The restricted role and freedom of women in Pakistan has added to their challenges in coping with climate-related extreme events. \u201cClimate change impacts every element of their [women\u2019s] lives: their economic security, marital relationships, and physical well-being,\u201d finds research<\/a> conducted by the Urban Institute<\/a> in the slums of Delhi, Dhaka, Islamabad and Lahore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr Arjumand Nizami, country director of Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation, a network of Swiss-based development organisations, agrees. \u201cClimate change does not differentiate between genders; both women and men are just as likely to be affected by it. But due to economic, social, political and cultural inequalities, these unevenly felt challenges are getting harder during climate-induced catastrophes,\u201d says Nizami, who is part of the organisation\u2019s global climate change team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The anti-encroachment drive in Karachi could not have come at a worse time for many of the working class living in informal settlements. Reeling from a devastating flood<\/a> last year, backbreaking inflation which stood at 27.4%<\/a> in August, a depreciating currency (in July the Pakistani rupee fell 6.2%) and low foreign reserves \u2013 compounded by political instability \u2013 food, gas<\/a> and fuel<\/a> prices have shot up, pushing hundreds of thousands of people like Sonia and Arif deeper into the vortex of poverty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rakhi Matan, 35, lives in Karachi\u2019s Shirin Jinnah Colony, and works as a domestic help in the adjoining neighbourhood of Clifton. \u201cA woman\u2019s work is never done,\u201d she rues, saying the only time she got to herself was when she went to bed. During power cuts, men in her neighbourhood go out of their homes, but women must stay indoors. \u201cWe don\u2019t have the luxury to go out; instead, we sit and cook in the dim light of the mobile phone, even if it gets stuffy and hot,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Few think about clothing and climate change, but it\u2019s a lived reality for women here. \u201cMen can be in their vests and shorts, even take off the vests; while we are forbidden to leave our homes; if we do, we have to drape ourselves in yards of cloth,\u201d grumbles Rahat Shah, 37, a mother of 10 living in a three-room rented house in Gulshan-e-Sikandarabad, another informal settlement in Karachi. \u201cWomen observe purdah<\/em>,\u201d says Shah, who belongs to a Pashtun community which expects strict segregation of men and women. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere is no need for them to go out, we do all the outside chores for them,\u201d says her 22-year-old son, sitting next to Rahat. \u201cIt\u2019s not even safe, and men look lewdly,\u201d he adds. Out of work, the drug addict son believes that compared to his mother and four sisters, their father, a driver in the port, works the hardest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey just do the usual cleaning, cooking, washing,\u201d he says dismissively, admitting that no male family members helps with the housework. \u201cIt\u2019s women\u2019s work,\u201d he shrugs. Once he is out of earshot, his 16-year-old-sister, Shumaila, who is studying to become an Islamic teacher, whispers that she does not like wearing the burqa. \u201cIt\u2019s cumbersome and stifling to walk around in it, I\u2019d prefer covering my head with a dupatta, as it is airier, but I will never be allowed to go out like that,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPatriarchy, misogyny, toxic masculinity and repressed sexuality in Pakistani males makes life extremely difficult to be a female in Pakistan, who bear the brunt everywhere, be it urban, semi-urban, rural, mountainous areas, villages or cities,\u201d says Dr Murad Khan, professor of psychiatry at Aga Khan University Hospital\u2019s Brain and Mind Institute. \u201cNothing has changed \u2014 expectations from women, their performance, or the attitude of men,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUnending house chores and elderly\/childcare is compounded by a lack of safety in public spaces which keeps women indoors,\u201d says Dr Anwar. Climate-related extreme weather makes this worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Recent research<\/a> by the Karachi Urban Lab (KUL) found that over the past 60 years, Karachi\u2019s average daytime temperature has risen by 1.6 degrees Celsius, and nighttime temperatures by 2.4 degrees Celsius. Dr Anwar connects the city\u2019s expansion, compaction, and densification to this rise in temperature, intersecting with global warming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rahat says this year was hotter than ever, and with a long power outage and huge water shortage, the situation did not get better. \u201cWe need five canisters of 20 litres [each costing 35 rupees] a day for my family of 12,\u201d she says, which they use for washing clothes and utensils, and bathing. For work, she cooks for a doctor, earning barely PKR 12,000 (USD 42) a month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the congested informal settlements where all these women live, houses are so close to each other that \u201cyou can literally hear each and every conversation of your neighbour,\u201d according to Sonia, while too many live in poorly ventilated homes. \u201cOur homes turn into infernos in summer,\u201d says Sonia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The lack of a proper sewerage system spreads water-borne diseases, especially among children. The IPCC\u2019s Climate Change 2023 Synthesis Report<\/a> says that human mortality and morbidity as well as climate-related food-borne, water-borne and vector-borne diseases have increased due to increased heat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s either the fever, or stomach infection,\u201d says 29-year-old Aasia Kamran, a mother of children aged 6 and 4 years and a 9-month-old baby, living in a one-room quarter in Nayabad, in Lyari. Working as a part-time house help but now on a break to take care of the baby, she says: \u201cWhen they [the children] get sick, it means taking off from work for days causing additional stress as our employers get annoyed; fathers never take off from work or care for the children.