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DipNote: Global Women's Issues

Lauren Silver

Virtual Student Federal Service Intern

Office of Global Women’s Issues

October 20, 2022

Women and girls have persevered through many hurdles throughout history. One of the biggest challenges women and girls face today is the overwhelming, widespread effects of climate change. An estimated 4 out of 5 people displaced by the impacts of climate change are girls and women.

As climate change depletes already-limited resources in low- and middle-income countries, women and girls are some of the most vulnerable. Not only are women and girls more likely to experience poverty and food insecurity, they are more likely to be responsible for securing scarce resources, putting them at greater risk of experiencing gender-based violence (GBV). In many contexts, women and girls bear the responsibility of fetching water and are commonly the first to leave their jobs or drop out of school to support the household when crises hit. For girls, this means experiencing and increased risk of child, early, and forced marriage along with other forms of GBV.

 

In the words of USAID Administrator Samantha Power, “climate change is sexist; our response shouldn’t be.” Women and girls are at the forefront of reversing these trends, spearheading adaptation and mitigation initiatives responding to climate change. Girls in particular have shown up as some of the most active, creative, and effective champions of climate issues.

Greta Thunberg, who has become a household name and an icon in climate activism, started her career at age 15 by protesting the Swedish parliament in 2018. She pressured the government to decrease carbon emissions. While her campaign started small, it grew to inspire. Her work and activism motivated students to protest their national governments by encouraging them to combat climate change.

Girl-led groups, networks, and collectives are also taking the world by storm – working to bring gender equality issues into the climate change conversation in an effort to increase protection and resilience of vulnerable groups. Through their work, indigenous women and girls and others who have traditionally been marginalized have been given a platform to speak up and have their needs prioritized.

Elizabeth Wathuti, a Green Climate Fund Youth Campion and founder of Global Green Initiative, has worked to address the world’s climate crisis. The Kenyan climate activist asked world leaders to open their hearts to those suffering from climate change at the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow. Wathuti has brought into light how deforestation and climate change-induced disasters are affecting people.

In Glasgow in 2021, tens of thousands of protestors marched to demand climate change measures. One of the protesters, Patience Nabukalu, a climate activist from Uganda, criticized leaders and policymakers for failing to address the climate crisis. Nabukalu asked that leaders address climate change: “We want them to act now. We want solutions, not promises.”. Laura Aguilar, an activist from Colombia, was another powerful voice at the protest. She spoke about how the COP presidency should apologize for their lack of initiatives combating climate change.

Girl-led groups, networks, and collectives are also taking the world by storm – working to bring gender equality issues into the climate change conversation in an effort to increase protection and resilience of vulnerable groups. Through their work, indigenous women and girls and others who have traditionally been marginalized have been given a platform to speak up and have their needs prioritized.

Since 1995, The Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues (S/GWI) has worked to empower women and girls through foreign policy. Women- and girl-led organizations are working to protect our planet by prioritizing those who are or will be marginalized due to the climate crisis. As supported and recommended by the United Nations, women and girls’ priorities must be included in climate change policies in order to remove barriers women and girls currently face and new ones which arrive with impacts from climate change. Unfortunately, less than 2% of climate strategies mention girls. In order to combat the climate crisis, women and girls are essential in developing solutions and their needs must be present in each conversation, including by supporting women- and girl-led groups.

As climate change becomes an even more urgent matter, girls are leading the way. If climate change has shown us anything, it is that girls can be leaders in combatting the climate crisis. They must be supported and championed to be able to lead in their communities and around the world.

**About the author: Lauren Silver is a Virtual Student Federal Service Intern for the bureau of Global Women Issues and attends the University of California .**

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Climate and EnvironmentClimate ChangeEnvironmentGlobal Women's IssuesWomen's Issues

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