Why women are more vulnerable
Women's vulnerability to climate change stems from a number of factors -- social, economic, and cultural.
Seventy percent of the 1.3 billion people living in conditions of poverty are women. In urban areas, 40 percent of the poorest households are headed by women. Women predominate in the world's food production (50-80 percent), but they own less than 10 percent of the land.
Women represent a high percentage of poor communities that are highly dependent on local natural resources for their livelihood, particularly in rural areas where they shoulder the major responsibility for household water supply and energy for cooking and heating, as well as for food security. In the Near East, women contribute up to 50 percent of the agricultural workforce. They are mainly responsible for the more time-consuming and labor-intensive tasks that are carried out manually or with the use of simple tools. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the rural population has been decreasing in recent decades. Women are mainly engaged in subsistence farming, particularly horticulture, poultry, and raising small livestock for home consumption.
Women have limited access to and control of environmental goods and services; they have negligible participation in decision-making and are not involved in the distribution of environmental management benefits. Consequently, women are less able to confront climate change.
During extreme weather such as droughts and floods, women tend to work more to secure household livelihoods. This will leave less time for women to access training and education, develop skills or earn income. In Africa, female illiteracy rates were over 55 percent in 2000, compared to 41 percent for men.4 When coupled with inaccessibility to resources and decision-making processes, limited mobility places women where are disproportionately affected by climate change.
In many societies, socio-cultural norms and childcare responsibilities prevent women from migrating or seeking refuge in other places, or working when a disaster hits. Such a situation is likely to put more burden on women, such as traveling longer to get drinking water and wood for fuel. Women, in many developing countries, suffer gender inequalities with respect to human rights, political and economic status, land ownership, housing conditions, exposure to violence, education, and health. Climate change will be an added stressor that will aggravate women's vulnerability. It is widely known that during the conflict, women face heightened domestic violence, sexual intimidation, human trafficking, and rape.5
Improving women's adaptation to climate change
In spite of their vulnerability, women are not only seen as victims of climate change but they can also be seen as active and effective agents and promoters of adaptation and mitigation. For a long time, women have historically developed knowledge and skills related to water harvesting and storage, food preservation and rationing, and natural resource management. In Africa, for example, old women represent wisdom pools with their inherited knowledge and expertise related to early warnings and mitigating the impacts of disasters. This knowledge and experience that has passed from one generation to another will be able to contribute effectively to enhancing local adaptive capacity and sustaining a community's livelihood. For this to be achieved, and in order to improve the adaptive capacity of women worldwide, particularly in developing countries, the following recommendations need to be considered:
• Adaptation initiatives should identify and address gender-specific impacts of climate change particularly in areas related to water, food security, agriculture, energy, health, disaster management, and conflict. Important gender issues associated with climate change adaptation, such as inequalities in access to resources, including credit, extension and training services, information, and technology should also be taken into consideration.
• Women's priorities and needs must be reflected in the development planning and funding. Women should be part of the decision-making at national and local levels regarding the allocation of resources for climate change initiatives. It is also important to ensure gender-sensitive investments in programmes for adaptation, mitigation, technology transfer, and capacity building.
• Funding organizations and donors should also take into account women-specific circumstances when developing and introducing technologies related to climate change adaptation and try their best to remove the economic, social, and cultural barriers that could constrain women from benefiting and making use of them. Involving women in the development of new technologies can ensure that they are adaptive, appropriate, and sustainable. At national levels, efforts should be made to mainstream gender perspectives into national policies and strategies, as well as related sustainable development and climate change plans and interventions.
