WOMEN EMPOWERMENT AND ITS

IMPACT ON ENVIRONMENT
Acknowledgement

In performing our assignment, we had to take the

help and guideline of some respected persons,
who deserve our greatest gratitude. The
completion of this assignment gives us much
Pleasure. We would like to show our gratitude Mr.
Debajit Goswami for giving us a good guideline
for assignment throughout numerous
consultations. We would also like to expand our
deepest gratitude to all those who have directly
and indirectly guided us in writing this assignment.
In addition, a thank you to professor Mr. Debajit
Goswami who introduced us to the Methodology
of work, and whose passion for the “underlying
structures” had lasting effect. We also thank the
University of VITAP for consent to include
copyrighted pictures as a part of our paper.
Many people, especially our classmates and team
members itself, have made valuable comment
suggestions on this proposal which gave us an
inspiration to improve our assignment. We thank
all the people for their help directly and indirectly
to complete our assignment.

TEAM

19BCE7665 MUDAVATU NAGA

ASHUTOSH
19BCE7763 VINJAM THARUN KRISHNA
19BCI7028 VAJHA PRANAVI SRIYA
19BCN7021 CHADA RADHA AMUKTHA
BHARGAVI
19BCN7079 PATTAPU SAI SRINIVAS
19BCN7092 MADATI HRUTHIK YADAV
19BCN7110 POTHARAJU RADHA
VISWANATH
19BCN7139 GURRAM VENKATA
GOWTHAM
19BCN7187 KOGANTI SARANYA
INTRODUCTION

Fighting climate change necessitates a global collective effort & often

requires engaging those who are impacted the most. If we look at the
most vulnerable communities in the face of climate change obviously we
often see some of the highest degrees of innovation and unlocked insight
on addressing the issue for example of this is the potential of women and
girls in the global fight against climate change.
Women and girls, specifically in developing communities, are some of the
most highly-affected demographics in the wake of increasing natural
disasters and volatile farming conditions, and there is plenty of evidence
to suggest that female empowerment could be a key step in creating a
sustainable future. This article will first examine the particular
vulnerabilities experienced by women and girls in the wake of climate
change. It will then examine the impacts of empowerment through an
increased agency, engagement in political discussions, and heightened
economic participation on climate change and sustainability.
In short, women’s empowerment is quickly becoming a central topic in
climate change discussions. There is evidence to suggest an almost
linear relationship between women’s empowerment, climate change
resilience, and sustainability. Women and young girls represent some of
the most vulnerable communities in the face of climate change, yet hold
valuable knowledge and potential for sustainable innovation and
particularly agriculture technology

BRIEF EXPLANATONS

Women empowerment
• Women’s empowerment means women gaining more power and
control over their own lives. This entails the idea of women’s
continued disadvantage compared to men which is apparent in
different economic, socio-cultural and political spheres.
• Therefore, women’s empowerment can also be seen as an
important process in reaching gender equality, which is understood
to mean that the "rights, responsibilities and opportunities of
individuals will not depend on whether they are born male or
female".

Environmental sustainability
Environmental sustainability is the rates of renewable resource harvest,
pollution creation, and non-renewable resource depletion that can be
continued indefinitely. If they cannot be continued indefinitely then they
are not sustainable.
Is defined as responsible interaction with the environment to avoid
depletion or degradation of natural resources and allow for long-term
environmental quality. The practice of environmental sustainability helps
to ensure that the needs of today's population are met without
jeopardizing the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

Women bring a different perspective

Women are more vulnerable to environmental degradation and climate

change but also have different perspectives and concerns and ideas for
change. Until these are taken on board, with women empowered to play
a full part in decision making at all levels of environmental sustainability
will remain a distant goal.

