In the climate change discourse, discussions often revolve around rising temperatures, extreme weather events and melting ice caps. Amidst these conversations, however, lies an overlooked facet: the disproportionate impact of climate change on women.
From food production to access to resources and land, gender dynamics permeate every aspect of climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts.
This year’s International Women’s Day was themed around inclusion, to promote women’s equal participation in society through fair representation, equal pay and freedom from violence.
In Africa, women play a central role in food production and natural resource management. Ironically, though, women have limited or no land rights. They also have limited access to or control over technologies needed to adapt to climate change.
The inequalities are a product of gender norms that reinforce and perpetuate gendered roles that curtail women’s access to and control over resources. The net effect of this is their inability to adapt.
When women are marginalised, their vulnerability to environmental shocks is made worse. This then fuels a cycle of poverty and inequality.
To address climate change, it is important to evaluate the intersection between the climate crisis and gender and, most importantly, the unique vulnerabilities women face owing to these inequalities.
Over the years, erratic rainfall patterns, prolonged droughts and other extreme weather events have disrupted agricultural cycles. Today, agriculture is one of the most devastated sectors of development, putting food security at grave risk.
In developing countries, women are responsible for small-scale farming of food crops. Yet women have minimal land tenure rights and financial resources. This curtails their ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions. So, when food production suffers, the whole society starves.
Studies show that when women own and control land, agricultural production yields increase by between 20 and 30 percent. It is, therefore, not only archaic to deny land rights to women but also self-defeatist for the continent.
As natural resources such as water grow scarcer due to environmental degradation, women and girls are forced to travel over longer distances to collect them. The time and energy spent on these tasks detract from opportunities for education, economic empowerment and participation in community decision-making processes.
This also exposes them to greater risks of gender-based violence and exploitation. In the end, their exclusion is heightened and their socioeconomic insecurity deepened.
But none of these comes close to the level of vulnerability to displacement and loss of livelihoods that hurricanes, floods and droughts expose women to. More than their male counterparts, women face displacement and loss of livelihoods whenever these extreme weather events occur. Women also struggle to find evacuation shelters, healthcare facilities and relief assistance.
Women, though, are not mere victims of climate change impacts. They also play a pivotal role in building the resilience and adaptative capacity of their communities. Multiple studies show that women are often more attuned to environmental changes. They also possess valuable traditional knowledge and practices for coping with climatic changes.
In Eastern Kenya, for instance, women are producing briquettes to boost the energy security of their communities. These briquettes are made from plant residue and other farm waste and emit less fumes compared to kerosene and, therefore, less harmful. They are also cheaper.
In Ethiopia, women have been digging birkas or traditional cisterns that collect and store runoff water for use in the dry season. This cushions them from having to travel long distances to get the essential commodity.
To this end, empowering women and promoting gender equality become not only moral imperatives but essential strategies for building resilient communities and mitigating the impacts of climate change.
Efforts to address the interconnection between gender and climate change must be intersectional and holistic, considering the diverse needs and experiences of women across different socioeconomic and cultural contexts.
This, therefore, requires urgent integration of gender perspectives into climate policies, programmes and initiatives. This must happen at all levels of governance. Policymakers must also ensure meaningful, substantial and active participation of women in decision-making processes related to climate change adaptation, mitigation and resilience-building.
But even more critical is the need to invest in gender-responsive climate finance mechanisms. This includes providing financial resources and technical support to women-led initiatives that promote sustainable agriculture, renewable energy and natural resource management.
But tackling gender inequalities requires challenging patriarchal norms and power structures that perpetuate the discrimination and marginalisation of women. This involves promoting women’s rights and challenging harmful gender stereotypes.
It also means encouraging women’s participation in decision-making processes and incorporating their voices in outcomes.
Ultimately, we must enhance women’s access to education, healthcare and economic opportunities to empower them to become agents of change in their communities. This would then allow them to contribute substantially to climate solutions and resilience efforts.
By addressing the root causes of gender inequality and investing in the empowerment of women through robust climate policies and initiatives, we create more inclusive and climate-resilient communities where all individuals have equal opportunities to thrive.
There is no environmental sustainability or climate resilience in the absence of gender equality. They go hand in hand. When women thrive, humanity and climate thrive.
Adaptation and resilience associate at Power Shift Africa