News

Climate change policy ignores women farmers

27 August 2010

Research has shown that women are more likely to feel the effects of climate change because they have less access to resources. Changing weather patterns increase poor women’s work burden on gathering water and firewood. Girls may be forced to forgo school in order to contribute to the increased household work.

Where traditional land tenure is practiced, women may lose land normally reserved for growing crops for household consumption to give way for commercial crops.

The South African government, through its Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA), is in the process of developing a national climate-change policy. Consultations with a few environmental experts and civil society organisations took place in May.

The content of the draft document remains confidential, but according to gender experts, who have been provided with a draft of the policy, it does not once mention the words “women” or gender”, despite the fact that most small-scale farmers are women and women are the most vulnerable to climate change and disaster.

“An effective climate-change policy must begin and end with people, but this document ignores that,” says Dorah Lebelo, coordinator of advocacy group Gender CC – Women for Climate Justice.

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