WUNRN
OVER YEARS, WOMEN CONTINUE TO
ADVOCATE TO MAKE GENDER A SERIOUS COMPONENT IN CLIMATE CHANGE
PROCESSES, PROGRAMS, SUPPORT.
NOTE THE HISTORY - NOTE THE POWER, POLITICS,
PRIVATE SECTOR FORCES, AND THE MONEY - SUPPORT THE WOMEN !!
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GENDER: THE MISSING COMPONENT OF THE
RESPONSE TO CLIMATE CHANGE - FAO 2006
Gender and poverty are interrelated
and create mutually reinforcing barriers to social change. There is a need to
be strident to overcome the uniformed view of many involved in climate change
that climate change is neutral, and real life examples are neeeded to make the
alternative case clear and convincing.
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WEDO - Women's Environment &
Development Organization
According
to the research of the Women’s Environment and Development Organization, women
and children are 14 times more likely to die than men are during a
disaster. In 2006, a study at the London School of Economics analyzing
disasters in 141 countries provided the definitive evidence that gender
differences in deaths from natural disasters are directly linked to women’s
economic and social rights.Since it is poor and elderly women who are
disproportionately affected by climate change, there is a strong case for the
need to ensure equal social and economic rights for all women.
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BANGKOK,
13 October 2009 (IRIN) - Women are being excluded from the debate over climate
change, despite being most at risk, and governments should do more to ensure
their situations and views are represented, campaigners and experts say......
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http://www.trust.org/alertnet/blogs/climate-conversations/helping-women-gain-a-voice-on-climate-change/
Climate Change - Increasing Women's Voices
By
Georgina Aboud | August 3, 2012
A group working on a ‘River of Life’ activity in a Community
Awareness Centre (CAC) / BRIDGE participatory workshop in Bheerapani, a small,
remote village in the Nainital district of India, in the central Himalayas.
Photo:
By
What are the gender dimensions
of climate change? As a starting point, we know that women and men do not
experience climate change equally.
In many developing countries
economic constraints and cultural norms that restrict women’s access to
employment mean that their livelihoods are particularly dependent on
climate-sensitive sectors, such as subsistence agriculture or water collection.
Yet gender inequalities in the
distribution of assets and opportunities mean that their choices are severely
constrained in the face of climate change.
BRIDGE, a research
programme that works on gender and development issues, has recently finished a
two year Gender and Climate Change Programme, in collaboration with partners
based in
The key result, a Cutting Edge Pack –
which includes a report and supporting materials - advocates addressing
climate change by focusing more on people-centred, gender-aware approaches,
policies and processes.
The pack maps the key gender
dimensions of climate change and provides insights into how responses can be
transformative for women and communities at local, national and international
level.
It also shows that there is
much to learn from innovative, gender-aware approaches to climate change that
are already happening at the local level, led by non-governmental
organisations, communities and individuals. In some cases, these are leading to
transformations in gender and social inequalities.
The Community Awareness Centre
(CAC) in
INNOVATION IN
CAC in Bheerpani, a small
organisation working in the remote central Indian Himalayas, contributed to
shifts in gender roles and attitudes through its approach to developing local
sustainable livelihoods solutions.
Participatory exercises run by
CAC helped local women to realise that protecting the forest to promote climate
change mitigation and environmental sustainability was the responsibility of
all people in the locality.
Women also realised how little
decision-making power they had in public matters and began to question this
inequality. For one woman – a farmer and housewife in her late fifties called
Parvati Nyal – this was a defining moment.
Participating in workshops run
by CAC on leadership, advocacy, empowerment, sustainable development and food
security gave her the confidence to stand for – and win – the leadership of the
local forest panchayat (local government committee), becoming its first
female head.
Her leadership has led to
greater participation of women in forest panchayats , a demand for
financial transparency and the implementation of rules and regulations
which include fines for cutting even small branches from forest trees.
AND IN
In the rural region of
Through creating networks,
women’s associations have formed strong alliances with organisations, including
FUNDAEXPRESIÓN (a non governmental organisation that supports agro-ecology,
food sovereignty and gender equality) and the agro-ecological
These community networks give
local people, and especially women, a great sense of belonging,
self-determination and dignity to overcome challenges.
For example at the age of 20
and encouraged by her youth organisation, Laura Velasco Bermúdez joined the
agro-ecological
Inspired by what she had
learned, Veasco Bermúdez became a key member of the Community Network of Forest
Reserves, an association dedicated to working sustainably and conserving
forests – an important aspect of tackling climate change.
She also motivated her family
to begin agro-forestry farming practices on their 122-acre property, which has
extensive Andean forest cover, and encouraged her community to think about
mitigating the impacts of climate change and creating greater food autonomy.
These examples show that, by
empowering women, practical and sustainable climate change solutions can be
found while contributing to the transformation of gender inequalities.
Georgina Aboud is a gender
convenor for BRIDGE based in the
knowledge services team at the London-based