Empowered Women Leading the World to a Sustainable Future
This ongoing series will highlight the women making an impact in sustainability in Atlanta.
Women make up 51% of the Earth’s population, yet still have extensive structural gaps in inequality. By promoting gender equality, we can strengthen climate action. Climate scientists and policymakers have struggled in the past to make crucial connections between gender, social equity, and climate change. Current data and research show a clear correlation between climate change impacts and the linkages between women’s empowerment and effective global climate action.
Although we all experience climate change, women are disproportionately affected at a global level due to many variables. More than 70% of the 1.3 billion people on the planet living in poverty conditions are women. Globally, women are more dependent on but, have less access to natural resources. As family caregivers, they bear a disproportionate responsibility for securing food, water, and fuel. An article published by UN Women states women are less likely to survive natural disasters by 39% and more likely to be injured due to long-standing disparities in access to information, mobility, decision making, and resources and training. Women are less likely to have access to adequate health care making them more vulnerable to long-term health issues. Maternal and neonatal outcomes will increase stillbirths and genetic mutations making this disparity a “threat multiplier”. With the current Supreme Court ruling overturning the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision, the future of women contributing and collaborating for solutions to this “threat multiplier” has been jeopardized. During periods of global instability and as resources dwindle, gender-based violence and exploitation will escalate. Environmental stressors have helped to fuel the rise of organizations that engage in human trafficking and the abuse of extreme labor exploitation.
Despite or maybe because of these disproportions, women are playing a crucial role in climate change adaptation and mitigation. Women may be a large part of solving the climate crisis. Women all over the world are rising and acting as caretakers to the Earth and its inhabitants. In the US, we have the Sunshine Movement co-founded by Sara Blazevic and Varshini Prakash. Women in Bangladesh developed wind and flood-resistant house foundations for their communities. One of the first-ever Women’s Farmers Union was formed in Sudan to improve food security in communities facing drought and famine. In Nicaragua, women created seed banks to protect biodiversity. Research has shown that women adopt innovative and preventative measures faster while thinking for the whole.
Recognition of the contributions women leaders, educators, and activists make across all sectors and at every level can lead to successful long-term solutions to climate change. Studies have shown worldwide when women are uplifted and given the opportunity, there are immense benefits to communities and societies. We must note that the guiding principle of ‘net zero emissions’ was conceived when a group of women met in the countryside of Scotland. Women can be a powerful force for change leading their communities and the world toward a more sustainable future.
Check out the She Changes Climate for more information on how to enable women in the fight for our planet.
Teresa Perkins is a climate change and sustainability journalist, who is creating research-based climate change content pertaining to sustainable energy at local, national, and global level for publication and distribution. She partners with non-profit organizations for innovative ideas and sustainability projects and connects global UN Climate Change reports to local initiatives.
