The women who remain largely invisible, Pg9

Key Highlights

• Despite being frontline participants in environmental justice movements, women remain excluded from decision-making processes.

• Laws such as India’s Forest Rights Act (2006) and PESA (1996) provide for women’s land rights, but implementation is weak and gender-insensitive.

• Customary laws and patriarchal practices still dominate land distribution and ownership in South Asia.

• FPIC (Free, Prior and Informed Consent) frameworks rarely reflect genuine gender inclusion.

Detailed Insights

• Women across India, from Tamil Nadu’s coastlines to Odisha’s forests and Jharkhand’s mining zones, lead resistance against extractive projects, yet their voices are ignored in formal consultations.

• In many cases, land titles are in male names, single or widowed women are excluded, and women-headed households are left out of compensation processes.

• Displacement, environmental degradation, and climate change deepen existing gender inequities—impacting women’s access to forests, water, fuel, and livelihoods.

• In Bangladesh and Nepal, similar patterns persist, despite progressive legal provisions for land rights and co-ownership.

Scientific/Technical Concepts Involved

• FPIC (Free, Prior and Informed Consent): A legal principle in international law that ensures communities (especially Indigenous) have the right to give or withhold consent to projects affecting their land and livelihoods.

• Climate Adaptation Frameworks: Often fail to integrate traditional ecological knowledge and gender-sensitive planning, which limits their effectiveness.

Significance

• Without women’s leadership and participation, policies on land, environment, and climate lack legitimacy and effectiveness.

• The intersection of gender and climate injustice highlights the need for inclusive planning that recognizes women not just as victims but as leaders and knowledge holders.

Mains Mock Question:

“Women are central to environmental resistance but marginal in decision-making. Critically examine the gendered dimensions of environmental governance in India.”