Facing Climate Crises, Exponential Gender-based Violence in Pakistan
By Emma Roquel. Translated by Valérie Soadridiny. Originally published on 25 November 2022 by the Gender in Geopolitics Institute on its website.
Since June 2022, Pakistan has been suffering from severe flooding: one third of the country has been under water; two million households have been destroyed; 33 million people have been affected, or one in seven; 7.9 million people, mostly women and girls, have been displaced; and damages are estimated to cost more than 30 billion dollars[1].
Pakistan is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change effects[2]. It is increasingly affected by large-scale natural disasters, including severe flooding and extreme heat waves that cause glaciers melting[3].
More than five months after the outbreak of these extreme weather disruptions, the situation remains disastrous in Pakistan where living conditions are unsanitary and precarious[4], which tends to further affect women and girls facing exponential violence. How does climate change disproportionately impact gender-based violence in Pakistan?
Resurgence of sexual violence against Pakistani women linked to the climate crisis
According to the NGO CARE, “women displaced by climate-related disasters also face a greater risk of gender-based violence including domestic violence, forced marriage and human trafficking ONG CARE[5]”. Climate crises increase women’s vulnerability and foster domestic violence, sexual intimidation, human trafficking and rape[6]. Currently in Pakistan, there are still over 600,000 people[7], mostly women and girls, living in emergency camps where sexual violence – notably rape – is exacerbated. In addition, women whose homes have been destroyed by the floods, and who are forced to stay behind, often live in unsanitary open spaces, deprived of any protection and security, under the constant threat of gender-based sexual violence.
On the other hand, the current climate crisis in Pakistan has a direct impact on the growing number of forced marriages. UNICEF estimates that 70% of Pakistani girls are married before the legal age of marriage[8], which in the country is 16 for girls and 18 for boys[9]. It is worth noting that this age gap is not only problematic but is also symbolic of the gender inequalities that exist within Pakistani society. Extreme weather disturbances related to climate change only increase the number of families separating from one or more of their daughters, as they are unable to meet their needs. Although illegal, forced marriage of young girls to resolve family and clan conflicts still exists in terrifying proportions – about 30% of girls in the country are married[10] – in all provinces of Pakistan [11]. Some girls are promised at an early age, sometimes even before birth, to a man much older than themselves. This phenomenon is further aggravated by the frequency and intensity of the climatic crises affecting Pakistan and its inhabitants.
An explosion of gendered health violence exacerbated by climate change
Faced with the effects of climate change, women are more likely to face gender-based health violence. Due to the scarcity of natural resources within households, particularly food and drinking water shortages and/or difficult access to clean water[12], the reproductive health and menstrual hygiene of women and girls are threatened. They can then more easily contract urinary tract infections, for example. In addition, menstrual insecurity affects girls’ literacy, as it leads to absenteeism due to lack of access to water and sanitation.
The testimony of Gul Mohammad Baloutch, a farmer living on a hillside surrounded by water after his house was destroyed by floods, reveals a deplorable reality of the sanitary abuses that women and girls in Pakistan face today: “We only go to the water toilet at night for privacy, women cannot go during the day because everyone would see them. We men can at least hide behind the broken walls during the day, but women do not have this option[13]”.
On the other hand, Pakistan has recently experienced an extreme heat wave with record temperatures reaching over 50 degrees Celsius in some areas. Faced to these extreme conditions, women have been particularly exposed, more than men. Indeed, the country social conventions forbid them to take baths or quick showers in public as men do, so women had more difficulty refreshing and washing themselves[14].
Finally, the stagnant water caused by the floods favour the circulation of infectious diseases such as malaria and cholera[15], to which women and girls are more exposed, unlike men, due to their vulnerability accentuated by the difficulty of access to medical care and the lack of personnel in the already overloaded hospitals.
From a health perspective, women and girls live in appalling conditions, dependant on food aid from the government and the international community, and therefore face unprecedented health violence.
Heavy economic violence impacting Pakistani women, caused by the recurrence and intensity of natural disasters
Pakistani agriculture, on which the country’s economy depends heavily[16], is endangered by climatic changes and in particular by the violent floods in progress. These extreme disturbances have destroyed thousands of hectares of arable land, including cotton fields[17]. It is worth noting that in Pakistan, women are the largest contributors to agriculture outcome. According to World Bank figures, 65% of women, in the working age, were employed in the agricultural sector in 2019. Because of the heavy flooding, in which water still stagnates months later – in some areas, water levels can reach more than three meters deep – many women have lost their jobs and are unable to provide for their families.
