‘A Dangerous Trajectory’: When Domestic Violence and Climate Change Converge

Burst water pipes, flooding, and power outages at domestic violence shelters in Texas displaced hundreds of survivors during mid-February’s aberrant winter weather. At one particular shelter in Dallas, The Lily reported, 123 women and children were evacuated to a nearby church, causing more upheaval in their already difficult lives.

Equipped with only two bathrooms, two showers, and sleeping cots crammed just six inches apart — during a pandemic — the building also lacked security. Most shelters’ locations are not disclosed for safety reasons, but a determined abuser can easily locate a church. The chaos and added insecurity that arise from a storm like the one in Texas can be re-traumatizing for survivors and trigger post-traumatic stress from previous abuse.

“Incredible stressors keep piling on for them,” Gloria Terry, CEO of the nonprofit Texas Council on Family Violence, told the Houston Chronicle. “First it was COVID health concerns and economic uncertainty. Now in this event, they have no control of even basic comforts like warmth and food.”

As shelter staff in Texas scrambled to meet the immediate needs of survivors, they also had to brace themselves for what would come next, as it invariably does: a spike in domestic violence. When climate disaster strikes, the resources for protection, such as shelters, social services, or the courts may be unavailable or destroyed, leaving the most vulnerable people behind.

Research clearly links climate change to intimate partner violence, as shown in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s 2020 study, considered to be the largest and most thorough look at the issue to date.

“The precedence, the vulnerability, the likelihood, and the actual rates of violence are already clearly increasing in some contexts,” Cate Owren, an author of the report, told the scientific journal Eos. “We’re on a dangerous trajectory.”

Other studies reveal the impact of specific cataclysmic weather events on women in particular regions. For example, the Texas Council on Family Violence found that the number of victims who sought help from a crisis center in Houston doubled after Hurricane Harvey in 2017. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, rates of domestic violence tripled for two years among displaced women who had been relocated to mobile home parks in Mississippi.

One group found that more femicides — the murders of women because of their gender — were reported in Puerto Rico after 2017’s Hurricane Maria, and an increased number of women sought refuge at shelters. After its devastating 2020 bushfires, Australia registered a clear spike in domestic violence.

The precursors to intimate partner or family violence are strongly held notions about gender roles and norms, underpinned by the idea that men control women. Researchers say that climate disasters, which bring about stressors like the loss of a home or job — as well as increased feelings of powerlessness — lead to more violence in the home.

Also, because climate change exacerbates environmental injustice in addition to domestic violence, women of color and indigenous communities are in particular danger. Disproportionately vulnerable to air pollution, food insecurity, hurricanes, rising temperatures, and excluded from government climate protections, women of color and indigenous survivors are hit with a risk-multiplier.

As singular issues, the topics of domestic violence and climate change generally warrant attention and action. However, their intersection has received little attention from major media outlets, policy makers, advocates, or researchers. For example, in President Biden’s 28-page Agenda for Women, the word “climate” does not appear. Similarly, the word “women” is absent from his Environmental Justice Plan.

In contrast, the international community has marshalled a much more robust response to climate and gender justice. Several established United Nations conventions, agreements, plans, and entities provide accountability and guidance for addressing gender-based violence as it relates to climate. This includes the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which protects the rights of women and girls. The CEDAW Committee monitors its implementation and in 2018 made explicit recommendations to address the increased threat of violence toward women due to climate change. While 189 countries have ratified CEDAW, the U.S. — along with Iran, Somalia, and Sudan — has failed to do so.

With the rise in global temperatures, adverse weather events, and climate stressors, women will continue to bear the burden of climate change around the world. In the U.S., we need to prioritize the impact of climate chaos and its interaction with gender-based violence. By including survivors’ experiences and perspectives in policy and program responses we can reduce the risk of harm and increase the resilience of individuals, families, and communities. We have no other choice.

As Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland and a previous UN Secretary General Special Envoy on Climate Change, told The Guardian in January 2020: “Tackling climate change and environmental degradation without the full inclusion of women will not succeed: Gender equality is a prerequisite to the collective effort needed to address the climate emergency.”