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Maria Yaqoob, a 23-year-old student living in the same neighbourhood as Sonia, insists the role of a woman in a village is easier than in the shanty towns of Karachi. Not only do village women have open spaces, points out Maria, they are self-sufficient. \u201cThey know how to make fuel from dung, carry firewood and water and are adept at running their homes. On the other hand, our lives come to a standstill if we don\u2019t have conveniences like water, gas and electricity,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For the past two years, both Rakhi and Rahat have been cutting wood from the nearby creek for cooking \u201clike the village women\u201d when \u201cwe run out of gas in the cylinder\u201d. This new task has added to their workload, says Rakhi. \u201cIt takes me an hour to collect the wood and it will last us just two or three days.\u201d Although it burns her eyes and she uses plastic bags to ignite the fire, knowing well these give out toxic fumes, \u201cwith gas prices<\/a> getting steeper by the day, I have little choice,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe urban women living in informal settlements do not have the skill sets to manage their daily chores, without modern conveniences,\u201d admits Nizami, adding that village women are as much exposed to climate change as their urban counterparts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Having worked with women in informal settlements in both cities and villages for almost three decades, she says both carry a huge, but different, workload. \u201cBut, for both, their work remains invisible and unrecognised,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While village women are closer to natural resources, they work for free on their family farm. In urban settings, mismanagement, thefts and leakages in utilities and a weak governance system have been exacerbating the impact of climate change on women. \u201cCoping with climate-induced heatwaves and long power outages and water shortages (both manmade) get amplified,\u201d she says, adding: \u201cThese things are a big reason for stress among women, who are not only working at home but also employed outside.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Adds Rahat: \u201cWomen have to make sure there is enough water, that the food is cooked, and the house is spotless; how they get all of it done without water and electricity is not a man\u2019s problem.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Zoha Alvi, an organiser of the Aurat March, an annual socio-political demonstration in Pakistani cities, says political parties and public office holders should be made accountable for not carrying out their responsibilities. \u201cThey should look at the issue of climate change through the lens of intersectionality that needs to be acknowledged and understood as it adds more layers to this important conversation. All the issues will ultimately affect us severely.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 2023 IPCC synthesis report<\/a> indicated that \u201cmental health challenges\u201d are associated with increasing temperatures, trauma from extreme weather events, and loss of livelihoods and culture. \u201cWith increasing social, environmental and manmade problems, the stress on women has increased,\u201d says Dr Khan. But there is little evidence, he points out, to say conclusively whether the mental health of rural women is worse than their urban counterparts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Both mental health and climate change are generally low on the government\u2019s list of priorities. \u201cWhen this happens, then the connection between the two cannot be made by governments, either provincial or national,\u201d says Dr Khan, adding that governments are engrossed in tiding over other crises \u2013 economic, power, political, and security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr Sajjad Ahmad, a public health specialist at Koohi Goth Women\u2019s Hospital, says that the floods in 2010 and 2022 brought to the fore how climate-induced catastrophes exacerbate women\u2019s problems when broken-down health centres are washed away. \u201cThe vicious cycle of poverty, lack of education, poor healthcare system and climate change are interlinked, and each exacerbates the other. You cannot take out women\u2019s health and look at it through one lens alone. Poverty combined with illiteracy amplifies health issues for women, especially those who are pregnant.