Author : Margot Wallström
Date : October 23, 2009
Margot Wallström, Vice President of the European Commission in charge of Institutional Relations and Communication
With one eye on the UN Climate summit in Copenhagen in December, the European Development Days 2009 are a chance for us to demonstrate commitment to the challenges ahead: we have the common responsibility to prepare the global response to the economic crisis and climate change, as well as to lay the foundations for democracy and development. That's why I believe that we also have to use this forum to draw attention to a dimension of climate change which is often overlooked in the discussions on how to deal fairly with the effects of climate change: the fact that climate change increases social inequalities.
Here are the facts. It is widely known that the effects of climate change are not evenly spread out between countries and regions. For example, Africa as a continent is responsible for only 3.8 percent of global CO2 emissions, yet it is one of the regions suffering most from the devastating impact of climate change. And out of the 1.3 billion people living in conditions of poverty worldwide, seventy percent are women. The impact of climate change on the poorest nations on Earth will make them still poorer while at the same time widening the societal divides between men and women. Due to their restricted access to information and resources as well as their limited involvement in decision-making procedures, women are most vulnerable to the impact of climate change.
That's why I hope that the European Development Days will provide a platform for women to make their voices heard. Not only as victims, as they are often represented in this debate, but most of all as agents in the fight against climate change.
The effects of climate change on women
Due to the division of labour and the already existing social discrimination, women and men are not equally exposed to the effects of climate change. Let me state two examples.
First, in sub-Saharan Africa, women are responsible for 70-80 percent of household food production. It is usually women who gather firewood and drawing water from wells. They also play a predominant role in agriculture. If local natural resources become scarce due to extended drought or flooding there is much evidence to suggest that in parts of the world these activities are now taking much more time. Under the current scenario, women have to work more in order to ensure the food supply of their household and therefore have less access to education. In this vicious cycle, social inequalities increase to the detriment of women.
Second, women are often faced with culturally grounded restrictions to participation in the public sphere. In some cases, women are not allowed to enter the public spaces without being accompanied by a man. In times of natural disasters caused by extreme temperatures, they have less access to information, be it the weather forecast or early warning systems for disasters. Research shows that the existing economic and social inequalities between women and men lead to more female victim during natural catastrophes. Women and children are 14 times more likely than men to die during a disaster. During the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia, 65 percent of the victims were women. In contrast to men, they were mostly in their houses when the tsunami arrived, and had not received any warnings.
These examples show that under the current scenario, the impact of climate change will in the long run contribute to an increase in social inequalities. In other words, due to their role in society, women in developing countries are the most vulnerable to environmental degradation. An environmental degradation to which they have not contributed.
Earlier, this year, I learned from a group of female farmers in Liberia that they were not aware of the existence of climate change, even less were they aware of the factors that contribute to environmental degradation. But they could see that something is different. Something had changed in their everyday life. The seasons were changing and they no longer knew when to sow their crops. These are the people that are unjustly facing the consequences of climate change. This is the real challenge. Without action from us they will pay a high price for the actions of others. It is our responsibility to help to empower these women, to share our knowledge and give them the tools to adapt to changing environmental realities. And, above all, to include them in decision-making.
Women have to become agents in the fight against climate change
Just as it is important to acknowledge to what extent women are affected by climate change, we also have to help them to become real agents in the fight against climate change. Due to their role in societies and the tasks they fulfill in their community and family, women can contribute to the political debate with valuable experience. Their knowledge is crucial to adapting more effectively to climate change. It is also a necessity to take into account the specific life situations and needs of women when designing climate change and environmental policies.
There is another good reason to include women into the debate. Not only are they the providers of households and vital actors in agriculture, they are also the ones who will have to work with the renewable forms of energy such as biomass, biogas and solar, necessary in order to tackle climate change. More importantly, as mothers and educators they have a crucial role to play in the promotion of behavioural change in economic and societal activities.
Taking on the challenge
Despite their valuable knowledge and fundamental role in society, women are not sufficiently represented in decision-making procedures on climate change. Hence, their experience and needs are almost completely absent from the political debate. This is a situation which must change. In order to put the gender dimension on the agenda of environmental policies, women need to be consulted, informed and involved in the climate change debate, at the local, national and international level. The European Union has for a long time been a promoter of gender equality and is a leading actor on the international scene in the context of climate change and environmental policy. But more needs to be done to link both dimensions.
Climate change is a fundamental topic discussed during the European Development Days. Let us not forget listen to the voices of women in this debate. We should use this opportunity to put gender sensitivity on the agenda when adopting measures to fight climate change.
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Date : April 8, 2010 18:20
Dear Christopher,
I understand your argument but think we need to distinguish between climate change mitigation and adaptation. “If women became equal to men tomorrow, it still would not solve the problem that the developed world emits the vast majority of greenhouse gases”. I think women’s role in climate change mitigation might indeed be limited, but that their role in adaptation could be quite substantial.
On the first point of mitigation, I do think gender equality can help to reduce future emissions. Even though politically and legally binding commitments will be made at global level, practical changes will be made at local level. It is exactly at this local level, that women will be able to make a difference if they get a chance to become agents: they are “vital actors in agriculture” and “the ones who will have to work with the renewable forms of energy […] in order to tackle climate change”.
