Resilience is feminist: Climate action starts with her

As floods, cyclones, and heatwaves intensify across South Asia, one truth becomes increasingly clear: climate change is not gender neutral. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reminds us that women, especially in developing countries, face "disproportionate exposure to climate risks due to existing social and economic inequalities." Yet, while women often bear the heaviest burdens, they also hold the keys to climate resilience—if only systems are designed to empower them.

Bangladesh's Climate Change and Gender Action Plan (ccGAP) provides a powerful blueprint for bridging climate action and gender equality. Operationalising it across ministries, budgets, and local governments could transform the country's climate strategy into one of the world's most inclusive and effective adaptation models.

From Policy to Practice
To move from paper to practice, ministries must integrate gender mandates into their climate policies. This means embedding gender objectives within agriculture, water, disaster management, and health programmes. As UN Women observes, "institutional accountability mechanisms are vital to transforming gender commitments into results."

A central inter-ministerial committee—anchored in the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs or the Planning Commission—could oversee implementation, supported by climate and gender focal points in each ministry. Their performance indicators should be tied directly to ccGAP results, ensuring real accountability rather than symbolic inclusion.

Budgeting is equally critical. The World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2025 finds that "countries integrating gender-responsive financial frameworks in climate policy experience stronger economic resilience and innovation gains." Bangladesh could adopt a gender-climate budget code to track investments in women's climate resilience, linking budget releases to measurable, gender-disaggregated results.

Local Leadership, Lasting Change
Change on paper means little without action at the grassroots. Local governments should be empowered—financially and technically—to design gender-sensitive resilience plans. The IPCC (2022) stresses that "locally led adaptation strengthens social equity and effectiveness when women's participation and leadership are prioritised." Training female representatives in gender analysis and climate risk management ensures they can lead, not just observe, the adaptation process.

Moreover, community-based organisations and women's groups must be integral to local decision-making. They bring deep knowledge of land, water, and livelihoods—and they understand how climate change reshapes each.

Stories of Success
Bangladesh is already home to inspiring examples. In the coastal belt, women farmers are cultivating salinity-tolerant rice, proving that resilience can take root in the toughest soils. The FAO reports that "empowering women in agricultural innovation can increase household resilience by up to 30%." Scaling such efforts through national agricultural extension services could revolutionise climate-smart farming.

Meanwhile, women-led emergency response teams in disaster-prone regions are redefining leadership. Trained in early warning systems and community response, these women are saving lives while challenging old stereotypes. Programmes like these, if institutionalised and replicated nationwide, could make disaster management more inclusive and effective.

The Financing for Development (FFD) Seville Forum (2024) aptly concluded that "gender-responsive adaptation models succeed when community ownership and fiscal decentralisation go hand in hand, ensuring that women not only benefit but lead."

Financing Fairness
Access to finance remains one of the greatest barriers for women in the climate space. Too often, global and national funds are locked behind complex application systems. Simplified, decentralised funding channels—especially those managed locally—could change this.

Decentralised climate funds, vouchers for clean technologies, and micro-grants for women-led enterprises are practical steps. On a larger scale, establishing a Women's Climate Fund could ensure that women's voices shape the financial flows of adaptation and mitigation. The FFD Seville Forum further urged the "localisation of climate finance through transparent community mechanisms prioritising women and informal workers."

Capacity and Confidence
Knowledge is another form of power. Building local capacity is essential—training women and officials in gender-responsive climate planning, data collection, and proposal writing can bridge the gap between policy and implementation. UN Women reminds us that "capacity building transforms women from beneficiaries into decision-makers."

Technical training in renewable energy, water management, and agroforestry can also unlock green livelihoods for women. When climate action creates jobs and skills, it fosters long-term empowerment.

The Data Divide
One reason gender often gets sidelined in climate planning is the lack of gender-disaggregated data. Without it, policymakers can't measure progress—or inequality. As the IPCC emphasises, "gender-disaggregated data enhances the transparency and fairness of adaptation monitoring frameworks." Tracking metrics like women's land ownership, participation in disaster committees, or reduction in unpaid care work helps governments see whether their policies truly deliver for women.

The Private Sector's Part
Private companies, too, have a stake in equitable climate solutions. From clean energy to sustainable agriculture, firms can build inclusive supply chains by sourcing from women-led businesses, ensuring wage equality, and supporting safe, flexible workplaces. The UN Global Compact calls this "the business imperative for a just and inclusive transition."

When the private sector invests in gender equality—through training, fair recruitment, and childcare infrastructure—it not only uplifts women but strengthens entire industries.

The Bigger Picture
Ultimately, climate resilience and gender equality are two sides of the same coin. The World Economic Forum (2025) notes that "inclusive climate governance is not only an ethical imperative but an economic necessity for a resilient global transition." A specific public budget for financing ccGAP needs to be declared and adopted by the government now.

Bangladesh's ccGAP offers a practical path towards that vision—if its implementation is fully resourced and locally owned. The challenge is not merely to protect women from climate impacts, but to position them as architects of the solutions.

The women planting mangroves, repairing embankments, or wiring solar panels are already adapting to the future. It's time that institutions, budgets, and businesses catch up with their courage.

Farah Kabir is the Country Director of ActionAid Bangladesh.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.