I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1880 
To address the disparate impact of climate change on women and support 
the efforts of women globally to address climate change, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 26, 2019 
Ms. LEE of California introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on En-
ergy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To address the disparate impact of climate change on women 
and support the efforts of women globally to address 
climate change, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Women and Climate Change Act of 2019’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
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Sec. 2. Findings. 
Sec. 3. Definitions. 
Sec. 4. Statement of policy. 
TITLE I—STRATEGIES, POLICIES, AND PROGRAMS 
Sec. 101. Federal Interagency Working Group on Women and Climate Change. 
Sec. 102. Development and implementation of strategy and policies to prevent 
and respond to the effects of climate change on women glob-
ally. 
TITLE II—OVERSIGHT AND ACCOUNTABILITY 
Sec. 201. Senior Coordinator for Women and Climate Change. 
Sec. 202. Briefing and report. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) Women in the United States and around 
the world are the linchpin of families and commu-
nities and are often the first to feel the immediate 
and adverse effects of social, environmental, and eco-
nomic stresses on their families and communities. 
(2) The United Nations has recognized, as one 
of the central organizing principles for its work, that 
‘‘no enduring solution to society’s most threatening 
social, economic and political problems can be found 
without the full participation, and the full empower-
ment, of the world’s women’’. 
(3) The United Nations Development Pro-
gramme 2013 Human Development Report has 
found that the number of people living in extreme 
poverty could increase by up to 3,000,000,000 by 
2050 unless environmental disasters are averted by 
coordinated global action. 
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(4) Climate change is already forcing the most 
vulnerable communities and populations in devel-
oping countries to face unprecedented climate stress, 
including water scarcity and drought, as well as se-
vere weather events and floods, which can lead to re-
duced agricultural productivity, food insecurity, and 
increased disease. 
(5) Climate change exacerbates issues of scar-
city and lack of accessibility to primary natural re-
sources, forest resources, and arable land for food 
production, thereby contributing to increased conflict 
and instability, as well as the workload and stresses 
on women farmers, who are estimated to produce 60 
to 80 percent of the food in most developing coun-
tries. 
(6) Women will disproportionately face harmful 
impacts from climate change, particularly in poor 
and developing nations where women regularly as-
sume increased responsibility for growing the fam-
ily’s food and collecting water, fuel, and other re-
sources. 
(7) Epidemics, such as malaria and zika, are 
expected to worsen and spread due to variations in 
climate, putting women (especially pregnant mothers 
and women who hope to become pregnant) and chil-
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dren without access to prevention and medical serv-
ices at risk. 
(8) The direct and indirect effects of climate 
change 
have 
a 
disproportionate 
impact 
on 
marginalized women, such as environmental refugees 
and displaced persons, migrants, religious, racial, or 
ethnic minorities, adolescent girls, lesbian and trans 
women, women living in poverty, and women and 
girls with disabilities and those who are living with 
HIV. 
(9) Conflict has a disproportionate impact on 
the most vulnerable communities and populations, 
including women, and is fueled in the poorest re-
gions of the world by harsher climates, leading to 
migration, refugee crises, and conflicts over scarce 
natural resources, including land and water. 
(10) Displaced, refugee, and stateless women 
and girls face extreme violence and threats, includ-
ing— 
(A) being forced to exchange sex for food 
and humanitarian supplies; 
(B) being at increased risk of rape, sexual 
exploitation, and abuse; and 
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(C) being at increased risk for HIV, sexu-
ally transmitted infections (STIs), unplanned 
pregnancy, and poor reproductive health. 
(11) It is predicted that climate change will 
lead to increasing frequency and intensity of extreme 
weather conditions, precipitating the occurrence of 
natural disasters around the globe. 
(12) The relocation and death of women, and 
especially mothers, as a result of climate-related dis-
asters often has devastating impacts on social sup-
port networks, family ties, and the coping capacity 
of families and communities. 
(13) The ability of women to adapt to climate 
change is constrained by a lack of economic free-
doms, property and inheritance rights, and access to 
financial resources, education, family planning and 
reproductive health, and new tools, equipment, and 
technology. 
(14) Despite having a unique capacity and 
knowledge to promote and provide for adaptation to 
climate change, women often have insufficient re-
sources to undertake such adaptation. 
(15) Women are shown to have a multiplier ef-
fect because women use their income and resources, 
when given the necessary tools, to increase the well- 
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being of their children and families, and thus play 
a critical role in reducing food insecurity, poverty, 
and socioeconomic effects of climate change. 
