by its impact.
We know that women are more inclined to make decisions based on consensus-building, inclusion, compassion, and focus on long-term sustainability. They draw from deep wells of wisdom, from the tenacity taken from a lifetime of tempests and tribulations.
Christine Lagarde
By implementing sustainable practices on community levels women have a powerful role in mitigating the climate crisis. Reducing gender gap across political, finance and social sectors will have a huge impact on various sectors like food, economic security and health. Research shows that countries with higher levels of women in politics have been the most successful in reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Moreover, a study of 130 countries reveals that women in government positions are more likely to sign international treaties on climate resolutions than their male colleagues.
According to World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report, only 24.7% of the global political empowerment gap has been closed. Of the 153 countries examined in the report, women hold 25% of parliamentary seats and only 21% of public ministers’ roles. Worse, 85 of the 153 countries surveyed have not had a woman as their head of state over the past five decades.
Culture does not make people. People make culture. If it is true that the full humanity of women is not our culture, then we can and must make it our culture.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Gender stereotypes and traditional gender roles are a grave injustice not only to women but also to men. A total disregard to the participation of half of the world’s population affects the entire mankind in a negative way. Not just the local knowledge of rural women but a simple shift in the habits of urban women can make a breakthrough in a global climate crisis. According to a report by the NDTV, only 36% of women and girls in India have access to sanitary pads. This generates more than 113,000 tons of menstrual waste annually, given that sanitary pads are 90% plastic. A shift to menstrual cups and cloth pads would be a great leap towards sustainability. Unfortunately, most of the women doesn’t have access to neither menstrual caps nor proper hygiene establishments.
Let’s put an end to gender inequality. Let’s move towards a more sustainable and inclusive world.
