WUNRN
CLIMATE CHANGE INCREASING WORKLOAD
ON WOMEN - PAKISTAN STUDY
Shirkat Gah’s report gives
suggestions on how women can cope with changing surroundings. PHOTO: FILE
“The lack of fresh water has
severely affected the people, especially women,” said Sikandar Brohi of the
Participatory Initiatives. “Give them fresh water and they’ll start walking on
the path to development eventually.”
Shirkat Gah, women’s
resource centre, launched its report on ‘Climate Change and Women’ at a seminar
titled ‘Gender Dimensions of Climate Change in Sindh’ which was attended by
environmentalists, politicians and members of the local communities.
The projections of
temperature in Kharo Chann’s coastal area show that there would be a sharp rise
in temperature at the rate of 0.5°C per decade. SOURCE: SHIRKAT GAH
Sharing findings from Kharo
Chhan, Thatta, Shirkat Gah’s Tahir Hasnain said that women were going through
behavioural changes, increasing health issues and mounting workload — all
because of climate change. “Women now have to walk to farther distances for
fetching water and collecting fuel wood, increasing their burden and decreasing
socialisation,” he said.
“The changes in weather
patterns and intensity of heat and cold have changed working patterns of
people, especially female farmers,” said the chairperson of the National
Commission on the Status of Women, Khawar Mumtaz. “Substantive cropping was
replaced with cash crops. Second shift was from natural fertilisers to
chemicals, pesticides and hybrid seeds. Forests were replaced with banana
cultivation and dam’s resulted in decrease of fish.”
Sharing her findings on
climate change in Shaheed Benazirabad district from a study conducted in 2011,
she said that women were primary caregivers and changes in their surroundings
was affecting their health and living patterns. “Men often have to move for
work which increases financial pressures on women.” Her suggestions were that
women’s skills need to be enhanced to cope with climate changes. “There is a
need for focusing on adaptation and building people’s capacity to cope with
surrounding changes.”
Her findings highlighted that
sustainable development without being compatible with the climate was not
possible and that it was important to ensure health facilities for women and
their contribution in policy making. “Women should be in control of their
resources and be part of a joint management for natural resource management.”
The report discloses
startling realities of Kharo Chhan, stating that with a population of 29,000
residents, there were no government offices in the area except for a few
schools and a Basic Health Unit. Only one village has electricity, there is no
police station and the only girls’ primary school is facing shortage of female
teachers. While 125 girls are enrolled in primary schools, only 20 of them
actually attend. The report also tells the same situation of middle school
where 18 students are enrolled but only three attend.
The report also covers the impact of rising sea level, saying that the sea has already inundated thousands of acres of coastal land while 117,823 acres of land was affected by salt-water intrusion. It suggests that women should be involved in policy planning and its implementation while the government should focus on the local infrastructure and provide them with health and educational facilities. Potable water remains one of the major issues, stressed Shirkat Gah’s report, suggesting that the women should be taught how to purify or filter water.
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Panos South Asia
Women
Most Affected by Climate Change - Shirkat Gah Recent Study
For woman in rural areas, the consequences of climate change have been a sharp increase in their daily workload and a host of health and social issues, according to a study conducted in Shaheed Benazirabad, formerly Nawabshah, district in Sindh.
Climate Change and Women: A Study, conducted by Shirkat Gah, assesses the impact of changing weather in four flood-affected villages, particularly on women. According to the study, yet to be published,the heavy floods of 2010 and 2011 affected women more than men as it had resulted in an increase in their workload.
A report cited in the study estimated that the floods affected 51 per cent of the women in the district and 40 per cent of the men. About 3.6 million women in Sindh were affected by the floods in 2010 and 2011, of whom 133,000 were pregnant at the time.
Since the floods, women in these villages have been travelling to other villages to find work such as cotton harvesting, while continuing with their household chores and home-based work like embroidery to make extra money.
The floods wiped away most crops, meaning families needed money to buy vegetables and grains previously available in the fields. The loss of a substantial portion of agricultural land meant more labour was required, so women were spending more time in the fields alongside men than before, in addition to their usual tasks.
Many women complained that the rise in heat intensity over the summer and loss of livestock in the floods meant they had to rise earlier to ground and knead flour, cook, fetch water from wells, buy firewood from markets, clean the house, and then also help in the field. Rising temperatures, coupled with poor diet, made it especially hard for women to work in the fields as well as do house chores.
Deforestation, which had made the floods worse, also meant less fodder available for livestock and fewer and sicker animals in these villages. In the past, livestock provided milk as well as income cushion. Now with fewer animals, women were compelled to sell milk and look for work on days men failed to find work.
The increased use of pesticides on the cotton crop had detrimental effects on women’s health. In the absence of firewood, dried and contaminated cotton was being used to light fires. Women, being in charge of the cooking at home, were exposed to the high carbon emissions in the smoke.
The study noted that the riverine forests in three of the four villages started disappearing in 2001, when local landlords and the Forest Department began to clear the land for agricultural purposes, mostly to plant banana trees. Until then, the forests provided beehives (honey was used particularly by pregnant women), grazing land for livestock and free wood.
With the forests gone, in the last three years locals have had to start buying wood and livestock fodder. The disappearance of beri beri and neem trees put an end to several traditional herbal remedies, meaning villagers must buy modern medicines.
The loss of trees has also led to the loss of indigenous bird species such as partridges, doves and parrots. The swamp deer, whose antlers were used in traditional medicines for kidney ailments and TB, has become extinct. The pollution in the Indus has increased, affecting fish populations.
The floods also destroyed several lakes in Sarkand, one of the four villages studied, compelling local fishing communities to take up seasonal wage labor.
The study said that the shift in agricultural patterns to cash crops and farmers using more chemicals and mechanisation had had adverse effects on income and health. In the last three years, cases of hepatitis, skin infections, hypertension and malaria have gone up considerably. The social fabric has also been damaged, with conflict, domestic violence, drug use and suicide rate among women going up.
The study cited several sources showing that rainfall and maximum temperatures had increased in the district since 2006.
Recommendations
The study recommends special adaptation funds for grass root levels to prepare for changes affecting their livelihoods. It also suggest including women in decision making regarding use of natural resources and 33 per cent representation of women seats in local government systems. Introducing schemes backed with green technologies (drought resistant crops, water conservation and management systems) and owned by women will help, it suggests.
The study also recommends promoting climate resistant crops, ensuring of schemes promoting secondary education amongst women, and extending services regarding reproductive heath education and training women in marketing skills. Measures for reducing degradation of natural resources is also suggested.