Utilizing big data to measure key connections between gender and climate change

Abstract

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change (IPCC) reports and other literature draw focus to disproportionate impacts of natural hazards on women and girls; as well as on the roles they play on climate change mitigation, adaptation, natural resource management, environmental conservation and degradation. The connections between climate change and gender are rarely measured and hence, fewer related policies are in place. This paper showcases three separate data collation and analysis exercises, that generated evidence on the gender and climate change nexus utilizing big data: i) geospatial data integrated with Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data that provide evidence on the connections between climate change and gender outcomes; ii) search and social media data that show violence-related searches increasing at times of hazards; and iii) web document text data that find little mention of gender in climate speeches. Beyond shedding light on the clear connections between gender and climate change issues, it also highlights the important role that non-traditional sources can play in filling these data gaps.