Climate change is sexist

Global warming will inflict far more suffering on women than men because they are more vulnerable to the floods, droughts and diseases that are expected to increase as the climate changes.

Climate change's gender discrimination will be far more pronounced in those swaths of the poorer, developing world where sexual inequality is typically much greater, leading academics have told the i paper.

Women in poorer countries tend to be more vulnerable because, when disaster strikes, social structures mean they are far more likely to be in the home cooking, cleaning or looking after others, putting them at greater risk from collapsing buildings.

In the most extreme cases of disasters in patriarchal societies, women may be unable to leave the house without a male companion.

"Climate change makes all of the very big and complex problems that exist in the world today a whole lot worse," said Professor Hilary Bambrick, of Western Sydney University, who points out that 90 per cent of the 150,000 people killed in the 1991 Bangladesh cyclone were women.

Women are also more exposed to the mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue and chikungunya, which they come into contact with when collecting water or harvesting, occupations that typically fall to women.

Women are also more likely to go without food in the event of food shortages, while water scarcity means they sometimes have to travel huge distances to collect water.

Read the full report here

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