Physical and cultural factors increase the vulnerabilities that women face due to climate change. It is paramount for policymakers to pay attention to this interlink and frame policies that integrate concerns of both. For this purpose, the present paper calls for an integrated approach to accelerate the achievement of women empowerment and sustainable development goals.

In order to launch a policy that will provide a combined approach, it is first essential to recognise the interlink. This is followed by presenting cases where policy integration has been applied to develop a gender-sensitive approach to climate change. Finally, it delineates challenges and ways in which government can incorporate the strategy of climate change.

Physiological

Women’s physiological response to climate change varies from men. For instance, in times of high temperatures, their bodies dissipate less sweat and have a higher rate of metabolism. In addition, compared to men, they have thicker subcutaneous fat (Duncan, 2006). This means that their bodies’ ability to cool itself is inferior to men. Thus, women are placed at a disadvantage in cases where thermal environments reach their peak level. Their physiological response to climate change places them at higher risk than men. Lack of awareness and limited access to cooling facilities lowers the possibility of overcoming this vulnerability.

Response to elevated temperatures is not the only area where women’s physiological vulnerabilities to environmental degradation are exposed. There are other ways in which a woman’s physiology indenture her as a consequence of climate change. It is visible in their response to air pollution as well as natural disasters (Sorensen et al. 2018).

In several parts around the world, including India, lack of access to water leads to women carrying pitchers of water across long distances, which they traverse on foot. In India, it is a common practice for women to carry these pitchers on their head. It causes excessive pressure on the neck and spine, which leads to prolonged pain and may over the course of several years change the curvature of her spine.

Women’s ability to get pregnant further contributes to vulnerability. Climate change affects the health of mother and progeny, placing both at risk.

The connection between prolonged exposure to elevated temperatures with cases of stillbirth, congenital disabilities, and preterm delivery has been widely documented. This association occurs regardless of maternal ethnicity. Furthermore, younger mothers are found to have a higher risk of adverse outcomes (Sorensen et al. 2018). 

Research has demonstrated that exposure to elevated temperatures increases the probability of lower birth weight. Moreover, this rate of decrease is unevenly skewed among the races, with whites recording a lower rate of decrease in birth weight as compared to infants born to blacks (Deschênes, Greenstone & Guryan, 2009)

Being exposed to higher temperatures during the second trimester increased the risk of dehydration in infants. It is a cause of concern as dehydration can cause morbidity and mortality among children. Children under five years of age were found to have illnesses such as gastroenteritis that were related to dehydration (Duff-Brown, 2019).

This data is significant as it brings to the fore that climate change does not merely affect women’s health but also places her progeny at risk, thereby leading to a decline in population quality in the long run.

Socio-cultural

Women’s position within the social structure and their prescribed role within a society affect how climate change affects them. Most societies continue to follow a patriarchal kin system, where women are tasked with food distribution. While food production is considered the domain of men, the responsibility of women includes collecting, cooking and distributing food amongst members of kin. Her social position, however, increases her vulnerability to climate change.

Women themselves internalise their social role to such an extent that they sacrifice food to fulfil their social obligations.

Report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations said that twice as many women in Andhra Pradesh, India confessed to eating less than men in response to increased food insecurity after natural disasters (United Nations, 2018). This coping strategy of reducing food intake and skipping meals in response to rising food insecurity due to climate change was found amongst Inuit women as well (Beaumier & Ford, 2010).

 Both cases serve as an example to demonstrate the way in which women internalise their duties of providing food to members of the household, particularly men who are considered the head of the household. Foregoing meals and going hungry would increase cases of anaemia and worsen women’s biological condition.

This is only one way out of several, which show how patriarchal mindset and climate change collate to invade a woman’s life.

To demonstrate my point, I would like to use the example of a case that describes the multifarious ways in which the cultural conditions of women increase her vulnerabilities to climate change.

Research done in Uganda discovered that lack of water supply led to women walking great distances to bring water for their homes. Owing to their position within households, women were considered responsible for fetching water across long distances. Climate change led to a prolonged period of drought. This affected women’s lives in numerous ways. Firstly, it caused girls to drop out of school faster. Secondly, uneven power relations amongst the community were exploited by those who had an economic advantage. Vendors often demanded sexual relations from women in exchange for providing basic necessities. Further, the economic uncertainty that accompanied climate change threatened men’s inability to provide for their families led them to become violent (Gevers, Musuya & Bukuluki, 2020).

The above case shows how patriarchal, heteronormative kin system entrenched within a stratified society adds to the burden of climate change that women have to bear. Since both young school-going girls, as well as married women, are being affected, it is safe to stipulate that the effect does not limit itself to a particular age group.

Policy Integration

By forming policies that take into account how climate change increases the sufferings of women, the Indian government can reach the sustainable development goals outlined by the United Nations faster than anticipated. These goals include ensuring good health and well-being of citizens, fostering equality particularly gender equality which itself is a separate goal, building sustainable cities and communities, taking action to reduce climate change amongst others (Sustainable Development Goals: Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform, n.d.).

