Bangladesh, a South Asian country, is critical because of its vulnerability to climate-sensitive diseases, reliance on climate-sensitive livelihoods, anticipated crop losses, and high rates of poverty and malnutrition. Women are disproportionately affected by climate change, and it has a disproportionate effect on them across a range of extreme events. The goal of this project is to gain a better understanding of climate change, its effects, and the climate resilience of women in South Asia. Additionally, it discusses discrepancies and proposes future policy recommendations. Climate change is increasingly recognized as a cause for concern, and the current review is appropriate given the devastating effects of climate change on South Asian countries.
The climatic condition of the world has been changing with time due to increasing temperature. Global cli-mate change not only influenced the environment, also driving profound social and economic impacts world-wide. The rapid industrialisation of developed count-ries makes a significant contribution to temperature rise and related climate change. Although developing countries contribute less to temperature rise through industrialization, they are the ultimate sufferers. People of some developing countries, who have less capacity to adjust with environmental change, have been suf-fering from consequences of climatic disasters, cli-mate change and related disasters like flooding, storm surges and drought make the countrys condition worse. Bangladesh is a small developing country like that where serious consequence has been created due to climate change. Geographically Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable developing country due to climate change. Bangladeshs southern territory (coas-tal region) is next to the Bay of Bengal, and the coast-line plains are only two metres above sea level.
Literature Review
In many developing and least developed countries (LDC), women are treated inequitable to men in different aspects. For example, in developing coun-tries, women are less involved in the job sector. There are some causes of womens less involvement in the job sector. And often, including especially in Bangla-desh, when women do participate in cash economy, they are located in precarious and poorly paid work (Perrons, 2015) and the change in climate has wide-ranging social, economic, and political implications (Bennett, 2005). In other words, recognizing the differ-ences between men and women motivates people to identify their specific roles in their family, community, and country. Another key difference between the poor and the affluent is their varying degrees of access to information, resources, and networks. The evaluation measures the potential effect of an activity on men and men, as well as women, and gender relations (Hunt, 2004). It is important to keep in mind that Bangladesh is not the only former LDC member; for example, Nepal has a majority of its poor population being female, making them particularly vulnerable. Natural resources are critical to womens economic wellbeing. Due to cultural, social, policy, and legal systems, women are more likely to encounter obstacles when trying to gain access to resources such as land, clean water, and health care for their family. They are more affected by climate change, which raises their level of risk (Biswas et al., 2021; Leduc, 2009). The women in developing countries are getting fewer facilities to educate themselves. The girls are used as their mothers helping hand in household activities. In most of the families, household activities, child rearing and take care of the old people are the responsibilities of a women; like There is also a literature related to the triple burden of womens work - productive, repro-ductive and cash economy work. So, illiteracy among women or girls is higher compared to men or boys. That is why illiteracy is a great barrier for women to getting any job. Moreover, women cannot involve in the job for earning because the wages in most of the job sector are also very less for them. That is why self-financial support to maintain a family as a single mother and live separately with their child is harder for a woman in developing countries like Bangladesh compared to other developed countries. As a result, dependency on husband for financial support is very common there. To answer the above question first, one needs to understand that there are some other issues related to each other. In Bangladesh, it is a provision to give women less inherited land from parents by in-heritance (Ahmed et al., 2016). So, women have very fewer assets and money comparing to men for sup-porting their family. Womens fewer properties are also a reason behind the suffering of them. It was studied that, women who have some properties are less affected by domestic violence (Lentz, 2018). Some women are forced to live together after marriage, although they are suffering from domestic violence. Because on the one hand, few women have the finan-cial capabilities to live separately and on the other hand socially or culturally that was not accepted in developing countries like Bangladesh (Nur et al., 2021). Moreover, social security of single mother is also very terrifying there. So, violation of human rights for women is very prominent in developing countries. Climate change has developed into a global security threat. It is a significant threat to long-term growth, social justice, and respect for human rights. Climate change affects vary by region, generation, income level, and occupation, as well as between men and women. Women are more vulnerable to climate change than men. Climate change is the countrys number one concern for the economy of Bangladesh. Bangladesh has a female population of about half of the overall population. They are more vulnerable than men due to their poverty, societal chores and responsibilities, and social system status (Islam, 2016; Tanny and Rahman, 2016).