Yet women's empowerment must not mean simply adding to their

burdens of responsibilities or building expectations of women as
'sustainability saviours'. Diane Elson, an adviser to UN Women, argues
in her contribution that "the disproportionate responsibility that women
bear for carrying out unpaid work is an important constraint on their
capacity to realise their rights. Both women and men need time to care
for their families and communities, and time free from such care."
HOW UPPER HAND OF WOMEN IMPACTS
ENVIRONMENT

The essential role that women play in the development of

sustainable and ecologically sound consumption and production patterns
and approaches to natural resource management, and stresses the need
for women to participate in environmental decision-making at all levels.
Women Deliver highlights a study which states that women make up 43%
of the agricultural workforce in developing countries, making them
particularly affected by any adverse effects on climate and farming
conditions. Women and girls are consequently tasked with securing food
and water in times of natural disasters, particularly flooding or droughts.
We see heightened levels of young girls dropping out of school during
these periods of increased workloads.
Furthermore, as displacement and the climate change refugee
phenomenon become more common, gender-based violence, sexual
assault, and trafficking of women and particularly young girls becomes
more common. Women Deliver’s latest policy brief states that this can be
attributed to overcrowding and unsafe living conditions in temporary
displacement camps and increased poverty levels. This leads to many
women and girls feeling unsafe in their environment and minimizing their
public outings, which has been seen to cause heightened infant mortality
rates and women dying from childbirth as access to proper medical care
becomes limited.
All these abusive acts can be stopped if women are educated and are
well enough to make their own decisions. In my view this is what
empowerment of women is, just giving them freedom to lead their life
according to their will.

Why women's empowerment is essential for

sustainable development ?

Three good reasons why

First, gender equality is a moral imperative whether you're in government, business,
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) or research institutions – it's simply the
'right thing to do'.

Gender bias is still deeply embedded in cultures, economies, political and social
institutions around the world. Women and girls face unacceptable levels of
discrimination and abuse, which is not only wrong, but also prevents them from
playing a full part in society and decision-making.

There has been some progress – such as IIED's own gender review and audit – but
nowhere near enough. More organisations need to understand and address internal
imbalances and proactively seek to do so in delivering their business. Barbara
Stocking, former chief executive of Oxfam GB, writes in the book: "Leadership from
the top is essential but the values of gender equality have to permeate the whole
organisation."
Secondly, women are key managers of natural resources and powerful agents of
change. Nidhi Tandon's research with rural women in Liberia and Fatima Jibrell's
work in Somalia show how women are often more directly dependent on natural
resources, with responsibility for the unpaid work of securing food, water, fuel and
shelter for their household.

"Not just victims, women have been and can be central actors in pathways to
sustainability and green transformation," according to the contribution from Lyla
Mehta and Melissa Leach.

Six “s” for women empowerment

We are not counting the invisible contribution
This leads us to the reason for integrating women's empowerment into
sustainable development, and it reaches deeper down to the underlying
causes of both issues: in most societies and economies, women's
unpaid work and nature's services are not accounted for and therefore
not valued properly in our economic, political or social systems.

Julie Nelson argues that "Women and nature are largely invisible in
mainstream economics. One would search in vain in the core models of
economics for any inkling of where the materials used in production
came from, or where the waste goes for a discussion of where people
come from, or where they go when they are broken or used up. When
considered at all, women and nature are treated as passive 'resources'."

Parallels between the treatment of women and nature are no

coincidence, but have an ancient history in mythology and religion, with
powerful concepts such as 'Mother Earth'. Nelson and others argue that
this encourages unhelpful perceptions of women and nature as
endlessly (re)productive and nurturing.

She argues: "They are assumed to possess an infinite capacity for self-
maintenance and self-regeneration". So, in a world where we measure
wellbeing and progress by GDP and economic growth, the goods and
services that women and nature provide remain unaccounted for.

Diane Elson, Vandana Shiva and other contributors argue that we need
a transformation in our economic thinking and new definitions of
progress. Across politics, business and the media, we need to create a
system based on different values, with equality and sustainability at its
core.

"GDP is now widely recognised as inadequate measures of happiness

and wellbeing are both now credible alternatives", writes Fiona
Reynolds, former head of the UK's National Trust.

IIED's research, advice and advocacy has long recognised the gender
dimensions of sustainable development but there is more to be done to
influence wider policy and practice.

