A key: the role of women in climate change by Iyinoluwa O. Aremu


There is a major key to solving the problem of climate change, and that key is with the women in every society.

Most times, we neglect the role that women play in activating the actors of climate change. We forget or ignore the fact that most of the causes of climate change are actually from the main activities of women in the home. For example, activities related to pollution, management of electricity,gas and heating in the home, using fuel (like coal and firewood) to cook, even in some areas of the world, agriculture is managed by mainly women. Therefore, to make the campaign for climate change effective, we must all concentrate on how to make sure that women are aware of climate change, and also introduce to them the ways in which they can change their lifestyle to contribute to reducing the effects of their activities on climate change.

This is especially true for rural area and developing economies. So many of the women in these places are uneducated, thus, it is very unlikely for them to have heard of climate change. There is a major need to break down the meaning of climate change, in its simplest form, to these women, because only by this are we going to be able to move fast in saving our planet and environment from destruction.

So, how do we go about this? We don’t need much of government action in raising awareness of climate change to women, we only need interested and motivated people or organisations, who are ready to go into the rural areas, meet the women and show them demonstrations of how they can save their environment.

One good thing about this is that, if a problem like pollution can be solved in these rural areas and slumps, the standard of living of the people will be greatly improved, thus contributing to sustainable development.

We can even have individuals or international organisations fund these types of projects and we can use some of the funds to donate materials to these women that can help in the action against climate change. An example can be buying them energy saving bulbs for those areas with electricity or constantly providing them with alternative cooking fuels that are not destructive to the environment like firewood and coal.

Overall, I believe that for the problem of climate change to be solved quickly and efficiently, women have a big role to play. The actions may seem little but they will go a long way in our work of saving our environment from destruction.

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