The role of women in tackling climate change

The impacts of shifting temperatures, erratic rainfall and extreme weather events touch their lives in direct and profound ways. The degree to which people are affected by climate change has been attributed partly to the function of their social status, gender, poverty, power and access to and control over resources.
It is a known fact that women in developing countries are particularly vulnerable to climate change because they are highly dependent on local natural resources for their livelihood. These women are charged with securing water, food and fuel for cooking and heating and as a result, face the greatest challenges.
The United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka recently said women must be partners and drivers of climate change decision-making.
In a statement, Mlambo-Ngcuka said women have proven skills in managing natural resources sustainably and adapting to climate change, and are crucial partners in protecting fragile ecosystems and communities that are increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
She said the impacts of climate change touch the lives of millions of women directly in intense ways.
“For many, these impacts are felt so strongly because of gender roles; women are responsible for gathering water, food and fuel for the household. And for too many, a lack of access to information and decision-making exacerbates their vulnerability in the face of climate change,” she said.
The National Coordinator of Renewable Energy at the Ministry of Environment, Engr. Bahijjahtu Hadiza Abubakar, said statistics have proven that women are the most disadvantage of energy poverty in areas of cooking, lighting and heating.
According to her, the women are faced with the challenges of gathering firewood and water to cook which exposed them to black carbon and particulates that are detrimental to their health and as a result expose them directly to effects of climate change.
She said the implication of women being at risk of the effects of climate change is evidence in the percentage of death recorded in developing countries.
“It is unacceptable that in this day and age women should be dying from activities like cooking or from nurturing their families,” she said.
At the just concluded climate change summit in Lima, Peru, leaders met to lay critical foundations for a new global agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
They seek to resolve important questions about collective action to reduce carbon emissions that cause climate change, to build resilience in communities to the climate change impacts we can’t avoid, and to provide the finance needed for climate-smart development around the world.
The UN under-secretary said there is need for the climate change solutions to be gender-responsive, that is, in formulating strategies for renewable energy women are engaged in all stages and that these strategies take into consideration how women access and use fuel and electricity in their homes.
She added that women experience unequal access to resources and decision-making processes, with limited mobility in rural areas. It is thus important to identify gender-sensitive strategies that respond to these crises for women
She said: “It means that vulnerability assessments and emergency response plans take into account women’s lives and capabilities. And critically, it means women are included at decision-making tables internationally, nationally and locally when strategies and action plans are developed.”
When women are empowered, the UN under-secretary said, their families, communities and nations will benefit.
She added that responding to climate change offers opportunities to enhance pathways to empowerment. This requires addressing the underlying root causes such as gender stereotypes and social norms that perpetuate and compound inequality and discrimination.
Examples abound and these include removing restrictions to women’s mobility, providing full access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, ensuring access to education and employment opportunities as well as access to economic resources, such as land and financial services.
However, it was noted that the same societal roles that make women more vulnerable to environmental challenges also make them key actors for driving sustainable development. Their knowledge and experience can make natural resource management and climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies at all levels more successful.
A United Nation Environment Development (UNEP) report says empowered women are one of the most effective responses to climate change. The success of climate change actions depend on elevating women’s voices, making sure their experiences and views are heard at decision-making tables and supporting them to become leaders in climate adaptation.
By ensuring that gender concerns and women empowerment issues are systematically taken into account within environment and climate change responses, there is need for the  world leaders to reduce, rather than exacerbate, both new and existing inequalities and make sustainable development possible.