No gender justice without climate justice

Across the world, women’s rights advocates and environmental campaigners are raising the same urgent call: climate justice and gender justice are inseparable. One cannot be achieved without the other.

The climate crisis unfolding today is not part of a natural cycle, it is a direct result of unequal development, consumer-driven lifestyles and carbon-intensive economies. These man-made pressures are amplified by colonial legacies, class inequalities, and deeply rooted patriarchal structures. As a result, the people most affected are the most vulnerable especially women.

Women at the frontline of climate action

In rural communities across the globe, women remain the backbone of farming, environmental conservation, and resource management. They hold vast reservoirs of traditional knowledge, safeguard biodiversity, and sustain cultural heritage. Yet, climate change is threatening their livelihoods and access to natural resources, turning an environmental crisis into a form of structural, gendered oppression.

As ecosystems shift and resources decline, women’s roles in food production, water collection, and household management become even more demanding. Their daily struggles reveal that climate change is not only an environmental challenge but also a symptom of deep-rooted gender inequality.

The Bangladesh experience

In Bangladesh, the climate crisis is a lived reality, not a distant threat. Each year, cyclones strike the coast, floods submerge farmlands and river erosion swallows entire villages. Rising salinity in water and soil has made farming increasingly difficult, while livelihoods tied to natural resources are disappearing.

Rural women face particular hardships. Hill cutting, landslides, droughts, high temperatures, and erratic rainfall have disrupted traditional occupations. Many women who once cultivated paddy fields, fished in rivers or wove mats now find themselves forced into uncertain and unstable work.

A growing number are migrating to cities as climate refugees, seeking new opportunities but losing social identity and security in the process. Former farmers and fisherwomen often end up in low-paying, informal jobs with little protection.

In the coastal south, the intrusion of saline water has led to severe reproductive health problems. Women performing domestic chores or fishing in saline conditions suffer from ovarian tumors, cancers, and other complications, sometimes resulting in hysterectomies. Yet in patriarchal societies, these are dismissed as “women’s issues” and remain largely unseen and unaddressed.

The challenges extend beyond health. During disasters, women carry the primary responsibility for children, the elderly, and livestock, while also managing damaged homes and lost harvests. With limited access to relief, credit, and decision-making power, their path to recovery is slow and uncertain.

Gender-Based barriers and inequalities

Climate change and the policies designed to address it significantly influence gender relations, particularly in developing countries like Bangladesh. Structural barriers limit women’s access to land ownership, credit, education, technology, and training resources essential for effective adaptation. Without dismantling these obstacles, neither gender equality nor climate resilience can be achieved.

Despite growing recognition, gender perspectives remain underrepresented in global climate negotiations such as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol. Although feminist movements and gender specialists have begun to make progress, change is slow.

To ensure equitable outcomes, governments must adopt gender-responsive climate policies, ones that integrate women’s voices into decision-making, support their economic empowerment, and provide resources tailored to their needs.

Disasters expose deep inequalities

Gender injustice becomes especially visible in times of disaster. Evidence shows that women and girls are 14 times more likely than men to die during natural disasters. Cyclones, floods, and tsunamis consistently result in higher female mortality due to social norms that limit mobility, prioritize caregiving, and restrict access to early warnings or shelters.

After disasters, women face heightened risks of violence, abuse, trauma, and malnutrition. Following Cyclone Amphan in 2020, for instance, many Bangladeshi women suffered acute food shortages and displacement. Cultural norms that curtail decision-making power and freedom of movement further hinder access to relief and rehabilitation services.

Such structural inequalities leave women more exposed to risk and less equipped to recover creating cycles of poverty and vulnerability that deepen with each crisis.

Why gender justice matters

There can be no meaningful climate justice without gender justice. In Bangladesh and across other climate-vulnerable nations, patriarchal and unequal systems ensure that women bear the brunt of environmental degradation and disasters.

Addressing gender inequality is not just a moral obligation, it is a strategic necessity for building resilient societies. Empowering women through education, financial inclusion, land rights, and leadership opportunities enhances community adaptation and ensures that climate actions are effective and inclusive.

Women are not only victims of climate change; they are powerful agents of transformation. Across Bangladesh, from the Sundarbans mangrove wetlands to the northern floodplains, women are already leading adaptation initiatives, managing natural resources, and preserving ecosystems.

Recognizing and supporting their contributions through gender-responsive policies, equitable access to resources, and participation in decision-making will strengthen the fight against climate change and build a fairer, more sustainable future for all.

Syed Navid Anjum Hasan is a development worker.