(Photo used from the International Monetary Fund at rhe following link) https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/2021/09/advancing-gender-equality-through-climate-action-COP26-trevelyan 

By Casey Moore, 21 November 2023

Imagine a young girl in Ethiopia out on a short walk before school, but instead of wearing a backpack with her books and learning materials, she has a water can strapped to her back. This girl cannot go to school today, because she must go fetch water for the household. Meanwhile, her brother is on his way to school, but this girl here will miss out today. 

Amongst many global challenges, climate change and gender inequality are tightly woven together and are at the forefront of many teachers’ and students’ minds. How can we legally ensure the access to education for all girls and boys? In order to present an effective solution, it is paramount for one to understand the definitions and the relationship between the two. “Climate change, as defined by [https://climateknowledgeportal.worldbank.org/overview] is the significant variation of average weather conditions becoming, for example, warmer, wetter, or drier—over several decades or longer. It is the longer-term trend that differentiates climate change from natural weather variability. While gender inequality, defined by [https://climateknowledgeportal.worldbank.org/overview], is described as, the legal, social and cultural situation in which sex and/or gender determine different rights and dignity for women and men, which are reflected in their unequal access to or enjoyment of rights, as well as the assumption of stereotyped social and cultural roles. Taken together, women and girls are more vulnerable to climate change, such as taking on provider roles and fetching water for the family, used for labor to repair fields, or playing the role of a mother in her absence. 

The impacts of changing climate is NOT gender-neutral.Sims (2021) notes that “It’s estimated that at least 200 million adolescent girls living in the poorest communities face a heightened risk from the effects of climate change.” This number is feeigtening for the future of ALL women. Particularly in developing countries, like countries in Africa, where women have to bear the weight of climate change and have to leave or quit school to tend to family livelihood. Think back to the story in the beginning of this article. The brother didnt skip school to fetch water that day, the girl did. Although Climate change is fairly recent, this problem stems from a much deeper, already existing gender disparity in roles, responsibilities, and access to much needed resources. 

In many societies it is the norm for women to take on the role of collecting water, gathering wood, and farming for food or natural resources. These responsibilities of women and girls are becoming more challenging with water scarcity and extreme weather events (such as droughts, hurricanes, and extreme heat) that are wreaking havoc on agricultural farming and sources needed for food and clean water. Children are being affected the most from the recent climate change. According to Save the Children (2021), “A child born in 2020 will experience on average twice as many wildfires, 2.8 times the exposure to crop failure, 2.6 times as many drought events, 2.8 times as many river floods, and 6.8 times more heatwaves across their lifetimes, compared to a person born in 1960’ (Save the Children, 2021).” Of those children the link between climate change and girls’ education is deeply intertwined and tightly connected. “Climate change increases girls’ domestic work, taking time away from school and study (Peek et al., 2018).” There is a direct link between climate change, and the responsibilities that women and girls have to take on during these times and their education. They are often forced to drop out early from secondary school to help out around the house or get jobs to help support their household. Oftentimes girls drop out of school at a very young age and are forced to marry during famines to earn money for the household (Peek et al., 2018). One participant in a study in Africa stated, “Poverty is a big constraint. But the problem is that when it comes to gender it becomes double. It is double because for example, if you look at a family that is poor, definitely it is the boy who will be taken to school (Agostino, 2010).”

In conclusion, the relationship between climate change and gender inequality continually proves to be a problem in low and lower income countries and it demands our attention. We must acknowledge and address these interconnected problem sets so that we can develop solutions to end gender inequality caused by climate change. In doing so we link Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 5 (Gender Inequality) and SDG 13 (Climate Action) together to develop outcomes that develop a way forward for both. 

References:

Agostino, 2010. Gender equality, climate change and education for sustainability. https://www.e4conference.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Equals24.pdf. 

Climate Change Knowledge Portal. For development Practitionirs and Policymakers. https://climateknowledgeportal.worldbank.org/overview#:~:text=Climate%20change%20is%20the%20significant,change%20from%20natural%20weather%20variability. 

Pankhurst, C. (2022) ‘Girls’ education and climate change: A critical review of the literature’, Accountability for Gender Equality in Education (AGEE) Working Paper, London: Centre for Education and International Development, UCL.

Peek, L., Abramson, D. M., Cox, R. S., Fothergill, A., & Tobin, J. (2018). Children and disasters. In H. Rodríguez, W. Donner, & J. Trainor (Eds.), Handbook of disaster research. Handbooks of sociology and social research. Springer. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63254-4_13. 

Save the Children. (2021). Born into the Climate Crisis: Why we must act now to secure children’s rights. Available at: https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/pdf/borninto-the-climate-crisis.pdf/. 
Sims, K. (2021). Education, Girls’ Education and Climate Change. K4D Emerging Issues Report 29. Institute of Development Studies. DOI: 10.19088/K4D.2021.044

The Malala Fund’s Role in Combating Climate Changes Impact on Education for Young Girls.  

