Climate change and gender

Climate change affects men and women differently.^[1] Climate change and gender examines how men and women access and use resources that are impacted by climate change and how they experience the resulting impacts.^[2] It examines how gender roles and cultural norms influence the ability of men and women to respond to climate change, and how women's and men's roles can be better integrated into climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. It also considers how climate change intersects with other socioeconomic challenges, such as poverty, access to resources, migration and cultural identity. Ultimately, the goal of this research is to ensure that climate change policies and initiatives are equitable, and that both women and men benefit from them.^[3][4] Climate change increases gender inequality,^[5] reduces women's ability to be financially independent,^[6] and has an overall negative impact on the social and political rights of women, especially in economies that are heavily based on agriculture.^[5] In many cases, gender inequality means that women are more vulnerable to the negative effects of climate change.^[7] This is due to gender roles, particularly in the developing world, which means that women are often dependent on the natural environment for subsistence and income. By further limiting women's already constrained access to physical, social, political, and fiscal resources, climate change often burdens women more than men and can magnify existing gender inequality.^{[8][9][10][11][12]}

Gender-based differences have also been identified in relation to awareness, causation and response to climate change, and many countries have developed and implemented gender-based climate change strategies and action plans. For example, the government of Mozambique adopted a Gender, Environment and Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan in early 2010, being the first government in the world to do so.^[13] Businesses with gender-diverse boards have been found 60% more likely to minimise energy usage and 40% more likely to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Women and men experience climate change and environmental degradation differently according to gender roles and societal conventions.^[14]

Analysis of gender in climate change, however, is not limited to women.^[15] It also means not only applying a binary male/female system of analysis on sets of quantitative data, but also scrutinizing discursive constructions that shapes power relations connected to climate change,^[16] and considering how gender, as a social factor that influences responses to climate change, intersects with other variables such as age, caste, marital status, and ethnicity.^[17] This binary also excludes individuals who are a part of the LGBTQ+ community, and those who are non-binary and do not fit into gender norms.^[18]T o understand the effects climate change has on different populations, there must be a distinction between gender and sex. Gender can be defined as the socially constructed differences between men and women that give rise to masculinity and femininity. Sex can be defined as the biological distinctions between males and females, most often in connection with reproductive functions.^[4]