Women are better leaders in times of crisis. Research has also shown that women adopt innovative and preventative measures at a faster rate than men. In a review of 17 studies from around the world, the presence of women in conservation and natural resource management resulted in stricter and more sustainable extraction rules, greater compliance, more transparency and accountability
Women are powerful organisers and visionaries, capable of planning for the future. Women have the solutions, who have taken the initiative as key leaders in social and environmental movements.
Women have always been a very real, although unrecognised, force in society.
Many theorists have vigorously rejected the notion that women have been oppressed.
Women have been active, assertive, competent contributors to their societies. But women of Nepal, who played an active role in the restoration of democracy in the country, whether it was in 1950, 1990 or 2006, have not benefited equally from development.
On paper, the Constitution of Nepal guarantees various rights to women, and various bills concerning women's welfare have been passed. But in practice, however, women do not enjoy equal benefits as men in civil, political, social and economic sectors because of the discrimination institutionalised by the family, society, market and the state.
Climate change is a product of human behaviour that also affects mental health. In the Nepali context, social values and beliefs count a lot in acknowledging climate change and adapting to the change.
Women can lead the society with psychological understanding and its role in responding to climate change through change in human behaviour towards nature. First, psychologists provide a theoretically and empirically based understanding of human behaviour at the individual level.
This level of analysis is relevant for understanding the human-causes of climate change because it is the collective impact of human behaviors that are contributing to climate change.
Climate change impact women the most. Indigenous and rural women in particular are the most vulnerable to climate change and environmental degradation.
Gendered roles in much of the world also make women more susceptible to the negative impacts of climate change.
Women are the primary gatherers of water, food, and fuel, and they dominate subsistence farming, caregiving and cleaning.
These duties are more prone to feel the effects of environmental degradation and rising global temperatures as they rely heavily upon natural resources.
In the future, this can drive a negative feedback loop of increasing poverty.
However, research shows that empowering women within these roles can reverse poverty and unlock effective climate change solutions. Due to their close relationship with the land, indigenous women hold unique and invaluable traditional ecological knowledge, as well as a spiritual and philosophical approach to healing the Earth and its climate. This can contribute greatly to building resilience, cutting greenhouse gas emissions, and scaling environmental preservation on a global level. Their traditional knowledge provides natural solutions to energy, waste management and agriculture.
Climate anxiety, sometimes, is also contributing to the downgrading of human resilience and diminished well-being. Women turn knowledge into action.
This can contribute greatly to building resilience, cutting greenhouse gas emissions, and scaling environmental preservation on a global level. Their traditional knowledge provides natural solutions to energy, waste management and agriculture.
COP26 brought together world leaders to act together to limit temperature rises and climate change in 2021. The main objectives of the meeting were to: commit to more ambitious targets to reduce green house gas emissions by 2030, and discuss measures to adapt to the inevitable impacts of climate change.
Since the country is experiencing increasingly disruptive extreme weather, there are high expectations from the Nepalis that the prime minister would raise the issue of damage and demand compensation for climate-induced disasters.
We are now facing the worst-case global warming scenario. The climate change emergency, its environmental deterioration, and extinction threat can only be slowed down by governments immediately enforcing the correct 2025 global fossil fuel reduction targets.
Unfortunately, women continue to face barriers to equal participation in environmental decision-making, and women-led community organisations commonly struggle to access climate finance. Support for women's initiatives and access to resources can drive effective climate action that meets the needs of communities.
Women are better leaders in times of crisis. Research has also shown that women adopt innovative and preventative measures at a faster rate than men. In a review of 17 studies from around the world, the presence of women in conservation and natural resource management resulted in stricter and more sustainable extraction rules, greater compliance, more transparency and accountability, and better conflict resolution.
Research has also shown that women tend to think for the collective whole rather than themselves.
Women are shown to make more decisions that support the public good, provide fair pay and benefits, and encourage honest and ethical behavior.
However, there are policy and knowledge-action gaps not only between grassroots and regional/ national levels, but also between the cultural and other sectors. There is still a lack of understanding among politicians and the broader public of what arts and culture can do to communicate the complexity of climate change, develop empathy, and create behavioural change. Storytelling can transcend geography and politics to imagine shared solutions that are regenerative and resilient.
Collective intelligence and bottom-up approaches are needed to improve policy.
The art is long but time is short.
As we have explored, transformational change begins deep beneath what we see.
A version of this article appears in the print on September 8, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.
