JEBET: Give women power to combat climate change

Even as the world continues to grapple with the adverse effects of climate change, one thing should not be ignored—that women are disproportionately affected by this unprecedented phenomenon.

Three aspects contribute to women’s vulnerability to climate change; social, economic and cultural.

This situation shoves women at the centre of climate change, therefore, making it critical to put them at the heart of nature’s conservation.

In any patriarchal society like Kenya, women and girls are still grappling with historical challenges brought about by the nature of our societies’ social and cultural norms, which discriminates against them because of their gender.

Women are naturally nurturers and caregivers. They are the ones that roll the societal wheel as far as the well-being of the family and community is concerned. They are the ones who trek for miles on end in search of water in areas where the precious commodity is rare.

It is the woman who tills the land to keep her family fed throughout the season although in many cases, she doesn’t own it. In a situation where there is no water, it’s the girl and the woman who take the blame for not looking for it in time for the family to eat, bathe or do the laundry.

Climate change compounds these challenges faced by women further adding to an already existing conundrum limiting their access to education and skills acquisition, among others. Associated with this, it is imperative to address existing gender gaps so that we can achieve our objectives of conservation goals, community well-being and human rights.

It’s women and girls who face higher risks and greater burdens from the impact of climate change. The most affected group of women are those from poor backgrounds. Their responsibilities and cultural norms place them in incredibly fluid situations.

Since women wield limited access and control of the environment, they cannot make any decisions and are not in a position to distribute any benefits accrued from environmental management, unlike men.

Gender inequality continues to fester in spite of policies and legal frameworks making efforts to have an equal society an uphill task. This situation comes with a string of barriers that prevent the realisation of sustainable development and livelihoods, even as the world is put into a spin by the effects of climate change.

This in effect limits the flawless access of women and girls to resources not to mention decision-making opportunities.

For instance, women who do subsistence farming are more susceptible to climate change compared to men because they depend more on their farms and have incredibly limited access to other modes of livelihood like salaried jobs. Their dependence on natural resources exposes them more to the adverse effects of climate change.

Gender inequality, sociocultural norms and childcare prevent women from moving away from home when climate change disaster strikes. This prevents women from adapting and mitigating this phenomenon, reducing their chances of survival in a world that has always put them on the periphery of life.

Three years ago, historical floods wrecked livelihoods in Baringo county after three lakes – Baringo, 94 and Bogoria – broke their banks. The devastation is still felt to this day.

Small-holder farms, markets and households are still under water. The women who depended on their vegetable gardens, herbal medicine and fishing activities are stranded. They are still reeling from the shock of being forced into internal displacement camps, where they lived a life of dependence, something they were never used to.

The camps were improvised shelters made of sticks and grass. There are only women and girls in these camps after men melted into far and nearby urban centres.

Girls and women in such camps are often in need of sanitary pads and sanitation, things that they can only hear of but not see anywhere near their reach.

Furthermore, food becomes scarce in displaced people’s camps, subjecting women and their children to malnutrition and its attendant health risks that could easily turn tragic for them. These are a group who are already marginalised in society but they must bear the brunt of the greatest climate challenges of the century without any prior warning and preparation.

Going forward, women should not be viewed as victims of climate change but as effective and dependable agents of adaptation and mitigation.