The Gender Issue

Women bear the brunt of climate related issues on the water cycle (Source: WaterAid) 

In my previous blog post I briefly looked at the areas of the world that were experiencing both physical and economic water scarcity. Competition for water resources is increasing, mainly due to the increasing pressures from agriculture, industry and the environment. Those people that will be the worst affected by these pressures are the poor and within this group, it is women that end up paying the price.

Two thirds of the worlds 1.2 billion poor people are women (IFAD, 2012). Amber Fletcher described these women as “invisible food producers” in her most recent TEDx talk in July 2015. Being the optimist I am, this concept is unsettling. The point she was making was that farmers are stereotypically thought of as male and therefore created an invisible connection between the problem and the solution. This problem however, has been outlined in a United Nations sponsored report by the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

The gender issue has been recognised as one that needs to be addressed in this sector as women play such a vital role in securing water for both agricultural and domestic purposes. In many communities it is seen as their responsibility to keep sanitation facilities in order, along with the daily collection of drinking water from local wells. They have developed great knowledge over crop production and water resources through first hand experiences, yet there is an ever-growing gap between policy and practice. Although the problem has been discussed by such organisations, governance has still not given women the recognition they deserve, as they still remain excluded from decision-making.

With Climate Change putting increasing pressures on water resources, it is no doubt that women will be at the forefront of this. With increased floods and droughts, adequate drinking resources are being tampered with. Women will need to travel further to collect water, taking valuable time out of their days; impacting potential time spent on an education. Sadly, this journey has also jeopardised women’s safety, as cases of violence have unofficially been reported in South Sudan. Additionally a study by Neumayer and Plümper (2007) found that natural disasters, especially those heightened by a changing climate, would result in the death of more women than men.

Accepting that there is a gender issue is the first step. The second would be to focus more efforts on tackling the issues associated with the inequality, and third, empowering women with responsibility over water resources they already possess great knowledge over. If it’s as easy as one, two, three, then why has this not happened yet? Why are we still seeing such a disparity between the effects on men and women? Climate Change is happening now, and we have a social responsibility to women across the world to tackle these humanitarian rights immediately.