‘To Save Women, the World Needs Women to Lead the Way’: How Climate Injustice and Gender Intersect
By Zayna Zubair
Climate injustice… it’s that super desperate friend that keeps inviting themselves to your place even though you want nothing to do with them. While the world is becoming increasingly aware of global warming, the concept of climate injustice now recognises that, although climate change is a global crisis, its effects are not felt evenly around the world.
One of the many strands that climate injustice intersects with is gender inequality. This intersection is one of the greatest challenges of our time. It poses threats to the ways of life, livelihoods, education, health, safety and security of women, girls and gender minorities around the world.
According to UN Women (2022), climate change is a ‘threat multiplier’, meaning it escalates social, political and economic tensions in fragile and conflict-affected settings. As climate change drives conflict across the world, women and girls face increased vulnerabilities to all forms of gender-based violence, including conflict-related sexual violence, human trafficking, child marriage and other forms of violence.
These disparities trigger a trickle-down effect as information, mobility, decision-making and access to resources and training are not as accessible or completely inaccessible. In the aftermath of climate disasters, women and girls are less able to access relief and assistance, further threatening their livelihoods, well-being and recovery, and creating a vicious cycle of vulnerability to future disasters.
While a severely disproportionate Global South demographic is currently affected by climate change, the impact felt in the Global North shouldn’t go unnoticed. Let’s look back at Australia’s deadly bushfire, which began in September 2019 and only ended in March 2020. Over 46 million acres of land burned and approximately 35,000 homes were destroyed. VOA News (2020) quoted doctors who stated that the particles from the bushfire smoke left placentas that tainted an unborn child resembling those in women who are heavy smokers, resulting in babies born premature and underweight. Whilst it was also stated that the smoke will continue to have long-lasting consequences on people with lung and heart conditions, the worsening development of global warming and the bushfire effects will carry its penalties with the pregnant women who were impacted.
A less visible consequence of Australia’s bushfires was domestic violence. In high-stress environments, a lot of panic and distress is triggered, leading to harmful, violent consequences. Victoria, Australia received $700,000 in funding to assist agencies that gained a high volume of women facing domestic violence; another $500,000 went just towards preventing violence against women.
Amanda Kelly, CEO of Wangaratta-based Women's Health Goulburn North East, stated that Women’s Health began research after the 2009 bushfires ‘looking into the gendered impact of disasters on communities (because) when there is a significant disaster like this men and women are affected in many ways and there are some unique impacts for women that really need to be addressed’ – keeping in mind the unknown impacts of COVID 19 were just becoming global.
When we look at the intersectionality between climate change and gender inequality in the Global South, the playing field is much different. Climate change-conflicted regions impact women and girls as they are disproportionately responsible for procuring food, water and domestic energy resources. Such burdens make it more difficult for women to acquire equal resources, especially when climate conflicts occur.
Under extreme weather conditions, women have to spend more time travelling long distances to complete their basic tasks. Consequently, women have less time and energy to pursue a career, education, or more income, since they have the fewest resources available to break free from poverty. When 2021 brought Mexico one of the most devastating droughts yet, water-related tasks took up nearly an entire working week for women. Considering the overwhelming role women normally serve in housework and childcare, domestic water management with limited water accessibility forced them to make unjustified compromises in their personal, vocational and educational growth.
A UNDP (2020) research article discovered that in Uganda, ‘the impact of climate change also exacerbates the risk of violence against women’. In periods of prolonged drought, women and girls make more frequent and longer journeys to obtain food or water, which makes them vulnerable to sexual assault. Poor harvests, livestock loss, and food insecurity put pressure on men’s traditional role as providers, and they often turn to alcohol to cope and can become more violent.
Furthermore, some food vendors, farmers or landowners at times insist on trading sex with women in exchange for food or rent; even attempts by women to negotiate providing labour in exchange for food are sometimes rejected, and these men with power insist on sex. Some families resorted to marrying off their daughters to better cope with food scarcity. In families where men left home to seek a living elsewhere, women and children were left to fend for themselves, which made them vulnerable to violence and sexual exploitation.
Evidently, the consequences of climate change faced by women are continually worsening. There are several women who are working and responding to this climate disparity but are not getting the attention they deserve. Earth Org, in 2022, stated that not only are women still underrepresented in spheres including politics and STEM (barely holding a third of leadership roles), but that this imbalance may lead to an awful increase in existing inequalities and a decrease in result effectiveness if policies or projects are implemented without women’s significant involvement.
Gender inequality is severely affected by climate change; the first step in moving forward with solutions is to recognise that this is a problem. The second is to raise an educated awareness of women’s vulnerabilities, catering to their livelihoods and where they are from because this will help with the next step of creating a solution framework.
Knowing that this work is being raised will encourage women to come forward, participate and lead in the fight for climate justice for women. Moreover, it is crucial to note that for women in disadvantaged positions, increasing the effectiveness of women in climate change mitigation is renewable energy: this can help transform the lives of women by improving their health, providing them with better livelihood prospects, improving their educational opportunities and their entrepreneurial prospects.
Women will bring more empathy and inclusiveness in their advocacy and problem-solving, which will enhance their efficacy as sustainability leaders and pioneers for equality. To understand women, and to save women, the world needs to let women lead the way.
Zayna Zubair is a researcher for climate justice and international development. She recently became one of Girl Up’s (UN Foundation) Regional Leaders and hopes to bring more awareness to the injustices girls and women face. She is also a freelance producer and film director and co-created Trashed Films.