(Photo from Malala Fund website at https://malala.org/countries/ethiopia)

By Casey Moore, 02 December 2023

“The Malala Fund, co-founded in 2013 by Malala Yousafzai, worked to ensure every girl globally could access 12 years of safe, and free quality education (Ikrama).” This organization started as a fund to, “work for a world where every girl can learn and lead (malala.org).”  Today they are doing work in nine countries across the globe to include Ethiopia. Their mission is to actively work to address the relationship of climate change and its effect on girls’ education within the country.  

Effects of climate change have continued to climb over the past decade; and are posing serious threats to multiple aspects of daily life including access to education for girls in Ethiopia. Ethiopia has been struggling with providing accessible and quality education during these times of climate change, especially for girls. Ethiopia, being a country that suffers from irregular rainfall, droughts, and floods which affect daily life and more importantly agricultural fields that produce food for the population or income for farmers to support their households.Agriculture accounts for nearly half of the country’s gross domestic product (Megan Devonald, 2022).” These effects of climate change directly negatively affect these vulnerable populations in Ethiopia by having to adjust their roles and responsibilities to survive or keep food and water in the house.  “These vulnerabilities are compounded by gender norms that present specific challenges for adolescent girls. It is estimated that by 2025, climate change will be a contributing factor in at least 12.5 million girls globally each year not completing their education (Fry and Lei, 2021).” Girls are mainly affected by these role changes…and education for boys is given the priority.  

So what is being done about this issue? Is all hope lost? The Malala Fund is taking a different approach to this link between effects of climate change and girls’ education. The Malala Fund has given $28,985 in 2022 in contributions and grants, $12,000 more than the year before [https://2021.malala.org/financial-snapshot#funds].They aim to raise awareness and break down barriers that stand between climate change and the access to education for young girls, and they do this by empowering girls by giving grants and contributing to the needs of the school systems. They aren’t just building schools and hoping that the governmental system is going to fix itself, they are actually working with policy makers to raise awareness and to develop policies that will legally give girls the right to education. The following quote is from Malala Funds’ website and describes the work Martha, an education champion,  is doing in the region. “A former teacher, Martha knows the challenges Ethiopian girls face in finishing their education. Schools are not attentive to the needs of female students and many girls struggling to keep up with their studies eventually drop out. With her Malala Fund grant, Martha will work with schools and local governments to end gender-based violence and improve education quality and learning environments. 100 high school girls will participate in Women Empowerment Action (WE-Action’s) training programme and learn to advocate for their education [https://malala.org/newsroom/malala-fund-education-champions-network-fourth-cohort-announcement] ” They aim to put climate change into the mix when educational development decisions are being made and aim for communities to have a climate-resilient education system.

I know what you are thinking…SHOW ME THE NUMBERS. Today the Malala Fund supports 5 “Education Champions” (AKA Malala Fund vetted educational experts) that are working in the Amhara region in Ethiopia. These individuals are working in policy development to get Ethiopia to achieve the Sustainable development Goals by 2030, and they are also working in girls activist training. 

“I am the person I am because of education. I have to give back what I was privileged to have. To give back to the community. That’s why I’m still working.” -Amsale Mulugeta, Executive Director, Education for Sustainable development. 

Photo from https://malala.org/countries/ethiopia 

The Malala Fund just began its work in August 2020, and one month later was already awarding grants to organizations in Ethiopia that were working towards girls’ education and school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic (www.malala.org). Alongside climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic also contributed to many young girls not returning to school and having to take on care roles in the household. COVID-19 and sustainable development goal (SDG) 3 is directly tied to girls education in these areas as well. SDG 3 aims for good health and well being by 2030. Young girls in these affected regions are also affected by the pandemic with the lack of healthcare, and ability to treat and fight disease during and after the pandemic. They have also seen the lack of facilities for girls in school caused by the pandemic, like bathrooms, and water availability for feminine sanitary needs.  

Malala Fund donated money to ACE Charity in Ethiopia to  produce weekly broadcasted sessions that were multilingual over the radio to teach literacy and STEM lessons for students who didn’t have access to online schooling. Malala Fund support also helped expand a program for girls that offers safe spaces where they can learn basic literacy, numeracy and life skills. This type of adjustments during natural disasters or pandemics are important to the resilience of education for young girls in Ethiopia. It keeps them “in” school, even when they may not be able to physically attend.  

In conclusion, the Malala Fund’s efforts have directly changed the lives of many girls in their continued secondary education by advocating for policy change, forming partnerships, and providing support directly through their field teams. This organization is making big strides in ensuring that girls can have access to education while the effects of climate change continue to worsen. Malala Fund’s efforts are the new formula to combating inequalities in education in the country and empowering girls to change their lives for the future. 

References: 

Fry, L., & Lei, P. (2021). A greener, fairer future: Why leaders need to invest in climate and girls’ education. Malala Fund. 

Malala Yousafzai: Promoting girls’ education in conflict-affected countries. The Case For Women. (n.d.). https://doi.org/10.1108/CFW-07-2022-0022 

Malala Fund. (n.d.). https://malala.org/countries/ethiopia Megan Devonald, Nicola Jones, Abreham Iyasu Gebru & Workneh Yadete (2022) Rethinking climate change through a gender and adolescent lens in Ethiopia, Climate and Development, DOI: 10.1080/17565529.2022.2032568