Women's Rights and Climate Change Collide
Malawian Mazoe Gondwe did not retire from teaching seven years ago expecting to spend her time globe trotting for women’s rights and educating world leaders on the perils climate change is inflicting on developing countries. But, it is a role she has embraced.
“Even before retiring, you would see poverty and that has been my driving force to say ‘What can I do to help my community?’” the former mathematics teacher explains.
Upon retirement, Mazoe and her husband moved back the village, Rumphi, in northern Malawi where he grew up so they could farm a variety of crops such as corn, paprika, beans, tobacco, peanuts, bananas and macadamia nuts.
With her three grown children out of the house, Mazoe turned her attention to several local issues – women’s rights and climate change -- that have global implications.
Mazoe (left) speaks to an audience in Washington, DC, about climate change and women's rights.
In rural communities such as Rumphi, women are often denied their rights or are simply unaware of what they are entitled to.
“It’s a patriarchical society: Man is first and a woman is second,” Mazoe said. “When husband dies, the village chiefs grab your property … or it can become property of husband’s brother.”
“If I were to divorce and go back to my village, though, my family would say ‘I have no land for you,’” Mazoe explained.
In 2007, ActionAid helped establish the Women Forum in Malawi for women to gather and discuss some of these land-related issues, as well as domestic violence, HIV and AIDS, and securing education for girls.
Today, the group is comprised of hundreds of women and Mazoe is the director of the forum’s Northern Region Chapter.
“We are making some progress,” she said. “We teach ourselves out rights so we know we can demand our rights to have a violence free society.”
“Some of the women are able to come up and report abuse to the police,” she added. “We are no longer keeping quiet.”
To address some of the land-related barriers, Mazoe explained that the group is “sensitizing” the chiefs to the problems they face and advising women against simply accepting a parcel of land.
“If you get land, lease it,” Mazoe explained. “The problem is when no money is exchanged.”
Aside from her leadership post within the forum, Mazoe has been trotting the globe to educate world leaders about problems women face in Malawi, as well as on the impacts climate change is having on developing societies.
“The weather has become very unpredictable,” she said. “We use to be able to predict rainy and dry seasons.”
In Malawi, the typical rainy season would run from November until April, while the drier weather would last from May until October.
“In December, we use to plant our maize but that is no longer the case,” Mazoe said. “Rains can start in October now and instead of staggered periods of rain, it can rain very heavy and that causes the seeds to wash away.”
In addition to Mazoe’s raising awareness of the impacts of climate change at the local level, in partnership with ActionAid, Mazoe has also brought her message across the globe. With ActionAid’s support, Mazoe participated in the international climate negotiations in Poznan, Poland, in December 2008. The Poznan conference, the 14th Conference of Parties, was intended to bring the global community one step closer to a new global climate deal which would bring down global emissions (mitigation) and would transfer finance to help communities cope with the impacts of climate change (adaptation). Mazoe came to Poland to remind negotiators of the true struggles that women, particularly women farmers, are facing in their communities.
During her trip to Poland, Mazoe carried a strong four-pronged message. First, that developed countries have a responsibility to dedicate substantial new funding for adaptation to countries like Malawi that are already feeling the impacts of climate change. Second, that adaptation funding should be particularly directed towards sustainable agriculture techniques, as these techniques, such as soil and water conservation, pest and disease control, and crop diversification, have powerful adaptation and mitigation benefits. Next, women, who are particularly vulnerable to climate change but also leading innovative efforts to respond to its impacts, must be targeted for adaptation funding. And finally, those communities affected by climate change, such as hers, must be involved in all levels of decision making with respect to how adaptation funding is used, monitored, and evaluated.
In March of 2009, ActionAid also brought Mazoe to the United States to speak at a conference on adaptation organized by ActionAid USA and other partners. Through the conference, “Ready or Not: Issues and Solutions in Adapting to Climate Change,” Mazoe brought her messages to more than 150 people, including the U.S. public and, though her participation at an event on Capital Hill, directly to decision makers.
“We can’t rely on rainfed agriculture,” Mazoe said. “We need to rely on irrigation. So we need money for irrigation. We also need to process and store food we cultivate, so it doesn’t go to waste.”
