Women bear the burden of climate change consequences 

(Original: french)

Written by: Marie Pavlovitch 

Translated by: Alexine Herbillon  

The multiple reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have shown the extent of the deleterious effects of climate change in the years to come: rising sea levels, increased frequency of droughts and other natural disasters, etc. Women and girls are found to be the most impacted^[1]Desai, B. H., & Mandal, M. (2021). Role of Climate Change in Exacerbating Sexual and Gender-Based Violence against Women: A New Challenge for International Law. Environmental Policy and … Continue reading. 

Increased gender-based violence is one of the lesser-known impacts of climate change. While these consequences vary according to the local climate, women living in the global South and in the North experience this increase in gender-based violence (GBV).   

How does climate change affect the daily lives of women around the world? What are the responses to address these issues? 

Pressure from climate change worsens manifestations of patriarchal violence 

Patriarchy structures societies and especially women’s lives worldwide based on two fundamental principles: the man dominates the woman, and the older man dominates the younger man^[2] Millett, K. (1969). Sexual Politics. New York: Doubleday in Beechey, Veronica (1979). On Patriarchy. Feminist Review, 3(1), p.68. doi:10.1057/fr.1979.21. The family and the patriarchal reference unit aim to socialise children according to gendered roles, characters, and status and to keep women in a subordinate position^[3]Beechey, V. (1979). On Patriarchy. Feminist Review, 3(1), 66–82. doi:10.1057/fr.1979.21. In general, women develop moral reasoning related to others – how others feel, how they live, …- which feminist researcher Carol Gilligan calls ethics of care^[4]Gilligan, C. (1982). In a different voice. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press. in R. Eliasson Lappalaine; I. Nilsson Motevasel (1997). Ethics of care and social policy. , 6(3), p.190. … Continue reading. Women most often carry the work associated with care – childcare, but also cooking or household chores such as laundry or housekeeping^[5]Planned Parenthood. (s. d.). Gender Identity & Roles | Feminine Traits & Stereotypes. Consulted on 1st august 2022.  

These gendered roles, as well as the sexual objectification of women and the differences in power and status between men and women, legitimise and perpetuate GBV^[6]Felipe Russo N., Pirlott A. (2006). Gender-Based Violence : Concepts, Methods, and Findings. 1087, p. 181. doi:10.1196/annals.1385.024, meaning “all harmful acts directed against an individual or group of individuals based on their gender identity^[7]This includes physical, sexual, emotional, economic, psychological violence.  Foire aux questions : Formes de violence à l’égard des femmes et des filles. (s. d.). ONU Femmes. Consulted on 2 … Continue reading“.  

However, it seems that the consequences of climate change – such as the increase in the frequency of natural disasters or pandemics – exacerbate the manifestations of patriarchal violence^[8]Desai, B. H., & Mandal, M. (2021b). Role of Climate Change in Exacerbating Sexual and Gender-Based Violence against Women: A New Challenge for International Law. Environmental Policy and Law, … Continue reading based on gender. Given that these phenomena are expected to multiply in the coming decades^[9] Coronavirus and Climate Change. (2020, 6 juillet). Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Consulté le 1 août 2022^[10]Gupta, S., Rouse, B. T., & Sarangi, P. P. (2021). Did Climate Change Influence the Emergence, Transmission, and Expression of the COVID-19 Pandemic? Frontiers in Medicine, 8, if they are not correctly addressed, GBV will increase^[11]Desai, B. H., & Mandal, M. (2021). Role of Climate Change in Exacerbating Sexual and Gender-Based Violence against Women: A New Challenge for International Law. Environmental Policy and Law, … Continue reading. 

