We are upsetting the atmosphere upon which all life depends. In the late 80s when I began to take climate change seriously, we referred to global warming as a ‘slow-motion catastrophe’ one we expected to kick in perhaps generations later. Instead, the signs of change have accelerated alarmingly.
                                                                                                                                                                   - David Suzuki
                                                                                                                               Geneticist and Environmental Activist
Introduction
Any serious issue needs a problem solving attitude by the whole world. Without the active participation of women, any endeavour seems impossible. Unfortunately, the most affected here are women and that too those who live in under developed and developing countries. We need to develop a perspective that includes gender aspects in totality in order to deal with any magnanimous issue.

Climate change, primarily an environmental issue, has a multitude of societal, political, cultural and developmental implications. Though, generally speaking, it affects all the sections of society, it has a particularly lasting and disastrous affect on those at the bottom of the socio-economic inequality pyramid. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2001) noted that, ‘the impacts of climate change will fall disproportionately upon developing countries and the poor everywhere, and thereby, exacerbate inequities in health status and access to adequate food, clean water and other resources.’ It is pertinent to note herein that those least insulated from these adverse effects, even among the poorest, are women, whose vulnerabilities are often accentuated by socially based inequalities, traditional roles and responsibilities, as well as race, ethnicity, and age. These obstacles manifest themselves through disparities in property rights, employment opportunities, inequitable access to resources as well as a general lack of information and awareness. Gender relations have determined social conditions that ‘leave millions of women around the globe in substandard housing, socially marginalised, impoverished or economically insecure, overborne with care giving responsibilities, and lacking social power and political voice.’ (Enarson, 2003)

There is overwhelming historical evidence of occupational roles being influenced by sex. Certain labour-intensive practices such as cultivation of paddy, cotton and tea and fishing extensive have been associated with women since generations, and a decline in these traditional occupations due to the vagaries of climate severely impacts their ability to work outside the home, beyond their role of caretakers. This also greatly compromises their ability to adapt to any manner of change. Such low adaptation ability threatens disproportionate numbers of women across the globe. With limited access to resources, excessive societal limitations and lack of information, women are less likely to be able to cope with climate change. Also, the absence of adequate female representation in the decision-making process on climate change often casts their concerns behind a veil of blissful ignorance.
 
There are telling examples of women suffering more than men in most natural disasters. The mortality rate for women after the 1991 cyclone in Bangladesh was almost five times higher than men, and the reason most commonly attributed for this was the lack of transmission of information from men to women in the households. It was also widely acknowledged that a lack of the ability to swim also hindered women to a great extent. The 2005 tsunami in Asia also witnessed a high percentage of female deaths; 55-80% of those who died were women.

Most climate change deliberations rarely address gender issues and adaptation strategies, focusing rather on mitigation of environmentally disastrous materials and technologies. There is an imminent need, therefore, to study the gender-related issues of climate change, such as adaptation ability, patterns of vulnerability, gender-related impediments, and knowledge dissemination for women in order to create alternate capabilities and opportunities, etc.

Research conducted by the United Nations identifies the active participation of women and the integration of gender issues in environmental policies as critical determinants for the implementation of the internationally agreed upon goals of the Millennium Declaration as well as the commitments of the Beijing Platform for Action (1995) and the World Summit on Sustainable Development (2002).

Climate change necessarily has to be gender based. A general, all encompassing relief effort will not have the same implications for men and women, unless specifically designed to address a particular need of a targeted group. Gender differentiation is a critical facet of any reformative or benefit programmes, and must address the distinct roles and needs of men and women, as well as other identified groups. A methodology of continuous analysis would go a long way in augmenting such identification and streamlining the improvement efforts. One of the pressing challenges regarding continuous analysis is the non-availability or lack of good quality data relating to household structure, demographic trends, division of labour, local power structures, women’s working conditions and their relative control over key economic assets. Crucial questions need to be answered, such as: Who cultivates which crops, and when? Who markets the crops? Who controls the resources? Who cares for which livestock? Who decides on changes in cropping or livestock management patterns and on what basis? (Fade, 1995)

In India, women often toil for hours to provide simple essentials such as food and water. And in areas of climate-related disasters, the workload of women increases manifold. 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. With intensifying climate change, India’s poorest women and girls are at risk of losing opportunities to participate equally in development. At the same time, many poor women are involved in ‘climate-sensitive’ activities such as paddy cultivation or fishing. Climate change will affect their livelihoods (UNDP).

