Climate change and gender

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Basket making in El Molo

Climate change and gender is the interaction between the environmental phenomenon of climate change and the social category of gender. By altering the ecosystems of the planet, climate change and global warming directly impact the human race. These effects vary for different segments of the population, specifically for people of different genders. In many cases, women are more vulnerable to the negative effects of climate change because of their lower social status in most countries. Many impoverished women, especially those in the developing world, are farmers and depend on the natural environment for subsistence and income. By further limiting their already constrained access to physical, social, political, and fiscal resources, climate change often burdens women more than men.

Locally and globally, both governments and non-governmental organizations respond to climate change. Some of these efforts focus on mitigating the effects of climate change while others aid societies in adapting their lifestyles to changes in their environment. Most policy responses in the late 20th and early 21st century have focused on the social effects of climate change, but gender has not been a significant consideration in these efforts.

Background

Climate change is a lasting variation in the global climate in response to natural and/or human factors.[1] Climate change, and more specifically global warming, can cause glaciers to melt and sea levels to rise, pushing saltwater into freshwater systems.[2] Significant changes like the salinization of water push species to new locations, directly impacting global ecosystems.[2][3] Climatic changes affect weather patterns, increasing the frequency and intensity of floods, droughts, and extreme weather events.[4] These types of conditions also result in natural disasters.[5] While climate change is not solely destructive, the negative impacts of global warming on health and agriculture are greater than the benefits for the majority of the world and increase as global temperatures rise.[6] A two-degree rise in temperature threatens 25 percent of all plant and animal species on the planet with extinction.[3] These climatic changes will cause the most harm for the most vulnerable populations.[7] The vulnerability of an individual or group is their ability to cope with and adapt to climate change and is directly linked to access to resources.[8] Marginalized groups like women, children, the elderly, and the impoverished have less access to and control over resources and therefore are more negatively impacted by climate change.[8]

Impacts on gender

Gender is the collective social differences between males and females, as determined by culture.[9] Gender is one of many components of vulnerability to climatic change.[10] Changes in the climate affect genders differently, magnifying existing gender inequality.[1][8] Both women and men are affected by and vulnerable to climate change and global warming, but women often bear more of the burden.[11] A study by the London School of Economics found that, in natural disasters in 141 countries, gender differences in deaths correlated to women’s economic and social rights in those countries.[10] Due to their social standing, women in developing countries are not generally taught survival skills like swimming or climbing, meaning they are more likely to die in a natural disaster.[1] When women have fewer rights and less power in society, more of them die due to climate change, but when there are equal rights for all groups, death rates are more equally matched.[10]

Agriculture

Projected impact of climate change on agricultural yields by the 2080s, compared to 2003 levels (Cline, 2007)

The poor and impoverished are dependent on the environment and its natural resources for subsistence and income; poverty research reveals that many of the poor are women because, as a group, they have less social power.[3] Many women in developing countries are farmers, but women as a group have trouble obtaining education, income, land, livestock, and technology, meaning climate change may negatively impact female farmers more than male farmers by further limiting their resources.[12] Women produce between 60 and 80 percent of food in the developing world, yet they own ten percent of all agricultural land and approximately two percent of land rights.[3]

As the planet warms and access to water changes, the crop yields tend to decrease.[13] These effects are not uniform, and they have the largest impact on areas of the world where the economy depends on agriculture and the climate is sensitive to change.[13] In developing countries, women are often in charge of obtaining water, firewood, and other resources for their families, but these resources are directly impacted by climate change, meaning women must travel further and work longer to access them during crisis.[1][3] Climate change increases burdens placed on women by society and further limits their access to education and employment.[11]

