Climate Change Hazard Perception and Gender Empowerment for Resilience in the Regions of Tropical Asia

Abstract

Extreme weather events have been affecting quite adversely with substantial loss of life and livelihood options, as is much evident from the current trends noticeable in the Global South, of which only in South Asia more than 20% of the global population live. The region is also the home of the youth, the future of the globe, but their life is often exposed to stressors that are linked to environmental, particularly climatic, disasters. Besides looking after their personal needs, the role of women is usually to take care of the children, elderly and indisposed people who due to their incapacities become the major victims of extreme climatic events. This paper is an attempt to review the gendered perceptions in climate sensitivity and resilience, whereby the authors have tried to propose a women-centric climatic hazard management. The analysis is done on the basis of reviewing both government and nongovernmental reports and primary data captured on various aspects of the focal theme through a structured online poll using Web 2.0 platforms, mainly to understand women’s role in climatic hazard management. Largely, it has been found that women are not as vulnerable as they may seem and are also willing to come forward to lead climate change mitigation challenges from the front.KeywordsClimatic vulnerabilityGender rolesResilience perceptionWomen participation