In addition, women are generally denied propriety title on the lands they farm and have few, if any, resources to fall back on. Moreover, they have no access to loans, insurance and/or training in new agricultural technologies[18]. They also have limited awareness[19] of the consequences and impact of climate change on their daily lives. For example, women continue to exploit and cultivate on the remaining cultivable land, even though the land is located in flood-prone areas and is at risk of being destroyed at any time, which will lead to a loss of income and a lack of food, aggravating family precariousness[20].
According to the World Bank, the direct consequences of the floods are likely to push 6 to 9 million people into poverty in Pakistan, considering that women and girls account for the majority of the poorest people[21]. Pakistani women and girls are likely to suffer de facto in the long term from this severe economic violence.
Conclusion
As we have seen, climate change disproportionately impacts gender-based sexual, health and economic violence in Pakistan. It is worth emphasizing the interdependence of these gendered violence, which are greatly exacerbated by the consequences of climate change for which Pakistan is both so vulnerable and so unprepared. Moreover, under the threat of new climate disruptions, women and girls find themselves in a vicious circle from which it is difficult to escape without help and concrete action such as the regional GRAISEA program[22] financed by the Swedish Embassy in Bangkok (Thailand), which has made it possible, among other things, to introduce new agricultural techniques via training accessible to women.
To cite this production: Emma Roquel, “Facing climate crises, exponential gender-based violence in Pakistan”, 25/11/2022, Gender Institute in Geopolitics, https://igg-geo.org/?p=10294&lang=en
The statements contained in this article are the sole responsibility of the author.
References
↑1 & ↑17 France 24. (11 novembre 2022). Réchauffement climatique : le Pakistan sous les eaux. https://www.slate.fr/story/76088/pakistan-filles-malala↑2, ↑15, ↑19ARTE Reportage. (20 septembre 2022). Pakistan : survivre au déluge. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqTTYXZtEQE
↑3 & ↑16 France 24. (août 2022). Dans les montagnes, les populations sont menacées par le dérèglement climatique. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=043c2q06lSs
↑4 & ↑7 Radio France. (14 octobre 2022). Le Pakistan sous les eaux, en première ligne du dérèglement climatique. https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/podcasts/grand-reportage/le-pakistan-sous-les-eaux-en-premiere-ligne-du-dereglement-climatique-2982580
↑5 (Juillet 2020). Lutte contre le changement climatique. https://www.carefrance.org/combats/lutte-changement-climatique/
↑6&↑21&↑22OSMAN-ELASHA, B. Les femmes dans le contexte des changements climatiques, Nations Unies. https://www.un.org/fr/chronicle/article/le-femmes-dans-le-contexte-des-changements-climatiques
↑8 International Center for Research on Women, Child marriage. https://www.icrw.org/issues/child-marriage/
↑9 Global Development. (3 octobre 2020). Le mariage d’enfants au Pakistan : observations tirées de trois programmes de développement. http://globaldev.blog/fr/blog/mariage-d%E2%80%99enfants-au-pakistan-observations-tir%C3%A9es-de-trois-programmes-de-d%C3%A9veloppement
↑10 International Center for Research on Women. (2012). Solutions to Ending Child Marriage in Southern Asia: Pakistan. https://www.icrw.org/publications/child-marriage-in-southern-asia/
↑11 CARRANCA, A. (8 septembre 2013). Le Pakistan, pays où les fillettes sont mariées de force pour payer des dettes d’honneur, Slate. https://www.slate.fr/story/76088/pakistan-filles-malala
↑12 FABRE, M. (7 mars 2019). Surmortalité, mariages forcés, déscolarisation : les femmes sont les premières victimes du réchauffement climatique, Novethic. https://www.novethic.fr/actualite/environnement/climat/isr-rse/cinq-donnees-essentielles-pour-comprendre-pourquoi-les-femmes-sont-les-premieres-victimes-du-rechauffement-climatique-147004.html
↑13 Radio France. (24 octobre 2022). Le Pakistan sous les eaux, en première ligne du dérèglement climatique. https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/podcasts/grand-reportage/le-pakistan-sous-les-eaux-en-premiere-ligne-du-dereglement-climatique-2982580
↑14 Amnesty International. (28 octobre 2021). Pakistan : l’impact dévastateur de la crise climatique sur les plus pauvres. https://www.amnesty.be/campagne/justice-climatique/article/pakistan-impact-devastateur-crise-climatique-pauvres
↑18 & ↑20 ONU Femmes France. (17 juillet 2020). Impactées par le changement climatique, les femmes ont construit les luttes écoféministes. https://www.onufemmes.fr/nos-actualites/impactees-par-le-changement-climatique-les-femmes-ont-construit-les-luttes-ecofeministes
