By CHARLOTTE SUTHERLAND (1)

‘Climate change’ has become a popular term that refers to how the global warming phenomenon is manifesting in climate pattern changes all over the world. While some argue that the idea of global warming is rooted simply in propaganda and similar agenda’s, the physical manifestations of an increasing earth temperature are numerous. This month’s newsletter argues that a gendered view on climate change is critical, if we are to tackle such a broad based challenge effectively. This is an important topic, for broad and all-encompassing shifts such as climate change combine with women’s local circumstances to spawn specific experiences and challenges. These experiences in turn are associated with local and regional economic and political developments. This month’s newsletter therefore provides a brief look at how women’s lives are affected by climate change and how they deal with their experiences.

Every world region is experiencing the effects of global warming. Disrupted rainfall patterns occur, leaving communities desperately trying to replace the farming activities that used to keep them alive. Rising sea levels cause severe flooding of people’s homes and communities. Natural disasters destroy lives and communities, and leave thousands of people impoverished and homeless. Water shortages, pollution, malnutrition and heat stress in dry conditions deplete people’s health levels. In addition, climate change, combined with the HIV & AIDS epidemic, will almost certainly lead to many more deaths over the next decade, as worsening living conditions beat down human immune systems and create increased opportunity for the development of AIDS.

NEUTRAL POLICIES FOR GENDERED EXPERIENCES

The outcomes of two major meetings on climate change, the ‘United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’ and the ‘Kyoto Protocol’, assume that climate change impacts on men and women in the same ways (2). According to the ‘Gender and Climate Change’ website, however, change is not a neutral process. Women are more vulnerable to the effects of climate change, because they constitute the majority of the world’s poor, and because these women depend largely on threatened natural resources (3). Decision-makers focus on technological changes to reduce carbon emissions, and their failure to approach global warming as a gendered issue manifests as gender-neutral solutions and approaches to reducing global warming.

A NECESSARY GENDERED PERSPECTIVE

A gendered perspective on the climate change situation argues that women, because of discrimination, poverty and the social roles they fulfil, suffer from worsening life conditions more than men. In addition, women are underrepresented in decision-making surrounding the very phenomenon that affects their lives so drastically. Decisions regarding climate change have not included a gendered perspective, and have therefore led to gender-biased outcomes (4). Poor women suffer from the effects of climate change much more than men, yet men contribute to greenhouse gasses more by travelling with cars more frequently and over longer distances, using bigger cars and flying more often than women. The feminisation of poverty and its causes are intimately bound together with women’s social roles that expect of them to be subservient in various ways.

For example, many more women than men were killed during the 2005 Asian tsunami, because men ran to safety while women played the stereotypical care-giving role, staying behind to rescue children and the elderly; more men than women had been taught to swim, and many women remained indoors due to social prohibitions against leaving home unaccompanied (5). Food insecurity, due to climate changes, often leave women and girls with less food, as they generally are expected to eat least and last. In such conditions, pregnant and nursing women also suffer in particular from malnutrition. Droughts lead to girls missing out on school, as their task of fetching water for the household takes up more and more time, and they often have to walk further to find water. Some fathers also resolve to selling their daughters into marriage from as young as nine years old, in efforts to combat poverty.

The indigenous knowledge that women have developed though generations has often been under-utilised in efforts to combat issues such as poverty and food insecurity. In Northern Canada, Inuit women’s indigenous knowledge affords them a comprehensive understanding of weather conditions in the area. This knowledge could be incredibly valuable to decision makers working in the field of climate change. The value of women’s labour and knowledge, however, stand in sharp contrast to their experiences of climate change. Poor women are often dependent on natural resources and carry the responsibility of caring for their communities. This means that women in Africa are responsible for around 75% of food production, but are very rarely given the opportunity to provide input in decision-making processes (6).

WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE?

Women’s knowledge and experience contribute significantly to the sustenance, health and well being of communities. Yet important meetings and agreements do not incorporate a gendered perspective in policy-making. For example, campaigns to keep girls in school fail miserably when the cause of their low attendance is not recognised as tied to climate change. Girls often take up most of the work around the home, and this is seen is a priority, above school attendance.

While some programmes and organisations, such as MADRE, are currently addressing the needs of women affected by climate change in countries like Nicaragua, Guatemala, Pakistan, Kenya and Sudan, the scope of climate change is alarmingly larger than simply the women’s experiences. Global warming should be considered a top priority, given the effect it is having on the poor, and women specifically. The economic repercussions of this issue are multiple, complex and affect us all, but a gendered lens should be applied to the issue by those who have the power to make a difference, and women affected should be included in discussions and in the decision-making process.

In addition, research needs to be conducted on how women exercise their agency in these difficult circumstances. Women are not merely passive receptors of hardship; they form social networks to support themselves and conceive initiatives particular to their contexts to help them cope with challenges. In fact, policy makers could learn much from women’s local experiences, knowledge and active coping strategies in dealing with challenges related to climate change. Positive steps in this direction could initiate a more inclusive process of addressing the causes and effects of climate change.