The fact that women play a pivotal role in sustaining and adapting to climate is witnessed through the example of the Inuit women of Canada who, during a drought in the islands of the Federal States of Micronesia, used their knowledge about island hydrology as a result of land-based work and were able to find potable water by digging a new well that reached the freshwater level. They always had a deep understanding of weather conditions, as they were responsible for assessing the hunting conditions and preparing the hunters accordingly. The knowledge of these conditions helped them locate sources of water. Thus, on the macro plane, women’s knowledge in adaptation - both traditional and community-specific - could be used as an important resource.

The need of the hour is for all the stakeholders to establish a far-reaching national policy and develop the programmatic responses necessary to address women’s needs as also utilise their expertise in developing climate change strategies. It is also important to incorporate gender-based initiatives in climate change policies, in order to translate them into specific adaptation strategies involving the women. Partnerships between civil societies and governments should be developed to incorporate women’s needs and capacities, and increase women’s participation in the formulation of national climate change policies and programmes.

Women Power Dealing with Climate Change

While we cannot see a larger role of women in adaptability, mitigation and resolutions dealing with climate change, at individual levels across the globe, some women are demonstrating the leadership and attitude to bring about the change needed.

Lara Hansen is the chief climate change scientist with WWF for the unit delving into the biological effects of global change since 1990. Her primary focus is to redesign conservation strategies in order to meet the needs of an ever-changing environment. She circumnavigates the globe to investigate measures and mitigate the effects of global warming.

Diane McFadzien coordinates an international policy for the Asia Pacific Region and manages a project to assist vulnerable nations in international treaty negotiations. Before taking on this role, Dianne was the South Pacific regional climate change coordinator at WWF, working on public awareness and building resilience to climate change.

Anna Reynolds is one of Australia’s climate change pioneers. She has been raising awareness, creating change and building partnerships on climate change on a full time basis since 1997.

Dongmei Chen joined WWF in 2006 to work on climate change issues and sustainable energy promotion in China. Prior to that, she worked for 12 years for an energy company on wind turbine operations and renewable energy project development as well as in several government departments on sustainable energy project management.

Sarifan is a member of a Mehar Mahila Samuha, a Self Help Group (SHG) in Salpur Bas, a hamlet in Alwar district of Rajasthan. Her group is a member of Kranti Mahila Sabha - a cluster level body of SHGs formed under the project. Kranti Mahila Sabha, in turn, has representation in Sangharsh Mahila Manch, the block level federation of SHGs in Ramgarh, Alwar. Sarifan is the chairperson of Mahila Manch. Under the able leadership of Sarifan, the SHG was instrumental in strengthening groups of rural women to preserve the environment and improve livelihoods in an area where public participation and recognition of women was unheard of. Sarifan arranged credit for the members through SHGs and monitored the implementation of the biogas plants. She is trained in the construction and maintenance of biogas plants.

Geeta Rawat, along with a few others, played a key role in mobilising women in forming a SHG in her village and training the women in embroidery and in meeting bank officials to initiate income-generation activities. Geeta is now campaigning for solar energy plants along with biogas. Geeta was quick to understand the advantages of biogas for the environment, livelihoods, especially for women. She took up the cause and started organising meetings of the village community. She tried to convince the villages to save forests and accept the use of biogas as an alternative of fuel wood. She was also one of the first members to give cash contribution towards installing the plant and offer labour in the biogas installation. She also conducted awareness campaigns in the villages for the promotion of non-convention energy.

Dr Camille Parmesan, professor of integrative biology at the University of Texas, Austin, is one of the nation’s leading scientists documenting the impacts of climate change on wildlife. Through her scientific studies, lectures around the country, and outreach to the media, she has led efforts in the scientific community to educate the key decision makers and the American public about the risks posed to their natural heritage by global warming. Her latest study, published in the December 2006 issue of the Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, is a meta-analysis of 866 scientific studies on the effects of climate change on terrestrial, marine, and freshwater species. It drew widespread attention to the problem of global warming by showing that species around the globe are disappearing due to climate change at a much faster rate than had earlier been predicted.

Minu Hemmati is a clinical psychologist with a doctorate in organisational and environmental psychology. Minu’s work includes designing and facilitating dialogue processes and partnerships among stakeholders, as well as research and advocacy on gender and sustainable development issues. She has wide experience with international policy making processes on sustainable development, gender equity, climate change, social development, urban development and tourism, as well as multi-stakeholder processes and citizen participation.q
 

Back to Contents