Is there a connection between gender and climate change? Lorena Aguilar Senior Gender Adviser International Union for Conservation of Nature - Office of the Senior Gender Adviser Human Face • Climate change impacts will be differently distributed among different regions, generations, age, classes, income groups, occupations and genders • The poor, primarily but by no means exclusively in developing countries, will be disproportionately affected. Their reliance on local ecological resources, coupled with existing stresses on health and well-being, and limited financial, institutional and human resources leave the poor most vulnerable and least able to adapt to the impacts of climate change (IPCC 2001) International Union for Conservation of Nature - Office of the Senior Gender Adviser International Union for Conservation of Nature - Office of the Senior Gender Adviser Causes of difference • Avoid being simplistic and just seeing women (due to their sex) as the VICTIMS • Women are not vulnerable because they are "naturally weaker": women and men face different vulnerabilities due to their gender condition. Many women live in conditions of social exclusion International Union for Conservation of Nature - Office of the Senior Gender Adviser Causes of difference • Vulnerability depends in large part on the assets (physical, financial, human, social, and natural) available: the more assets, the less vulnerable one person is • Worldwide, compared to men, women tend to have more limited access to resources that would enhance their capacity to adapt to climate change—including land, credit, agricultural inputs, decision- making bodies, technology and training services International Union for Conservation of Nature - Office of the Senior Gender Adviser Causes of difference • Social prejudice keeps girls and women from learning to swim and tree climbing • Face constraints in their mobility or behavior that hinder their ability to relocate without a male relative’s consent International Union for Conservation of Nature - Office of the Senior Gender Adviser The other side of the coin… After major disasters men experience: (cid:1) Large numbers of widowers (cid:1) Difficulties in raising young families – gendered roles and social norms (cid:1) Emotional trauma of men in coping with the loss International Union for Conservation of Nature - Office of the Senior Gender Adviser Facts- not anecdotes London School of Economics analyzed disasters in 141 countries -decisive evidence that gender differences in deaths from natural disasters are directly linked to women’s economic and social rights. When women’s rights are not protected, more women than men will die from disasters. The study also found the opposite to be true: in societies where women and men enjoy equal rights, disasters kill the same number of women and men International Union for Conservation of Nature - Office of the Senior Gender Adviser What does this mean? That women’s EMPOWERMENT should be one of the priorities in adaptation and risk reduction strategies/initiatives International Union for Conservation of Nature - Office of the Senior Gender Adviser But what are the other linkages in relation to gender, adaptation and mitigation strategies? International Union for Conservation of Nature - Office of the Senior Gender Adviser