The effects of climate change on the women of South Africa.
According to some academics, South Africa is a climate change hotspot and is already experiencing the disastrous effects of ongoing climate change.
Storms, floods, and other extreme weather events are examples of direct exposures from climate change that may have an effect on health in South Africa. Indirect exposure from climate change includes increased air pollution and rising pollen production. A changing temperature over time would also affect how disease vectors are dispersed.
Food scarcity and malnutrition shortages could result from negative effects on the agriculture sector, which would represent a significant indirect constraint. Loss of ecosystem products and services that currently sustain stable environmental conditions could result from ecosystem changes. Last but not least, the effects of climate change's social and economic disruptions may have an influence on people's mental health and wellbeing.
Climate change may cause social and biophysical support systems to break down by, among other things, uprooting communities, destroying homes, and causing fatalities. The effects on women's mental health and general human welfare would be grave. Early onset dementia and an increase in hospitalisations for mental diseases, mood disorders, somatoform disorders (mental symptoms that suggest physical sickness or damage), senility, and psychological developing abnormalities have all been linked to acute climate events like high temperatures and heat waves.
Extreme weather patterns have the potential to make some places temporarily uninhabitable and unproductive, as well as to harm the environment and upset a person's sense of place. Through an increase in anxiety, disinterest, despair, sadness, and ongoing psychological distress in South African women, this may damage mental health.
An analysis revealed that women's health is more vulnerable to climate change because of this, particularly in low- and middle-income nations. Food instability made women more vulnerable to nutrient deficiencies like anemia and malnutrition than men. Additionally, researchers discovered that rising temperatures and food instability increased the likelihood of miscarriages and stillbirths in pregnant women. Women who resided in rural areas without access to sustainable power were more likely to acquire respiratory illnesses because they utilized dangerous traditional biomass to cook their food, which resulted in the inhalation of poisonous chemicals.
Women currently hold jobs burdened by climatic change, such as water collecting and small farming, as a result of gender societal norms and inequality. In South Africa, agriculture is the most significant sector for women's employment. During droughts and seasons of irregular rainfall, women who work in agriculture and serve as the major procurers put in more effort to provide for their families. This adds to the pressure on daughters, who frequently have to drop out of school to assist their mothers in juggling the added responsibility.
As a "threat multiplier," climate change amplifies social, political, and economic pressures in unstable and conflict-affected environments. Using an overlapping generations model, the authors of a study have projected the effects of socioeconomic and climate change factors on the gender wage gap in the future. According to their findings, there will be fewer low-skilled female laborers available as a result of climate change.
