The concepts of "climate change" and "gender
equality" have become two very common expressions when addressing the
economic, social, political, cultural and health crises that we have
experienced in recent years worldwide.
There is no doubt that 2020, the year in which the COVID-19 has changed
everything, has highlighted the strong linkage between the environmental crisis
and the gender gap we are facing, and which does not distinguish between
developed and developing countries. But what is climate change? What is the
nexus between climate change and gender established? What is the relationship
between this phenomenon and gender inequality? In this article, we will try to
give a brief overview of the term "climate change" and explain its
relationship with gender inequality.
First of all, it is worth mentioning that the concept
of "climate change" has been the subject of study by several organizations
and has been attributed a variety of definitions. On this occasion, we will
refer to the one described in the report "Climate Change and Land"
published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2020 (IPCC). In
this report, climate change is defined as a variation in climate, i.e., a
variation in the average state of atmospheric weather and its corresponding
magnitudes (temperature, precipitation or wind). This variation will depend on
the state of the climate system and the interaction of its five components:
atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere. This system
evolves over time, so climate change is influenced by two aspects: (i) by the
natural internal dynamics of the climate system and external forcings (volcanic
eruptions, solar variations), and (ii) anthropogenic forcings related to
alterations in the composition of the global atmosphere or land use. In
consequence, changes in climate and extreme weather phenomena are observed such
as worsening soil degradation, variation in precipitation patterns and
evaporation rates, floods, frequent and severe droughts, heatwaves, rising sea levels,
thawing permafrost and extreme weather phenomena, among others. Examples of
these effects are described in the book "It's not too late yet",
written by Andreu Escrivá (2018), in which, he analyzes the retreat of glaciers
in Argentina and the Alps, sea-level rise in New York and Sydney, and the
increase of average temperatures in Montreal and Bangkok. The book also
highlights one exception, the recovery of snow thickness in Antarctica, attributed
to rising temperatures. Escrivá explains that climate change has been occurring
throughout the geological history of the planet, the problem is that millions
of years ago, global warming was much slower: one degree Celsius every two
thousand years, which has allowed species to be adapted. The current IPCC
forecasts indicate that temperatures will increase up to 5°C in the next
century.
In this context, it is worth asking how climate change and gender are related?. To develop this second part of the article, we ought to refer to what we understand as "gender" and its different dimensions. According to Angula (2020), gender corresponds to culturally variable and socially constructed roles, as well as to the expectations that society expects based on differences between women and men. In this way, gender relations are constructed and derived in power relations, determining how men and women will be benefited from the availability of resources. The disparity between men and women, in access to social and economic resources, is defined as gender inequality.
For women, this inequality represents a labor division
by gender. It means that women are traditionally assigned the management of
resources to ensure the family's nutrition and health. This situation is
exacerbated in rural areas, where they are in charge of caring for crops and
livestock, collecting water, and gathering firewood. In Africa, for example,
50-80% of agricultural production is the responsibility of women, and they only
own 20% of the land. In Latin America and the Caribbean, 78.5% of rural women,
between 15 and 59 years old, are dedicated to food production. This is the
reason why the impact of the crisis on agricultural production forces men to
migrate in search of employment, being women who stay at home. Therefore, it
increases their domestic workload, limits their job search opportunities, and
increases their economic dependency. This gender gap has an impact on the
impoverishment, chronic food insecurity and mobility of women, who have no
choice but to take care of the home.
A case study, conducted in 2016, by the Climate and
Development Knowledge and Network (CDKN) program in India, Peru and Kenya on
gender equality and the achievement of climate goals, found that development
processes are compatible with climate change, but in isolation of the gender
approach, condemning women to limited access to resources, such as land,
financial credit, information, and knowledge. This study shows that women
become poorer than men, limiting their opportunities to make investments based
on their needs and priorities. Thus, women have fewer opportunities to respond
and adapt to climate change, being totally excluded from policy definition processes
to enable adaptation processes with gender equality.
It is essential to understand that the response
capacity of men and women to the effects of climate change will depend on the
level of vulnerability (exposure and sensitivity) that populations face,
especially the most impoverished. These populations depend on the provision of
ecosystem services (collection, hunting, cultivation of crops) as their only
means of livelihood. This leads women to live in areas susceptible to climate
risks with scarce resources to adapt and recover.
With this analysis, I invite you to raise awareness
and commit to working together to face two global challenges: climate change
and gender inequality. At the same time, this article opens several questions
that invite us to go further, to investigate real data and not just reproduce
what the media or social networks "communicate" to us. Let's stop for
a moment and go deeper, into what, for me, corresponds to a disturbing
prognosis exposed, in 2016, by physicist and popularizer Joseph Romm:
"Climate change will have a stronger impact on family, friends and the
entire humanity than the internet has had". Could you imagine it? it is
the same with the impact that gender inequality has had on women for centuries.
Its current definition is biased and distorted by prejudices and falsehoods, as
discussed in the previous paragraphs. However, not everything is lost! The
science is clear and international agreements show us that we have to redirect
the roadmap towards decarbonization and the reformulation of inclusive public
policies. But from a more personal position, what could we do? To answer this,
I call for three positions: individual action, which will undoubtedly lead to
collective changes, in other words, lead by example; re-education, to generate
responsible dissemination of information; and, the construction of support
networks to promote innovative ideas focused on environmental care and gender
equality.
Finally, let's not take the Planet for granted!
Engineer in Environmental Biotechnology,
Master in Rural Development Project Planning and Sustainable Management,
Volunteer at the Comisión Española de Ayuda al Refugiado (CEAR),
Collaborator at the Africa Plataform at the Technical University of Madrid.
Bibliografía:
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Climate and Development Knowledge
Network. (2016). Diez cosas de debes saber: Igualdad de género y logro de los
objetivos climáticos.
Eastin, J. (2018). Climate change and
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.02.021.
Escrivá, A. (2018). Aún no es tarde: Claves para
entender y frenar el cambio climático. Valencia: Unitat de Cultura Científica
y de la Innovación de la Cuidad de Valencia.
IPCC, 2013: Glosario [Planton, S. (ed.)]. En: Cambio
Climático 2013. Bases físicas. Contribución del Grupo de
trabajo I al Quinto Informe de Evaluación del Grupo Intergubernamental de
Expertos sobre el Cambio Climático.
IPCC, 2019: Summary for Policymakers. In: Climate
Change and Land: an IPCC special report on climate change, desertification,
land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems. In press.
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Retrieved from https://www.cambioclimaticoydecisiones.org/policy-bref-adaptacion-al-cambio-climatico-con-perspectiva-de-genero/.
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