Six things you need to know about the ways climate change affects girls’ education
Malala Fund Education Champion Munira Yerima with students in Nigeria. (Courtesy of Tolu Onibokun / Malala Fund)
In 2021, climate-related events will prevent at least four million girls from learning.
When leaders discuss the effects of the climate crisis, they often overlook one devastating consequence: Climate change is driving girls out of school.
In 2021 alone, Malala Fund estimates that climate-related events — flooding, droughts, storms, increased exposure to zoonotic diseases and more — will prevent at least four million girls in low- and lower-middle-income countries from completing their education. The regions and countries least responsible for the climate crisis — including sub-Saharan Africa, Afghanistan, Nicaragua and Bangladesh — face the greatest challenges in terms of climate change vulnerability and realising every girl’s right to education.
If current trends continue, by 2025 climate change will be a contributing factor in preventing at least 12.5 million girls from completing their education each year. To address this issue, first it’s important to understand it. Here are six ways that climate change affects girls’ education:
Girls in vulnerable households are more likely to drop out and get married during weather crises to help their families.
In 2011, a severe drought hit East Africa. The resulting dry period — which consisted of abnormally late rainfalls, poor harvest and a lack of pasture — plunged over 11.5 million people into one of the worst food security crises the region has ever experienced. As a result, more families married off their daughters in exchange for livestock.
Around the world, girls are the first to leave school during climate crises in order to help ease the burden of scarce household resources. Like many weather-related disasters, droughts will happen more frequently as global temperatures increase and impact the Earth’s water cycle.
Gender norms often mean girls and women are responsible for fetching water. As a result, girls are more likely to be withdrawn from school during times of drought.
Girls and women in low- and lower-middle-income countries often have to travel long distances — sometimes up to eight hours — to collect clean water for their families. UNICEF estimates that girls and women around the world spend around 200 million hours a day collecting water.
This household task ends up taking girls out of school during climate-related weather events. For instance, approximately 70% of children who dropped out of school during drought in Botswana were girls. Additionally, 56% of girls in the country reported travelling longer distances than usual to fetch water, which took more time out of their day and their studies.
Drought can make girls more likely to miss school when on their periods.
Lack of menstrual health products and period stigma keep millions of girls out of school — and menstrual health becomes an even more pressing issue with climate change. For instance, during a drought in India, water hand pumps dried up in a majority of the schools in Madhya Pradesh. This restricted the number of water, sanitation and hygiene facilities available to girls, making it difficult for girls to maintain menstrual health in school.
Climate change closes schools and displaces students — events that disproportionately affect girls.
Did you know that four out of every five people displaced by climate change are female? And girls are much less likely to reenrol in school than boys following a climate-related event. In 2010, heavy monsoons led to devastating floods that destroyed 11,000 schools in Pakistan. Once schools reopened, fewer girls reenrolled than boys.
Similarly, in Somalia, families migrated from rural to urban areas as a result of flooding, drought and conflict, and girls’ enrolment rates dropped from 45% to just 29%. In contrast, boys’ enrolment rose following displacement from 29% to 41%.
When schools close because of climate-related events, girls are less likely than boys to attend temporary facilities in fear of getting harassed or experiencing violence on their way to school.
Findings showed that a group of 61 mobile schools built in Kenya following a drought primarily supported boys’ education and failed to address the fears that many girls and their families have that prevent girls from going to school.
Diseases brought about by environmental degradation result in reduced school attendance and increased dropout rates for girls.
COVID-19 has had devastating effects on girls’ education. Across low- and lower-middle-income countries, researchers at Malala Fund found that as many as 20 million more secondary school-aged girls could be out of school after the pandemic. This is just one example of an increasing number of zoonotic diseases — illnesses spread from animals to humans — taking hold as human activity destroys wildlife habitats and forces animals into greater contact with people.
In November 2021, world leaders are meeting at COP26 — an important climate change conference — to discuss how to address the climate crisis. Let's make sure they take into consideration the ways climate change affects girls' education. Tell us how climate change has affected your education and what actions you want to see leaders take at COP26. And be sure to read more from young women around the world on why they want leaders to prioritise climate education for girls.
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