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Marvi Mazhar, an architect and climate activist, says it is critical to think of ethical land distribution, improving housing affordability and making Karachi more livable and breathable. \u201cKarachi has been a power project. It\u2019s been developed in isolation, on land-to-land infrastructure rather than zonal, neighbourhood or in a cluster form,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Yasmeen Lari, 82, Pakistan\u2019s first woman architect, heads the Heritage Foundation of Pakistan<\/a> and has been designing bamboo houses for people living on the front lines of climate change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Her design philosophy of \u201czero emissions and zero waste\u201d ensures that the \u201cpoor are seen as partners, keeping women in the lead\u201d. Having worked with women for years in rural areas, she says \u201cthe same principles, but with a bit of modification, can be applied in informal settlements in Karachi\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur policies, programmes and projects keep little margin for climate-related events,\u201d agrees Dr Noman Ahmed, who heads the Architecture & Management Sciences department at the NED University of Engineering and Technology in Karachi. Referring to the Karachi Development Plan 1974-85, as well as several scientific studies thereafter, he says the administration had been cautioned to keep the periphery of Karachi as pastoral land, to serve as the city\u2019s food basket. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSadly, the same territory that was to provide the ecological balance the city badly requires today, has been transformed into real estate,\u201d says Dr Ahmed, adding that land formations such as natural hills, hillocks and water bodies have either been levelled or reclaimed for commercial development.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mazhar calls for a \u201cdemocratic demarcation\u201d, where the city\u2019s residents are given the \u201cauthority to be part of master planning and design development\u201d. Admittedly a radical notion, this green environmental plan requires \u201crethinking development\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr Ahmed says cultural and lifestyle interventions are needed so that women in informal settlements can access public spaces and parks on a regular basis. \u201cThe concept and application of women and children-only bagh<\/em> [park] is also a good idea,\u201d he suggests, adding this had found resonance in some planned neighbourhoods in Karachi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Karachi needs a domestic design system, where economics and maintenance go hand in hand, says Mazhar. This means opting out of the race to be the \u2018biggest city\u2019, she says, and giving women greater representation at the table when decisions about the city are being made, so they can have a say on effective solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But until that happens, Dr Khan suggests, the women of a neighbourhood can get together, exchange notes, support each other, organise and protest. \u201cTheir collective voice can make a difference,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Maria recalls how protests against demolitions in Kausar Niazi and Tayyababad colonies united the women, who experienced the immense difficulties of being homeless at a time when the city faced extreme weather events. \u201cFor the first time, we realised there is strength in numbers and we voiced our protest more vociferously,\u201d she says. And \u201ca few hours spent in a lockup\u201d for being part of a peaceful march gave a huge boost to her confidence, she says. \u201cWe don\u2019t want men to speak on our behalf \u2013 we have a voice and want to be heard.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Although they failed in stopping the bulldozers from knocking down their homes, \u201cthe feeling that we were together during this tragedy was comforting,\u201d says Maria. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The report \u2018Climate Equity: Women as agents of change<\/a>\u2019 stresses the need for gender-sensitive frameworks for policies relating to climate change mitigation and adaptation. Pakistan\u2019s overhauled climate change policies have \u201ccalled for a reappraisal of women\u2019s vulnerability and gender-sensitive objectives to address women\u2019s differentiated burdens in climate stress\u201d, the report says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr Zulfiqar Bhutta, founding director of the Institute for Global Health and Development and the Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health at Aga Khan University, has been researching informal settlements in Karachi and rural districts of Sindh for over two decades, primarily focusing on women and children\u2019s health and nutrition. According to him, many of the social disadvantages women face are compounded by misplaced social norms, restricted mobility and ingrained gender inequalities. \u201cThese can also impact the ability of rural women to adjust their lifestyle during peak summer months. For many of these issues, there is no short-term solution, and bringing about a change in mindsets is challenging to say the least. However, we must raise awareness about the impacts of climate change and how to adapt to extreme heat, which are now existential realities,\u201d says Dr Bhutta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Woman](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Sonia-Arif-Pakistan-informal-housing_Zofeen-Ebrahim.jpg\")
<\/div>Regressive rules add to women\u2019s suffering in Pakistan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Room](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Rahat-Shah-room-Gulshan-e-Sikandarabad_Zofeen-Ebrahim.jpg\")
<\/div>Coping with extreme weather events<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
We don\u2019t want men to speak on our behalf \u2013 we have a voice and want to be heard<\/blockquote>Maria Yaqoob, student<\/cite><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
![\"Woman](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Kainat-Naz-woman-on-laptop_Zofeen-Ebrahim.jpg\")
<\/div>Mental health not a priority<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Designing cities with climate change in mind<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Street-cleaner-Pakistan_Zofeen-Ebrahim.jpg\")
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