Women and Climate Change Act of 2018
A BILL
To address the disparate impact of climate change on women and support the efforts of women globally to address climate change, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Findings
Congress finds the following:
Women in the United States and around the world are the linchpin of families and communities and are often the first to feel the immediate and adverse effects of social, environmental, and economic stresses on their families and communities.
The United Nations has recognized, as one of the central organizing principles for its work, that “no enduring solution to society’s most threatening social, economic and political problems can be found without the full participation, and the full empowerment, of the world’s women”.
The United Nations Development Programme 2013 Human Development Report has found that the number of people living in extreme poverty could increase by up to 3,000,000,000 by 2050 unless environmental disasters are averted by coordinated global action.
Climate change is already forcing vulnerable communities in developing countries to face unprecedented climate stress, including water scarcity and drought, as well as severe weather events and floods, which can lead to reduced agricultural productivity, food insecurity, and increased disease.
Climate change exacerbates issues of scarcity and lack of accessibility to primary natural resources, forest resources, and arable land for food production, thereby contributing to increased conflict and instability, as well as the workload and stresses on women farmers, who are estimated to produce 60 to 80 percent of the food in most developing countries.
Women will disproportionately face harmful impacts from climate change, particularly in poor and developing nations where women regularly assume increased responsibility for growing the family’s food and collecting water, fuel, and other resources.
Epidemics, such as malaria and zika, are expected to worsen and spread due to variations in climate, putting women (especially pregnant mothers and women who hope to become pregnant) and children without access to prevention and medical services at risk.
The direct and indirect effects of climate change have a disproportionate impact on marginalized women such as refugee and displaced persons, religious or ethnic minorities, adolescent girls, and women and girls with disabilities and those who are living with HIV.
Conflict has a disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable populations including women, and is fueled in the world’s poorest regions by harsher climate, leading to migration, refugee crises, and conflicts over scarce natural resources including land and water.
Displaced, refugee, and stateless women and girls face extreme violence and threats, including—
being forced to exchange sex for food and humanitarian supplies;
being at increased risk of rape, sexual exploitation and abuse; and
being at increased risk for HIV, STIs, unplanned pregnancy, and poor reproductive health.
It is predicted that climate change will lead to increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather conditions, precipitating the occurrence of natural disasters around the globe.
The relocation and death of women, and especially mothers, as a result of climate-related disasters often has devastating impacts on social support networks, family ties, and the coping capacity of families and communities.
The ability of women to adapt to climate change is constrained by a lack of economic freedoms, property and inheritance rights, as well as access to financial resources, education, family planning and reproductive health, and new tools, equipment, and technology.
Despite a unique capacity and knowledge to promote and provide for adaptation to climate change, women often have insufficient resources to undertake such adaptation.
Women are shown to have a multiplier effect by using their income and resources, when given the necessary tools, to increase the well-being of their children and families, and thus play a critical role in reducing food insecurity, poverty, and socioeconomic effects of climate change.
Women are often underrepresented in the development and formulation of policy regarding mitigation and adaptation to climate change, even though they are often in the best position to provide and consult on adaptive strategies.
Sec. 3 Definitions
In this Act:
Appropriate congressional committees— The term appropriate congressional committees means—
the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives; and
the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate.
Climate change— The term climate change means a change of climate that is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity and altering the composition of the global atmosphere.
Developing country— The term developing country means those countries classified by the World Bank as having a low-income or lower-middle-income economy.
Disparate impact— The term disparate impact refers to the historic and ongoing impacts of the pattern and practice of discrimination in employment, education, housing, banking, health, and nearly every other aspect of life in the economy, society, or culture that have an adverse impact on minorities, women, or other protected groups, regardless of whether such practices were motivated by discriminatory intent.
Environmental disasters— The term environmental disasters means specific events caused by human activity that result in seriously negative effects on the environment.
Environmental refugees— The term environmental refugees means people displaced because of environmental causes, notably land loss and degradation, and natural disasters, who have left their community or country of origin.
Extreme poverty— The term extreme poverty means having an income level or living standard at a level of extreme deprivation based on living with income below 50 percent of the poverty line as established by the individual country at issue, or below $1.90 per day as determined by the World Bank.
Extreme weather— The term extreme weather means unexpected, unusual, unpredictable, severe, or unseasonal weather that is at the extremes of the historical distribution range that has been seen in the past.
Federal agency— The term Federal agency means any executive department, Government corporation, Government-controlled corporation, or other establishment in the executive branch of the Government (including the Executive Office of the President), or any independent regulatory agency.
Food insecurity— The term food insecurity means a lack of consistent access to food.
Most vulnerable communities and populations— The term most vulnerable communities and populations means communities and populations, including women, impoverished communities, children, people with disabilities, and indigenous peoples, who are at risk of substantial adverse impacts of climate change and have limited capacity to respond to such impacts.
Poverty— The term poverty means an income level and living standard insufficient to meet basic needs.
Sec. 4 Statement of policy
It is the policy of the United States, in partnership with affected countries, donor country governments, international financial institutions, international nongovernmental organizations, and civil society groups, especially those led by women, to combat the leading causes of climate change, mitigate the effects of climate change on women and girls, and elevate the participation of women in policy, program, and community decision-making processes with respect to climate change, by—
establishing the Federal Interagency Working Group on Women and Climate Change, mission of which is to prevent and respond to the effects of climate change on women globally; and
implementing a coordinated, integrated, evidence-based, and comprehensive strategy on Women and Climate Change throughout United States policies in the future.