Sexual abuse and disease transmission

Natural disasters disrupt daily routines and complicate gender and family roles, which can cause victims of natural disasters to feel powerless and frustrated.[14] These feelings often result in aggression against less powerful groups.[14] Women and children in developed and developing countries are at higher risk of sexual abuse during and after natural disasters than before.[15] Condom use during disasters is also lower than at other times, because of decreased access to condoms.[15] Combined with the accelerated spread of diseases and infections in developing countries, the breakdown of the social order and the malnourishment that sometimes accompanies climate change have led to higher rates of dengue fever, malaria, HIV, and STI transmission, especially for women.[3][15] Elderly women are also particularly at risk during natural disasters and times of crisis because they are more susceptible to climatically-induced health risks like disease and because they are often isolated from social support to which men and some younger women have access.[3]

Case studies

Bangladesh

Bangladesh is prone to flooding and waterlogging because of its location as a river delta.[16][17][18] It is labeled a Least Developed Country by the UN, with high rates of poverty and weak government, making it especially vulnerable to natural disasters.[17][18] It is densely populated and about 63 percent of its population works in the agriculture, forestry, or fishing sectors.[17] Slightly less than half of Bangladesh’s population is women and 80 percent of women live in rural areas.[18] Bangladeshi women are particularly vulnerable to climate change because they have limited mobility and power in society.[9] Research shows that, after the cyclone and flooding of 1991, Bangladeshi women aged 20–44 had a much higher death rate than men of the same age: 71 per 1000, compared to 15 per 1000 for men.[18] Even if a cyclone warning is issued, many women die because they must wait at home for their relatives to return before they can seek shelter.[18]

Flooded village after 1991 cyclone

As climate change progresses, access to and salinization of water sources is becoming a problem in Bangladesh.[18] When there is a lack of drinking water, women are responsible for procuring it regardless of the distance they must travel or the terrain they must cover.[18] During natural disasters, male unemployment rises.[18] When men become unemployed, women's responsibilities increase because they must secure and manage income and resources on top of feeding the family and caring for children and the elderly.[18] As the number of men at home without income or occupation rises, more women report mental and physical abuse by their male relatives.[18] To cope with climatic change, women store matches, food for the family, fodder for the livestock, medicine, and fuel sources in safe places in case of disaster.[18] They also teach their children skills such as swimming to prepare them for crisis.[18] Climate-resilient jobs such as duck rearing can help increase Bangladeshi women’s resilience to climate change.[16]

Since the disasters of 1991, Bangladeshi women are more involved in disaster response decision-making, through local committees and community organizations established by the government and NGOs.[9][18] After the 2005 Poverty Reduction Strategy paper was published, Bangladesh incorporated gender mainstreaming into its climate change adaptation plan, but those goals and policies have not been fully implemented.[18]

South Africa

South Africa is the region with the largest economy in Africa, yet more than half of the population lives in poverty and many are unemployed.[19] Those who are impoverished depend heavily on agriculture and natural resources to live.[19] Coal and metal ore mining were also significant contributing sectors of the economy, but are decreasing due to climate change and globalization.[19] The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts that Africa will warm due to climate change 1.5 times more than the rest of the world and that South Africa, specifically, will be 3 - 4°C warmer than it is now by 2100.[19] Water, agriculture, mining, and forestry would all be affected by these changes in temperature and weather.[19] 57% of South Africa's poor are at risk for negative climate change effects because they depend on rain-fed agriculture and climate change in Africa is expected to cause longer and more intense periods of drought over time.[19] Many of the rural poor in South Africa are women who have only limited access to property, income, credit, resources, and social power.[19]

In South Africa, men traditionally look after the livestock while women look over the garden, but due to extended periods of drought, many households lost their livestock.[19] In response to this loss and to increasing unemployment, men are turning to alcohol to deal with the psychological stress.[19] Some are also increasing their number of sexual partners, increasing their risk of contracting or spreading HIV.[19] In response to these changes, more women are entering the workforce, either formally or informally. Some are now working in traditionally male occupations like mining and construction. Others are making and selling goods locally.[19] Social grants from the South African government further support households affected by the changing climate.[19] These grants include pensions, disability payments, and child support.[19] In some cases, when men are responsible for the distribution of social grants in the household instead of women, they use the money to purchase alcohol.[19] In response, the government tends to give grant money to women, which can cause domestic disputes between within households.[19]

