Women are the change our climate needs

As a wise woman called Beyoncé once said, “Who run the world? Girls!”

OK, that’s not entirely true. Unfortunately, women are in the minority when it comes to positions of power across the world. According to Dr. Katherine Wilkinson, an environmental scholar and advocate, addressing that inequality may be the best way to combat climate change. Turns out, the planet is a feminist.

Dr. Wilkinson, along with her colleagues at Project Drawdown, argue that investing in women is key to reversing global warming, partially because women are the most vulnerable to global warming’s effects.

Mother Earth isn’t the only lady impacted by climate change

In many cultures, women are the primary farmers – in fact, they produce 60-80% of food in developing countries. As Dr. Wilkinson explains:

“Tasks such as collecting water and wood or growing food fall on female shoulders. Already challenging and time-consuming activities, climate change can deepen the burden, and with it, struggles for health, education, and financial security.”

Even more concerning, when natural disasters strike (especially in poorer communities), women and girls are at the greatest risk. With fewer resources, they are more likely to be displaced, or worse, fatally injured.

It’s an incredibly difficult thing to confront, but we think it’s important to understand the gravity of the issue before we work to solve it.

Planting the seeds for equality

Sorry, that was a super weak environment pun. But supporting equal rights for women couldn’t be a stronger choice - for both people and the planet.

In her TedTalk, Dr. Wilkinson outlines three main avenues for greater equality that could ultimately reverse the effects of climate change.

1. Economic equality

As we mentioned earlier, women are responsible for farming in many parts of the world. Because of sexist policies, they often don't have the same access to loans or technology that men do. As a result, women’s land is not used as effectively as it could be. That means communities need additional farms to produce enough food. How do they find that new farmland? By clearing forests. It’s an unfortunate cycle that could be broken if women were trusted with their own businesses.

2. Education

More than 130 million women worldwide are denied access to school. Of course, education should be a right for everyone, but it’s particularly important for women. Universal access to education is directly related to curbing population growth. Fewer people means less food shortage, carbon emitted from transportation and stress on natural resources.

3. Reproductive healthcare

Another obvious way to address rising birth rates is to ensure women have access to family planning. According to Project Drawdown, “Letting more girls receive wanted contraception and space out their youngsters as they’d like could cut around 120 billion tons of greenhouse gases that we'd otherwise emit over the next
30 years.”

The strong, female leads

It’s not just your favourite category on Netflix. It’s the group of incredible women who are going to change the world. Whether it be in government, advocacy, engineering or business, women are paving the way for a healthier planet.