By signing the 1992 Convention on Climate Change and the 2005 Kyoto Protocol, the government identi-fied climate change as a top priority. The government has launched a variety of steps to prepare for the effects of Climate Change. Climate change is affecting the livelihoods and life of around 160 million people in the country (Nishat, 2016). According to Fatma Den-ton, (2002) critical development issues have been sidelined, if not outright ignored, from policy debates on climate change. It is critical that the repercussions of climate change do not further impoverish already marginalized parts of society. Olmos argues that the amount to which a natural or social system is vul-nerable to climate change-related damage is a function of the severity of the change and the systems sen-sitivity to changes in temperature. This article argues that in order to ensure a sustainable future, climate change policy must include the interests of all stake-holders. The Global Environment Facility and the Kyoto Protocols Clean Development Mechanism can both contribute to ensuring sustainable development. Additionally, Zayeda Sharmin indicated that women had fewer financial resources and decision-making authority than men to respond to climate-related challenges. The majority of climate change challenges, strategies, and projects do not take a gender-neutral approach. Recent natural disasters have dispropor-tionately afflicted the poor. In poor countries such as Bangladesh, women living in poverty bear a dispro-portionate share of the consequences of climate change. Due to their lack of access to and control over natural resources, technologies, and credit, impo-verished women have fewer resources available to them to cope with seasonal and episodic weather patterns and natural disasters. Climate change exa-cerbates resource scarcity and instability in some labor markets, resulting in more male migration and an increase in the number of women left behind to bear greater agricultural and household obligations. None-theless, climate change is now a reality in a large num-ber of countries, as well as a tremendously tough and complex development challenge. Women and men have distinct needs, objectives, and options for miti-gating and adapting to the effects of climate change. Climate changes impacts and consequences are not gender neutral and are likely to increase existing inequities between men and women. Women are disproportionately impacted by climate change as a result of their social positions, inequality, and poverty. Women must be included in these processes and tactics because they have more rights, are more vulnerable, and have a variety of viewpoints and experiences. In Bangladesh, women are disproportionately affected by climate change and calamities. Women are typically poorer than men, have less access to, ownership of, and control over resources, and have fewer prospects for livelihood. Women frequently lack access to education and information, leaving them without the necessary expertise to adapt to climate change. Nume-rous government measures are aimed at combating climate change at the moment, but many overlook gender inequities and vulnerabilities (EMPOWER, 2019).
Even the concerned ministry expressed its concern in National Action Plan (NAP). It was stressed that womens historical circumstances have resulted in their systematic exclusion from meaningful involvement in global economies. Greater gender equality can boost productivity, improve the next generations develop-ment outcomes, and make institutions more repre-sentative. Over the previous three decades, over half a billion women have entered the global work force. By 2014, women will control $15 trillion in global ex-penditure and will account for almost two-thirds of all consumers spending globally by 2028. According to The Economist, womens employment growth in developed economies contributed more too global growth than China did in the last decade (Karim, 2020).
In comparison to the United States, women have increased their share of all jobs from 37% to approximately 48% during the last 40 years. This equates to more than $3.5 trillion - more than Ger-manys GDP and more than half of the GDPs of China and Japan (McKinsey, 2014).
Rational of the Study
Sea levels have been gradually rising as a result of global warming. As a result, Bangladeshis, particularly those residing in the countrys coastal regions, face a substantial risk from climate change. Other than the climatic consequences, the country has different types of issues that make the situation worse. Such as the country has little national wealth, shortage of energy resources, big population compare to land area. As a result of climate change and related disasters, it creates dual pressure on human livelihoods. Although all the people suffer greatly due to those changes, women suffer disproportionately compared to men. Female victims are estimated to outnumber male victims after natural disasters (Alam and Rahman, 2014), hence women bear a greater burden of responsibility for the evacuation of family members during disasters; they do not receive the same benefits as males when con-fronted with a risky scenario (Denton, 2002). Gender inequality enhances the vulnerable situation which has been created due to climate change. This type of disparity indicates a clear lack of rightness among men and women. However, a comparative analysis of deve-loped and developing countries regarding the issue of women rights exposed different findings. Women in developed countries get better rights (Ahmed et al., 2016). That is why, a question arises- whether to maintain human rights for all in the world. What should we change to maintain human rights in deve-loping countries? Should we follow the developed countries? Should we change the culture of the deve-loping countries? How it possible to maintain equity among developed and developing countries?