WOMEN IN SOME RECENT DISASTERS IN INDIA

Disasters lower the life expectancy of women more than the life expectancy
of men. On average, natural hazards and their subsequent impacts kill more
women than men or kill women at an earlier age than men (Neumayer and
Plumper 2007). In various disasters in India the higher mortality of women
is evident. In a disaster like the December 2004 tsunami, higher death rates
of women were linked with their dress traditions, long hair that gets
entangled with bushes, lack of physical ability to run, as well as their efforts
to save valuables from homes and to protect children by taking higher risks.

The Kashmir Valley has been going through turmoil for over two decades
and women are subjected to different forms of continuous stress and
sufferings (Ali and Jaswal 2000). The October 2005 earthquake added
another disaster. Kashmiri women expressed their feelings that they are
stuck in their personal and family lives with no alternatives left, except to
be tolerant of their situation (Mathew et al. 2006).

It is important to understand that the vulnerability of women differs

according to the nature and intensity of a disaster. But, human-made
disasters cause higher vulnerabilities because women are easy targets for
abduction, sexual exploitation, violence, and rape.

To outrage a community’s prestige and to create threat against a

community often women are targeted in situation of conflict. While
working with organizations like Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
participants reported that in many situations women are forced to stay in
very threatening situations and are sexually harassed. Higher
vulnerabilities of women in human-made disasters need special attention to
ensure that those women are able to participate in the community decision-
making process and are provided with adequately comforting social
surroundings based on local culture and practice. A disaster with intense
damage causes grave consequences in the post-disaster situation that
requires a greater amount of resources for rebuilding, and often the process
of rehabilitation is slow.

Particularly for a country with middle or lower socioeconomic standards

rebuilding after disaster damage becomes a challenge. As a result women
continue to face multiple difficulties in their personal, family, and
community lives that are characterized by domestic ties, imposed
restrictions, and limited livelihood options. While “she survives a disaster
such as a flood or earthquake, a woman will likely have fewer options to
recover” (UN Women 2016, p. 22). In India every disaster creates
additional vulnerabilities among girls and women, who can become trapped
in the cycle of human trafficking. Both civil unrest and natural hazard-
induced disasters have become major sources of human trafficking. Women
survivors from poor socioeconomic regions are always at high risk .

After the 2004 tsunami, women who had lost all of their children, or male
children in some cases, were subject to very high levels of stress and were
victimized further by family members who gave birth to male children.
Cases were reported where women who had previously undergone
tubectomies were surgically recanalized to reenable conception and
childbirth. Women were seen just as child producing machines to give birth
to preferably male children. Women lost their rights to their bodies, were
severely stigmatized and lived under severe threats to produce children lest
their husband marry again.
 Similar incidents were reported after the 1993 Latur earthquake and
this disaster’s subsequent phases of rehabilitation.

After the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, in the course of working with the
survivors towards a PSS capacity building program , the experiences shared
by the participants who were also earthquake survivors clearly showed that
their psychological trauma was largely connected to their experiences of
long unrest and militancy in the Kashmir Valley.

Women suffered from high levels of stress and trauma and had no other
options except to pray and endure an imposed restricted indoor social life,
devoid of mobility, economic, and educational opportunity. Women have
suffered as wives, mothers, and daughters, and their psychosocial
vulnerabilities made them worse affected by violence. Psychological
trauma, destitution, poverty, and the lack of job opportunities put them at
increasing risk of falling victim to human trafficking (Niaz 2009).

During the 2002 Gujarat riots severe sexual harassment scared women
and others in the community.
 As an immediate response,
many organizations joined together to provide counselling and support to
the women who were traumatized due to the sexual harassment. But within
two days the experts realized that providing counselling was not possible
because no one accepted that any member of his/her family had been raped

or sexually assaulted.

It was understood that identifying some women as victims of sexual

harassment in a camp situation would cause more harm. Incidents of
sexual assault against women and girls were used as weapons in the riots
and caused a social and communal scare in the minds of survivors. The
rioting incidents in the post-disaster period especially marginalized women
of the Muslim community. Many young adolescent girls dropped out of
schools and colleges. Independent movement of women was extremely
restricted and early marriage of girls was frequent.

