Four reasons why the climate crisis is a women's issue

Dear Friend,

With COP27 climate negotiations on the horizon in November and International Day of Girl Child today, I’ve been thinking about the impact the climate crisis is having on women and girls.

Climate crisis and gender inequality are inextricably intertwined. Everyone on the planet is feeling the effects of global heating, but the impact is disproportionately greater for women, and particularly women in sub-Saharan Africa. 

As Regional Gender and Social Inclusion Coordinator for Ripple Effect, I recently spoke about the climate crisis and gender on the Hali Hewa Podcast.

1. Women are highly dependent on natural resources

More than 60% of women in sub-Saharan Africa work in agriculture and produce up to 80% of the continent’s food.

Rural women’s work is intimately connected with nature. They have developed traditional cropping methods that protect natural resources and are the custodians of knowledge about forest plants and crop varieties.

Being so dependent on farming means that women are much more financially vulnerable when climate shocks affect food production.

2. Women are responsible for providing family food

Even though most women are doing the farming work, they are also expected to prepare and cook every meal. The double responsibility for women is multiplied when crops fail due to drought or flooding as a result of the climate crisis.

3. Women collect water and fuel for cooking

Ensuring there is enough water and firewood to use at home is time-consuming, heavy work in rural Africa. Women in sub-Saharan Africa collectively spend four billion hours a year collecting water.

Those 'unproductive hours' could have huge health and economic impacts if they were used for agriculture or elsewhere.

“It reaches a time when all that women in this village do is look for water the whole day. We wake up early in the morning and go searching for water and then later in the evening we go back for more water."

Beatrice, Ripple Effect farmer, Kenya

4. Few women own land or control resources

Deep-seated customs and land tenure laws preclude women from owning and inheriting land. So, although women are doing the great majority of the work of growing food, they are widely excluded from decisions about how the land will be used.

In Ethiopia we see that men decide what crops will be planted, so despite the direct experience that women have, they are unable to take steps to adapt to the changing climate.

And if a husband dies or migrates, women are powerless to control the land they work on. They haven’t been involved in land ownership, and far fewer rural women can read or write than men, which leaves them dangerously ill-informed about the coming impacts. 

You can learn more about why women are disproportionally affected by the impacts of the climate crisis and the work my colleagues and I at Ripple Effect are doing to support them, by listening to the Hali Hewa Podcast episode I featured on earlier this month.

Please do help raise awareness of the issue of gender inequality and the climate crisis by sharing this email, or the Podcast episode, with your friends and family.

With best wishes,

Sofanit Mesfin
Regional Gender and Social Inclusion Coordinator

Ripple Effect

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