A climate disaster has occurred every day, on average, over the past 50 years. That rate is only increasing. Over the last few years, we’ve all seen evidence of climate change—like forest fires, floods, mudslides, and droughts—as ecosystems react to warming temperatures and changing weather patterns. As climate disasters have become increasingly worse (and increasingly common), we’ve paid more attention to the climate crisis and potential solutions. But there’s a lot we’re still not talking about—including the intersection of climate and gender. There is too little attention paid to the ways climate change impacts girls and women much more than men.
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- Most of the world’s poorest people are women and as the climate changes, they have to spend more time searching for water, fuel and growing food.
- Climate change poses threats to global food security…and women are responsible for 50% of the world’s food production, but own less than 10% of the land that food is grown on. Climate change’s impact on agriculture destabilizes women farmers much more than men.
- Gender inequality affects girls and women in the present—and in the future. Women and girls spend much more time in household and caring activities than fathers and sons. This leaves girls and women with less time to spend learning, training, and preparing for a changing future. Gender inequality also results in girls and women earning less, and thus having less power to negotiate in times of crises.
- Girls and women are underrepresented in positions of power and decision making. Less than 20% of the technology workforce worldwide is made up of women. And that means their perspectives are missing from climate solutions.
But none of that means that girls are not invested in finding climate solutions and fighting for a cleaner future. Over the last 15 years, girls participating in Technovation have stood up in huge numbers to combat climate change and ensure a livable future for themselves and their families. 25% of all apps Technovation Girls teams have created have been environmental solutions. Girls around the world are fighting back by building apps that do things like help reduce plastic pollution, monitor water quality, and track wildfires using AI technology.
Technovation Girls show us every single year—girls are champions. Let’s be champions for them, too.
Be a champion: Help us educate more girls.
Educating girls and women is the 6th most effective strategy for reducing global warming (rooftop solar is #10 and electric vehicles are #26). Educated women are more empowered managers and stewards of natural resources, they increase the resilience of their communities, and they ensure that the teams they work on are developing more innovative and effective solutions.
We see this happening with Technovation girls, who range in age from 8 to 18.
For instance, this year Unnathi from India worked with her team to create an image-recognition model to diagnose diseases for north indian crops, helping farmers be smarter and better prepared for changes in climate. And Emaculate from Kenya—who regularly spends up to 3 hours a day traveling to collect water for her family—worked with her team to build the Maji Maji app which connects water sellers with water buyers. This connection allows girls to save valuable time which they can then spend on their education, while staying safer.
Our planet faces immense threats. To be able to overcome these challenges, we need to see the problems differently, and approach them with a bolder vision. The Technovation model of empowering young women with powerful technologies to tackle real-world problems is working. It’s working locally, and at the scale of our planet. But we need to think even bigger.
There are 900 million teenage girls in the world. If we empowered even 15% of them to realize their visions to build a more resilient future, fight climate change, and become ecopreneurs, they would lead change in their communities. This would ripple out to mean they would be drawing down 10s of gigatons of carbon globally through their innovations.
So what are we waiting for?
How you can be a champion for girls
Get involved with Technovation today and become a champion for girls, and the planet.
Get your company involved.
You can even get your co-workers (or entire company!) involved to work with us as a corporate partner (we offer group mentoring opportunities and more to corporate partners. Learn more and get in touch.
Donate today to reach girls around the world.
You can donate and help us reach more girls in more regions. The generosity of Technovation donors makes our work possible. Give today.
Tell a girl in your life about Technovation
You can spread the word about Technovation Girls to a girl in your life, and make sure that she has the skills she needs to bring her vision for the future to life.