climate change and women

How are you or women in your community directly affected by climate change?

Women are more vulnerable because they have less access to education and information that would allow them to manage climate-related risks to agriculture and livestock. In India, many women have considerably less access than men to critical information on weather alerts and cropping patterns, affecting their capacity to respond effectively to climate variability.

Climate change has a significant impact on securing household water, food, and fuel—activities that usually are the responsibility of women and girls. In times of drought and erratic rainfall, women and girls must walk farther and spend more of their time collecting water and fuel. Girls may have to drop out of school to help their mothers with these tasks, continuing the cycle of poverty and inequity. Changing climates also affect the health of crops and livestock, and women, who are often responsible for producing the food eaten at home, must work harder for less food.

Studies have shown that women disproportionately suffer the impacts of disasters, severe weather events, and climate change because of cultural norms and the inequitable distribution of roles, resources, and power, especially in developing countries.

What solutions are you and your community implementing to address climate change?

Many women around the world must adapt their lives to a changing climate. Increases in extreme weather conditions—droughts, storms, and floods—are already altering economies, economic development, and patterns of human migration, and are likely to be among the biggest global health threats this century. Everyone will be affected by these changes, but not equally. Vulnerability to climate change will be determined by a community or individual's ability to adapt.

Many women have a strong body of traditional and environmental knowledge gleaned from years of helping their female relatives, collecting and managing resources, and raising their families. When they are in control of resources, women are more likely than men to use them for family health and economic stability. Research also shows that women may be more likely to change strategies in response to new information and to make decisions that minimize risk.8 All these qualities suggest that when women are empowered, they can be extremely effective agents of adaptation to climate change. women were powerful agents for change and their leadership should be one of the priorities in adaptation and risk-reduction strategies. Given that gender equality was a prerequisite for sustainable development and poverty reduction, the inequalities that were magnified by climate change slowed progress towards those goals as well

Why is it important that women’s voices are heard and included in the decision making process around climate change?

WOMEN MUST PARTICIPATE IN ALL ASPECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE DEBATE, IN PARTICULAR DECISION-MAKING ON ADAPTATION, MITIGATION. As far as how to make the climate change process relevant to women at different levels, it is important to ensure that women participated at decision-making at all levels. National Governments should mainstream gender into national adaptation policies.The most vulnerable groups to climate change should be involved in developing adaptation and mitigation strategies