Climate Change and Gender-Based Violence: The Hidden Crisis

Climate change and gender-based violence are both a disturbing reality. “When disaster strikes, women suffer the most” is not just a slogan. According to UN Women, 1 in 3 women globally experience gender-based violence, and climate change is only making things worse. Environmental threats such as floods, droughts, and heatwaves increases inequality and put vulnerable populations at greater risk.

In this article, you will explore the deep yet often overlooked connection between climate change and gender-based violence. How displacement, economic stress, and health crises escalate risks of violence for women, girls, and marginalized communities.

The Link Between Climate Change and Gender-Based Violence

1. Definition and Forms of Gender-Based Violence (GBV)

Gender-based violence (GBV) is violence that an individual can face because of their gender identity.

Plan International defines it as “… any act of violence that is directed against an individual based on their gender identity or perceived gender. It is a widespread and persistent problem that affects people of all ages, cultures, and backgrounds”.

Additionally, gender-based violence (GBV) has different forms. A person can face physical, sexual, psychological, and economic violence. GBV often takes place behind closed doors where the system fails to see and protect. 

Women are usually the victims of GBV. This violence can occur as domestic violence, such as beating, rape, sexual harassment, or verbal insult, property damage, or restricting access to financial resources. During climate disasters, the incidence of GBV can increase exponentially.

2. Climate Change and Gender Inequalities

The events of climate disasters exacerbate gender inequalities. In such conditions, fewer legal rights, lack of access to land, and limited financial independence worsens women’s situation. 

Extreme climate events not only increase the domestic burden on women but it also expose them to vulnerable conditions that increase the probability of GBV. 

In such conditions, girls and women are at a higher risk of facing different forms of abuse, forced marriages, or exploitation. Climate change events magnify the incidents of gender-based violence.  

You can more Learn 8 Impacts of Climate Change on Women

3. Global Reports and Real-World Case Studies

The aftermath of disasters have reported increases in gender-based violence incidents. The 2019 Cyclone Idai in Mozambique, the 2022 flooding in Pakistan, or the 2010 Haiti earthquake, they all have reported an increase in violence against women and girls. 

Displacement, economic hardships, and lack of social structures exacerbate the vulnerability of women. It limits their access to healthcare, food, and education. Which further puts them in a disadvantageous situation.

Despite all the crises, the issues of climate change and gender-based violence are hardly discussed when developing national climate strategies or global agreements. The silence on the issue only makes the situation worse for women.

Climate Disasters and Increased Risk of Violence

1. Displacement and Breakdown of Social Structures

Cyclones, extreme rainfalls, droughts, and floods are the events that wipe out entire communities and villages and force people to move to new places. Losing your home means losing your community, your routine, and the entire social safety net.

This displacement not only separates girls and women from their families but it disrupts the community norms. In most cases, women lose their support systems. The lack of a support system makes them vulnerable, and they are more susceptible to facing violence. 

2. Violence in Refugee Camps and Temporary Shelters

After displacement, families move to refugee camps and disaster shelters. These are places meant to provide safety, however, they often lack it. 

Refugee camps and shelter homes are often overcrowded, which makes it easy for predators to exploit women. Tents lack natural security because they don’t have fixed walls and doors. Moreover, these places have no proper lighting and limited latrines which puts women in a vulnerable situation.

The refugee camps and shelter homes are often administered by male staff. Who fail to recognize the needs of girls and women. These are some of the causes that facilitate assault and harassment incidents. 

3. Increased Risk of Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking

Climate crises make it difficult for families to survive, which creates opportunities for human traffickers and sexual predators to move in. Taking advantage of the situation, human traffickers trick families and young girls.

The families and girls are promised jobs, shelter, or marriage but are they actually sold to brothel houses or forced into sexual activities. Displacements due to climate crises increase the risk of trafficking and sexual exploitation. 

