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It is believed that the effects of climate change on population movements are likely to adversely and disproportionately impact poor and vulnerable population groups, especially women (CIDA 2002, Hunter and David 2009). While research on climate change-induced migration in itself is scarce, its impact on women is under-explored. Climate change may not only directly impact women through environmental changes such as rise in sea level or increases in temperature, but also make them more vulnerable because of its interaction with socio-cultural factors (The Government Office for Science 2011). For instance, unequal gender relations and access to resources may make women more vulnerable to climate change than men (Masika 2002, p 4). Furthermore, adaptation, that is, the ability to adapt to and cope with changes due to climate change, is also gendered. Adaptive capacities of individuals greatly depend on income, education, health and access to natural resources. Given that women tend to be poorer, less educated, have a lower health status and have limited direct access to or ownership of natural resources, they will be disproportionately affected by climate change (Masika 2002, p 5, Demetriades and Esplen 2010). For instance, it is predicted that climate change will negatively impact food production and availability of natural resources such as water. Scarcity of food can worsen women's nutritional status due to their marginalization within households. Also, as women are mainly responsible for gathering water for the household, paucity of water might increase the burden on women. The impact on women is likely to be worse in developing countries because of the deeper economic and social gender divide.
One aspect of gender and climate change that remains a huge gap and requires attention is that of climate change-induced migration. A United Nations Population Fund UNFPA (2009, p 35) report argues that migration requires economic and physical capacities that are not available to everyone. Due to issues pertaining to opportunities, capabilities as well as security, women, children and elderly are usually the ones left behind in the face of an environmental crisis. However, a more thorough analysis of women's vulnerability to climate change-induced migration is required to understand the gender dimensions of factors that lead to climate change-induced migration and the differential impacts that the process and outcomes of climate change-induced migration have on women.
http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/7/2/025601
