Gender, Farming, and Climate Change

A report by UN Population Fund suggested that gender relations, family planning, and reproductive health care could all have an impact on how the world adapts to climate change; “the close connection between gender, farming and climate change deserves far more analysis than it currently receives" UNFPA said in their report. Through much analysis, it is clear that the same factors that negatively affect the environment, affect women in a comparable way; this is especially true for poor women in developing countries (commondreams.org)

In the United States, much of the Climate Change debate is centered on how it will create jobs and provide for cleaner cities. However, in developing countries around the world, particularly those in South America and Africa that rely heavily on agriculture to sustain not only their families but their communities and economies,there is much more at stake. The working poor in these countries are not fighting for job creation and cleaner energy, they are fighting for their lives and their livelihood.

Women in developing countries are often sent to the farms and fields to earn wages, as agriculture is considered the only ‘suitable’ work for women outside of the home. With limited or no options to leave the home to find income-earning work, or migrate to find such opportunities, women are often locked into not only their trade but also their location. With the lack of mobility and options, it is almost impossible to escape natural disasters; women are exponentially more impacted by weather-related natural disasters than men. In a flash flood, they can lose all of their crops and thus, source of income and access to food, energy, and clean water. It is clear that climate change will have a pervasive and negative affect on the poor women in developing nations who rely on their crops for sustainability and survival; if we work to reverse climate change, we work to empower women. The opposite is true as well.

By increasing health care and access to contraceptives, women are more likely to have less children, slowing down population growth. According to UNFPA, slowing down population growth will have a dramatic affect on (cutting) greenhouse gas emissions and begin the process of slowing down climate change. Education also leads to the ability to learn about more sustainable farming practices. Outside of the obvious environmental effects, more sustainably agriculture has the opportunity to increase economic mobility, independence, and opportunity for women but also increasing their farming capabilities.

The same factors that lead to the degradation of the environment lead to the subordination and disempowerment of women. To help one, we must help the other; when we help both, the situation of the world’s population will improve dramatically.

For more information about women and climate change, check out FMF's Global Campaign website http://feminist.org/global/womenclimatechange.html

photo credit: IRRI Rice on Flickr

Breast Cancer: Not Just the Problem of Rich Countries Anymore

Whenever I see fundraisers for breast cancer, like breast cancer walks and "Buy Pink" products, I tend to get a little case of "fundraiser jealousy". For much of my undergraduate degree, I've studied extreme poverty, and the diseases, humans rights violations, and the opportunity deprivations associated with it.

Preventable diseases--like malaria and dysentry--are some of the biggest killers in Developing nations [a term which some scholars dispute because it implies that those countries are, in fact, developing, instead of the more accurate portrayal that they are being mired deeper in poverty].

Maternal Death claims approximately 536,00 women a year (99 percent of which occur in Developing nations), and most of the deaths are also completely preventable. (And of course, this number doesn't include the annual70,000 unsafe abortion deaths that mainly result from the criminalization of abortion.) I thought about breast cancer as a "rich nation's disease," and begrudginly glared at "pink products" wondering if they were made in sweatshops that expose women to dangerous cancer-causing chemicals.

Recent studies, however, show that breast cancer is on the rise in developing nations (my first thoughts: That means their life expectancies are increasing to the point that they can get old enough to develop breast cancer!)--and that breast cancer affects women in developing nations about 10 years earlier than in industrialized nations (Shoot! I guess not. *runs in corner and cries.* )

What makes matters worse is that approximately two thirds of women are not diagnosed until the cancer has spread. Apparently there's a stigma attached to breast cancer; women are reluctant to get tested because they fear that if they lost a breast, their husband would leave them--which would force them into a situation of deeper poverty. (If that sounds like a nasty thing that could only happen "somewhere else," I'm afraid I have to refer you to Salon.com's article Sex without Nipples in which that theory is sorely refuted.) Estimates say that developing countries will experience a 36 percent increase in breast cancer by 2020, and that 55 percent of the world's expected breast cancer deaths this year will occur in developing countries.

So. Turns out breast cancer is not just a "Rich Nation's problem." My personal misguided theories are hereby flung out the window, and maybe my fundraising jealousy will subside. Talks are even beginning about starting an international task force that will develop methods to detect breast cancer earlier (through training midwives to detect breast cancer) and negotiate lower prices for generic chemotherapy. Whether or not these efforts meet with success is testy--they're sure to meet with opposition from governments, currently installed health professionals who have biases against midwives, and cultural norms.

Whether or not the cure for breast cancer, once discovered, would be shared with women in developing countries is a question we'll have to face once we get there. Considering our record in helping out developing nations with their preventable deaths, however, I'm not too optimistic.

Photo Credit: The Mayor of Worldwide Breast Cancer on flickr.com

World Economic Forum: Progress Across Africa Depends on Girls

This month girls were the focus at the World Economic Forum on Africa to highlight what is working in the region and what still needs drastic improvement. Girls make up more than 75% of HIV positive youth in Africa and those numbers are not decreasing. Young girls face tremendous challenges throughout childhood and adolescence with high drop out rates, early marriage, early pregnancy, and minimal access to medical care.

While staggering statistics and painful stories are often the images sent out of Africa, I was delighted to hear that the international community is acknowledging and discussing the crucial role girls play in economic development! Finally, influential people with the power to make real change are talking solutions to some of the world's biggest problems and they are finally focusing on girls.

The panelists highlighted the importance of investing in "The Girl Effect" which is no new news. The research documents that investing in girls provides exponential returns - girls will do more with the resources offered to them and invest more into the health and education of their family and community.

The forum emphasized that...

• Investing in girls is smart economically
  
• Economic solutions are often masked by culture
• Girls must be reached before age 12 to have an impact
  
• Girls won't count until we count them
• A little bit of support is not enough

I just got back from a semester abroad in Kenya (the girls in the photo are from my village in Bodo, Kenya!) and I feel that the forum is right on with focusing on these issues but I often struggle with serious questions surrounding foreign aid and assistance coming from the West: how can we truly empower young girls and women if the solutions are derived outside of the country and outside of the context?

Of course there are critical impacts we can make from the West in terms of our top-down aid and supportive policy, but I would like to see increased support of more homegrown, or bottom-up responses that encourage girls to come up with their own solutions to the problems that directly impact their lives - they are our greatest resource for information and implementation.

Poverty, illness and women's role in both, are entirely cyclical and trying to combat the cycle at only one juncture is simply illogical. We need a multifaceted approach that is solidly based in evidence and has clear pathways for evaluation and accountability.