The Disproportionate Effect of Climate Change on Women

by Lilith Rose

Many human rights groups – the UN, Global Citizen, and more – recognize that the heightened insecurity and lessened natural resources will serve to exasperate gender divisions. Educational divides, lack of personal decision-making, practices such as the husband being fed before the wife, and weather changes lessening crop yield will all contribute to increased hardship for women, especially in developing countries. Additionally, acts of violence against women are likely to increase during periods of instability, leading to more abuse and sex trafficking.

These obstacles, especially in regards to access to human rights and land, make it more difficult for women to be actors of climate change activism, creating a negative feedback loop as climate-related issues continue to create a heavier workload and increased pressures for women. Humanitarian solutions to this problem is to create space for women to be community leaders in regards to climate change activism, uplifting them both through gender divisions and contributing positively to sustainable environmental practices.

McCarthy, J. (2020, March 5). Understanding why climate change impacts women more than men. Retrieved April 23, 2021, from https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/how-climate-change-affects-women/

About the Playwright: Chantal Bilodeau

Chantal Bilodeau is a playwright and translator who is dedicated to exploring “the intersection of science, policy, art, and climate change.” Since 2008, Bilodeau’s role as founder and Artistic Director of The Arctic Cycle allowed for her to organize and mobilize theatre and academic communities through a worldwide distributed theatre festival. Bilodeau sees herself and her work as facilitator, with theatre being an important tool in activism for social justice and environmental causes.

Bilodeau wrote It Starts with Me for Climate Change Theatre Action 2019, inspired by the list of women below for their contributions to environmental activism. Bilodeau believes that women are more active in this field of work, “the intersections of arts and climate change,” as she discussed in her 2018 essay Why Do Women Climate More Than Men?. As to why that is, Bilodeau cited that this work is largely collaborative and concerned with relationships between a diverse group of people – both in professional and personal differences – and women tend to excel in this type of leadership role.