Mains Syllabus: GS I - Role of women and women’s organization, their problems and their remedies; Social empowerment.

Why in News?

It has been 30 years since the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

What is Beijing Declaration?

Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA) – It is a landmark international agenda outlining an action plan for gender equality.
Adoption – It was adopted in 1995 at the 4^th World conference on women( also 50^th year of UN foundation).
12 Critical areas – The declaration focuses on 12 critical areas of concern to advance gender equality globally.

12 Critical Areas of Beijing Declaration
1. Women and poverty.	7. Women in power and decision-making.
2. Education and training of women.	8. Institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women.
3. Women and health.	9. Human rights of women.
4. Violence against women (VAW)	10. Women and the media.
5. Women and armed conflict.	11. Women and the environment.
6. Women and the economy.	12. The girl child.

Reference framework - It is also one of the reference frameworks to analyse the situation of women around the world and to assess the efforts of States in support of women’s empowerment.
Participation - The Platform also sets an agenda for governments, international organizations, civil society and the private sector to safeguard women’s human rights.
Review - Progress on implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) is reviewed by the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) every five years.
Beijing+30 Report - This report reviews the progress made over three decades, highlights ongoing challenges, and outlines priorities for further action.
Beijing India report - It is India’s Report on the Implementation of Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
Declaration’s influence on India’s action -It has helped India focus attention on gender perspectives in policies, pass the
- Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act
- Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) or POSH Act
- and push for the economic empowerment of women.

Gender inequality and the climate crisis are one of the greatest challenges of today.
Inequality - Existing inequalities, especially in India’s rural areas, leave women and girls with less access to resources and decision-making power.
Climate change and women issues - Malnutrition caused by droughts, food insecurity, and displacement leading to a higher rate of hysterectomies, infertility and menstrual health concerns is an area of concern.
Hampers women services - Heat stress and/or extreme precipitation affect/s agriculture productivity, human productivity and ecosystem functionality, causing price fluctuations, loss in income, distress migration, damaged infrastructure and hampered services for women.
33% losses in income, especially from non-farm livelihood streams.
Increased burden of domestic work - At the household or family level, the increased burden of unpaid care work (water collection, fuel gathering) due to climate-related resource scarcity affects women.

The daily workload of women in India exceeds eight hours, with a staggering 71% unpaid work hours.

Without efforts to combat climate change, the time women spend on unpaid tasks could reach 8.3 hours a day by 2050.
Health issues – Climate change affects the access of healthy food to women further aggravating existing health issues such as anaemia.

In India, over 50% of pregnant women are anaemic, which is an underlying cause or contributing factor to maternal deaths in India.

Domestic violence - In India, which has the highest rate of intimate partner violence among the countries in the study, there was a clear correlation between temperature rise and abuse.
For each rise in degree Celsius, physical violence rose by 8% and sexual violence by 7.3%.

Women play a vital role in climate adaptation and mitigation.
Safeguarding ecosystem – Women’s traditional knowledge of sustainable agriculture and natural resource management is crucial in safeguarding the ecosystem in rural areas.
Conservation of indigenous crops - Rural indigenous women are primarily responsible for preserving traditional climate-resilient seeds suitable for local climatic conditions.
Protecting food systems - Women are responsible for half of the world’s food production and have organically adapted to climate change by using sustainable agriculture.
Disaster management – Women are one of the important first responders in disasters and safeguarding the local ecosystems.

Integrating gender and climate – The integration is not just an imperative for achieving gender equality but is also essential for India’s sustainable and resilient future and human rights.
Gender-responsive climate action - Developing indicators and data related to the gendered impacts of climate change and also building insights.
Gender budgets - It is necessary to design and use gender-audited and gender-responsive climate budgets.
Empower decision making - Women in rural areas can be provided platforms to empower them in climate decision-making.
Energy leadership - Promoting women’s leadership in both green energy initiatives and local political leadership on climate action are crucial.
Capacity building - By investing in women’s education and capacity in climate action and promoting women-led climate initiatives, the consequences of gender invisibility can be turned around.
Closing the gender gap in agricultural resources – It could significantly increase food production, with potential gains of 20%-30% in farm yields and the capacity to feed 100 million to 150 million more people.
Livelihood diversification - Promoting non-farm livelihoods and skilling opportunities for women to adapt to the impacts of climate change on agriculture.
Financing - Green funds can focus on fostering women-led and women-supportive innovations and ensuring women’s participation in a green economic transition.