Empowering Women Aids Climate Resilience

Jun 30, 2022 | Nina Jeffs, Zainab Yunusa
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The overturning of constitutional rights to abortion by the United States Supreme Court is the latest blow in a worldwide rollback of protections for gender equality and women’s rights. It comes at a time when the Covid-19 pandemic has already set global gender parity back by a generation, and the worsening effects of climate change continue to disproportionately affect women and girls, especially in those countries that are most vulnerable.

These conditions make the integration of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in climate change solutions as a way towards increasing climate resilience and improving gender equality more urgent than ever, demanding attention and resources.

With extreme weather events such as droughts and floods becoming more frequent and severe, the need to uphold these rights becomes more pressing. Yet these needs are often overlooked in the responses to, and understandings of, the gendered nature of climate change impacts.