Author, farmer and scientist Dr Anika Molesworth writes about the added risks rural women and girls face from the climate crisis, in line with International Day of Rural Women.
The climate crisis is not gender equal. For rural women around the world, gender inequality throws them into the path of danger.
Societies that constrict and restrict certain members based on their gender foster cumulative and chronic inequalities and human rights abuses. Girls, women and non-binary people who are oppressed and exploited have limited ability to adapt to climate change, let alone help mitigate its drivers. Entangled in regressive systems of dominant patriarchal power, of violence and egotism, silence and slavitude breeds in dark corners.
Globally, girls and women face greater risks from climate destabilisation because of existing vulnerability and injustice. These threats are multiplied by climate change. Stressed and strained communities have higher gender based violence, including domestic abuse, sexual assault, and forced prostitution, and climate change causes more stress and strain.
Extreme weather events, like droughts, floods and forest fires, increase the risk of displacement, hunger, poverty and death. When one is already marginalised in a system built on male supremacy, destructive greed and ruthless competition, girls and women are first to fall by the wayside. Women are fourteen times more likely to die during natural disasters.
This is especially so in rural communities and most pronounced in developing nations where labour-intensive and time-consuming activities are carried on the shoulders of many girls and women – collecting wood and water, growing crops, herding and feeding livestock, tending to children, and preparing and serving food to their households. Women have a heavy load to carry, and climate calamities add excessive weight to it. Access to health care, education, and employment opportunities are more limited compared with men, and as such, their capacity to thrive falters.
As climate change thwarts the prospects and rights of girls, women and non-binary people, gender-responsive climate strategies are essential. Aspirations of gender equality go hand in hand with tackling the climate crisis.
Methods of overcoming climate challenges can, and must, heal systemic gender injustices. The inclusion and empowerment of women will help us identify solutions and see them implemented. Equity is not just a ‘nice to have’, it’s essential for our own survival.
Creating better and fairer communities is a requisite bedrock of creating a healthier planet. Our fates are intertwined, and our communities’ futures can only be strengthened when all threads in the weave are held tightly and supported by one another. We all suffer from the restraints of the patriarchy. We will all benefit from gender equality.
Around the world, women are conducting critical research, campaigning for change, setting out policy, and are curating heartfelt art and music, literature and art to connect hearts and minds. They are talking the talk and walking the walk, and we should celebrate this and champion opportunities that allow more of it.
All humans deserve to be valued equally, regardless of gender, and have the freedom to express themselves authentically. And when we lift up rural women, we raise the ambition on climate action. According to the international climate research and advocacy organization, Project Drawdown, empowering women globally would increase farm yields by 20-30 per cent, potentially feeding 150 million people, reducing the pressure on land for food, and save over two gigatons of CO2 by 2050.
But while some women are deprived in health care, education and livelihoods, and continue to be underrepresented in business, science, law, engineering, finance, politics and positions of executive leadership, the foundation on which we try to build climate solutions is unstable. Dismissing and suppressing half the world who can potentially enact climate leadership and participate in problem-solving heads us down a short road to failure.
If we are going to drastically and quickly reduce our carbon emissions, if we are going to evolve better communities on a healthier planet, then we need gender equity and respect given to all people. And every person has a role to play in achieving this.
To overcome the climate crisis and create a just and fair world, every solver with every solution is required at this critical moment in history.
Dr Anika Molesworth is the author of Our Sunburnt Country, and book that explores climate change impacts and climate solutions in the food and farming system. Anika is an Agriculture and Environmental scientist, and is widely recognised for her work with farmers and food systems and generating climate change awareness. Anika is passionate about ensuring the best possible future for the planet, people and food, and often presents on television, radio and at conferences. She works with farmers, researchers, NGOs, businesses, and government officials to achieve the best outcomes for rural communities. She lives on her family’s farm in Australia, and travels regularly to deliver workshops and training through her organisation, Climate Wise Agriculture.