Why The Climate Crisis Is Harming Women More Than Men

British Telegraph - Helen Pankhurst

This weekend's International Women's Day is an opportunity for women to take a stance against arguably their biggest man-made challenge

A portrait of Greta Thunberg, painted by schoolchildren and artists in Yorkshire to celebrate International Women's Day. Credit: Ben Lack

Helen Pankhurst Dr Helen Pankhurst CBE is an international development and women's rights activist and writer. She is currently CARE International's senior advisor working in the UK and Ethiopia. Dr Pankhurst is the great-granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst and granddaughter of Sylvia Pankhurst, who were both leaders in the British Suffragette movement.

Every year, on 8th March, International Women’s Day brings an opportunity for feminists to celebrate how far we have come in terms of women’s rights, to speak out about the most pressing issues rising to the top of the social change agenda – and to work out ways to tackle these together.

Last year, sexual harassment in the workplace was high on the news agenda. That’s why the women’s movement around the world joined together to demand a global law addressing sexual harassment and violence in the workplace. And we succeeded: a new global convention to end violence, harassment and abuse in the world of work was agreed. Work continues in every country to ensure the convention is ratified, to ensure that from now on, there will be nowhere to hide for the Harvey Weinsteins of this world: their time is up.

We achieved this massive victory because thousands, even millions, of women and girls – a global force – spoke up and demanded significant change. It shows that solidarity really does matter, and can achieve great things. And right now, it is this belief that is bringing together people all over the world to speak up and demand action on the biggest challenge facing the world: the climate crisis. In 2020, this is the dominant agenda, the issue emerging as the greatest concern to women and girls worldwide.

No-one can fail to have been inspired by the courage and determination of climate change activists. Their youthful ambition, their clear focus, the magnitude of their reach. They are shaking things up, they are winning hearts and changing minds. Youngsters, right around the world, are teaching adults what matters. Their movement is fresh, their tactics innovative.

And who are the leading voices of this movement? Young people, particularly young girls. Many activists, motivated by the crisis facing our planet, have felt connected to and drawn inspiration from the women’s movement, including from the Suffragettes. They are speaking up on what matters to them, making sure their voices are heard, and making their voices count.

On International Women's Day, Dr Helen Pankhurst is calling for women to work together in the face of the climate crisis

On International Women’s day 2020, #March4Women – the global movement for gender equality – will be bringing the links between feminism and environmentalism to the fore. This is partly because of similarities between the two in terms of activism resulting from frustration with the status quo and lessons around tactics linked to direct action. It is also because women and girls are disproportionately affected by the devastating impacts of climate change.

Women and girls are the ones who trudge further and further, mile after back-breaking mile, to fetch water when their community is ravaged by drought. They are the ones who take responsibility for looking after the young, the old, the disabled.

When pressures increase on a family, it is the girls who miss out on school in order to help out in the home and on the land. Daughters are dispatched to early marriage when there are too many mouths to feed.

When regions are flattened by cyclones and deluged with floods, when families lose their homes and their livelihoods – when all is lost, women and girls are sometimes forced to turn to ‘transactional sex’ to feed their families. It is they who are exposed to the risk of rape and sexual exploitation in the refugee and displaced people’s camps. It is they that human traffickers prey on – their vulnerability increased at times of crisis.

We can argue about the extent to which the climate emergency is man-made or not. And I mean man-made in its literal sense of ‘made by men’ – because we could look at who is making the decisions at a national and international level in the structures of economic, political and social power. However, whether ‘man made’ or not, there is no disputing that the climate crisis magnifies each and every brutal facet of gender inequality. We cannot achieve climate justice without gender justice.

If there is hope for the future, it lies in the voices of those who stand up to say 'this is not good enough and we can do better'. We need to reach a tipping point where those in power move from empty words to deeds. And that exactly is what we must create, and what we are creating, right now.

This International Women’s day – in advance of the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow – we are highlighting that there will be no climate justice without gender justice. We are calling for both climate justice and gender justice – the two go hand in hand. Join us.

Links

• Women Take The Lead On Climate Change
• The Misogyny Of Climate Deniers
• Can Women Save Planet Earth? 4 Women Fighting Climate Change Say They Can — And Must
• From Antarctica To Costa Rica, Women Team Up To Build A Climate-Safe Future
• 25 Female Climate Leaders Shaping 2019
• Birth Control And Books Can Slow Down Climate Change
• 'You Need To Act Now': Meet 4 Girls Working To Save The Warming World
• Women In Climate Change Hotspots Face Greater Burdens When Under Environmental Stress
• Our Young Girls Are Bearing The Burden Of Climate Action. But Should They Be?