As International Women’s Day approached this year, I noticed the usual celebrations including morning teas and fancy lunches with high profile speakers. As much as these acts of solidarity are important, what doesn’t get spoken about is that women are bearing the burden of the escalating climate crisis.
This summer, hundreds of thousands of hectares burned across Victoria as extreme heat and violent winds forced them to flee their homes and cut holidays short. While Australia burned and sweltered through record‑breaking temperatures, cities across the United States were plunging to their coldest lows in 150 years. And in the Philippines, communities are still reeling from back-to-back typhoons that displaced millions of people.
What doesn’t get spoken about on International Women’s Day is the fact that with every crisis, the impacts are not evenly shared, with women too often bearing the burden. With every degree of global warming, it is women who are paying the biggest price.
Every degree deepens inequality
I’ve just met a group of women in Poso, Indonesia, who are supported through an ActionAid project to adapt to climate change. They told me that climate change is wiping out their livelihoods. The seasons have changed, and rainfall is more erratic, frequently destroying crops before they’ve had time to harvest.
It’s impacting the food they have for their families, the money they can make through crop sales and increasing tensions in the home. Families are being forced into debt to survive and when they can’t pay off loan sharks, their daughters are sold off into a life of early marriage, where they face increased risks of violence.
Every degree that global temperatures rise, it’s women who lose their livelihoods. It’s women who lose access to food and clean water. It’s women who face increased violence.
In fact, by 2090, 10% of all cases of intimate partner violence are expected to be caused by climate change. It’s predicted that with every degree of global warming, violence against women will increase by 4.7%.
This doesn’t have to be our future
We know that the growing pollution caused by coal, oil and gas – fossil fuels – is the main driver of climate change, which is threatening to roll back the decades of progress we’ve made on gender equality. And if we stop further extraction, we stand the greatest chance of keeping temperatures below two degrees of global warming.
We also know that women are not sitting around waiting for climate change to destroy our homes and future.
The women I met in Poso are already taking steps to adapt to climate change. They are planting climate resistant crops on higher land, where they will be less impacted by flooding. They are collectively building savings that can help them withstand erratic weather events, and they are building a network of paralegals that are intervening in cases of violence against women and children in the community.
How we can turn the tide
We can turn this situation around. Because if every degree deepens inequality, then every climate action we take can help empower women.
This International Women’s Day, I want to see Australians go beyond the cupcakes and the speeches and get behind campaigns for climate action – the ultimate act of solidarity with women around the world right now.
For every big polluter that pays for its damage, more women will be spared from climate induced drought and famine.
For every bank that stops investing in fossil fuels, more women will be safe from domestic violence caused by the stress that comes with climate disasters.
For every rich, polluting country that starts paying its fair share of climate finance, more women will thrive with their livelihoods and crops safe from climate disasters. We know who is responsible, and we know what every action can mean.
Millions of women around the world are already leading climate action in their communities, just like the women of Poso, and we urgently need to get behind them.
The more of us there are, the more we can do, and the more impact we make in women’s lives.
Every climate action empowers women.
Every degree counts for gender equality.
ActionAid Australia has launched a new campaign – Every Degree Deepens Inequality. Learn how you can take action on climate change to help empower women around the world.