Gender, Climate Change and Migration

Climate change is likely to increase human migration and thus exacerbate associated challenges. Soil degradation, water shortages, rising sea levels, and increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events, among others, may force people to sell off their assets and migrate when traditional coping mechanisms do not suffice. When whole regions are affected such that the environmental resources can no longer support the livelihoods of the current population, traditional risk-sharing mechanisms, based on kin and social groups, may not be adequate anymore.

Gender Dimension

Male migration leads to less efficiency of traditional risk-sharing mechanisms. Because women are key actors in maintaining the social cohesion of the family, the predicted increased flows of migrants could be very destabilising when men migrate and women and families stay behind in the area of origin (Denton 2004). Women assume traditional male responsibilities without having equal or direct access to technical, financial and social resources as men have. So women have more responsibilities without having more rights, especially land and property rights. An increased burden of household and agricultural work may put a strain on women in the absence of men. Due to the extraordinary impacts and the family-care-caused limitation of their ability to seek paid employment women are particularly vulnerable to economic and social risks.
The situation of female migrants in destination countries has often been described as hazardous in terms of human and labour rights, adequate pay, and sexual violence.

Response

Gender-related studies and developing programs should generally consider women’s burden as an effect of male migration. An integrated approach is needed that furthers the collaboration of relevant agencies and government departments, dealing with legal, social, economic and environmental aspects of emigration and immigration, in the light of changing climate conditions in both the countries of origin and the destination countries.

Across regions, women and men, as well as young women and young men, migrate for different reasons. There is a need to identify potential gender-specific reasons for climate change related migration: Who migrates, for which reason, from where, where to, for how long? Gender-disaggregated data need to be generated in order to understand the gender-specific behaviour patterns in this context.

With regard to remittances, it would be important to find out if remittances allow families to stay in areas of environmental degradation and survive. Do remittances increase the receiving families/ and communities/ abilities to adapt?

	Home l Press l Databases l Sitemap l Contact l Impressum Action < Migration Policy Action Resources Network Campaigns Agriculture Biodiversity Consumption Coastal Zones Disaster Energy Forests Health Migration Tourism Transport Water Login User Gender, Climate Change and Migration Climate change is likely to increase human migration and thus exacerbate associated challenges. Soil degradation, water shortages, rising sea levels, and increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events, among others, may force people to sell off their assets and migrate when traditional coping mechanisms do not suffice. When whole regions are affected such that the environmental resources can no longer support the livelihoods of the current population, traditional risk-sharing mechanisms, based on kin and social groups, may not be adequate anymore. Gender Dimension Male migration leads to less efficiency of traditional risk-sharing mechanisms. Because women are key actors in maintaining the social cohesion of the family, the predicted increased flows of migrants could be very destabilising when men migrate and women and families stay behind in the area of origin (Denton 2004). Women assume traditional male responsibilities without having equal or direct access to technical, financial and social resources as men have. So women have more responsibilities without having more rights, especially land and property rights. An increased burden of household and agricultural work may put a strain on women in the absence of men. Due to the extraordinary impacts and the family-care-caused limitation of their ability to seek paid employment women are particularly vulnerable to economic and social risks. The situation of female migrants in destination countries has often been described as hazardous in terms of human and labour rights, adequate pay, and sexual violence. Response Gender-related studies and developing programs should generally consider women’s burden as an effect of male migration. An integrated approach is needed that furthers the collaboration of relevant agencies and government departments, dealing with legal, social, economic and environmental aspects of emigration and immigration, in the light of changing climate conditions in both the countries of origin and the destination countries. Across regions, women and men, as well as young women and young men, migrate for different reasons. There is a need to identify potential gender-specific reasons for climate change related migration: Who migrates, for which reason, from where, where to, for how long? Gender-disaggregated data need to be generated in order to understand the gender-specific behaviour patterns in this context. With regard to remittances, it would be important to find out if remittances allow families to stay in areas of environmental degradation and survive. Do remittances increase the receiving families/ and communities/ abilities to adapt? Downloads Presentation by Maira Zahur, Bonn, 9 Jun 2009 Presentation by Sharmind Neerlomi, Bonn, 9 Jun 2009 Links Refugees Join List of Climate-Change Issues (NYT, 28May09) Sun Come Up - Documentation FMR 31: Climate Change and Migration Who we are gendercc – women for climate justice is the global network of women and gender activists and experts from all world regions working for gender and climate justice. Send page Print Copyright © 2008 gender cc l All Rights Reserved