Gender-Sensitive Approaches and Issues of Urban Climate Changes: Benefits and Challenges

Abstract

Climate change is increasingly recognised as one of the most challenging issues which is being experienced by humanity today. Though many researches and studies have acknowledged that women and the marginalised are the first and worst sufferers, solutions suggested to address the issues are ironically primarily technical and economically oriented. Human and gender dimensions are touched upon only by a few. At the same time, majority of the studies have based their research on climate change in rural areas, though in low and middle income countries like India, tremendous population growth is being experienced in secondary and small cities, aggravating the impacts of climatic variability and extreme events. This certainly conveys an urgency for studies covering all the three categories simultaneously: gender, climate change and urban areas, in developing countries. Thankfully, the importance of addressing these emerging issues in the urban context has increasingly been recognised now. The impact of gender-sensitive approaches on climate compatible development and pursuing gender mainstreaming in urban planning does result in improved climate compatible development outcomes and improved gender relations. And these are possible only through participatory, transdisciplinary and gender-sensitive approaches, as has been shown by a few studies conducted linking these three issues. In fact, climate change is providing an opportunity to be looking at these issues in a more holistic and transdisciplinary manner, which it deserves.