Climate change: another gendered issue
Why African women need to be included in climate change discourse
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| Women cycling to find water in the Sahel region during drought period |
Women are disadvantaged by their lack of land ownership and limited control of resources, which is a result of unequal inheritance laws and their lack of voice in community groups and decision-making. Women are more likely to be in poverty than men because their lack of access to human rights hinders their ability to migrate into areas where they would be less affected by climate change. When men experience economic stagnation in their occupation, they have the freedom to move into cities where there are more opportunities for them, especially because their education levels are higher than their female counterparts. Furthermore, because agriculture is a female-dominated industry, they are disproportionately impacted by food insecurity and water shortages during drier and drought periods. During drought periods, women are responsible for saving seeds for planting seasons and are at the forefront of grassroot environmental management initiatives. Most people farm for subsistence rather than commercial farming, which means they are unable to put food on the table for themselves and their families. As mentioned in the gender-based violence blog from last week, women's inability to fulfil their gender roles leaves them vulnerable to domestic violence.
Women's literacy rate in the Sahel is significantly lower than men's: 32.5% compared to 51%. Arguably, women's lack of education is a major contributing factor to their continued socioeconomic deprivation: their lack of cultural capital leads to a lack of economic capital, which restricts their social and geographical mobility. However, one of the most disadvantaging outcomes of their lack of education is their disengagement and marginalisation in decision-making. Older women have an abundance of knowledge on their local environment, which gets passed down from generation to generation. Despite this, women are not represented or considered in climate change policies or environmental policies. Research shows that women in West Africa are leading changes in improving water management and sharing in drought-prone regions: women proactively use sustainable agricultural practices. Furthermore, on an international level, women are more likely than men to pass ambitious climate legislation when elected to office.
COP26
COP26 is expected to be one of the most exclusionary summits yet, considering the economic costs and visa restrictions for participants from the Global South. For example, Diaka Salena Koroma is a campaigner and activist, whose visa has been denied and thus her entry into the United Kingdom has been rejected. Despite her trip being fully funded by ActionAid, her visa was denied on the grounds of a lack of evidence to show that she will return back to Sierra Leone. She states that a massive barrier for young people from the global south, who are actively trying to engage with international climate action, is the difficulty they face in acquiring a first-world visa. The issue is the lack of representation of women and the youth from Africa at influential platforms, such as COP26. They are the most affected and the least represented - leaders are pressured to consider their needs when speaking out on climate targets.
Case study: CAMFED
The Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED), is an international NGO's mission is to "catalyse the power of the most vulnerable girls and young women to create the future they imagine: for themselves, for their communities, and for Africa." Members of this organisation attended COP26 to represent their grassroots activism and young African women. They advocate for global investment in education for girls in Africa to achieve gender inequality. Education will socially, intellectually and politically empower girls to make the changes they need to live comfortably. It will enable them to pursue change by stepping up and speaking up during policy-making and decision-making schemes, that are otherwise male-dominated. CAMFED representatives highlight how educating girls will contribute to climate resilience, adaptation and migration, and also provide support for girls and women to secure their rights and help them achieve leadership positions.
Click here or on the image below to check out the CAMFED website and their short campaign video.
Climate change disproportionately disadvantages women because it deepens and reinforces existing structural inequalities. Considering that climate change affects the African continent the most, African women are at the forefront of this global emergency. Their voices need to be heard and their issues need to be addressed by implementing the necessary policies to help both mitigate and adapt to climate change.
Hi Arzoo! Great post on this timely issue- gender justice is inextricably linked to climate justice. How then do you think a person in the global North could support women at the forefront of this emergency?
ReplyDeleteHi Wiktoria! Thank you for your question. I think the relationship between the global North and global South is very tricky and a grey area - it is the ethical issue of reinforcing northern and western education/ dominance to intervene in this climate emergency. It is important to ensure that women who are at the forefront of the climate emergency are heard and their matters and concerns take precedence over other factors, such as economic factors that most definitely will come into play. I believe that hearing these women out and making it a big deal (whether on social media, news outlets or to national and international governments) to put more international pressure on the issue is necessary. I hope this answers your question!
DeleteHi Arzoo! This was a super interesting and relevant post which I enjoyed reading. There is only one day dedicated to gender at COP26, which suggests that women's issues and voices should only be limited to that day. Gender isn't a standalone issue, and your post highlights how women are at the forefront of climate change debates. Since COP26 is a conference that is still largely dominated by men, how can we raise women's voices or allow women to have a greater share of the seats at the table? Do you think that COP27 in Africa next year will allow an opportunity for African women, in particular, to have their say?
ReplyDeleteHi Greta! Thank you for your comment and questions! I think one way to approach gender and racial inclusivity is by diversifying the seats and introducing rules to ensure this. At the risk of giving into tokenism, I think it is very important to make sure that it is not just old white men dominating these conversations and discussions. I am hopeful that COP27 will allow for African women to be heard, hopefully there will be fewer restrictions with visas etc. However, I also don't think Egypt hosting the conference will stop Westerners from continuing to dominate the conversations.
DeleteHi Arzoo. You raise a really interesting point about tokenism. It's important to ensure the women who do have a seat at COP27+ are team leaders, and engage in meaningful discussion for change. Westerns will continue to dominate conversations, either to reinforce superiority or to distract the conversation away from the fact that Western nations are primarily responsible for actions contributing to the climate crisis.
DeleteI 100% agree! I think Western leaders definitely have a level of superiority complex where they believe their research/ solutions are unparalleled. However, from these blogs I think we can confidently conclude that African women have so many lived experiences relating to climate change and the environment, and this experience, knowledge and local solutions are something that Western leaders lack. Therefore it is necessary that next year the women at COP27 can actually dominate these conversations.
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