Climate Breakdown puts women in danger

Climate and ecological breakdown displaces women more than men, puts female health and access to reproductive healthcare at risk, and puts women around the world at increasing risk of physical violence and sexual abuse.

Read a round-up of the headlines:

“I am from Pakistan, I was born in Kabul and I am half Afghan. My grandmother was from Iran and I grew up in Damascus, Syria. I am a Muslim woman; I was born and raised across the Muslim world and Asia. There is no more urgent fight for women right now than that of climate. The crisis will affect women more than everything else in the world – more than abortion rollbacks, more than oppressive governments, more than lower pay grades. Already, 80% of people displaced by the climate crisis globally are women. Climate justice is a global feminist issue. There is no greater feminist cause today than saving the planet and each other.

Water Aid, a not-for-profit organisation, estimated that while Pakistan’s super-floods had been impressively democratic in the havoc they wrought, by any metric it was women who suffered the most. Nearly 700,000 pregnant women in Pakistan were deprived of maternal healthcare during the floods. They had no support for themselves and their newborns, no food, no security, no basic medical care. Miscarriages rose drastically during the floods. Besides anxiety and trauma, girls with their periods had no menstrual care, and an estimated 70% of women in flood-affected areas suffered UTIs from lack of access to bathrooms and from using dirty fabric in the place of clean pads. The climate emergency will affect the rich, the poor, the educated, the illiterate, the urban, the rural, the beautiful, the brave, the lonely, but it will be women and girls across the global south who will bear the biggest burden.

Women and children are 14 times more likely to die during a disaster, according to at least one study. One reason is that they are often the group with the most limited resources at hand during an emergency. But besides that, the threat of sexual violence shoots up during extreme weather events – the United Nations found that with drought in Uganda came rising rates of domestic violence and sexual abuse. Floods in Pakistan and cyclones in Bangladesh brought not only maternal health crises but also increased violence towards women. And yet 0.01% of global funding is spent on initiatives that touch women and climate change. I dread to think how little attention we devote to the issue.“

The Guardian, There’s no greater feminist cause than the climate fight – and saving each other

“It is estimated that 80 per cent of people displaced by climate change are women, according to UN Environment.

When women are displaced, they are at greater risk of violence, including sexual violence, said Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

“While they sleep, wash, bathe or dress in emergency shelters, tents or camps, the risk of sexual violence is a tragic reality of their lives as migrants or refugees,” Bachelet said. “Compounding this is the increased danger of human trafficking, and child, early and forced marriage which women and girls on the move endure.”..

“For example, there are reports of migrant women who have suffered sexual violence while under the protection of the authorities and who, upon reporting it, instead of being protected, have been imprisoned,” she said.”

United Nations Human Rights, Climate change exacerbates violence against women and girls

“As deadly heatwaves sweep through cities in India, China, the US and Europe amid the climate crisis, new research has found that rising temperatures are associated with a substantial rise in domestic violence against women.

A study published in JAMA Psychiatry on Wednesday found a 1C increase in average annual temperature was connected to a rise of more than 6.3% in incidents of physical and sexual domestic violence across three south Asian countries.

The study tracked 194,871 girls and women aged 15-49 from India, Pakistan and Nepal between 2010 and 2018, and their reported experiences of emotional, physical and sexual violence. It compared that data with temperature fluctuations across the same period. India, which already had the highest reported rates of intimate partner violence of the three, also had the biggest increase in abuse: with a 1C rise in heat came an 8% rise in physical violence, and 7.3% rise in sexual violence…

Extreme heat can lead to crop failures, buckle infrastructure, eat into economies, trap people indoors and render them unable to work – all factors that can place families under extreme stress and push up violence rates. The researchers found that although there was a heat-related increase in violence across all income groups, the largest increases were among lower-income and rural households.”

The Guardian, Climate crisis linked to rising domestic violence in south Asia, study finds

“It is estimated that 80 per cent of people displaced by climate change are women, according to UN Environment.

When women are displaced, they are at greater risk of violence, including sexual violence, said Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

“While they sleep, wash, bathe or dress in emergency shelters, tents or camps, the risk of sexual violence is a tragic reality of their lives as migrants or refugees,” Bachelet said. “Compounding this is the increased danger of human trafficking, and child, early and forced marriage which women and girls on the move endure.’”

United Nations Human Rights, Climate change exacerbates violence against women and girls