Gender inequity related to climate risks

Abstract

In contemporary rural Mexico, where the incidence and intensity of extreme climate phenomena have increased in recent years, cultural vulnerabilities lead to heightened gendered vulnerabilities. Extreme climate phenomena do not affect all people equally. Women and men face different risks as they do not have the same capacities for decision-making and because the access to cropland, forests, and rivers varies by gender and generation. The aim of this chapter is to incorporate a gender perspective in understanding how cultural vulnerabilities influence populations’ vulnerability to climate disaster in two rural communities on Mexico’s west coast in the state of Jalisco as well as their vulnerability to climate variability in a rural community on the east coast in the state of Veracruz. We analyse through qualitative research how women’s cultural, social, economic, and political vulnerabilities to extreme climate phenomena are magnified by gender inequity on a local level. As sustainability inherently includes gender equality, we will focus on three of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): SDG 5 (Gender Equality: gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls); SDG 10 (Reduced Inequality: reduction of inequality within and among countries); and SDG 13 (Climate Action: urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts). Inequality of rural women with respect to exposure to climate risks and disasters, as well as inequity in their access to resources, capabilities, mechanisms for decision-making, and job opportunities place them at a disadvantage. Reducing their vulnerability to the effects of climate change requires addressing the social, economic, political, and cultural conditions in which gender inequality is reproduced.