(16) Women are often underrepresented in the 
development and formulation of policy regarding 
mitigation and adaptation to climate change, even 
though women are often in the best position to pro-
vide and consult on adaptive strategies. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’’ means— 
(A) the Committee on Foreign Relations 
and the Committee on Appropriations of the 
Senate; and 
(B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 
the Committee on Appropriations of the House 
of Representatives. 
(2) CLIMATE
CHANGE.—The term ‘‘climate 
change’’ means a change of climate that is attrib-
uted directly or indirectly to— 
(A) human activity; and 
(B) altering the composition of the global 
atmosphere. 
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(3) DEVELOPING COUNTRY.—The term ‘‘devel-
oping country’’ means a country classified by the 
World Bank as having a low-income or lower-middle- 
income economy. 
(4) DISPARATE IMPACT.—The term ‘‘disparate 
impact’’ refers to the historical and ongoing impacts 
of the pattern and practice of discrimination in em-
ployment, education, housing, banking, health, and 
nearly every other aspect of life in the economy, so-
ciety, or culture that have an adverse impact on mi-
norities, women, or other protected groups, regard-
less of whether such practices were motivated by dis-
criminatory intent. 
(5) ENVIRONMENTAL
DISASTERS.—The term 
‘‘environmental disasters’’ means specific events 
caused by human activity that result in seriously 
negative effects on the environment. 
(6) ENVIRONMENTAL
REFUGEES.—The term 
‘‘environmental refugees’’ means people displaced be-
cause of environmental causes, notably land loss and 
degradation, and natural disasters, who have left 
their community or country of origin. 
(7) EXTREME POVERTY.—The term ‘‘extreme 
poverty’’ means having an income level or living 
standard at a level of extreme deprivation based on 
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living with income below 50 percent of the poverty 
line as established by the individual country at issue, 
or below $1.90 per day as determined by the World 
Bank. 
(8) EXTREME WEATHER.—The term ‘‘extreme 
weather’’ means unexpected, unusual, unpredictable, 
severe, or unseasonal weather that is at the extremes 
of the historical distribution range that has been 
seen in the past. 
(9) FEDERAL
AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Federal 
agency’’ means any executive department, Govern-
ment corporation, Government-controlled corpora-
tion, or other establishment in the executive branch 
of the Government (including the Executive Office of 
the President), or any independent regulatory agen-
cy. 
(10) FOOD INSECURITY.—The term ‘‘food inse-
curity’’ means a lack of consistent access to food. 
(11) MOST
VULNERABLE
COMMUNITIES
AND 
POPULATIONS.—The term ‘‘most vulnerable commu-
nities and populations’’ means communities and pop-
ulations, including women, impoverished commu-
nities, adolescent girls, people with disabilities, indig-
enous peoples, refugees, displaced persons, migrants, 
religious, racial, or ethnic minorities, lesbian and 
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trans women, women living in poverty, women and 
girls with disabilities, and those who are living with 
HIV, who are at risk of substantial adverse impacts 
of climate change and have limited capacity to re-
spond to such impacts. 
(12) POVERTY.—The term ‘‘poverty’’ means an 
income level and living standard insufficient to meet 
basic needs. 
SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
It is the policy of the United States, in partnership 
with affected countries, donor country governments, inter-
national financial institutions, international nongovern-
mental organizations, multilateral organizations, and civil 
society groups, especially those led by women, to combat 
the leading causes of climate change, mitigate the effects 
of climate change on women and girls, and elevate the par-
ticipation of women in policy, program, and community 
decision-making processes with respect to climate change, 
by— 
(1) establishing the Federal Interagency Work-
ing Group on Women and Climate Change, the mis-
sion of which is to prevent and respond to the ef-
fects of climate change on women globally; and 
(2) implementing a coordinated, integrated, evi-
dence-based, and comprehensive strategy on women 
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and climate change throughout United States poli-
cies in the future. 
TITLE I—STRATEGIES, POLICIES, 
AND PROGRAMS 
SEC. 101. FEDERAL INTERAGENCY WORKING GROUP ON 
WOMEN AND CLIMATE CHANGE. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 
Department of State a Federal Interagency Working 
Group on Women and Climate Change (in this Act re-
ferred to as the ‘‘Working Group’’). 
(b) CHAIRPERSON.—The Senior Coordinator for 
Women and Climate Change designated pursuant to sec-
tion 201 shall serve as the chairperson of the Working 
Group. 
(c) MEMBERSHIP.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Working Group shall be 
composed of one senior-level representative from 
each of the Federal agencies described in paragraph 
(2), as selected by the head of the respective agency 
from the senior ranks of that agency. 
(2) AGENCIES.—The agencies described in this 
paragraph are the following: 
(A) The Department of State, including— 
(i) the Office of Global Women’s 
Issues; 
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