CLIMATE CHANGE CHALLENGES TO WORLD'S WOMEN RIDICULED BY RIGHT WING

Right-Wing Media Laugh Off How Climate Change Harms Women; Rep. Barbara Lee's Resolution Speaks To Climate Change's Gender Disparities

Denise Robbins, April 1, 2015 (Media Matters)

“Right-wing media have been mocking a recent resolution to address the disproportionate impacts that women will face from climate change, laughing at the possibility that ‘climate change will turn women into prostitutes.’ But the grim reality is that climate change will affect women in ways that should not be laughed at or ignored…Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) introduced House Continuing Resolution 29 on March 25 to ‘recogniz[e] the disparate impact of climate change on women and the efforts of women globally to address climate change’…[Right-wing media coverage] has been exclusively focused on sex…Fox News' late night show Red Eye devoted several minutes to mocking the idea that climate change harms women more than men…[But the] harmful impacts of climate change on women, which Rep. Lee's resolution hopes to address, are no laughing matter. A United Nations analysis detailed how women are often more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change than men, particularly in developing countries..

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“Although climate change affects all people, women often bear the brunt in places where the impacts of climate change are already being felt. This is due to their central role in their families and communities…For example, most of the world's small-scale farmers are women, producing most of the food…When the climate changes, women work harder and longer. As food, fuel and water become scarce, women have to walk farther to collect them. Long treks often put women at a greater risk of violence. All of this in regions where women are also the health care providers and caregivers in their families. Several other international think tanks have detailed how the impacts of climate change will disproportionately affect women across the globe…” click here for more

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