Introduction by Croakey: Following heavy rainfall across Victoria in October 2022, devastating flooding affected 63 of the state’s 79 municipalities, with multiple communities losing homes, businesses, infrastructure, roads, and crops.
While the impacts were felt widely across communities, the evidence shows that women often bear an especially heavy burden from such climate-related extreme weather events.
Women also are powerful agents for recovery efforts in the aftermath of such disasters, according to the experiences of one health promotion agency in northwest Victoria, Women’s Health Loddon Mallee, where all 10 local government areas were hit by the 2022 floods.
In the article below, Dr Karen Anderson, Senior Health Promotion and Public Health Advisor with the organisation, describes some of the key lessons from a project that centred women’s needs and knowledge in the aftermath of the flooding.
The Loddon Mallee region encompasses Dja Dja Wurrung, Wamba Wamba, Watti Watti, Latji Latji, Barapa Barapa, and Yort Yorta Country.
Hear more about this project at a #CroakeyLIVE webinar from 5-6 pm AEST on Monday, 28 April. Register here.
Karen Anderson writes:
After the 2022 floods, Women’s Health Loddon Mallee adopted a strengths-based approach to supporting women’s health and wellbeing, recognising the effects on social and emotional wellbeing during and after extreme weather events, and anxiety and concerns about future climate change projections.
Women Rising was a multi-faceted project that applied an intersectional feminist lens to flood recovery, centring women’s lived experiences, with a focus on mental health and wellbeing.
Women Rising engaged support services and community organisations in training opportunities to increase gender disaster recovery capacity, supported First Nations women through yarning circles, and financially supported community-led (and women led) recovery activities that fostered women’s connection and support, wellbeing and economic recovery.
The project also created a localised evidence base for intersectional gendered experiences of floods and recovery. The quotations throughout this story highlight some of the knowledge shared through women’s lived experience.
“We all walk out the door whether we’re in our good clothes, our whatever clothes, we all walk out the door with a smile on our face, even down the street. And especially those when you see kids around, we always have a smile on our face. ‘How are you?’ ‘We’re doing really well, thank you.’
“If people actually saw through that facade of any women in [town] not just whether you’ve got young children, old children or at home alone they would realise that we are breaking inside, with no hope of getting anywhere because you sit on the phone to insurance companies, you are at home with broken men, broken children, like I have my mum, my dad, and my husband and the four children.” (Women Rising participant)
This quote from a participant in the Women Rising project captures the façade that women put up to mask the hidden struggles and emotional labour they often bear silently, especially in the face of climate-related disasters.
Climate change is one of the most pressing issues of our time, and its impacts are far-reaching and multifaceted.
Intersectional approaches
One of the less discussed, but critically important aspects of climate change is its gendered impacts. Women and girls experience the greatest impacts of climate change, which poses unique threats to their livelihoods, health, and safety.
Women, girls and gender-diverse people’s voices are often missing in climate change conversations and decision making, and yet they disproportionately bear the brunt of climate-related health issues, exacerbating existing gender inequalities and creating new and compounding challenges for these groups.
Understanding the gendered health impacts of climate change requires an intersectional approach that considers how various social categories such as gender, age, sexual identity, race, ability and geographic location intersection to create unique experiences and vulnerabilities.
The impacts of climate change on women and girls are profound.
For instance, women and girls face greater health and safety risks such as an increased risk of communicable disease transmission, injuries and death from extreme weather events, reduced food and water security, psychological distress and increased mental health issues, exacerbation of pre-existing and/or chronic health condition, increased risk of pre-term birth, low birth rate and stillbirth.
Women also take on increased domestic and care work as resources disappear.
These impacts are intensified by factors such as age, socio-economic status, race and geographic location.
Beyond direct health impacts, climate change and disasters destabilise key social determinants of health, disrupting housing, livelihoods, social structures, and access to healthcare and essential services.
Increased risk of domestic violence against women and children is another significant impact of climate change.
In Australia, 30 percent of women experience domestic violence in various circumstances, but the rate increases during disasters as evidenced following the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires and other events such like floods, and cyclones – Australia: Domestic violence increase during disasters | UNW WRD Knowledge Hub
“It’s the stuff behind the doors that really gets us.” (Women Rising participant)
Women in rural and regional areas like the Loddon Mallee in Victoria face significant financial strain, driven by unequal pay, job insecurity, and unpaid caregiving responsibilities.
They are more likely than men to earn below the minimum wage, and after disasters, they face increased unpaid emotional and physical care burdens, further compromising financial security and their health and wellbeing.
Women in rural and remote areas face heightened vulnerability to climate change and disasters.
Increasing remoteness limits healthcare access, secure housing, and financial stability, amplifying health risks, delaying response efforts, and creating barriers to recovery.
“So much is out of our control, but often the homemaker needs to think about so many more elements than the rest of the family.” (Women Rising participant)
Agents of change
Despite these challenges, women are not passive victims of climate change.
They are also powerful agents of change who can contribute to climate action and resilience.
Women have valuable knowledge, skills, and experiences that can inform and enhance climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts.
For example, women often have extensive knowledge of local ecosystems and deep relationships and connection with community.
Women are often leaders in community-based organisations and networks that can mobilise resources, share information, and support collective action on climate change.
This was evidenced in Women Rising, where women across the Loddon Mallee region led community recovery activities and supported each other in the flood recovery process.
“…thanks to [name] and the community page, we were kept up-to-date every half hour…to tell us what, when, where, if it was safe to get out, it if was too late to get out, when and how to do it and just, be there. She just sort of united us.” (Women Rising participant)
To harness the potential of women as agents of change, it is essential to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in climate policies and programs.
Achieving systemic change requires promoting women’s leadership and ensuring their active participation in climate-related decision-making at all levels, from local to global.
This means guaranteeing women equal access to resources, information, and decision-making processes related to climate change and disasters.
It also involves addressing the underlying social, economic, political and cultural barriers that limit women’s opportunities and capabilities.
For instance, policies and programs should aim to improve women’s access to land, credit, and financial services, as well as provide training and capacity-building on climate change adaptation and mitigation.
Addressing the gendered impacts of climate change requires multiple approaches, including an intersectional approach that considers the diverse experiences and needs of women and gender-diverse people.
First, we must build the foundation by making gender differences visible – increasing the collection and availability of sex and gender-disaggregated data and creating spaces for women, girls, and gender-diverse people to share their lived experiences.
Next, we must strengthen knowledge and capacity – developing cross-sector understanding of gendered health impacts, raising community awareness, and shifting the power by equipping women, girls, and gender-diverse people with skills to participate meaningfully in planning, response, and recovery processes.
“No, it’s all very well and good to provide feedback, but if they don’t listen, you lose, you’re like why am I doing this?” (Women Rising participant)
Finally, we must transform systems – advocating for and supporting gender-transformative approaches to be embedded in climate change, emergency, and disaster structures with dedicated resources, diverse leadership, and collaborative networks that drive action and reform.
Strengthening women’s participation in leadership and in key efforts to manage change will reduce the gendered effects of change and lead to better outcomes for all communities in adapting to a changing society.
“Stop feeling sorry for us and start acting as if you care that we need to exist still.” (Woman Rising participant)
Author details
Dr Karen Anderson is Senior Health Promotion and Public Health Advisor at Women’s Health Loddon Mallee.
Also read
Learn from regional communities’ diverse perspectives on the climate crisis.
Watch
Join the #CroakeyLIVE
Hear more from Dr Karen Anderson and other health experts at the #ClimateHealthMatters webinar from 5-6pm AEST on Monday, 28 April. Register here.
