Drops of Change: Women, Water, and Climate – Could 2021 Be the Year for Re-framing?

This post is part of a monthly series called “Drops of Change” by the North American Youth Parliament for Water (NAYPW), a chapter of the World Youth Parliament for Water (WYPW). For more information on the NAYPW, you can explore their website or contact NAYPW at outreachnaypw@gmail.com.

Written by Theresa Keith, Knauss 2021 Marine Policy Fellow with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); NAYPW “Drops of Change” Editor 

One doesn’t have to look far into the research on water and climate change to encounter discussions of women. Many of us have no doubt encountered the widely-disseminated tableau of the rural woman under the hot sun, walking hours in the pursuit of potable water for her family. We most likely have also come across documents like the “Resource Guide on Gender and Climate Change” (United Nations Development Program), “Gender, Climate and Security” (UN Women), or the “World Water Development Report 2019: Leaving No One Behind” (UNESCO). What began as a call to see water, women, and climate adaptation as connected has expanded in recent years to its own branch of research and conversation. And rightly so, because there is much to uncover.

At the international level, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has declared women to be one of the vulnerable groups to a changing climate. The Dublin Principles have gone further and acknowledged that women are key actors in the management, safeguarding, and provision of water. Research into gender-based impacts, gender-based perceptions, and gender-based adaptations to climate change has emerged more recently.

But has the arrival of the intersection of women, water, and climate in the international policy arena made a difference in practice? Some would say, not yet. Despite requirements, Climate Change Response Strategies are still lacking in the inclusion of equitable gender perspectives and tend to portray women only as victims, rather than agents.

What is the narrative?

Perhaps what matters in whether gender and climate research makes a difference on the ground is the narrative we use. There are multiple ways to frame every image. The scene of the woman collecting water, while perhaps intended to evoke vulnerability, alarm, or solicit donations, also speaks to adaptation, in this case born of necessity. Is the narrative of women and climate adaptation one of vulnerability, or one of agency? My recent work suggests that academia is largely stuck in this vulnerability frame, but that practitioners may not be.

As practitioners – water and climate professionals, researchers, and decision-makers – we have a role in how certain populations are represented in research and in adaptation plans. We are the ones collecting and interpreting data, we are the ones presenting at conferences and setting the agenda. I would encourage us to start with a look at that agenda.

What should our agenda look like this year?

In a quick glance through the agendas of upcoming climate, water, and adaptation events this year (Climate Adaptation Summit, Euro-Global Climate Change Conference, Water Security and Climate Change Conference, COP 26) it is not apparent that such a large body of work on the role of women in adaptation exists – because it’s not on the schedule. A special session here or there on the theme of “gender” simply won’t cut it when we’re talking about the lives, and potential contributions, of half the population. Equitable representation in the leadership of such events is also lacking, as pointed out by over 400 female climate leaders in a letter to the British government about COP 26.

In 2021, amidst a growing emphasis on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) around the globe, now is the time to push. Now is the time to take out our critical lenses to distinguish between lip-service and engagement, and to hold ourselves and our peers accountable for follow-up. We can pat ourselves on the back for getting a special session on “gender” or a female speaker on the agenda. Or we can dig in and ask ourselves the tough questions that are essential to meaningful engagement.

How are we framing the issue? What is the narrative here, and does it align with what we have experienced in the field? Who is leading, and framing, the conversation about women? Are women leading this portion of the agenda? Are women of color? And furthermore, does our discussion frame women as victims? As leaders? As co-investigators and co-creators in our communal quest to adapt to a changing planet?

As the world comes back together in 2021 – both virtually and in person – there will be many opportunities to ask ourselves these questions.