Scientists, researchers and policymakers have for many years struggled with how to make the vital connections between gender, social equity, and climate change.

As more data and research reveal their clear correlation, the disparate impacts of climate change and the linkages between women’s empowerment and effective, global climate action have become abundantly clear.

Gender equality is key to climate action. Climate change disproportionately impacts women, who are often more vulnerable and have fewer resources to respond to the crisis. However, experts assert, women can also be effective agents of change in tackling the climate crisis.

Scientific analysis of the impacts of climate change on women show they are more likely to be poor, which increases their risk of being affected by climate change.

They are also less likely to be involved in decision-making processes that affect climate change. Furthermore, they face social, economic and political barriers that limit their coping capacity.

Women, who make up the majority of the world’s poor, who are highly dependent on natural resources for their livelihood, often have more labour responsibilities, such as collecting water and firewood, securing food for their families, which can be difficult during droughts and floods.

Climate solutions

Yet in contrast to these disadvantages, when it comes to resilience, women often have knowledge of sustainable resource management and can be leaders in sustainable practices at the household and community level.

Studies have shown that women’s participation in politics can lead to more responsive policies and greater cooperation, that’s why they are key to climate action.

While women and girls face disproportionate impacts from climate change, they are also driving climate solutions at all levels – as farmers, workers, consumers, household managers, activists, leaders and entrepreneurs.

During times of extreme weather conditions, rural women work harder, walk farther and spend more time securing income and resources for their families. This can also expose them to increased risks of gender-based violence, as climate change exacerbates existing conflicts, inequalities and vulnerabilities.

“Research indicates that when extreme weather disasters strike, women and children are 14 times more likely to die than men,” says Asako Okai, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Director, UNDP Crisis Bureau. So why aren’t responses to disaster better geared towards the specific needs of women children?

“Recognising this gap, UNDP is working to ensure that the support we provide to countries when disaster hits is tailored to the real needs of those affected, using real-time data, and importantly, addresses the root causes of why women are so disproportionately affected in the first place,” explains Okai.

An estimated four out of five people displaced by the impacts of climate change are women and girls. Acute disasters can also disrupt essential services, including sexual and reproductive health care, compounding the negative impacts for women and girls.

Climate change is having a profound impact on global health. Extreme weather events, water stress and air pollution are already exacerbating health issues and putting stress on overstretched healthcare systems.

Gender-based violence rose

Over 120 countries signed the COP28 UAE Declaration on Climate and Health which affirmed that women should be given special consideration under the new onus on health in climate policy. Both climate-induced crises and rising temperatures have a disproportionate impact on women’s health. COP29 in Baku delivered gains for gender equality in climate action, but more remains to be done.

Governments need to prepare healthcare systems to cope with climate change through measures including reduction of emissions, increased financing for climate and health solutions, and building of more climate-resilient health systems.

A World Health Organisation (WHO) document ‘Protecting Maternal, Newborn and Child Health from the Impacts of Climate Change’ notes that the effects of climate change on women’s health are still underreported and underestimated.

And a UN Women report suggests that by 2050 climate change may push up to 158 million more women and girls into poverty, and cause 232 million to face food insecurity. Extreme weather conditions such as storms, floods or heat are on the rise, forcing thousands of people to leave their homes worldwide.

UN Environment Programme says 60 per cent of people displaced by climate change are women or girls facing heightened risks of poverty, violence or unintended pregnancies as they migrate to safer locations.

Additionally, women are unequally affected by compromised access to clean water and sanitation facilities after disasters. Women were hardest hit by the devastating 2022 drought in Kenya through malnutrition and dehydration. Cases of female genital mutilation, child marriage and gender-based violence rose.

The nature of the impact on women’s health from climate change may vary, even within the same country. It is therefore necessary to include women’s reproductive health in countries’ climate plans, as well as into climate disaster relief.

Given their position on the frontlines of the climate crisis, women are uniquely situated to be agents of change – to help find ways to mitigate the causes of global warming and adapt to its impacts on the ground.

Backbone of resilience

There are three salient reasons why empowering women and girls is key to climate action – women are environmental stewards, are the backbone of resilience and are agents of change.

Women are responsible for half of the world’s food production. In developing countries, they produce up to 80 per cent of food. As farmers, women have learned to cope with and adapt to climate change.

For example, by practicing sustainable agriculture in harmony with nature, switching to drought-resistant seeds, employing low-impact or organic soil management techniques, or leading community-based reforestation and restoration efforts.

But women have less access to a range of resources, from land rights and credit to education and technology.

Experts say if women had the same access to productive resources as men, farm yields could increase by 20-30 per cent, feeding an additional 100 to 150 million people.

The second reason is that women are the backbone of resilience, carrying out at least two and a half times more unpaid household and care work than men. When climate disasters hit, women take on additional burdens.

Usually with the primary responsibility for caring for a home and the people in it, women are often the first responders in disasters, rescuing children, elderly, persons with disabilities, and other community members, and informing local authorities and emergency teams. Having women involved in decision-making is critical to recovery and reconstruction efforts.

Women and girls – including students, mothers, indigenous women, and celebrities – have been leading global and national climate movements (remember Nobel Peace laureate Wangari Maathai?) that have put a spotlight on the urgency of the climate crisis).

Women also play a key role in driving change as consumers, workers, political and business leaders. In wealthier societies, women drive 70-60 per cent of all consumer purchasing decisions, leading the transition to more sustainable lifestyles. By leading behaviour change and consumer attitudes, women can drive change across all sectors.

At the political level, research shows clear linkages between women’s leadership and action to tackle climate change. Studies found countries with higher proportions of women in parliament more likely to ratify international environmental treaties and have stricter climate policies.