The Women Who Remain Largely Invisible

Context:

• Across India and South Asia, women are at the forefront of environmental justice movements, resisting displacement, extractive industries, and ecological destruction.
• Despite their active role, women remain largely excluded from formal decision-making, land ownership, and consultation processes.
• The issue intersects GS Paper 1 (Indian Society – Gender), GS Paper 2 (Governance & Rights), and GS Paper 3 (Environment & Ecology), highlighting the structural invisibility of women in environmental governance.

Key Highlights:

Women and Environmental Justice Movements

• Women from Tamil Nadu’s coastal regions, Odisha’s forest belts, and Jharkhand’s mining zones lead protests against:
  • Mining projects
  • Industrial pollution
  • Large infrastructure and extractive activities
• Despite being primary stakeholders, their participation is often symbolic or completely ignored during formal consultations.

Legal Frameworks and Implementation Gaps

• Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006:
  • Recognises individual and community forest rights, including women’s rights.
  • In practice, land titles are frequently issued only in men’s names.
• PESA Act, 1996:
  • Mandates Gram Sabha consent in Scheduled Areas.
  • Women’s voices within Gram Sabhas are often marginalised due to patriarchal norms.
• Customary Laws:
  • Continue to dominate land ownership patterns, reinforcing male inheritance and exclusion of women.

FPIC and Gender Exclusion

• Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) mechanisms exist on paper.
• In reality:
  • Consultations are conducted with male representatives.
  • Women’s consent is neither individually sought nor recorded.
  • Widows, single women, and women-headed households are systematically excluded.

Gendered Impacts of Displacement and Climate Change

• Environmental degradation and climate stress disproportionately affect women’s access to:
  • Forests (fuelwood, NTFPs)
  • Water resources
  • Livelihoods and food security
• Displacement worsens unpaid care burdens and economic vulnerability.

Regional Comparisons (South Asia)

• Bangladesh and Nepal show similar patterns:
  • Progressive laws on co-ownership and land rights exist.
  • Implementation remains weak due to patriarchal administrative practices.

Scientific / Conceptual Dimensions:

• FPIC (Free, Prior and Informed Consent):
  • International legal principle ensuring communities can accept or reject projects affecting their land and livelihoods.
• Climate Adaptation Frameworks:
  • Often gender-neutral on paper, but gender-blind in practice.
  • Fail to integrate women’s traditional ecological knowledge, reducing effectiveness.

Relevant Prelims Points:

• Issue: Invisibility of women in land, environment, and climate governance.
• Causes:
  • Patriarchal land ownership norms
  • Male-dominated customary laws
  • Weak implementation of gender-sensitive legislation
• Government Provisions:
  • Forest Rights Act, 2006
  • PESA Act, 1996
  • Constitutional backing to Gram Sabhas in Scheduled Areas
• Impacts:
  • Exclusion from compensation and rehabilitation
  • Increased vulnerability to climate and livelihood shocks
• Challenges:
  • Tokenistic participation
  • Absence of gender-disaggregated data
  • Poor accountability in consent processes

Relevant Mains Points:

• Conceptual Clarity:
  • Gender Justice: Equality in access to resources, decision-making, and rights.
  • Climate Justice: Recognises differentiated impacts of climate change on vulnerable groups.
• Governance Gaps:
  • Disconnect between progressive laws and ground-level implementation.
  • Institutional neglect of women as rights-holders, not beneficiaries.
• Significance:
  • Policies lacking women’s participation suffer from legitimacy and effectiveness deficits.
  • Women are not merely victims but leaders, protectors, and knowledge holders.
• Way Forward:
  • Mandatory joint land titles and gender audits under FRA and PESA.
  • Institutionalising women-only consultations within FPIC processes.
  • Capacity-building of women in Gram Sabhas and local governance.
  • Integrating gender-sensitive climate adaptation planning.

Recognising women’s traditional ecological knowledge in policy design.