India has taken a lead role in an effort to mitigate the damage to the environment and fight global warming.
In fact, India has captured the attention of the world (Thank you, Mr. Trump!) by setting ambitious targets to generate energy from renewable sources and has even shelved plans to build new coal plants.
But the effects of climate change cannot be mitigated if India does not address its appalling record in gender quality.
I wouldn’t hesitate to say, gender equality and climate change together threaten India’s rise as a global economic power and its ability to meet growth projections.
Wondering how climate change and gender equality are linked together? Here are three good reasons.
1. Poor healthcare delivery hurts India’s fight against climate change
One of the issues India is facing is its inability to meet the healthcare demands of its population. High incidence of malnourishment is a reflection of the Government’s handicap.
The fact that Indian women have lower literacy levels compared to men impacts child mortality rates. Women with less than 8 years of education have 32% greater chance of losing their child in the neonatal period and 52% greater chance of losing a child in the postneonatal period.
The healthcare delivery gap further accentuates this issue and places India at a disadvantage as it braces itself to tackle the effects of global warming.
As global warming gathers pace, the impact of human pandemics is likely to become severe and could damage the economy and compound the losses brought about by global warming.
As coastal areas face more natural calamities, the vulnerable sections of the population tend to migrate to new areas thereby creating more unplanned settlements and health challenges associated with it.
The Indian Government should double down on addressing the healthcare delivery (and bridge the education gap) immediately not only to address the needs of women but also to prepare the ground for a fight against the effects of climate change.
2. Climate change can hurt women more than men
According to the International Labour Office (ILO), Agriculture and Tourism are two sectors that will be immensely impacted by the effects of climate change. ILO also concludes that women working in these sectors are more vulnerable as there is a disproportionate concentration of women relying on agriculture and tourism for their livelihood.
About 30% of the workforce engaged in agriculture are females. A majority of those employed in agriculture are not in it to improve their lifestyle but just to survive. Of the total time contributed by women to agriculture in India, the 14 to 19 year age group contributes the most in large states such as Rajasthan. This is the age group that is supposed to be in high school and college.
According to Arpita Sharma from the GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology,
Generally, operations performed by men are those that entail the use of machinery and animals. Contrary to this, women always rely on manual labour using only their own energy. Not only are women overworked, their work is more arduous than that undertaken by men. Further, since women’s work is considered unskilled and hence less productive. On this basis, women are invariably paid less wage despite their working harder and for longer hours.
Considering the fact that Agriculture and Tourism provide livelihood to millions of poor Indians in rural as well as urban areas, India has to pay a close attention to the impact of climate change on these sectors and as current gender inequalities can amplify the negative impact of climate change.
3. Skill shortage cannot be bridged without participation from women
Consider the huge skill shortage India is already facing. According to the World Economic Forum, 61% of companies in India have declared that they are unable to find people with the right skills to fill existing job positions.
With climate change, new industries are expected to replace existing industries. For example, India’s Government aims to stop selling cars running on gasoline or diesel by 2030. This vision is a direct result of the commitment the Indian Government made in the Paris Accord on climate change.
The current skill gap is expected to become wider as new industries emerge and India struggles to retrain people who are out of a job as the massive shift in industry runs its course.
Now let’s juxtapose the skill gap challenge with the abysmal participation of women in the labour force.
According to the ILO, female labour participation is only 29% in 2010 which represents a decline over the previous two years. Women account for 25% of the 473 million-strong workforce in India. This is significantly lower than 34.8% partcipation in 1972-73.
But can women in India step up to address the skill gap?
The answer is no, not till gender disparity in education is fixed!
Historically, girls enrolled in school at lower rates than boys and tended to drop out early when compared to boys. In fact, there are over 3.7 million girls across India who are out of school, the third-highest number in the world!
As per the 2011 census, the male literacy rate was at 82.14% and the female literacy rate was far behind with 65.46%. At the secondary school level, girls tend to drop out more than boys. In fact, for every 100 girls in rural India, only a single girl reaches class 12!
India has to fix the gender bias in education and provide a level playing field for women in the workforce to help India navigate the transformation of its industries as a result of climate change.
According to a McKinsey Global Institute report (published in 2015), by addressing gender gap in the workplace, India can add $2.9 Trillion of additional annual GDP in 2025 and bring in 68 million more women into the workforce!
Not addressing gender disparity in education, healthcare and labour participation directly hampers India’s ability to fight the effects of climate change and retain competitiveness in the future.