Proceedings of The 6th Global Conference on Women’s Studies
Year: 2024
DOI:
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Symbiosis Gender-Responsive Adaptation Paradigm to Climate-Induced Violence against Women
Mona Ashour
ABSTRACT:
In the face of climate change, the communities across the Global South are experiencing profound shifts in their ideological and physical environments, that amplify existing gender vulnerabilities. This chapter proposes a symbiosis adaptation paradigm to climate-induced violence against women, that is based on and stems from different gender-responsive adaptation epistemologies and theories. The analysis focuses on the intricate ways in which climate-related adaptation strategies intersect with gender dynamics and environmental injustice. It aims at enriching the discussion about violence against women (VAW), from a UNA/Human Rights approach perspective, in the context of climate change by drawing from diverse theoretical frameworks and analytical lenses like post-humanism, intersectional feminism and African futurism. Through the lens of two selected Global South literary narratives, Amitav Ghosh’s “The Hungry Tide,” and Nnedi Okorafor’s “Who Fears Death, ” and the “The Age of Consequences” (2016) documentary directed by Jared P. Scott, this chapter engages with exploring how these fictional and non-fictional written and visual narratives depict the intersections of gender, violence, and climate change in different regions of the Global South. Ghosh’s “The Hungry Tide” offers a poignant portrayal of the Sundarbans region, the treacherous islands in the Bay of Bengal in India where isolated inhabitants live in fear of drowning tides and man-eating tigers. The novel highlights the intersection of environmental upheaval with gender-based violence, emphasizing the interconnectedness of social and ecological systems. Meanwhile, in “Who Fears Death,” Okorafor, the founder of Africanfuturism, presents a dystopian future Africa where violence against women is compounded by environmental degradation, showcasing the resilience of women as both victims and agents of change in navigating these socio-environmental challenges. “The Age of Consequences” (2016) documentary goes beyond the science of climate change and digs into its societal impacts. It examines how climate change triggers water and food shortages, drought, flooding, and other societal disruptions, and how climate change effects like human migration and conflict within a national/global security framework plays a role in issues like the rise of ISIS and, consequently, the violence that women and girls have been subjected to in the MENA region. This interdisciplinary chapter underscores the potential of samples from the Global South narratives to galvanize environmental awareness and advocacy. It examines how it reflects, challenges, and perpetuates gender norms shedding light on its role in fostering ecofeminist discourse and activism. By exploring the unique ways in which these narratives amplify the voices of women affected by climate change, this chapter tackles dynamic perspectives on the ‘imaginactivist’ role of the gender-responsive narratives in addressing urgent socio-environmental issues and proposes ‘symbiotic’ adaptation strategy that can hinder gender-based violence (GBV), specifically violence against women (VAW), during global climatic changes.
keywords: Climate Change Adaptation, Gender-Responsive Strategies, Global South, Narratives, Inclusivity, Equity, Social Justice