Systemic Sexism Compounds Effects of Drought on Women

Fewer than one in five landholders in the world are women, but women make up about half the farmers in low-income countries. This lack of control over the land they work leaves women out of the decision-making processes that govern their livelihoods. Add to this equation the degradation of arable land due to a global increase of climate change-induced drought, and women are left particularly vulnerable.

Global warming is intensifying the desertification of already precariously dry areas such as parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. Unsustainable farming practices under these conditions are eroding soil 100 times faster than natural processes can restore them, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said at a recent convening of the U.N. General Assembly. Forty percent of land is now degraded globally, he said.

Endemic sexism means that women are hit hardest in these circumstances.

“They suffer disproportionately from the lack of food, water scarcity, and forced migration that result from our mistreatment of land, yet they have the least control,” Guterres said.

If allowed the same access and ownership over land, women and girls “can increase agricultural productivity, restore land, and build resilience to drought,” according to the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification. Holding a title to land allows women to get loans and have access to information and technology that would help them rebound from lean seasons.

“The data could not be clearer,” said Csaba Kőrösi, president of the 77th session of the UNGA. “When women farmers have access to own land, they grow more and so do their children and nations. Together, these positive shifts in women’s empowerment have a ripple effect on income, and children’s welfare.”

In developing countries, researchers have found that drought can severely affect women’s health and finances. In a cascading series of disasters, drought leads to a less fruitful harvest, which means less food for the family and little leftover crop for surplus sale — therefore less money to purchase food.

Women generally bear the burden of ensuring the family does not grow hungry as as men venture farther from home to find work. Added to women’s workload is finding water and firewood while undernourished, causing more misery.

Florence Lomariwo in Kenya’s western Baringo county told The Guardian that drought has caused male herders to venture farther than normal, which has led to clashes. Part of a grassroots gender-empowerment cooperative, Lomariwo described dire conditions at home. “Most of the women are suffering deaths because of lack of water,” she said. Her family’s survival depends on seeking water up to 100 kilometers (62 miles) away, she said.

Another woman, Monicah Aluku, 37, told the paper that women “are walking so far to get water that they are miscarrying. There is no healthcare system. Kids are drinking dirty water and getting typhoid. We are really suffering.”