Women are already facing consequences of climate change. Severe weather events are creating droughts, floods and dangers to food and water supplies for families cared for by women -- women's work around the world.
In the heat of the economic crisis, concerns about climate change have been largely muted. But it's important to keep in mind that there's a cost to risk management even during tough economic times.
Can we afford ANOTHER 10% global economic impact?
Women are more closely aligned with the earth and thus, climate change because we are more often directly responsible for food, water and clothing for children and the elderly. Climate change affects women first -- and indeed -- already is affecting millions of women in countries that are already facing increased severe weather such as droughts and floods.
Margaret Beckett, UK's Foreign Secretary, has warned us about migration on an
unprecedented scale due to flooding, disease and famine. She also said that drought and crop
failure could cause intensified competition for food, water and energy. "It is about our
collective security in a fragile and increasingly interdependent world," she explained to the United Nations in 2007.
In many poor countries such as Senegal, the most important challenge remains the daily lives of women who are still confronted with hardships, especially in rural areas where they constitute approximately 70% of the labor force. They operate with very limited resources and they ensure 80% of agricultural production. They are vulnerable to poverty due to lack of resources and income.
There's a practice in economics that says, "what you measure you can manage," but women's activities are not really taken into account in most economic surveys and number crunching. Women greatly support the livelihoods of the majority of households (budget and time). The absence of gender-disaggregated data hampers a realistic interpretation of statistics related to the real contribution of women in the national economy. The REAL economy of survival.
Gender roles tend to undergo transformations because of the changes that occur in people's lifestyles. As living conditions worsen, and poverty escalates, there is a greater need to generate earnings, thus reshaping relationships between men and women. Women acquire more freedom. They get involved in women's organizations; they sell in local markets, if they have capital. Today, women want to be able to meet their needs and look out for their own interests. Nevertheless, they are still dependent on the environment, the opinion of their husbands and the expectations assigned to gender roles in public life.