Context:

 In times of crisis, women are often left behind and face increased health and safety risks due to inadequate infrastructure and the unequal burden of domestic care. 

Face major obstacles:

• In low and middle income countries especially, women work harder to secure food, fodder, and water during extreme weather events, often leading to girls dropping out of school to support their mothers. 
• Women are also less likely to survive during crises due to long-standing inequalities vis-a-vis information-access and mobility creating a vicious cycle of vulnerability to future disasters.

Effect on Health:

• Climate disasters worsen women’s health by limiting access to healthcare and increasing risks related to maternal and child health. 
• Emergent research reveals that women are more likely to experience deaths from heat waves in France, China, and India, and from tropical cyclones in Bangladesh and the Philippines.
  • Extreme heat increases the incidences of stillbirth, and the rampant spread of vector-borne diseases worsens maternal and neonatal outcomes.
• According to the UN, 60 percent of the world’s hungry and malnourished are women. 

• The International Food Policy Research Institute estimates that climate change could lead to an additional 1.2 million stunted children by 2050.
  • Girls are expected to be disproportionately affected due to gender disparities in access to food, health care, and education. 

A major role:

• Women have played a major role in the conservation of agrobiodiversity. 
• The Equator initiative award was won by Komala Pujari in 2003, a tribal woman from Odisha, for conserving local land races of paddy and getting farmers in Jeypore in Koraput district to shift to natural farming methods.
• Women farmers play an important role in the protection of environment and biodiversity as well as in taking care of the health and nutrition needs of their families. 

Concerns:

• Women are not in decision making positions as they have limited land owning rights and almost no financial resources.
• Women continue to face barriers that impede their advancement into leadership positions. 

Need of the hour:

• A gender-intentional response to the climate crisis, as it will result in sustainable economic growth, taking care of climate spillovers. 
• Elevating women leaders is not just about gender equality, it’s about deploying our full resources to an urgent crisis.
  • At the workplace particularly, women’s leadership has shown a positive correlation with increased transparency regarding environmental footprints and the disclosure of emissions. 
• We must also invest in infrastructure that is sensitive to gender concerns to cope with the climate crisis. 

Conclusion:

• One-fifth of major corporations have pledged to go net-zero by 2050 but do not proactively include women at the board level.
• It is important for women’s voices to be included, and those from indigenous communities who have practical experience of living in harmony with nature.
• To ensure effective and equitable solutions to climate change, it’s essential to recognise the disproportionate impact on women and provide them with a seat at the decision-making table.

News Source: The Indian Express

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