Research Objectives:
This research aims to analyse data on social and economic impacts in developing countries. Data on the percentage of vulnerable men and women in a parti-cular region would collect to help in decision making. More attention will be placed on gathering data on gender-specific challenges. This could aid in deter-mining how much misery has increased as a result of slow climate change.
This paper attempts to explain the problem through a literature review and a conceptual structure approach. In order to recognize the vulnerability of women to climate change and its effects, the authors conducted both offline and online reviews for this report. Results The findings of this study indicate a strong correlation between climate change and the vulnerability of women in South Asia.
The proposed researches will con-duct interviews with men and women in the affected region. The research will also include literature research, data collection, data review, and interpretation of results and com-parison of information. This research will mainly base on the issues of climate change and human rights of most affected climate victims. It wills also analyses climate justice perspectives to maintain human rights of the most affected climate victims. Much research has already been done about the issues of climate disasters and related consequences in developing countries. Nevertheless, no previous research has prio-ritized human rights issues. Moreover, a cross-country research about the issue has not been researched before. This study aims to evaluate prospective and sustainable solutions to manage human rights of most affected climate victims. As a result, despite signi-ficant hurdles, all three places considered for this research have achieved progress in terms of main-streaming and implementing DRR and adaptation. A whole-of-government strategy is required for adap-tation to be mainstreamed and the gap between planning and execution to be bridged. Credible, cap-able institutions committed to gathering objective, relevant, and easily accessible data are essential. Addressing the implementation gap requires the avail-ability of money from both domestic and international sources.
Developing and Developed Countries
The researches on human rights in developing and developed countries have shown different findings (Cornwall et al., 2004). Some cultural differences between developed and developing countries are very prominent, which are related to some issues of human rights. It was studied that, in developed countries, comparatively more women are involved in jobs and have the self-financial support of their own. If they want to live as a single mother with their child, it is economically viable and also accepted socially there.
Social Rights; Proportinate or not?
Those issues make women of developing countries more vulnerable compared to men. We know from different research articles that women suffer dis-pro-portionately (Arora and Jonsson, 2011; Parkinson, 2011). That is why assisting women is a main issue. If the majority of women and girls-related social and disaster issues can be resolved, it is reasonable to believe that we will achieve better success in de-fending human rights. Women are an integral element of our society, and hence the success rate of a society cannot be calculated without them. Climate change and related calamities exacerbate difficulties with womens social rights. During Bangladeshs 1991 cyclone, many women were kept at home with their children while they awaited their husbands evacuation decision (World Health Organisation, 2005). Climate disasters put womens lives at risk because they lack the ability to make their own choices. Honduras is an exceptional example of this, having managed the 1998 Hurricane with zero fatalities due to a gender-sensitive approach to disaster management (Aguilar, 2009). This example explains how a gender-based approach to vulnerability might be employed. Climate change and gender equality have a negative link, according to study (Hossain et al., 2021). Domestic violence, including rape, has increased as a result of climate change (Eastin, 2018).
