Ecofeminism in action: Women's crucial role in climate resilience and environmental justice

Africa feminists in the climate space argue that the climate change crisis exacerbates already existing social imbalances such as gender. Women are believed to face cultural, political, and economic barriers as a result of their struggles to cope with the unpredictable effects of weather.

 It is also concerning that women have limited access to resources for surviving climate change disasters.

Climate Justice and Feminism narratives took root at an African Journalists Capacity Building held in Accra, Ghana on 10th and 11th April, 2024. 

The African Women's Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) hosted a workshop to empower African climate change journalists to advance climate justice narratives, which featured heated insights sharing, learning, and unlearning about various aspects of climate change.

According to Dr Melania Chiponda, a facilitator at the FEMNET capacity building meeting with journalists, women are more vulnerable to climate change disasters such as floods, cyclones, and mudslides, whereas men move on with their lives quickly, leaving women to ponder how to move on with their children. 

Some cultures also require women to mourn the deaths of their husbands as a result of the climate change crisis for a longer period of time before they are allowed to decide or have elders or communities decide for them on which path their lives should take.

 In the 21st Century, in most cases women are leading on climate resilience solutions; Feminists emphasize that this however should not cost them safety, health and well-being. 

Gender equality is a key piece of ending the climate crisis with applicability of ecofeminism that assumes that liberation of all oppressed groups must be addressed simultaneously.

Ecofeminism, also known as ecological feminism, is a framework that emphasises the relationship between women and nature, as well as the link between women's oppression and the climate crisis. 

It demonstrates how women play an important role in caring for nature and communities through their labour, skills, and knowledge, despite being denied equal access to cultural, social, political, and economic rights. 

Ecofeminism connects exploitation and degradation of the natural world and the subordination and women oppression; It further brings together elements of feminism and green movement while at the same time challenges both.

Feminism draws on the green movement's concern about the impact of human activities on the nonhuman world, as well as feminism's view of humanity as gendered in ways that subordinate, exploit, and oppress women.

Other climate enthusiasts have argued that climate change affects women in rural communities in a unique way because they have a direct connection to natural resources and local ecosystems. 

It is said that many women travel daily to fetch water, firewood, and grow food; therefore, when climate change occurs, such as prolonged drought and floods, the women must work harder and longer hours, travel longer distances, and overcome more obstacles in order to provide for their families. 

Climate feminists have also argued that indigenous women and women in poor rural communities are on the front lines, experiencing the first and worst effects of climate change, and therefore deserve to be considered when assistance is available.