Women most at risk from climate change

Two new studies suggest that women will suffer most when it comes to climate change.

The reports not only indicate how dependency roles in male-dominated societies relate to changing weather patterns, but also how different genders handle the fallout from natural disasters.  

“Gender, Climate & Security: Sustaining inclusive peace on the front lines of climate change” is a study conducted by researchers from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and US Agency for International Development (USAID).

It explains how ever-diminishing resources affect women in terms of the gender dynamic.

A report by humanitarian non-profit CARE International, meanwhile, suggests that poor women are 14 times as likely to die from a climate disaster than men.

In the IUCN study, the focus was placed on 122 countries where USAID is active, including those in Sub-Saharan Africa.

A major finding of this research is that climate-related security risks affect men, women, boys and girls in different ways, resulting in “distinct vulnerabilities” for different groups.

They give the example of men migrating away from the home in search of more abundant resources.

“Women who remain behind in rural areas often face a double economic burden: income generation and caring for the household.

“To compensate for lost income, women may take on new roles, such as working in sectors that have been traditionally dominated by men while maintaining increasingly strenuous household responsibilities, such as collecting water or wood, especially in degraded environments where access to such resources is ever more distant.”

The researchers say these expanded responsibilities can expose women to new security risks, “including sexual and gender-based violence, or create additional barriers to education”.

Climate change and conflict, when combined, are even more of a threat to women.

In northern Nigeria, where Boko Haram terrorises rural communities and is in conflict with the state, land that is both secure and fertile is insufficient for all populations to pursue livelihoods, resulting in areas of higher population density and reduced resilience to variations in climate.

Researcher Chitra Nagarajan writes: “Communities are also experiencing increasing tensions and degrading social cohesion, relationships and networks. Young men, recruited into and forced to join AOGs (Boko Haram) and community militias, are often stigmatised and feared as perpetrators of violence.

“Conversely women, often seen as innocent victims, can choose to join AOGs to escape the patriarchal norms of mainstream society, particularly given the lack of alternative livelihood options. At the same time, with many men detained, killed, fighting or having left them behind in search of work elsewhere, women are finding ways to provide for their families in sharp contrast to pre-existing gender norms of breadwinner masculinity.

“However, this increased resilience is far from uniform, as particular groups of women, such as women with disabilities, face intersecting forms of marginalisation, lesser access to capital and reduced social networks due to stigma.”

In the Lake Chad region, recurring droughts have decimated the land, heightening competition among communities. In this area, at least a third of women and adolescent girls face “severe violations” of their rights and violence on a daily basis.

The CARE International report reflects many of the same findings, but also shows that poor women and children are up to 14 times more likely to be killed than men by a climate-fuelled disaster, such as a hurricane, typhoon, cyclone or flood.

“Women and adolescent girls in urban parts of Bangladesh were found to be particularly sensitive to health impacts from water-logging and deteriorating water quality as a consequence of heavy rains, and faced particular challenges from being dependent on assistance from their male partners,” the report says.