Photo credit: @wambuigichobi | SMA
A Masai woman raises her fist as other women leaders look on at COP 27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt during one of the debriefs by the Women and Gender Constituency.
by Faith Lumonya, Esther Wambui, and Eunice Musiime
As global temperatures rise and the frequency of extreme weather events — such as floods, droughts, and heat waves — increases, climate change poses a growing threat to the progress of women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Women face intersecting forms of vulnerability depending on their lived realities and experiences. For example, climate change reduces access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services, increases rates of sexual risk behavior, and leads to earlier sexual debut, higher prevalence of infectious diseases, and gender based sexual abuse and exploitation — however, these realities are not taken into account in climate change policy and governance.
Climate-related disasters frequently disrupt health care services, limiting women’s access to essential SRH care such as contraceptives and maternal health services. Associated economic and infrastructural damage further hamper access to vital health resources, while the increased instability exacerbates risks of gender-based violence and reproductive health challenges, especially for vulnerable women and girls. Given these compounded risks, it is crucial to integrate SRHR into broader global and national climate adaptation efforts.
This article advocates for the adoption of an intersectional approach in the implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Given the gendered and intersecting impacts of climate change on women, which in many instances undermine their SRHR and poses a critical adaptation issue, this article also recommends the application of intersectionality in the implementation of Article 7 of the Paris Agreement on adaptation. Further, intersectional approaches must be applied in the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, given the multifaceted, intersecting effects of disasters, especially on vulnerable groups such as black and brown women, especially those who are young or elderly, adolescents or mothers, indigenous or otherwise, living with a disability, living in a rural area or urban slum, or illiterate. This is important to avoid bracketing the needs of all women under the same banner, as their needs may differ significantly given their individual realities and lived experiences. Thus applying a nuanced, intersectional approach is essential.
To foster this, the Enhanced Lima Work Programme on Gender (LWPG) and its Gender Action Plan (GAP) must make explicit reference to intersectionality; that is, how people’s intersecting identities, such as, but not limited to, race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, gender identity, sexual expression and characteristics, education, disability, and indigeneity collectively impact needs or experiences related to climate change. Without this, Parties to the Convention will not be compelled to report activities pertaining to intersecting identities and thus will only do so based on self-voluntary effort.
We recognize that structural barriers exist that impede progress towards adopting intersectional climate justice approaches. However, we must be aware of the role of patriarchy and the legacies of colonialism, which reshaped African societies and made invisible women and their diverse lived realities and experiences by relegating them to private spaces. Neoliberal capitalism introduced deregulation, despite the continued recognition of the role of states in disaster risk reduction, adaptation, and protecting the most vulnerable, among others. The privatization of essential public services such as health care. for example, has made adaptation to climate change a privilege that only the rich can enjoy. The interconnectedness of climate change and access to essential services such as SRH care must be viewed for what it is, gendered, racialized, and classed.
While some countries have begun incorporating certain aspects of intersectionality in their National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), more still needs to be done. For example, Brazil’s NAP highlights the country’s commitment to encompass social, cultural, and economic dimensions for promoting adaptation, with particular attention drawn to more vulnerable groups and populations, such as indigenous “quilombola” and riparian populations, which require multi-sectoral, regionalized and priority approaches, including application of gender-sensitive and racial/ethnic criteria.
Although Burkina Faso’s NAP assesses vulnerability to climate change based on the country’s most affected sectors, it also makes an attempt to recognize that the vulnerable groups within the country will be most affected by climate change. It thus introduced a vulnerability assessment for socioeconomic groups, namely poor rural communities (women, young people, small-scale farmers) to which intersectional climate action must be targeted. All in all, the minimal effort made is essential given that NAPs identify the need for a multisectoral approach that recognizes the urgency to prioritize health, including SRHR.
Photo credit: Akina Mamam wa Afrika
Participants raise copies of the Intersectional Feminist Climate Justice Guide developed by Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA) during the launch of the guide in Nairobi, Kenya.
The effects of the April 2024 floods in Kenya, which included over 257 people losing their lives, 293,000 people being displaced in 31 of Kenya’s 47 counties, and the destruction of infrastructure, were also gendered and classed, affecting poor women and youth. Footage from across Kenya showed stranded women and youth, some of whom were waiting for food to be airlifted to their isolated homes.
Isabella Mogeni, a 30 year old woman who walks with a limp, was one of the women who was affected by the floods. She lost everything she owned during the floods that swept through the Mukuru kwa Reuben slums in Nairobi, Kenya, killing dozens of her neighbors. Mogeni was pregnant, and had moved to this area with her husband and seven children only a year prior.
Before getting pregnant, Mogeni had sworn that she wouldn’t have another baby. After seven children, she had had enough and only hoped to work hard and live long enough to see her children graduate. However, she found herself pregnant after reducing her intake of birth control herbs, which she had been taking for months. Having moved to a new area, she hadn’t yet secured a sufficient supply of birth control pills or herbs. For multiple reasons, including her limited means, Mogeni found herself pregnant again.
Mogeni’s experience is not unique to her. Many women in Africa experience difficulty accessing SRH services, a challenge directly or indirectly compounded by climate change. Mogeni’s case clearly demonstrates the urgency for country climate change policies and responses to address people’s intersecting realities in both the short and long term. This will help to guarantee the tracking of the intersecting impact of climate change on diverse communities. Further, negotiations within the UNFCCC and related processes should incorporate intersectionality, including in key processes such as ongoing efforts to ensure gender-responsive climate finance. Additionally, the role of National Gender and Climate Change Focal Points should be strengthened through equipping them with the skills, knowledge, and information to foster their capacity in incorporating intersectionality across the scope of climate change policy and analysis at national and global levels. This will require creating a budget line within the UNFCCC that facilitates the intersectional needs of women and other structurally marginalized groups to guarantee their full participation in global climate change decision-making, and ensuring the availability of intersectional, gender-responsive climate financing.
In conclusion, it is imperative to ensure that climate change gender action plans, both at the national and global levels, address the diverse, intersecting, and practical SRH needs of women. Adaptation-related actions that target women and other structurally marginalized groups cannot be homogenous.
Faith Lumonya, Akina Mama wa Afrika, is a development economist who is passionate about engaging in reflective and radical confrontation of current oppressive systems and structures. Faith works to create opportunities that advance alternative thinking and the change that Africans want.
Esther Wambui is a Pan-African, feminist-trained psychologist and founder of the Zamara Foundation, a feminist organization amplifying the voices of women, girls, and gender-expansive persons in marginalized communities. Esther is passionate about reproductive justice and brings extensive experience in feminist leadership, movement building, and advancing rights for African women and girls.
Eunice Musiime is a lawyer, feminist, and development specialist who is passionate about advancing social justice at national, regional and international level. She is an author of a book titled “Nurture or Nature: Sowing seeds of greatness.” Eunice is the current Executive Director of Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA).