Helping Asia-Pacific Women to Overcome Climate Disasters

Nov 14, 2022 | Sarah Knibbs, Dechen Tsering and Annamaria Oltorp
View Original

The disastrous floods in Pakistan have proven, yet again, that our climate crisis disproportionately hurts women. Of the 33 million people affected, nearly 70 per cent have been women and children, according to the latest United Nations flash appeal. This is just one of the many accelerating, and devastating, climate impacts around the world.

Women face greater demands to care for their families because of social and gender norms, and these demands increase during and after climate disasters. Women spend more time than men gathering household fuel and water and face more barriers in accessing information and resources to prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters.

And they face heightened risks of gender-based violence after disasters. At the same time, women are critical leaders for climate action and their engagement and participation is essential to a better shared future.