First, women worldwide face increased physical, including sexual violence related to climate change. This increase may be due to the stress caused by disruptions in women’s lifestyles. Pandemics and subsequent lockdowns create a favourable proximity for increased physical violence among previously violent men^[12]Bami X, Dervisbegovic N, Stojanovic M, et al. (2020). COVID-19 and Domestic Abuse: When Home is not the Safest Place. Balkan Insight. dans Jinan Usta, Hana Murr, and Rana El-Jarrah.COVID-19 Lockdown … Continue reading. There has been evidence of an overall increase in domestic violence during lockdowns in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic^[13]Jinan Usta, Hana Murr, and Rana El-Jarrah.COVID-19 Lockdown and the Increased Violence Against Women: Understanding Domestic Violence During a Pandemic.Violence and Gender. Sep 2021. 133-139.^[14]Bouchenni, N. (2021, 24 décembre). France : nette augmentation des signalements de violences conjugales pendant le confinement. TV5MONDE. Consulted on 2 august 2022. The Lebanese NGO Kafa, whose goal is to end GBV, reports that one month after the start of a lockdown, aimed at containing Covid-19, calls to their hotline doubled^[15]Kafa. 2020. Calls Have Doubled Due to Lengthy Confinement and Crimes against Women: Kafa’s April Report | كفى. Researchers Bharat H. Desai and Moumita Mandal explain this increase with the sudden lack of income, security, and other basic amenities^[16]Desai, B. H., & Mandal, M. (2021). Role of Climate Change in Exacerbating Sexual and Gender-Based Violence against Women: A New Challenge for International Law. Environmental Policy and Law, … Continue reading. 

Women in the South and the North are also victims of increased violence and human trafficking during evacuations following natural disasters. This was the case in 2005, in the United States, after Hurricane Katrina, but also in Japan after the earthquakes of 1997 and 2010, and in South Asia, most notably in Nepal^[17]Desai, B. H., & Mandal, M. (2021). Role of Climate Change in Exacerbating Sexual and Gender-Based Violence against Women: A New Challenge for International Law. Environmental Policy and Law, … Continue reading. The migrations that often follow natural disasters put women and girls at risk of additional sexual and domestic violence due to the lack of intimacy, especially when they live in refugee camps^[18]Desai, B. H., & Mandal, M. (2021). Role of Climate Change in Exacerbating Sexual and Gender-Based Violence against Women: A New Challenge for International Law. Environmental Policy and Law, … Continue reading.  

Yet, women in the Global South are even more vulnerable to gender-based violence and are especially vulnerable to the consequences of climate change. Due to droughts making water increasingly scarce, they suffer longer distances to walk to fetch water. This puts them at increased risk of assault and rape, especially when having to cross forests or approach gang-controlled territories^[19]Desai, B. H., & Mandal, M. (2021). Role of Climate Change in Exacerbating Sexual and Gender-Based Violence against Women: A New Challenge for International Law. Environmental Policy and Law, … Continue reading. In addition, the intense fatigue they may experience daily may prevent them from performing all of their duties or having intercourse with their spouse – which is sometimes considered a “marital duty” – leading to potential sexual assault^[20]Gevers, A., Musuya, T., & Bukuluki, P. (2020, 28 janvier). Why climate change fuels violence against women. United Nations Development Programme. Consulted on  27 July 2022.  

In times of drought and food insecurity, girls are sometimes married off by their parents while they are still underage or even very young to relieve their parents of a mouth to feed^[21]Chamberlain, G. (2021, août 25). Why climate change is creating a new generation of child brides. The Guardian. Consulted on 28 august 2022. Food insecurity can also be leveraged by ill-intentioned men who insist on receiving sexual favours in exchange for food or rent payments^[22]Gevers, A., Musuya, T., & Bukuluki, P. (2020, 28 janvier). Why climate change fuels violence against women. United Nations Development Programme. Consulted on 27 July 2022..  

Finally, the lack of sustainable resource extraction techniques, combined with the environmental damage caused by climate change, contributes to the outbreak of conflicts. Sexual violence against women often escalates in times of war^[23]Desai, B. H., & Mandal, M. (2021). Role of Climate Change in Exacerbating Sexual and Gender-Based Violence against Women: A New Challenge for International Law. Environmental Policy and Law, … Continue reading. 

Women’s agricultural activity exposes them to increased risk of insecurity in the context of climate change 

Women are not spared from suffering economic violence. For some women living in the North, the increase in pandemics, and thus lockdowns, has forced them to reassume care of their children, even when working full time. A fragile economic situation may also prevent women experiencing violence in their relationship from fleeing. Single mothers, in turn, experience a decline in their standard of living due to the absence of a co-parent. 

On the other hand, women living in the South are often confined to traditional gendered roles – assigning them low-profit activities. On a global scale, 58.1 per cent of women work in informal employment. Furthermore, more than 30 per cent of informally employed women in low-income countries fall into the category of family workers contributing to the family business and are usually unpaid^[24]Organisation Internationale du Travail. (2019). Femmes et hommes dans l’économie informelle : un panorama statistique. p.21. 

