By Jamal Ben Haddou, Samantha Littleson and Andelys Aragon
Action against climate change needs to consider women in a bid to decrease the gendered impacts of global warming, experts say.
Peak bodies in the United Nations are continuing to warn climate change has a disproportionate effect on women in developing countries.
Studies suggest women are more vulnerable because they make up the majority of the world's poor and their livelihoods are more dependent on natural resources that are threatened by climate change.
Global poverty: 360° interactive map and story experience
In African nations, harvesting food and collecting water is becoming increasingly difficult for women due to drought and natural disasters.
Senior research fellow at Monash University’s Gender, Leadership and Social Sustainability unit, Dr Kerri Whittenbury, said it was important for governments and NGOs to consider women when developing climate change programs.
"There’s a very strong relationship between poverty, climate change and gender," Dr Whittenbury said.
“It’s so important for everybody working in the climate change field not to take gender for granted and consider the impacts of projects on women … gender needs to be considered across all levels.”
Raida Animose Xitlango, from Mozambique, lives with her partner and has three children.
Like many other women in Sub-Saharan Africa, she has experienced difficulty harvesting food during drought.
Global poverty: 360° interactive map and story experience
“It was very difficult before, we couldn’t have gardens because we had to wait for the rainy season,” Ms Xitlango said.
“Sometimes there’s no rain and food is scarce.”
Natural disasters – which may become more frequent as a result of climate change – have killed more women than men in some countries.
To highlight an extreme case, up to 90 per cent of deaths during the 1991 Bangladesh cyclone were women.
“Men, women and of course children are vulnerable to climate change but there are gender implications which are often not seen,” Dr Whittenbury said.
“At the face of a disaster in developing countries particularly in agricultural areas, men often go away to work and leave the women at home looking after the agricultural production for the small farms.”
Global poverty: 360° interactive map and story experience
“(Women) are at the forefront when a disaster hits such as a cyclone or flood. They’re more likely to be physically injured or killed.”
Although the gendered impacts of climate change can be alleviated through gender sensitive programs, experts say it is better to prevent climate change before it becomes a bigger issue.
Professor Hilary Bambrick, head of school in the School of Public Health and Social Work at the Queensland University of Technology, said climate change mitigation programs could be limited.
“There are limits to how well and how far we can adapt with increasing temperatures,” she said.
“The main thing we have to do particularly in wealthy countries like Australia is reduce our emissions and make sure aid money is directed at climate compatible investment.”
