--- title: Paris Climate Accord: Climate Change Affects Women description: Find out why the United Nations and others say that climate change disproportionately affects women. canonical: https://time.com/4799747/climate-change-women-paris-climate-deal/ author: Samantha Cooney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-31T20:21:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:05:41.745Z og:title: How Climate Change Specifically Harms Women og:description: As President Trump weighs the Paris climate deal og:url: https://time.com/4799747/climate-change-women-paris-climate-deal/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4a8ffc0db9ae0360/6988cf9b8fd2eef9203574ba/donald-trump-paris-climate-deal.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Donald Trump Hosts Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc At White House og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Climate Change Specifically Harms Women twitter:description: As President Trump weighs the Paris climate deal twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4a8ffc0db9ae0360/6988cf9b8fd2eef9203574ba/donald-trump-paris-climate-deal.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Climate Change Specifically Harms Women  by [Samantha Cooney](https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/)  ## Samantha Cooney May 31, 2017 8:21 PM UTC  US President Donald Trump looks on during a meeting with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc of Vietnam in the Oval Office of the White House, on May 31, 2017 in Washington, DC. US President Donald Trump looks on during a meeting with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc of Vietnam in the Oval Office of the White House, on May 31, 2017 in Washington, DC.Photo by Olivier Douliery/Abaca—Getty Images  by [Samantha Cooney](https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/)  ## Samantha Cooney May 31, 2017 8:21 PM UTC Following [reports](http://time.com/4799237/what-president-trumps-paris-decision-means/?xid=homepage) that President Donald Trump may be ready to pull out of the [Paris climate deal](http://time.com/4146764/paris-agreement-climate-cop-21/), [policy experts](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/31/climate/trump-quits-paris-climate-accord.html), [business leaders ](http://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/big-business-urges-trump-stick-paris-climate-accord-n766641)and [environmental organizations](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/politicians-environmental-groups-react-idea-us-leave-paris/story?id=47744197) are [lamenting](http://time.com/4799404/paris-agreement-trump-withdrawal-climate/?xid=homepage) that the move will be detrimental to the environment, the United States’ investment in alternative energy sources and our relationship with European allies. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/869903459511918592) But others pointed to a gendered implication: how the move could disproportionately affect women in poor countries across the globe. > [](https://twitter.com/morninggloria/status/869890177514299392) > [](https://twitter.com/AllisonVCraig/status/869969150537588736) The Paris deal was signed by nearly 200 countries in 2015 as a pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Obama administration also [pledged](https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/15/us/politics/obama-climate-change-fund-3-billion-announcement.html) $3 billion to help poorer nations address the effects of [climate change](http://motto.time.com/4594356/cara-delevingne-climate-change/). UN [Secretary-General](http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/30/politics/antonio-guterres-climate-change/) António Guterres has [said it’s important](http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/31/un-secretary-general-stresses-importance-of-paris-agreement.html) that the U.S. remains involved in the Paris agreement because the effects of climate change have been linked to environmental and national security risks. Others [argue](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/31/climate/qa-the-paris-climate-accord.html) that the U.S. pulling out of the deal could mean that countries like India, Indonesia and the Philippines may be less likely to work on lowering their emissions. The UN has long [argued](http://www.un.org/womenwatch/feature/climate%5Fchange/) in the past that the effects of climate change aren’t gender neutral. (A representative for UN Women did not immediately respond to _Motto_’s request for comment.) In 2008, the Commission on the Status of Women [identified](http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/52sess.htm) climate change as an emerging issue and highlighted its [gender-specific impacts ](http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/csw52/panels/summaries/Summary%20Emerging%20Climate%20Change%206%20MAR.pdf)— particularly for women in developing countries. In 2009, the United Nations Popular Fund outlined those impacts in its “State of the World Population” [report](http://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/state%5Fof%5Fworld%5Fpopulation%5F2009.pdf): --- > “” --- “A few years ago, climate change was considered gender-neutral,” [Naoko Ishii,](https://www.thegef.org/about/ceo-and-chairperson) the CEO and chairperson for the [Global Environment Facility](https://www.thegef.org/), a nonprofit focused on the environment, [told the New York _Times_ ](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/01/us/womens-crucial-role-in-combating-climate-change.html)in April. “But when we did a gender analysis, gender neutral actually meant gender-ignorant.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4799747/climate-change-women-paris-climate-deal/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4799747/climate-change-women-paris-climate-deal/"},"headline":"How Climate Change Specifically Harms Women","datePublished":"2017-05-31T20:21:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:05:41.745Z","description":"As President Trump weighs the Paris climate deal","url":"https://time.com/4799747/climate-change-women-paris-climate-deal/","keywords":["motto","feminism","women","climate change","UN"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4a8ffc0db9ae0360/6988cf9b8fd2eef9203574ba/donald-trump-paris-climate-deal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Cooney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4a8ffc0db9ae0360/6988cf9b8fd2eef9203574ba/donald-trump-paris-climate-deal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump Hosts Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc At White House","caption":"Donald Trump Hosts Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc At White House","creditText":"Photo by Olivier Douliery/Abaca—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4799747/climate-change-women-paris-climate-deal/","name":"How Climate Change Specifically Harms Women"}}]}] ```