Understanding of climate change in South Africa is based mainly on experience and local knowledge, which is communicated orally.[19] Women tend to hold more of this knowledge than men do because of their experience with farming and gardening.[19] In response to drought, some women have begun planting crops near wetlands or other water sources.[19] They are also beginning to preserve food for periods of drought or crop failure.[19] Despite their knowledge of climate change, responses in South Africa, like the South African Country Study on Climate Change Vulnerability & Adaptation Assessment, do not usually address gender.[19] While women in South Africa are represented in the government on a provincial level, there are not many women in government at a municipal level.[19]

Climate change policy

Some scholars believe that climate change policy that does not address gender is not effective in responding to climate change.[1] Much of the policy created before 2013 focused on economic rather than social effects of climatic change.[1][8] Climate change research and policy has only very recently begun to look at gender.[1] The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Millennium Development Goals, and the Beijing Platform for Action are all gender-aware initiatives that may affect climate change policy.[1] While women in rural areas depend on the environment heavily, they are not usually represented in climate change decision-making processes, whether those processes are adaptative or mitigative.[10]

Some of the international responses to climate change that do not address gender or employ gender-sensitive approaches include Agenda 21, the Rio Declaration on the Environment and Development, the UN Climate Framework Convention, the Kyoto Protocol, the Bali Action Plan, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.[1][3] The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is the only international climate change response to have incorporated gender dimensions.[3]

Mitigation and adaptation efforts

Mitigative policy attempts to moderate the intensity of global warming’s effects through measures like reducing greenhouse gases and enhancing sinks.[20] According to research, men and women use their knowledge of their environments to mitigate disasters, transferring this knowledge through informal education.[15] Some of this knowledge includes food preservation processes, methods of construction, and understanding of natural resources in the area.[15] Examples of mitigative efforts include carbon emissions trading.[1] Mitigative efforts largely ignore gender.[1]

Adaptive policy involves spontaneous or planned efforts to tolerate the negative effects of climate change and take advantage of the beneficial effects.[21] Local adaptive processes can decrease in effectiveness over time, especially due to the effects of climate change.[15] Globally, organizations focused on climate change invest more funding in mitigative efforts than in adaptive efforts.[3]

Women are important players in adaptive climate change policy because they have gendered local knowledge about things like managing water resources.[10][22] CARE’s research shows that, when women are in control of the family income, it is more likely to be spent on human development.[16] Women are also generally more risk averse than men and make safer decisions.[16] Yet the EU Commission and Council on adaptation policy (2006–2008) and the National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) do not address gender at all.[1][3]

Theme1-mitigation

Policy recommendations

Some scholars recommend incorporating gender dimensions into research and using human-rights approaches like the Millennium Development Goals and CEDAW as frameworks for climate change responses.[1][10] Several organizations believe that linking mitigation and adaptation approaches, equally funding both types of efforts, and integrating gender into mitigative and adaptive policies will better address the consequences of climate change.[1][10] The UNDP mandates gender mainstreaming in all adaptation measures, meaning adaptive responses to climate change must consider gender and gender equality from their inception and cannot incorporate a gender component late in their development or only in certain areas.[11] Yet some scholars believe imposing mainstreaming agendas on communities can make gender-sensitive policy less effective and may even be counter-productive, emphasizing gender differences and isolating gender from other areas of climate change.[15] Most agree that, to fully address climate change, policy-makers must work with both women and men and take them into consideration at all levels.[16]

