In their hometowns or factories far away, women in Jharkhand’s rural areas & urban slums face unique challenges wrought by climate change
Photo: Provided by author Climate change has impacted population groups unevenly and women face unique challenges due to the weather disruptions. Interactions with women in the remote villages of Simdega, Dumka, Khunti and Ranchi districts of Jharkhand have illustrated how their lives have been altered by the climate crisis.
“Nowadays the weather pattern has changed. It doesn’t rain at the right time. Agriculture is getting affected. So, most of the men and boys from our village have migrated for livelihood. We feel unsafe in their absence and have to take up extra chores like roof repair,” said a woman from a remote village in Dumka.
The women, girls and children also become vulnerable to health risks as they are not in a position to seek emergency medical services during night time in the absence of men.
The interviews conducted by Child in Need Institute (CINI) revealed the gendered impact of climate change. “Scarcity of water and firewood have made daily chores more harrowing as we need to spend more time during the day collecting them. Even grass is not easily available and the cattle have to be taken to distant places for grazing,” said a young girl from Dumkal.
The extreme heat due to global warming has made it difficult to perform heavy manual work for the daily wagers. The scorching sun or extreme cold weather also deters children from going to school. Several girls reported having not gone to school for months owing to increased workload at home. Many drop out eventually and sometimes get married or migrate for work.
They face various challenges at these faraway workplaces since awareness on migration safeguards is low. The girls, for instance, feel unsafe at these worksplaces and sometimes get abused or harrassed.
Women working in factories near their hometowns also complained of poor working conditions and health hazards. Some engaged with the biscuit factories near Ranchi, for example, complained of skin reactions owing to the work and also long working hours at low wage rate.
When women migrate for work and leave their children in the care of the father or grandparents, caregiving gets disrupted in their absence, they said, and the men use the money they send back for alcohol, which makes the children more vulnerable.
“Our community used to help each other in the sowing and reaping seasons. But now it is difficult to find help because many people are not finding agriculture viable and are leaving for urban areas, ” said a woman from a village in Khunti, Jharkhand.
The level of awareness of the community on the changes in weather patterns and its impacts was found to be satisfactory. They could clearly link the loss of soil productivity and the loss in nutritional value of food with excessive use of pesticides.
They also noted that they were growing hybrid paddy as it was more lucrative but it did not taste good and also had lesser nutrients. The traditional and locally available nutritious food items like madua (finger millet), kulthi daal (horse gram) and varieties of green, leafy vegetables are becoming extinct, they shared. This is leading to increased malnutrition.
Tribal communities talked about how water sources in their respective villages and forests are becoming scarce — their dobhas (small ponds) are drying up. Lightning strikes have also become more frequent and illnesses have gone up.
Some frontline workers in Ranchi’s urban slums claimed that rampant pesticides use has led to change in the average age of hitting puberty of girls, with menstruation initiation at around nine years. “Since water availability is erratic, we are not able to maintain proper personal hygiene, which is leading to several diseases,” girls from these areas said.
These “emerging problems” are going to get big in the coming times and today is the time to act. The communities, women and girls need to be prepared for the change. Effective schemes, linkages and revival of traditional rainwater harvesting systems are some of the solutions.
Besides this, traditional eating habits need to be revived and farmers need to be facilitated to grow millets as well as local nutritive foods.
Tanvi Jha is the state programme manager for Child in Need Institute (CINI), Jharkhand.
Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth.
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