This Tuesday, International Women’s Day celebrates the efforts of feminism at the global scale, shines light on the struggles often forgotten by White feminism, and calls for action. With the Ohio primary only a week away, now is the time for every self-proclaimed feminist or ally to consider which presidential candidate and potential world leader will guide our nation toward a future with opportunity and quality of life for all.
The feminist vote is divided, though. Major feminist icons like Gloria Steinem, Madeleine Albright, Lena Dunham, Amy Schumer and Jessica Valenti have endorsed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and are eager to elect the country’s first female president. But those on the other side are drawn to Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders for his stances on climate change and income inequality.
These issues don’t seem feminist in nature, but we can’t forget that inequality is intersectional and is reinforced through prejudice and discrimination based on a variety of identifiers – race, income, and gender being just a few. These identifiers along with geography directly affect the amount of impact climate change will have on an individual.
Sanders approaches this issue of climate change with the sense of urgency it deserves. A major global health crisis will happen within the next 40 years if changes are not made immediately, and those who will suffer the most are the already most vulnerable people of the world. The symptoms of climate change, such as air and water pollution, changing temperatures and natural disasters all affect developing nations more drastically even though they contribute least to their root cause: CO2 emissions.
The United States is one of the world leaders in CO2 emissions with our country emitting 16 percent, beat only by China at 28 percent, and topping the EU, who’s at 10 percent.
Climate change has always been and is increasingly becoming a feminist talking point, with women all over the globe taking action and promoting awareness, according to a study by the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF).
The report says there are roughly 340 natural disasters reported annually, affecting 200 million people and taking an average of 67,500 lives a year.
These natural disasters include droughts, earthquakes, floods, wildfires and storms, all of which have severe adverse effects on crop production.
Poverty and geography intersect here, with poorer communities usually existing at the fringe of these developing nations. These areas rely on agriculture to make a living, and the farmers there – many of them women – will lose crops to extreme weather and other effects of climate change.
“On average, women comprise 43 percent of the agricultural labour force in developing countries; this figure ranges from around 20 percent in Latin America to 50 percent in parts of Africa and Asia, and exceeds 60 percent in a few countries,” said a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
These percentages go up to 60 and 70 percent in Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
It is now that this country needs to start moving toward modern energy standards. We need to deal with our carbon footprint by reducing CO2 emissions and redirecting fossil fuel industry investment toward clean energy technology.
“Choosing to lead the clean energy technology revolution to stop the worst effects of climate change means America will remain a worldwide leader in job creation, domestic manufacturing, local community revitalization and clean energy technology development and implementation,” said the Sanders website. “For every dollar invested in energy efficiency, families and businesses can enjoy up to $4 in energy savings, and for every billion dollars invested in energy efficiency upgrades we can create up to 7,000-8,000 new jobs, roughly ten times as many jobs as we would create from the same investments in coal.”
The United States needs the leadership of a president who understands climate change mitigation is imperative. The CIA and the Department of Defense have both said that it is “one of the great security issues facing this planet.”
Instability from the loss of critical natural resources will likely cause international unrest and conflict – issues that, again, affect women disproportionately.
One of the main factors keeping the nation from better investment in clean energy is the unlimited political power big oil companies have been granted by the Citizens United v FEC Supreme Court decision of 2010.
Because of the 5-4 decision, corporations can bribe representatives on every level to prevent progressive, mitigative legislation from passing through.
Sanders is the only candidate without near-million dollar checks from multibillion dollar corporations. In fact much of his campaign funding has been from individuals. In December he reached 2.3 million individual contributions, the most any presidential candidate has received to date.
He lacks the conflict of interest Hillary has, and is the only one that can be trusted to appoint the Supreme Court justices that will overturn Citizens United.
Response to climate change is rapidly becoming desperate. On International Women’s Day we feminists of privilege need to prioritize and promulgate mitigative efforts, for the health and wellbeing of those helpless and at the mercy of our nation’s actions and influence all the way on the other side of the world.
For more information, visit www.internationalwomensday.com.