As already underlined, women receive less education than men, especially in countries of the global South due to poverty, socio-cultural role models, low esteem for girls' education, early marriage, etc.
Yet education is a central key to a self-determined and responsible life. Indeed, there is strong evidence that formal schooling can reduce vulnerability in terms of life loss, injury, morbidity and damage following extreme weather events. There is a payoff for society as a whole in empowering women through better education and related investments, which can also enable an improved strategy of adaptation and/or mitigation in the face of climate change.
A distinction can be made between direct impacts of education, such as
improved cognitive skills,
more extensive knowledge,
increased risk perception,
improved conflict resolution skills,
and indirect impacts, such as
poverty reduction,
improved access to information,
increased social capital.
A study conducted in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami showed that post-traumatic stress reactivity (PTSR) was also significantly lower among the better educated. This, in turn, resulted in a low incidence of violence against women.
In communities that had higher levels of education, there was significantly less loss of income after floods or droughts. This implies that educated individuals or communities are better able to cope with disasters. They are most likely to have more work alternatives, be able to plan ahead, or have better socioeconomic resources to compensate for losses [44].
Since many women in rural areas earn their livelihoods, it is of paramount importance to open the door to such opportunities for them as well through better access to education. Individuals and households with a broader portfolio of coping strategies are more likely to choose mechanisms that are more sustainable and do not lead to chronic poverty.
For example, in one study, the more highly educated in the aftermath of extreme weather events were significantly less likely to choose to withdraw their children from school as a coping strategy. Since girls are often taken out of school before their brothers, this again has feedback effects on the education of the next generation of girls [45].
Since this indicates that education can lead the way to more sustainable and thus climate change friendly practices, education is not merely a response to the impacts of climate change, but also has the potential to mitigate climate change through learning sustainable coping strategies.
Women's development and education contribute to significant economic growth and well-being of vulnerable people of all genders in climate-sensitive rural areas. Education is consequently a key strategy to reduce vulnerability to extreme weather events and mitigate climate change.
Investing in girls' education in conjunction with strict enforcement of women's enrollment and graduation should therefore be a priority, as it goes without saying that women's educational achievements can have far-reaching effects on families across generations and communities.
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