Economic Stress and the Gendered Impact of Climate Change

1. Loss of Income and Livelihood

Women and girls face direct consequences when climate-related disasters destroy crops and dry up water sources. This is because, in many communities, women are the ones who rely on this informal sector. 

In many rural areas, women are directly involved in small-scale farming and earning through livestock. When floods or droughts hit an area, it destroy crops and kill livestock. The loss of economic independence put women in a more vulnerable situation. 

2. Dependency, Coercion, and Domestic Abuse

When women lose financial support, they are likely to be more dependent on their male family members. This dependence causes them to lose their decision-making power and, in some cases, puts them at risk of domestic violence. 

Additionally, low income resources increases stress levels – ultimately escalating the chances of domestic violence. Lower financial resources also lower girls’ access to education and women’s access to health facilities. 

3. Child Marriage and Transactional Sex 

Climate change events force families into extreme poverty. To overcome this problem, families push girls into early or forced marriages. They do this to either secure the future of their daughter or to reduce the financial burden off their family.

The other way girls and women suffer is from transactional sex — which is offering sex in return for food, protection, or a place to stay. These are some survival strategies that families adopt, and girls and women are the ones who suffer. 

4. Gendered Labor and Unpaid Care Work During Crises

Climate-related disasters often put a lot of burden on women, as they have to do more unpaid labor. Their daily chores increase because they have to care for the sick and elderly, fetch water from far away, and make sure there is enough food for everyone. 

The unpaid work might seem ordinary, but it’s time-consuming, exhausting, undervalued, and often unrecognized. Especially at times when men migrate to other places in search of work and women are solely responsible for taking care of the family and holding them together.

Strained Health Systems and Limited Support 

1. Sexual and Reproductive Health Services

In a climate disaster, health systems are often the first to collapse. This is because local clinics are shut down, hospitals overflow, and medical supplies are not enough to meet the demand. 

In such a situation, reproductive health services are usually the first to be neglected. Pregnant women lose access to prenatal care, contraception becomes scarce, and emergency care for survivors of gender-based violence just… disappears. This results in higher maternal mortality, unwanted pregnancies, and untreated trauma.

2. No Mental Health Support

Surviving a climate disaster, losing your home, and then being assaulted in a temporary shelter is a trauma that many women face. However, many shelter homes and refugee camps lack to offer any kind of mental health support.

Climate change and gender-based violence-related trauma are often neglected. Which increases depression, stress, and anxiety among women.

3. Lack of Access to Legal Aid

The chaos of climate crises impacts every institution. In many situations, women suffering violence and harassment don’t have access to legal aid. Even if they are willing to report an incident. 

The systems meant to protect them might be inaccessible due to lack of staff, or they might be preoccupied with maintaining the law and order situation. There might be a possibility that legal offices might not even exist in remote areas or that reporting mechanisms might get lost in the shuffle. 

In such situations, survivors have no legal aid and no justice.

The Role of Policy and Intersectional Solutions

There is a common perception that climate policies acknowledge the gap between environmental risk and gender-based violence. But the reality is that gender-based violence (GBV) is still treated like a separate issue. It isn’t seen as an issue related to droughts, floods, or displacement. 

Despite that, climate policies often focus on emissions and energy. These policies fail to understand the vulnerabilities that women and marginalized communities have to face.

The solution is:

• Gender-responsive climate action plans must develop frameworks that focus on the associated risks and needs of women and marginalized communities.
• Solutions without listening to the women on the frontlines means ignoring their potential of developing effective policies. 
• Funding for gender-inclusive adaptation strategies that invest in long-term grassroots women’s networks, survivor support services, and community-led resilience projects should be adopted.

Concluding Remarks

The link between climate change and gender-based violence is a bitter reality. With the escalation of environmental crises, women and girls are more prone to becoming victims of gender violence. So the fight against climate change is not limited to environmental activism, but it also includes gender-aware climate justice actions.

The fight against climate change is incomplete without the protection of human rights. This can be done by raising voices for inclusive policies and spreading awareness.