Dubbed as the “biggest threat modern humans have ever faced”, the alarm of the climate change crisis is not ringing loud enough around the world, often regarded as a future issue which will be tackled in 2030 or 2050, something which seems years away. The fact is however, that climate change is already having unprecedented effects, and among them, women, children, ethnic minorities, displaced persons and poor communities are disproportionately feeling the impacts.
In the past decade alone we’ve seen mass drought in areas like Ethiopia, famine in South Sudan, large scale cyclones in Mozambique and record breaking wildfires across Australia and The States. These conditions are caused by human impacts on Earth and have been labelled a “prelude to the future” by scientists.
Research has highlighted that these impacts specifically affect women. By 2050, the number of women and girls who are living in poverty is projected to rise by 158 million, which is 16 million more that men and boys, if climate change continues to worsen. Today 47.8 million more women face hunger and food insecurity than their male-counterparts.
An increase in domestic violence against women and girls has also been clearly linked to worsening climate conditions, fuelled by social and economic stresses off the back of extreme weather and climate impacts. One study concluded that femicide increased by 28% during heatwaves, and in climate fuelled conflicts, sexual violence, human trafficking and child marriage are on the rise.
Studies have also found that stillbirths are increasing, a collateral of extreme and rising heat, along with it, the spread of vector-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, and Zika virus
The impacts can also be more hidden, stitched in via the traditional expectations of women and girls in the household. In several regions the woman’s role is to secure food, water and fuel for their household and family. As these resources become scarce from the altering climate, women are forced to travel further and tirelessly persevere. For young girls this can mean leaving school to assist the mothers with the more demanding task.
Despite these clear and continually worsening inequalities, climatic policy that is currently being legislated is routinely disregarding women. As such, the climate crisis shines a light on the very real and still existing patriarchy across our world, and the impacts which are setting women back globally in the fight for equality.
To put this into perspective, in countries where women have equal rights, studies found there was almost no difference between the number of women and men that died across extreme weather events. However when women’s rights were eroded, female mortality skyrocketed, alongside the plethora of other impacts.
These inequalities intersect and exacerbate other existing inequalities, especially among LGBTQ+ people, indigenous and afro-descendent women, women with disabilities, migrant women, those living in rural and remote areas, as well as disaster and conflict prone areas.
As Matcha Phorn-in a lesbian feminist human-rights defender in Thailand said in an interview with UN women, “If you are invisible in everyday life, your needs will not be thought of, let alone addressed, in a crisis situation. Humanitarian programmes tend to be heteronormative and can reinforce the patriarchal structure of society if they do not take into account sexual and gender diversity.”
The data is already painting the picture clear, with an extra 98 million people impacted by food insecurity in comparison to the previous three decades, a direct consequence of rapidly altering ecosystems. The climate crisis is already here, it’s time we wake up and act for the good of the whole population, but especially for women and marginalised people who are feeling the brunt of the effects and minimal legislative netting.
The fight for equality is the fight for survival.
