In honor of International Women’s Day, we are going to discuss the bond, for better or for worse, between climate change and women.

Many of us have the notion that climate change impacts threaten all people equally. However, climate change impacts can be gender sensitive. According UN WomanWatch and the 2009 United Nations’ Population Fund (UNFPA) report, women are more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change than men are, due to the fact that 1) women in the developing world are generally poorer than men (women make up 70% of those under poverty line), and 2) the livelihoods of women are more dependent on natural resources, with many of these resources currently threatened by climate change.[1]  For example, depending on the region, 45% to 80% of food is produced by female farmers in the developing world.[2]

Research in the 2009 UNFPA report shows that the driving cause of women’s vulnerability to climate change is not a result of biology but of society.  The socially constructed vulnerability of females results in higher mortality rates for women during disasters than for men.[3] Due to social structures, women in the developing world are not only vulnerable to climate change impacts but also to all kinds of natural disasters. For example, in the 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia, the average death toll for women in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India was four times higher than those of men.[4] The reason for women having a higher death rate during the tsunami is related to women’s low social status in those countries. The World Health Organization released one story about a Bangladeshi girl who survived the tsunami.  In the report, she states that her father held her hand as well as her brother’s hand during tsunami. When her father could not hold both hands anymore, he eventually let go of the girl’s hand because “the son has to carry on the family line.”[5] The traditional values embedded in society sometimes contribute to women’s vulnerability to climate change impacts and can be identified as a root cause for the higher female death rates in natural disasters.

In most developing countries and most least-developed countries, women often have lower social statuses and have lower accessibility to social/political affairs participation than do men. The same is true in the context of international climate change negotiations, where women’s efforts are often downplayed, and women’s opinions are underweighted.  Attention on international climate change negotiations and their agendas is not focused on climate-vulnerable women in the developing world. To reach gender equality and gender justice in terms of climate change issues, the harmonious role many women play in managing natural resources with minimal ecological footprint needs to be recognized and valued more. In order to mitigate and adapt to climate change impacts, it is critical for the international community, through women empowerment, to involve women’s participation and reinforce women’s capabilities in the face of climate change disasters.

Watch this video clip to see how women empowerment can help with adapting to climate change impacts.