Pakistani Women & Climate Change: An Urgent Call for Gender-Just Climate Action

Liaqat Masih (Lyallpur, Pakistan)

Climate justice begins with gender justice—and the time to act is now.

Gender inequality coupled with the accelerating climate crisis represents one of the gravest challenges of our time. Across the globe, climate change threatens livelihoods, health, safety, and security, but its impacts are not gender-neutral. In Pakistan, where structural inequalities already shape women’s lives, climate disasters intensify existing vulnerabilities, placing women and girls at the very frontlines of environmental breakdown.

Historically, climate science and policymaking have struggled to fully integrate gender and social equity into climate discourse. Yet mounting evidence now leaves no room for doubt: effective climate action is inseparable from women’s empowerment. When women are marginalized, climate impacts deepen; when women are empowered, resilience grows.

Climate Displacement and the Gendered Burden

The United Nations estimates that nearly 80% of people displaced by climate change worldwide are women. Pakistan exemplifies this reality. Recurrent floods, heat waves, droughts, and glacial lake outburst floods have displaced millions over the last decade, with women bearing a disproportionate share of the burden.

The 2022 floods were a global wake-up call: almost 650,000 pregnant women were left without access to maternal healthcare, many forced to give birth in unsafe and undignified conditions. Nearly eight million women and girls lost access to basic menstrual hygiene facilities, clean water, and private sanitation, a silent crisis that continues to receive inadequate attention.

The pattern repeated itself during the 2025 monsoon floods, which affected millions across Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan. Entire villages were submerged, livelihoods destroyed, and health systems overwhelmed. In temporary shelters, women and girls faced overcrowding, lack of privacy, shortage of sanitary products, increased exposure to disease, and heightened risks of gender-based violence. For many, survival came at the cost of dignity.

Livelihoods, Food Security, and Invisible Labor

Women form the backbone of Pakistan’s rural economy. Around two-thirds of employed women work in agriculture, largely in informal roles without land ownership, insurance, or social protection. Climate-induced floods and droughts destroy crops, livestock, and food supply chains, stripping women of income while increasing their unpaid care burden.

As food insecurity rises, women are often the first to reduce their own consumption to feed their families. Climate shocks thus translate directly into malnutrition, poor health outcomes, and long-term developmental impacts for children, perpetuating cycles of poverty and inequality.

Water scarcity further compounds the crisis. In many communities, women and girls are responsible for collecting water. Climate-driven changes in rainfall patterns mean longer distances, heavier workloads, and reduced time for education or income-generating activities.

Structural Inequality and Policy Gaps

Social norms restricting women’s mobility and decision-making power frequently prevent them from accessing early warning systems, evacuation routes, and relief services. Despite their central role in community resilience, women remain underrepresented in disaster management authorities, climate planning bodies, and local governance structures.

Pakistan has acknowledged gender in several national climate policies and frameworks, yet implementation remains weak. Gender-responsive budgeting is limited, data on women-specific climate impacts is insufficient, and climate finance rarely reaches grassroots women’s initiatives. Without targeted action, policy commitments risk remaining symbolic rather than transformative.

Women as Agents of Climate Solutions

Despite these challenges, Pakistani women are not merely victims of climate change, they are powerful agents of adaptation and resilience.

Across the country, women are leading climate-smart agricultural practices, managing water resources, restoring mangroves, and sustaining household food systems under extreme conditions. When women participate meaningfully in disaster preparedness and community planning, early warnings are more effective, relief distribution becomes fairer, and recovery is faster.

Key solutions must include:

• Gender-responsive disaster preparedness, including safe shelters, reproductive healthcare, and menstrual hygiene management.
• Women-centered climate finance, ensuring access to credit, insurance, and livelihood diversification.
• Inclusive governance, with women represented in local and national climate decision-making.
• Education and skills development, enabling women and girls to adapt, innovate, and lead in a changing climate.

Global Responsibility and Climate Justice

Pakistan contributes less than one percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, yet remains among the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries. This stark imbalance underscores the moral imperative for climate justice.

High-emitting nations must honor their commitments to climate finance, loss and damage mechanisms, and technology transfer, explicitly prioritizing gender equity. Climate action that ignores women’s realities is incomplete and ultimately ineffective.

A Just and Resilient Future

The intersection of gender inequality and climate change transforms environmental shocks into deep social crises. For Pakistani women and girls, floods are not only natural disasters; they are tests of justice, governance, and global solidarity.

Empowering women is not an optional add-on to climate policy, it is a prerequisite for sustainable solutions. As Pakistan confronts an increasingly volatile climate future, investing in women’s rights, leadership, and resilience is one of the most powerful strategies available to protect communities, ecosystems, and generations to come.