A/HRC/41/26 E. Livelihoods and decent work 18. The adverse effects of climate change can deplete resources and devastate infrastructure, increasing unemployment and deepening gender inequalities in the world of work where women already face significant obstacles. 40 Climate action that excludes women can intensify these challenges. Intersecting dynamics, such as indigenous, tribal or ethnic identity, as well as migrant or disability status, may compound the socioeconomic vulnerability of some women, particularly when adequate social protection systems are lacking. Climate change can exacerbate these vulnerabilities, leaving some women with less time to engage in economic activities and/or less access to resources, including information and education, which are necessary for adaptation.41 19. Climate change directly and indirectly affects women’s employment opportunities in a number of sectors. Over 60 per cent of all women at work in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa are engaged in unpaid or poorly paid, time- and labour-intensive agricultural work. 42 Climate-induced loss of livelihoods, reduction in incomes, or deterioration of working conditions in agriculture and related sectors can have particularly negative implications for women. 43 For example, climate change-causing sea level, temperature and acidity rises have caused resource depletion in fisheries 44 and changes in fish population distributions, which has compromised valuable livelihood activities for women involved in fish catching, processing and trading.45 20. Infrastructural impacts of climate change can also decrease the number of jobs available in some sectors. After disasters, women generally have more difficulty finding work than men, as jobs may first return in male-dominated sectors such as construction. Women in areas affected by climate change often need to strengthen their skills, and in some cases learn new ones in order to access work in different sectors. However, the increased family demands caused by climate change impacts, ingrained gender stereotypes and structural discrimination may prevent many women from completing the necessary training and education. Female-headed households, for example, may have difficulty accessing humanitarian aid or post-disaster programmes, which are often targeted at a presumed male “head of the household”. F. Cultural impacts 21. The adverse effects of climate change can interact with and affect culture in complex ways. If a woman becomes widowed due to, for example, an extreme weather event, in some cultures it is taboo for the woman to remarry, and widows are not perceived as having dignity.46 In other cultures, women may be forced to remarry. Climate change also affects livelihoods and access to traditional lands, resources and territories. This may prevent or inhibit related cultural, religious and customary practices. 22. For indigenous peoples, the adverse effects of climate change can cause spiritual and cultural loss. There are gendered impacts for women specifically. Women in many rural communities hold expert knowledge of their ecosystems and of sustainable land management practices. Indigenous women, for example, often play an essential role in protecting biodiversity, and are the keepers of seeds and of traditional knowledge about 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 International Labour Organization (ILO), “Gender, labour and a just transition towards environmentally sustainable economies and societies for all” (2017). See Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 37 (2018) on the gender-related dimensions of disaster risk reduction in the context of climate change. ILO, Women at Work: Trends 2016 (Geneva, 2016). ILO, “Gender, labour and a just transition towards environmentally sustainable economies and societies for all”. FAO, “Influence of climate change on fisheries resources in the Arab region”, available at www.fao.org/in-action/globefish/fishery-information/resource-detail/en/c/338390/. Gender and Climate Change: A Closer Look at Existing Evidence. See http://wappp.hks.harvard.edu/files/wappp/files/095740497085783201.pdf?m=1408553548. 7