Climate change vulnerability, impacts, and adaptation: why does gender matter?
Denton, F.
Gender and Development 10(2): 10-20
2002
ISSN/ISBN: 1355-2074 DOI: 10.1080/13552070215903Document Number: 244324
Gender-related inequalities are pervasive in the developing world. Although women account for almost 80% of the agricultural sector in Africa, they remain vulnerable and poor. 70% of the 1.3 billion people in the developing world living below the threshold of poverty are women. It is important that the consequences of climate change should not lead already marginalized sections of communities into further deprivation. However, key development issues have been at best 'side-tracked', and at worst 'blatantly omitted', from policy debates on climate change. The threats posed by global warming have failed to impress on policy makers the importance of placing women at the middle of their 'vision' of sustainable development. This article argues that if climate change policy is about ensuring a sustainable future by combining development and environment issues, it must take into account the interests of all stakeholders. The Global Environment Facility and the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol can play a role in ensuring sustainable development, provided they are implemented in a way that does not disadvantage women and the poor.