Prioritizing gender equality in climate action is crucial to achieve sustainable development and climate resilience in affected communities. When disaster strikes, women and children are 14 times more likely than men to die (ITU). By 2050, close to 160 million women and girls globally may be pushed into poverty as a direct result of climate change (UN Women). As climate change continues to exacerbate extreme weather conditions all over the world, women and girls must be at the forefront of climate action as agents of change.
On this year’s International Women’s Day, 8 March 2024, the International Gender Champions Secretariat, together with the United States Mission to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva, released the first part of an educational video series on the Climate- Gender Nexus, spotlighting the UN’s Early Warnings for All Initiative. International Gender Champions Ambassador Bathsheba Crocker, Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva, Jagan Chapagain, Secretary-General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union, and Professor Celeste Saulo, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization, highlight the importance of gender-responsive disaster risk reduction and put forward the following recommendations:
- Addressing structural gender equality as an underlying driver of risk;
- Promoting gender-disaggregated disaster data reporting;
- Investing in gender-responsive disaster risk management; and
- Strengthening women’s economic empowerment, resilience and leadership.
Watch the video and learn how improving gender equality in disaster risk reduction plans can strengthen climate resilience for women, girls and gender minorities.