This is a long term perspective, however, and perhaps the role of women is more clearly visible in climate change adaptation. “Due to […] the tasks they fulfill in their community and family, women can contribute to the political debate with valuable experience. Their knowledge is crucial to adapting more effectively to climate change”. Secondly, “as mothers and educators they have a crucial role to play in the promotion of behavioural change in economic and societal activities.” Gender equality will allow us to benefit from the above more greatly. While some may scoff at this, studies of spending patterns in sub-Saharan Africa show a distinct difference between men and women’s spending behaviour; women usually responding to increased disposable income more conscientiously, by buying necessities for their families; men being more prone to spending it on luxuries. Similarly, women are less likely to provoke conflict and can be instrumental in conflict prevention and mediation. Gender equality can transfer above qualities from the private to the public sphere, and at the level of local government they would be invaluable to adapting to climate change, especially so if climate change becomes a securitized issue.
Lastly, while you say that gender equality is an issue ‘regardless’ of state development level, this of course does not mean it necessarily ought to be disconnected from development or that it is an issue that does not merit our attention in this context. In the same way that we should address inequalities of payment in the developed world; we should address the fact climate change will disproportionally affect women. Focusing on ‘much larger and relevant issues’, you are creating a hierarchy of problems related to climate change, which implies a perceived necessity of limiting our focus to the most stringent ones. Yet solutions to these problems are by no means a ‘zero-sum game’.
Date : November 4, 2009 16:09
It’s creative to connect climate change with gender inequality. I think it’s sort of reasonable. Since women run the household and are the “vital actors in agriculture”, if they are taught how to use renewable energy, that would be helpful to ease the impact of climate change to some extent. And as the article points out women should be educated about the climate change, and then they can spread the basic knowledge to their children. However, the women’s role in ease the effect of climate change is limited. It is still important to call on major emitters to be responsible for their acts by controlling emission and developing clean energy.
Date : November 3, 2009 03:20
I think the focus on gender inequality among the climate change victims of the global poor is misguided because even if you could fix all the gender inequality issues in the global poor societies it would not change the fact that all of the global poor will suffer from climate change's consequences and have little to no power to change that fact. Gender inequality is a global issue regardless of state development level. The United States still has a significant earnings gap between men and women who perform the same work. To focus on the misery of women of the global poor is just an exercise in quantifying degrees of misery. Everyone in the society will be miserable and will suffer from the effects of climate change. I am sure women will suffer more than men and that is a terrible thing, but climate change power relationships are much larger and relevant issues. If women became equal to men tomorrow, it still would not solve the problem that the developed emits the vast majority of greenhouse gases, yet will not suffer consequences as severe as the developing states of the global South. How are poor states going to get major emitters like the US and China to curb their emission for their benefit? If desertification for sub-Saharan Africa and Central America continues there will not be any farms left to exploit gender inequalities.
Date : November 2, 2009 03:20
I would like to thank Margot Wallstrom for bringing this issue to the front end. I will start my comment with the title which I disagree with. I will consider women to be both: victims -- as the article stated the causes and agents. I think the former has to be stressed because most people do not necessarily see women or consider women as victims of climate change since the gendered argument is lacking in many debates. As to the latter, there is more than ever a need to integrate women in all aspects of societal life and to increase their participation in policy and political debates, debates in which outcomes that affect their lives are coming out. Aside from participation, there is a need to education for women. As we all know, with education more opportunities are found and more access is given to women in society. Lastly, I will finish by saying that practical training needs to be given to these women alongside formal literacy programs on issues such as climate change, natural/ environmental disasters, emergency response and so forth. More often than not, international organizations design their literacy programs around reading and writing but no practical training on how to respond to emergency and natural crisis being given, or their curriculum does not fit the needs of the people, in that case women.
Date : October 27, 2009 11:05
Et n'oublions pas que la moitié des hommes sont des femmes dans ce monde !! Elles ne sont donc pas juste une minorité de plus affectée par les effets des changements climatiques. Je rejoins Mme Wallström quand elle dit que les femmes ne sont pas assez représentées dans les systèmes de décision. Et ce n'est que le jour où elles le seront que l'on arrêtera de les considérer comme une minorité.
Date : October 25, 2009 20:45
In areas of the developing world where women are the primary care takers and are responsible for cultivating and preparing food and day-to-day essentials, I agree that it is absolutely necessary that they truly understand the state of the global environment. It is very disheartening to know that there are families suffering from the extreme cases of environmental degradation that are unaware of HOW or WHY such a phenomenon exists. They exist as the losers of globalization without being players in this imbalanced game. These women need to be educated regarding climate change, natural disasters, water sanitation and irrigation in order to give them strength. It blatantly unfair that developed countries are destroying the earth’s environment and letting developing poor nations suffering the consequences of such actions. While education may not solve their problems, it will give them the capacity to make decisions that might better suit their needs. Once these women are educated, I agree that their input will be priceless in terms of reversing the negative affects of globalization.
However, one must ask his or herself this question: it is possible that developed countries choose not to educate these individuals so that the truth about environmental degradation may further be repressed? Is it possible that various aid organizations and foreign governments purposely withhold pertinent information in order to limit the knowledge obtained, that is necessary to speak out, so that these women and their families will not have the strength to be heard?
Date : October 25, 2009 12:12
Dears friends in the Forum
Support this idea .
I am women .
I plant the tree in door and out door around living place .I understand that it made house better for living .
I dream about Solar energy and I will pay less than electricity .
We buy the good equiment for family so it will be use less energy.
We try to use more natural light in the house ,and less use the lamps use electricity .
We keep reserve water and and pour water in the grounds in the hot day ( high temperature day ) .it made temperature reduces around living place .
Date : October 24, 2009 16:28
GlobaCall presented their project and vision to Margot Wallström
GLOBALCALL IMAGINE IF ONE DAY THE
WHOLE WORLD MAKE A PHONECALL
WELCOME TO GLOBALCALL”wwc” BY SPONSORING IT ONCE A YEAR
for more info visit www.globalcall.eu
Her comment a very smart project and idea
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