Vibhuti Patel
Introduction
Economics of Gender and Development 5005 connection between a the exploitation and degradation of the natural world and the subordination and oppression of women. Ecofeminism emerged in the mid-1970s alongside second-wave feminism and the green movement.
Ecofeminism brings together elements of the feminist and the green movements, while at the same time offering a challenge to both. It takes from the green movement, concern about the impact of human activities on the non-human world, and from feminism the view of humanity as gendered in ways that subordinate, exploit and oppress women. It is both an activist and an academic movement which sees critical connections between the domination of nature and the exploitation of women. Ecofeminist activism grew during the 1980s and 1990s among women from the anti- nuclear, environmental and women’s rights movements.
Women in many developing countries are responsible for climatically sensitive tasks such as securing food, water and energy which ensure the life and well-being of the households. The effects of climate change have been droughts, floods, coastal erosion, sea level rise and rising temperatures. Devastating impact of climate change puts greater pressure on women to shoulder the adverse consequences on the households. Women have to face double challenges when faced with climate change as they are at the receiving end and at the same time saviors of survival. needs and nurturers.
Women often have unequal access to information and resources, and are under-represented in decision-making which makes them even more vulnerable to natural disasters and extreme weather events. Despite women’s vulnerabilities, women’s knowledge and social practices could be used to build community resilience if women were included in the efforts at adaptation and mitigation. For this to happen we need to train our decision makers to identify strategic gender needs and practical gender needs in the matter concerning climate change and sustainable development.
Male Domination in the Discourse on Climate Change
The impacts of climate change on women are not a mainstream focus in the key international agreements on climate change such as the Kyoto Protocol and the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change). All key decision-making institutions related to climate change have a male-dominated hierarchal structure.
The report, Facing a Changing world: Women, Population and Climate, released on 9-11-2009 by the UN highlights “With the possibility of a climate catastrophe on the horizon, we cannot afford to relegate the world’s 3.4 billion women and girls to the role of victim,” United Nations Population Fund Chief Thoraya Ahmed Obaid said. “Wouldn’t it make more sense to have 3.4 billion agents for change?”
Gender as a Factor of Vulnerability to Climate Change
The UNFPA study reveals that the poorest populations while having contributed the least to climate change are the most vulnerable to the crisis. Women are the poorest of the poor. It is estimated that women produce over 50% of all food grown worldwide. Climate disaster is perhaps the most inequitable threats of our time. Worst sufferers are women because they constitute major share of agricultural work force and also because they tend to have access to fewer income-earning opportunities.
The impact of climate change on women is of particular significance in Pacific Island Nations Climatic conditions and extreme events droughts, floods, sea level rise and coastal erosion, rising temperatures – will hurt food security and the well-being of Pacific Islanders, with women bearing the brunt of the impact due to the responsibility held by women with Pacific communities in relation to food security and the well-being of a household.
The plight of Asian women has been aggravated by climate change. Noting that about 2.2 billion Asians rely on agriculture for their livelihoods, the sector is now threatened by falling crop yields caused by floods, droughts, erratic rainfall and other climate change impacts. The UNFPA Report avers, “Current climate models indicate food prices may increase sharply, rice prices by 29-37 per cent, maize prices by 58-97 per cent and wheat prices by 81-102 per cent by 2050”. In this context, women are forced to shoulder the heaviest burden of food inflation as provider of food in the family.
Indian Experience
In India, more than 84% of women are involved in agricultural activities, and as a result they become the greatest victims of climate change’s impact. In addition, gender inequality makes them disproportionately vulnerable to environmental alterations. Indian women are extremely vulnerable to climate change. As women are often responsible for providing daily essentials such as food and water, when climate-related disasters strike the poorest families, the workload of women and girls increases and they tend to miss out on opportunities.
Studies have shown that Indian women born during a drought or a flood in the 1970s were 19% less likely to ever attend primary school. As climate change intensifies India’s poorest women and girls are at risk of losing opportunities participate equally to in development. At the same time, many poor women are involved in “climate sensitive” activities such as paddy cultivation or fishing. Climate change has affected their livelihoods. Gender Differential Impact of Climatic Threats to Life has been documented by innumerable grounded researches by social activists that revealed how climate change has led to increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather conditions, precipitating the occurrence of natural disasters around the globe.
A London School of Economics study in 2007 examined natural disasters that had occurred in 141 countries from 1981-2002. The study found that natural disasters lower the life expectancy of women, and as the disaster intensifies so too does this effect. Women and children have been at higher risks and 14 times more likely to die than men during natural disasters and are otherwise disproportionately adversely affected and 85% of people who die from disasters are women (http://www.wedo.org/category/ learn/campaigns/ climatechange).
It was reported that 70-80% of casualties in the 2004 Asian tsunami were women and 90% of the casualties in the 1991 cyclone in Bangladesh were women (www.norden.org/en/ publications). It was found that 83% of low-income, single mothers were displaced in the wake of Hurricane Katrina ((www.iwpr.org/publications/ pubs/…wake…Katrina…/file).
Increased Workload/ Household/Energy Expenditure Burdens:
Because of women’s role in the household, women have to cope with swift environmental changes for centuries. However, climate change is lessening women’s capacity to cope with these changes. And when women are not able to adapt to their environment entire communities suffer (Source: www.wedo.org). Climate change exacerbates issues of scarcity and lack of accessibility to primary natural resources, forest resources, and arable land. thereby contributing to increased workload and stresses on women and girls as well as increased conflict and instability which often leads to increased violence against women and girls.
Vibhuti Patel is a distinguished Visiting Professor IMPRI and Former Professor, TATA Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai.
The article was first published in People’s Reporter as Gender Concerns- In Climate Change Discourses on August 10-24, 2024.
Disclaimer: All views expressed in the article belong solely to the author and not necessarily to the organisation.
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Acknowledgment: This article was posted by Bhaktiba Jadeja, a research intern at IMPRI.