One policy response, a forest-protection mechanism called Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), came about recently.[3] Many development organizations praise the REDD mechanism, but others criticize its function as a market-based instrument and its impact on local communities.[3]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Aboud, Georgina. "Gender and Climate Change." (2011).
  2. ^ a b United States Environmental Protection Agency, "Ecosystem Impacts & Adaptation." Last modified April 22, 2013. http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/impacts-adaptation/ecosystems.html.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rodenberg, Birte. Climate Change Adaptation from a Gender Perspective: A Cross-cutting Analysis of Development-policy Instruments. German Development Institute, 2009.
  4. ^ Mirza, M. Monirul Qader. "Climate change and extreme weather events: can developing countries adapt?." Climate Policy 3, no. 3 (2003): 233-248.
  5. ^ Helmer, Madeleen, and Dorothea Hilhorst. "Natural disasters and climate change." Disasters 30, no. 1 (2006): 1-4.
  6. ^ Cook, John. Skeptical Science, "It's not bad." Last modified January 13, 2012. http://www.skepticalscience.com/global-warming-positives-negatives-intermediate.htm (accessed April 22, 2013).
  7. ^ United Nations Development Programme. "Fighting climate change: human solidarity in a divided world." Human Development Report 2007/2008. http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_20072008_EN_Complete.pdf (accessed March 18, 2013).
  8. ^ a b c d Dankelman, Irene. "Climate change is not gender-neutral: realities on the ground." Public Hearing on “Women and Climate Change”. (2011)
  9. ^ a b c CARE. "Adaptation, Gender, and Women's Empowerment." Care International Climate Change Brief. (2010). http://www.careclimatechange.org/files/adaptation/CARE_Gender_Brief_Oct2010.pdf (accessed March 18, 2013).
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Adeniji, Grace. "Adapting to climate change in Africa." Jotoafrika. no. 6 (2011).
  11. ^ a b c United Nations Development Programme. "The Contribution of UNDP-GEF Adaptation Initiatives Towards MDG3." Millennium Development Goals and Climate Change Adaptation. (2010). http://www.gender-climate.org/Content/Docs/Publications/30_UNDP_GEF_MDGi2.pdf (accessed March 18, 2013).
  12. ^ FAO. "Women in Agriculture: Closing the gender gap for development." The State of Food and Agriculture. (2011). http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/i2050e/i2050e.pdf (accessed March 18, 2013).
  13. ^ a b Rosenzweig, Cynthia, and Martin L. Parry. "Potential impact of climate change on world food supply." Nature 367, no. 6459 (1994): 133-138.
  14. ^ a b Curtis, Thom, Brent C. Miller, and E. Helen Berry. "Changes in reports and incidence of child abuse following natural disasters." Child abuse & neglect 24, no. 9 (2000): 1151-1162.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g Lane, Ruth, and Rebecca McNaught. "Building gendered approaches to adaptation in the Pacific." Gender & Development. 17. no. 1 (2009): 67 - 80.
  16. ^ a b c d e CARE. "Adaptation, Gender, and Women's Empowerment." Care International Climate Change Brief. (2010).
  17. ^ a b c Kartiki, Katha. "Climate change and migration: a case study from rural Bangladesh." Gender & Development. 19. no. 1 (2011): 23 - 38.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n WEDO. "Climate Change in Bangladesh." Gender, Climate Change and Human Security. (2008). http://www.wedo.org/wp-content/uploads/bangladesh-case-study.pdf (accessed March 18, 2013).
  19. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Babugura, Agnes. "Gender and Climate Change: South Africa Case Study." Heinrich Böll Foundation. (2010). http://www.boell.de/downloads/ecology/south_africa.pdf (accessed March 30, 2013).
  20. ^ Verbruggen, A. "Annex I: glossary." Climate Change (2007).
  21. ^ United Nations. "Glossary of climate change acronyms." United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. (2012). http://unfccc.int/essential_background/glossary/items/3666.php (accessed March 18, 2013).
  22. ^ Terry, Geraldine. Climate Change and Gender Justice. Oxfam GB, 2009.

References

Nussbaum, Martha C. 2011. Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach.

External links

  • [1] Global Gender and Climate Alliance
  • [2] Millennium Development Goals
  • [3] Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
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