Even though everyone faces the threat of climate change, not everyone is equally impacted. Structured disparities, like as those between males and women, are made worse and more pronounced by the effects of climate change.
This is particularly true in many regions of the world where women depend on climatically vulnerable jobs like physical labour and agriculture to make a living.
Like almost every other humanitarian and development issue, the climate crisis has a bigger effect on women.
This is brought on by the unequal distribution of power between men and women.
The gender gap in possibilities for education and work, the cost of unpaid caregiving, the prevalence of gender-based violence.
Hence all other forms of ingrained discrimination on the basis of gender.
Women, for instance, contribute significantly to agricultural productivity but frequently lack equal access to agricultural resources, services.
Moreover, formal decision-making processes on agriculture and climate change.
One estimate claims that if all women smallholders had equal access to resources, farm yields would increase by 20 to 30 percent, 100 to 150 million people would no longer be hungry.
And by 2050, improved farming techniques could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 2.1 gigatons.
Only 12.6% of landowners are women, despite the fact that agriculture accounts for a third of all female employment globally.
Due to their lack of control over resources, women only receive 10% of all help for forestry, agriculture, and fishing.
Increased susceptibility is another result of this, as women have less access to information on crop-growing practises, weather occurrences, and adaptation methods.
Access to resources for women can improve household and community resilience while reducing vulnerability.
Involving women in decision-making can also boost mitigation and adaptation efforts by ensuring that they take into account.
Needs of women, which will encourage the acceptance of climate change policies.
But frequently, women’s unpaid care obligations limit their ability to participate in decision-making and their potential to lead on climate change.
Women perform 3.2 times as much unpaid care work as men do globally, or more than 75%. When natural disasters caused by climate change strike.
This number only rises as women shoulder greater responsibilities to aid in the recovery and reconstruction of their homes and communities.
Stressors brought on by the climate can also limit women’s and girls’ access to education and the labour force, forcing them to spend more time on housework and thereby continuing a cycle of powerlessness.
In addition, women and girls may be more susceptible to gender-based violence in the wake of climate-related disasters, necessitating access to high-quality services for their protection and recovery.
Conducting a gender analysis is a key step in determining how the effects of climate change differ for men and women.
This aids in locating areas where gender gaps and inequities are present and where appropriate action should be taken. We can create more effective, evidence-based climate policies and initiatives that serve the needs of women and girls.
As well as men and boys once we have a greater understanding of the relative distribution of resources, opportunities, restrictions, and power in a particular setting.
We must make sure that men and women equally benefit from budgetary allocations to climate action when creating and implementing new climate policies.
This makes it possible for everyone to use their abilities and leadership to address the situation.
To secure women’s participation in the creation of new climate policies and to eliminate the gender gap in climate decision-making, it is crucial to build women’s capacity.
Bhutan, for instance, has trained gender focal points inside several ministries as well as women’s organisations to enable them to coordinate and carry out gender equality and climate change activities.
Gender issues in climate action are increasingly being strategically included by nations including Chile, Uganda, Lebanon, Cambodia, and Georgia.
A more comprehensive understanding of the need to direct climate financing towards gender-responsive climate action is also necessary.
The entire society bears the consequences of inequality, which are amplified when people struggle to adapt to the effects of climate change.
Without gender equality, it is unlikely that the essential changes will be made to combat climate change and guarantee a decent and sustainable future for all.
