Gender Justice Is Crucial for Climate Justice, part 2

Disaster is not a singular experience; it unfolds. Domestic and family violence soars in the months and years following natural disasters. It usually involves physical and psychological violence perpetrated by men against women and children, but it can also include an array of other violence, including sexual, financial, and emotional abuse.

Consider this: 

• In 1991, during the cyclone disasters in Bangladesh, of the 140,000 people who died, 90 percent were women.
• After the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean, in the villages in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and India surveyed by Oxfam, surviving men outnumbered women by almost 3:1.
• During the emergency caused by Hurricane Katrina in the United States in 2007, 80 percent of the victims trapped in New Orleans were women, and most were Afro-American mothers with their children—the poorest demographic group in that part of the country.
• Because of droughts, women in some parts of Kenya burn up to 85 percent of their daily calorie intake just by fetching water.
• On average, women and girls in developing countries walk approximately 3.5 miles daily and carry over 40 pounds of water during these trips.
• In Guatemala, drought conditions have dramatically increased the distance some women and girls, traditionally the water carriers for their families, needed to travel to get enough supply. This added exposure has made the girls more vulnerable and doubled their risk of kidnapping—an increasingly common and brutal way for men in rural regions to secure “wives.”
• Another study of 4,605 natural disasters occurring in 141 countries discovered that the effects on women were most severe in countries with very low social and economic rights for women. Where patriarchy is most potent, the impact of climate disaster is most devastating on women.
• Studies in the U.S. documented a devastating 98 percent increase in physical violence against women after Hurricane Katrina, which remained elevated for two years.
• Following the 2009 Victorian Black Saturday bushfires in Australia, more than half of women in one study reported experiencing domestic violence. Many had never experienced it before.
• Another study of the same disaster found that the closer they lived to the worst affected areas of the bushfires, the more domestic violence the women experienced.

Disaster perpetuates patriarchy, and patriarchy perpetuates disaster. While natural disasters have become drastically more common, autocracy has, too, and this is no coincidence. Women’s funds have contributed a gendered analysis to the climate justice discussions, which have taken a front seat in sustainable development platforms.

Women’s funds have resourced activists and their movements to be heard at critical tables and to craft solutions around food production and natural resource management in their communities. This flexibility is an example of how the global women’s movement has evolved as the lived realities of our global population evolve. This work will only grow and remain on the agenda as a critical human rights and development concern. Thankfully, the predictions around rising women’s wealth and propensity to give are encouraging and give hope for mobilizing more funds for women’s organizing and gender justice in the time ahead.

Next, we learn about: The Great Wealth Transfer