Typically, men and women seek refuge under the same roof during calamities. Domestic violence rose as a result. Occasionally, women are murdered following a rape, but the rapist is never brought to justice. If that woman is still living, she will face social rejection if she marries. This has become a growing concern in Bangladesh in recent years. This is a widespread pro-blem in developing countries, but is not prevalent in developed countries. According to United Nations Human Development Report, (2020) the rich western nations were arguing basically for civil and political rights, while the socialist countries and some deve-loping countries, and were demanding more social and economic rights. So, developed countries might be unaware of those issues of human rights prevailing in developing countries. In developing countries other than human rights and social security there are some other major issues like poverty, hunger, malnutrition, illiteracy, which are the main barriers to overcome the issue of human rights or women rights. The Govern-ment of the country can not manage all pressures that have been coming from different sectors. As the country has limited national wealth, it is not possible to maintain cost of redevelopment a road or house des-troyed due to disaster and lacking of food shortage which is already exist in the country. However, in developed countries basic need of food, shelter and clothes had been gained. So that they can manage climatic effects and better human rights for all compared to developing countries. Developed coun-tries have been attaining the benefits of indust-rialisation; so they have some responsibilities to fulfil the rights of most affected victims of climate change. Responsibility depends on vulnerable position, suf-fering, economical stability, and contribution to pollu-tion or some other circumstances. With other efforts like new planning, development, labour and cost, finance is a most important factor among those. Climate finance to tackle the disaster effects is very important. Financing the poor developing countries is a responsibility and a part of humanity for developed countries. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCCC), and alongside international civil society organizations, is now focusing on adaptation, mitigation and more recently loss and damages. It would be worthwhile acknowledging these different frameworks for responding to climate change, espe-cially for developing countries. But some injustice generates over poor developing countries. Promises from Conference of the Parties 15 and 16 about fund flow and climate finance balance do not work properly (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 2011). Their promises just signed in the written paper but the action is different in real life. For example, USA signed the paper of agreement to protect the environment from pollution, but they bought sugarcane from Brazil to make fuel which pollutes the environment (Archer and Szklo, 2016). Although USA finance to mitigating the pollution but they continuously make pollution and enhancing climate change. They concern about profit from fuel production but not about climate change and related sufferings of poor developing countries. Moreover, in recent time developed countries try to minimise the financial commitment (Pickering et al., 2015). There are some other issues related to such type of decision of developed countries. For example, in recent years China and India are two major contributors to emission. These countries economically developed recently through industrialisation. Their CO2 emission record surpassed the record of the USA, the biggest emitter. Emission by India is similar to Japan or Russia. Consequently, CO2 emission in Asia will be reaching 190% of the 2010 level by 2030 (Kameyama et al., 2016). However, their financial contribution in emission control is not satisfactory. So developed countries now refuse to take all financial responsibility because some developing countries now have capa-bilities to mitigate the financing issues. Some other issues like disparity in the share of funds arise because justice and equity debates do not focus on vulnerable communities (Barret, 2013). The poor people who have less adaptive capacity are in vulnerable position. Due to unavailability of good quality data and imple-mentation capacity, proper plan can not take for most vulnerable communities (Dutta, 2015). It is a matter of humanity to help them depending on their vulnerable position.
Future Research Suggestions
Women must be at the forefront of climate change adaptation research, policy, and action. Women lack land rights, ownership of means of production, tech-nology, financing, information, and training linked to climate adaptation, according to the study. Due to their knowledge, many duties, and involvement in pro-ductive regions, women are critical for establishing sustainable adaption solutions. Increased decision-making authority for women at the family and com-munity level on agricultural cultivation can result in increased agricultural production, providing food security, and eventually, revenue. Women are already responding to the effects of climate change in nume-rous sectors and are acutely aware of their own and family requirements.
Climate change has a significant socioeconomic impact on women in South Asia, particularly in agri-culture, livelihoods, food security, physical and mental health, and water and sanitation. Consequences in practise additionally, the paper emphasizes the impor-tance of gender-sensitive climate change mitigation programmes in order to avoid climate change impe-ding regional development and poverty reduction. Consequences on a social level. The outcomes of this research will aid families in escaping poverty by using adaptive strategies with proactive assistance from the government and grassroots organisations. Additionally, the new study calls for governments to embrace more gender- and climate-sensitive policies, as well as inter-vention- and evidence-based research in South Asian countries.
Author wishes to thanks who participated in this study by sharing their knowledge and time to make this research successful.
The author declares there are conflicts of the interest with respect to the research, and publication of this article.
Academic Editor
Dr. Antonio Russo, Professor, Dept. of Moral Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities, University of Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy.
Senior Lecturer, Department of Law, East West University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Shahjalal M. (2021). Global climate change and suffering of woman; a case of Bangladesh, Asian J. Soc. Sci. Leg. Stud., 3(4), 158-164. https://doi.org/10.34104/ajssls.021.01580164