Gender equality

Content warning: mentions of sexual assault and violence against women

We often mention climate justice, and the inequalities caused by climate change, and Leah explored what the concept means in this blog, but there are many aspects of climate justice, including gender inequality and its link to the climate emergency which I will explore in more detail in this blog. 

Just as with every oppressed group, climate change will have disproportionate effects on women, especially women in the most affected regions. 

Firstly, the most commonly known aspects of climate change such as flooding and drought will have the largest effects on women and girls. It is commonly women and children’s responsibility to collect water when running water is not available, and as water becomes more scarce and more polluted, the burden of walking further to find clean water will be put onto women primarily. 

This takes up more and more time, and as water is so important this collection may take priority over education, especially the education of girls. This continues the cycle of women not being educated to the same level as men, as the responsibility of caring for their households falls on them from a young age. The problem of food shortage is often also placed on women, because women commonly work the crops as well as cooking, however when crops are ruined due to flooding or drought it becomes much harder to provide enough food for the family to survive on.

Another big thing to consider is displacement and migration. It is commonly known that the climate crisis is displacing people, and that this will continue to grow as a problem as the crisis worsens, but the effect of this on women and girls is often not considered. Firstly, women will be displaced on a larger scale than men due to the larger number of women in the most affected areas. As well as this, the greater burden often falls on women due to their common role of taking care of family. This makes it more difficult for women to migrate, and makes the burden of migration heavier for women as there is an increased responsibility on them. They are also likely to be put in more danger of male violence and sexual assault when they are in migrant camps and while they are moving. 

Of course, this is just a small section of the way women will be disproportionately affected by the climate emergency, and doesn’t look into the issue in much detail, however it provides an insight into some of the ways in which the climate crisis will disproportionately affect women, and allows a view into why we need to fight for women's rights in the fight for climate justice.