These goals can be achieved simultaneously if one recognises the relationship that exists between each goal. For instance, taking action to reduce climate change would facilitate building sustainable cities as well as gender equality. Facilitating equality among genders would, in turn, encourage socio-economic equality. Policy integration is an essential tool to employ so as to bridge the gap between social and ecological systems. Socio-economic problems are not isolated from other concerns, and therefore it is essential to launch policies that take these relationships into account.

The situation is not very different in India. Women are responsible for carrying water across large distances for their family. (Naik 2018). 

Policy integration has been promoted by several researchers working in the field of environmental preservation (Meijers & Stead 2004; Tosun & Lang 2017; Paudyal et al., 2019).

In order to curb gender-based violence and achieve sustainable development goals in Uganda, UNDP, along with the government of South Korea, launched an integration based program. The report proclaimed that including a gender-sensitive approach within models that were not directly involved in addressing was a challenge, it was necessary not only to prevent violence against women but also played an essential role in the acceleration of the achievement of other Sustainable Development Goals (Gevers, Musuya & Bukuluki, 2020).

Taking inspiration from South Korea, the Indian government too can collaborate with non-governmental agencies to achieve a gender-sensitive approach in its endeavour to curb climate change and prevent environmental degradation within a field that is significantly affected by the same. It would reduce the burden on government agencies.

Due to unemployment induced male migration, rural areas have witnessed ‘feminisation’ of the agricultural sector. Women participate in a diverse set of activities, such as cultivating and farming (Vasudeva 2018). Rural agricultural practices in India are profoundly vulnerable to weather fluctuations. In the face of climate change, weather often becomes unpredictable, leading to crops getting ruined due to cases of drought or sometimes flooding. This makes women and their families prone to malnutrition as food quality and availability decline significantly due to climate change.

At home, non-governmental efforts have been made to form a combined approach that can incorporate one with the other. An NGO named, ‘Naireeta Services Private Limited (NSPL)’ has developed an irrigation technology called Bhungroo.

Bhungroo assists in imitating part of the natural hydrological cycle, according to which water is collected in the ground to use for crops. It also allows the soil to maintain its moisture level. NSPL collaborates with other organisations to train women in using their technology.  This widens the scope of their skillset. Further, by providing women with the responsibility for managing this technology, NSPL has managed to find a way in improving their social power as well (Christoff & Sommer, 2018).

The above example is an excellent way to empower women through the facet of curbing climate change. It demonstrates how multiple intersecting channels can be tied successfully to provide holistic solutions. Furthermore, it brings to fore the need for policy integration.

Such projects highlight the advantages and need of including women as active members to curb the effects of environmental degradation. However, their limited size greatly reduces the impact of their work at a national level. There is a need for such programs to be implemented across the country. For this purpose, the government must step in and either work together with such local bodies or design similar programs at a national level. Working in conjunction with local bodies can be beneficial for the government. These local bodies, due to their proximity of the people and experience can provide valuable guidance to government officials. One way would be to source data from local bodies such as the ones described above as these bodies are already working on the ground they would be aware of the challenges that exist and ways to overcome it.

The scope of Bhungroo is only limited to the aquatic domain. While framing its own policy, the government needs to broaden its scope and include ways to curb pollutants in the environment, while empowering women wherever possible. The best strategy would be to divide areas and use data from local bodies wherever available to identify those sources of pollutants that cause maximum damage, research how it affects the life of people, particularly women, residing within the demarcated area and develop an integrated plan of action.

Both UNDP and NSPL do not acknowledge the physiological vulnerabilities that women face due to climate change. Policymakers need to incorporate this in order to form a truly holistic policy.

Conclusion

Society does not face these problems in isolation. Instead, they are subjected to problems of both at the same time. It is necessary to recognise the cross-cutting issues persistent in both and launch programs and that use expertise from both fields so as to provide a holistic solution. An integrated approach is important to tackle two birds with one stone. this would help reducing manpower and bring efficiency to the project. Over the course of several decades India has done much to facilitate environmental conservation and women empowerment.

While policies aimed at women empowerment and climate change have been brought into action, an integrated approach has not received due attention. So far, no concrete steps have been taken towards framing integrated programs that simultaneously incorporate both social and environmental concerns. Women are an integral part of resource allocation in households, and this position can be harnessed towards encouraging people in making environmentally conscious decisions. Traditional knowledge can be used in conjunction with scientific expertise to educate these women.

For this particular policy, the Ministry of Women and Child, as well as the Ministry of Environment, will have to coordinate with each other. A minor challenge would be that the departments would have to coordinate in order to frame and implement a cohesive policy. Co-ordination would increase manpower as well as a skillset. The sectors can inform and fill gaps where one lacks.

One way to facilitate policy integration is to let both departments delineate individual as well as shared goals for the program. This would ensure that both departments remain dedicated to their objectives as well as the more significant issue at hand.

Policy integration is a tempest field. Institutional problems may present themselves while the task is ongoing. However, the motivation of benefits that will be achieved once the contested field of policy integration is navigated is sufficient to outweigh the challenges.

References

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