Climate Justice & Feminism

With: Dorothy Nalubega, from the Green Party Uganda & Coordinator of the Global Greens Women’s Network for the African Greens Federation.
About: The impacts of climate change and environmental degradation are different for women and men. Women are vulnerable not because they are “naturally weaker,” but because they face different conditions of vulnerability than men.
Women from low-income communities, Indigenous women, and those in developing countries bear a heavier burden from the impacts of climate change because they are more reliant upon natural resources for survival, or they inhabit areas with poor infrastructure. Women in Global South nations engage disproportionately in subsistence farming and fuel and water collection. As droughts, floods and other erratic weather events increase, there will be an increased burden on women holding responsibility for their family’s food, water and energy needs.
Women’s unequal participation in decision-making processes and labour markets compound inequalities and often prevent women from fully contributing to climate-related planning, policy-making and implementation.
Women must be included, not because they are “more vulnerable” but because they have different perspectives and experiences to contribute (for example, in implementing adaptation measures). Women can (and do) play a critical role in response to climate change due to their local knowledge of and leadership in sustainable resource management and/or leading sustainable practices at the household and community level.