The women who have an agricultural activity are limited to low-efficient agricultural techniques that generate little income. They cannot cultivate what they want and use methods and equipment that are not very modern due to a lack of alternatives. Indeed, as a consequence of the traditional division of labour, women are excluded from local decision-making bodies where they could assert their interests regarding agriculture and obtain equipment that could help them produce more^[25]Desai, B. H., & Mandal, M. (2021). Role of Climate Change in Exacerbating Sexual and Gender-Based Violence against Women: A New Challenge for International Law. Environmental Policy and Law, … Continue reading. Maintaining women in a financial position that makes them subservient to men is akin to economic violence^[26]“Economic abuse: this involves making (or attempting to make) a person financially dependent by maintaining total control over their financial resources, by denying access to money and/or by … Continue reading. Moreover, when cumulated with droughts due to climate change, it compromises their income and food security. 

Therefore, the absence of physical and food security and access to health care exacerbates women’s exposure to GBV. Older women, women with disabilities, girls, marginalised women, and women from disadvantaged backgrounds are the first victims^[27]Desai, B. H., & Mandal, M. (2021). Role of Climate Change in Exacerbating Sexual and Gender-Based Violence against Women: A New Challenge for International Law. Environmental Policy and Law, … Continue reading. As climate change hinders access to education, they have ever less access to the legal structures that can protect their rights. They are left struggling to adapt to the effects of climate change on their daily lives. 

Women in the South must be integrated into strategies against climate change 

Women have traditionally handled water collection and storage, food preservation and rationing, and natural resource management at the local level. In Africa, for example, older women, as wisdom keepers, have inherited the traditional knowledge and expertise related to early warning and disaster mitigation^[28]Osman-Elasha, B. (s. d.). Les femmes dans le contexte des changements climatiques. Nations Unies. Consulted on 28 July 2022.^[29]ONU/SIPC Afrique. (2004, novembre). Prévention des catastrophes en Afrique (No 4).. However, this knowledge is scarcely documented and still ill-understood^[30]UNESCO. (2008). La prévention des catastrophes : le rôle de l’UNESCO. p.39.. The role of education and transmission is, however, key to it.  

Some grassroots women’s organisations are developing programmes to support groups of women fighting for their rights within an environmental framework^[31] Fortaleciendo a las Defensoras Ambientales. (s. d.). Fondo de Mujeres del Sur. Consulted on 4 August 2022., as does the Fondo de Mujeres del Sur organisation in Argentina. 

Currently, there is no international instrument that considers gender-based violence in the context of climate change. International processes related to climate change do not include a specific gender perspective^[32]Desai, B. H., & Mandal, M. (2021). Role of Climate Change in Exacerbating Sexual and Gender-Based Violence against Women: A New Challenge for International Law. Environmental Policy and Law, … Continue reading.  

However, many projects to support women in the Global South have been initiated. For a project in Uganda, UN Women partnered with The Center for Domestic Violence Prevention (CEDOVIP), a local NGO. The focus is twofold: to develop the ability of the most influential Ugandan actors and leaders to address the main factors at play in GBV and to promote the engagement of all locals in critical thinking, analysis, and understanding of GBV to promote gender-equal behaviour^[33]Gevers, A., Musuya, T., & Bukuluki, P. (2020, 28 janvier). Why climate change fuels violence against women. United Nations Development Programme. Consulted on 27 July 2022. This involves working in all fields, including those not usually engaged in the fight against domestic violence. 

UN Women also focuses on sustainable agriculture techniques^[34]Gevers, A., Musuya, T., & Bukuluki, P. (2020, 28 janvier). Why climate change fuels violence against women. United Nations Development Programme. Consulted on 27 July 2022., which allow for land use without impoverishing it and thereby ensure women – who account for the majority of farmers in Africa^[35]Deveaux, J. (2021, 16 avril). En Afrique, la discrimination genrée pénalise les rendements agricoles. Franceinfo. Consulted on 2 August 2022 – a stable and higher income through the modernisation of agricultural techniques. The last part of its action, the training of women – in solar energy engineering, for example^[36] Photo essay: Rural women light up villages in Liberia. (2017, 9 janvier). UN Women. Consulted on 29 August 2022. – makes it possible to improve the living conditions of their entire community and to offer new and valuable outlets for its development while providing an alternative to the use of kerosene. Through the innovation they provide, women have the power to be leaders for their communities. 

To quote this article: Marie Pavlovitch, “Les femmes portent le poids des conséquences du changement climatique ”, 05.08.2022, Gender in Geopolitics Institute. 

The contents of this article are the sole responsibility of the author.