Written by Yolande Miller-Grandvaux, FHI 360
The relationship between education, climate change and girls’ education is bi-directional. When climate shocks lead to school closures, girls are the first ones to drop out. Climate-related events prevent at least 4 million girls in low- and lower-middle-income countries from completing their education.[i]
Photo credit: MediaPort Dipendra Bhandari for FHI 360.
Yet, when girls receive 12 years of quality education, they are more likely to possess the skills needed to withstand and overcome shocks stemming from extreme weather events.[ii] In many regions, women bear a disproportionate responsibility for securing food, water, and fuel. Agriculture is the most important employment sector for women in low- and lower-middle-income countries. During periods of drought and erratic rainfall, women, as agricultural workers, work harder to secure income and resources for their families. This puts added pressure on girls, who often must leave school to help their mothers manage the increased burden. Yet, young women are extraordinarily active in finding ways to adapt to these shocks. Whether they use technology, raise awareness, lead campaigns, or promote resilience in their communities, their deep commitment to education and adaptation strategies presents a most promising avenue.
All children and youth are affected by extreme climate events. All schools and learning spaces over the globe are affected by climate events, extreme heat, fires, hurricanes, or polluted air. However, climate change disproportionately affects populations in low-income areas and in countries that produce the least carbon footprint.
Photo credit: Shahibu Athumani, Aga Khan Foundation for FHI 360.
Are girls and young women impacted differently? Yes, because climate shocks exacerbate existing gender inequalities, posing unique threats to the livelihoods, health, and safety of women and girls and especially in places where they face restrictive gender norms. [iii].
For instance, when a household must cope with a climate-induced stressor, girls are likely to spend time on household chores, fetching wood or water further out from their home, thus perpetuating a cycle of disempowerment. Moreover, in the aftermath of climate-induced disasters, women and girls can be more vulnerable to gender-based violence.[iv]. Adolescent girls (ages 10 to 19) are more likely to experience violence and exploitation resulting from the effects of climate shocks, be forced into early marriage, and become pregnant, all of which can affect their ability to stay in school. Boys and young men are also affected by the impact of climate shocks, as they can be taken out of schools to be put at work or forced to migrate to find alternative sources of income.[v] Systemic gender inequalities exacerbate the stressors of climate shocks, extreme heat, and polluted air, making the threat of regression in access to and quality of education at all levels, especially for adolescent girls, all too real.
Medhavi, a ninth-grade student in Katmandu, Nepal, is the vice president of her school's echo club. After a heavy thunderstorm last July 22, her school was closed. There was mud, rubbish, and water everywhere. So, they lost hours when they could have been learning something! Because of climate change the heat is making it difficult to concentrate in class and students faint from the heat. Young people like her cannot play outside or take a walk. Medhavi is determined to make her school a cleaner place. With her eco club. She helps raise awareness about environmental change and the club teaches younger students to protect the environment who in turn teach others. The dedication of her peers and the help she receives from her teachers make her feel proud and hopeful for a better future.
Educating girls can be a game changer if some conditions are put in place and the literature has been clear about this for several decades now. But we are now facing a crisis that will not go away as our planet is changing at a rapid pace. What do we need to look at differently?
First, we must keep the door to schooling wide open for adolescent girls: the current state of girls’ education, esp. adolescent girls, shows that nearly 1 in 5 girls are still not completing lower-secondary school and nearly 4 in 10 girls are not completing upper-secondary school.[vi] Harmful policies or cultural practices often prevent girls from returning to school after pregnancy, time away for domestic duties, recovering from a disaster, or even following a protracted school closure. Yet an unprecedented six hundred million adolescent girls are coming of age. [vii]The push for supporting access to education for them cannot stop.
Second, educated adolescent girls can affect behavior, especially when it comes to thinking how to adapt to climate change. In fact, education is the single strongest predictor of climate change awareness. One study goes as far as to claim that girls’ secondary education is the most important socioeconomic determinant in reducing vulnerability to climate change.[viii] If the share of women receiving a lower secondary education increased from 30% to 70%, this could result in a 60% lower death toll from extreme weather events by 2050 [ix], and countries would suffer far fewer economic losses.[x] Educating girls means more than just sending them to school. It means that access to clean water and safe toilets will be possible; that young women can go and stay in school without the risk of being harassed or raped; that household chores can be managed so they can do their homework; that teachers and school administrators respect and empower them to think critically and make informed decisions. Let’s remember that empowering young women to play a role in climate adaptation must account for harmful gender dynamics; ensure that boys and men are engaged; all students become equal and safe partners both in climate literacy and in how to mitigate and adapt to climate shocks and ongoing stressors.
Third, education is not just about foundational literacy. It is key in inculcating the skills, values, behavior, critical thinking, and creativity needed for tackling new problems and harnessing the strength of a community. Education about climate change goes beyond knowledge of climate events. It extends to understanding the premises of climate justice, which naturally includes gender equality. When secondary school students in Fiji learn from their textbooks, their teachers and their pedagogical practices, and the indigenous knowledge surrounding them about conservation of the coral reeves that are disappearing because of warming ocean temperatures, it illustrates how education and climate action also lead to climate justice and in turn equality.
The nexus between education, gender and climate change is complex, multifaceted, and yet grossly misunderstood or unknown. It is time to act for keeping adolescent girls in school, for learning how to adapt to climate change, and for helping young women and men become safe and educated actors in an ever-changing world.
[i] Global Partnership for Education. Toward Climate-Smart Education Systems: A 7-Dimension Framework for Action. Global Partnership for Education, 2023. Working Paper, Washington DC.
[ii] Malala Fund. A Greener Fairer Future: Why Leaders Need to Invest in Climate and Girls’ Education. 2021.
[iii] Fruttero, Anna, Daniel Halim, Chiara Broccolini, Bernardo Coelho, Horace Gninafon, and Noël Muller. 2023. "Gendered Impacts of Climate Change: Evidence from Weather Shocks." Policy Research Working Papers 10442. © World Bank, Washington, DC.
[iv] Malivel, G., S. Huyer, and J. Seager. 2014. "Climate Change and Gender-Based Violence: Overview of Current Research." AICCRA Working Paperno.16. Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA). p.132.
[v] Fruttero, Anna, Daniel Halim, Chiara Broccolini, Bernardo Coelho, Horace Gninafon, and Noël Muller. 2023. "Gendered Impacts of Climate Change: Evidence from Weather Shocks." Policy Research Working Papers 10442. © World Bank, Washington, DC.
[vi] UNICEF. 2024. Adolescent Girls: The Investment Case. https://www.unicef.org/documents/adolescent-girls-investment-case
[vii] UNICEF. "6 Ways the Lives of Girls Are Different Today." Accessed October 30, 2024. [https://data.unicef.org/data-for-action/6-ways-the-lives-of-girls-are-different-today/#:~:text=But%20this%20means%20that%20worldwide,numbers%20are%20even%20more%20dismal]
[viii] Muttarak, Raya, and Wolfgang Lutz. "Is Education a Key to Reducing Vulnerability to Natural Disasters and Hence Unavoidable Climate Change?" Ecology and Society 19, no. 1 (2014).
[ix] E Ehlers, Suzanne, Safeena Husain, Amel Karboul, Christina Kwauk, Sibley Lovett, Lane McBride, Max McCabe, Liesbet Steer, and Nithya Vaduganathan. Education for Climate Action. The Education Commission, 2022.
[x] Brian Blankespoor, Brian, et al. 2010. "The Economics of Adaptation to Extreme Weather Events in Developing Countries." CGD Working Paper 198. Washington, D.C.: Center for Global Development.