Women’s vulnerabilities to disasters are linked to biological, social, and

psychological issues that are part of every disaster experience.
 Maternal health and
reproductive health systems are closely connected to the mental health of
women. The specific complications that women face are related to the
disturbance of the menstrual cycle and the complications in reproductive
health. Premature delivery and stillborn births are very common after
severe disasters. Among young women long menstrual cycles and related
weakness due to loss of blood and iron deficiency are also common. Due to
severe stress lactating mothers face difficulties feeding their babies as milk
secretion decreases. Combined with these complications, pains all over the
body, pelvic pain, and a lack of privacy are added stressors for women and
young girls.

There is also social vulnerability due to women’s roles as homemakers.

Even after disasters women resume their primary roles as caregivers for
their families. Providing food to the children or other family members
becomes their first concern. Changes occur when women lose their
financially supportive husbands in disasters and take on both the
responsibilities to care for children and to deal with property and
compensation issues. Sexual harassment of women and adolescent girls is
also widely reported after disasters, and women have even had to sexually
satisfy or meet the sexual demands of the aid worker to get humanitarian
aid.

Socially, restrictions are usually increased and imposed on women and girls
in post-disaster periods.
IMPORTANCE OF WOMENS PARTICIPATING
ENVIRONMENT STRESSED

Involving women in protecting the environment would help societies develop the sense of
responsibility needed to maintain a good balance between humans and the earth’s resources,
an environmental expert told the Commission on the Status of Women this afternoon, as it
held the second of panel discussions addressing its two-themed issues for the current two-
week session.

Idiatou Camara, Guinea’s National Environment Director, one of four

environmental protection experts exchanging views with the Commission on the theme of the
gender perspective in environmental management and disaster mitigation, said women
needed to participate at the national level and get their countries to empower women in
regions unable to afford protection activities. They must encourage democratization and
discourage the economic oppression that led to massive population movements degrading
the environment. They must mobilize to reverse the poverty which excluded the poor from
protecting the environment because limited knowledge and technical ability prevented them
from addressing problems.

Another panellist, Marie Yolene Surena , Director, Civil Protection, Ministry of

Interior of Haiti, said investing in women for roles in environmental risk management was not
only beneficial, but profitable. Managing environmental risk was part of the development
process, while managing disasters now was a drain on development funds. The priorities must
be to develop human resources, change laws, address food security and slow population
increases.

Speaking about the "gendered terrain of disaster", author and educator

Elaine Enarson said natural disasters were social processes deeply rooted in
global political and economic forces, with inescapable local effects. The gendered division of
labour, maternal health, women's longevity, household and economic structures put girls and
women at special risk. Strengthening their capacity to reduce and manage risk was not a
secondary or divisive concern, but an essential first step in building more disaster-resilient
communities.

Investing in women for roles in environmental risk management was a profitable

direction. Managing environmental risk was part of the development process, while managing
disasters at present was a drain on development. Priorities were to develop human resource,
change laws, address food issues and slow population increase. The goal was to build a
participatory framework where responsibilities between actors were balanced.

CONCLUSION

From our Veda’s and our sastras

o ocean-draped, o adorned with mountain breasts |

o consort of Vishnu, forgive me for stepping on you ||

Even living in complex ultra-modern society, we call the nature as

mother nature, we do call her 'mother' earth, even though we have
assumed we are given 'dominion' over her.
Coming to meaning of sloka, today we know that 70-75% of the earth
surface is covered with water. I guess that much of the body is covered
with clothes in any civilized traditional and water flows like a flowing
garment of a woman. there is a beautiful poem where the river is like the
flowing scarf on the beautiful lady earth, which she is trying to clutch with
the fingers (in the form) of the moving bamboo shoots on the river
bank! and water's "dharma", characteristic, is to flow, so it is apt to think
of earth as ocean-clad.
The mountains are like her breasts, the nourishing source of the mother.
From the above explanation we can say that great saints compared the
nature, the environment to women which gives us clarity that no
one can equate to a women.
So, the role of women as care taker, conscience, farmers, educators,
entrepreneurs etc, plays a vital role in building sustainable society.
Throughout history, the central role of women in society has ensured the
stability progress and long-term development of nations.

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