WOMEN
IN THE FIELD OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Dr.
Rani Sahu
Center
for Energy Studies, Indian Institute of Technology, Delh110016
Women's participation in the formulation, planning and execution of
environmental policy continues to be low. At the same time, the international
community has recognized that without women's full participation, sustainable
development cannot be achieved.
Women have a key role to play in preserving the environment and natural
resources, and in promoting sustainable development. For example, women still
have the main responsibility for meeting household needs and are therefore a
major force in determining consumption trends. As the women play a leading role
in all the household affairs of a family, which is based on the family values.
It is no wonder that the women are outstanding and able to glorify all the
national, religious, economic, education, health, cultural fields as they are
born of and brought up in the society which gives honors to them. As such, women
have an essential role to play in the development of sustainable and
ecologically sound consumption and production patterns.
Role
in prevention of health hazards from environmental pollution
As every one knows all the activities of any household started with
women from morning to evening. They play the keystone role in dealing the air,
water, soil, living creature and all above the environment as a whole. As we are
very sensitive to the various kinds of environmental pollutions like water, air,
soil and noise pollution. And these kinds of pollutions invite the several kinds
of diseases like food poisoning, bacterial, fungal and viral attack and several
kinds of carcinogenic problems. The famous women in this are Amita Devi, Maneka
Gandhi, Medha Patekar, Arundhati Royand Rachel Carson and many more.
Reinforcing
Women's Capabilities
There is growing recognition of the need to strengthen women's
capabilities to participate in environmental decision-making, by increasing
their access to information and education, particularly in the areas of science,
technology and economics.
Women's and men's environmental perceptions, their interests and rights
in the natural environment, and their environmental awareness and knowledge may
differ significantly from one another, and from one cultural or ecological
context to another. Their different perceptions arise out of particular cultural
traditions, various experiences of colonial rule, specific impacts of the global
economy, and other locally relevant factors, such as climatic patterns. They are
reflected in the prevailing gender-based division of labour; in the various
responsibilities and rights that women and men have in the use and ownership of
land, trees, animals, plants, and water; and in the different knowledge that
women and man may have about the sustainable management of particular natural
resources and ecological zones.
Women's access to the natural environment, especially the resources that they use to provide food, shelter, health maintenance, and income, has been jeopardized by many S&T interventions, and the well-being of their husbands and children, who typically benefit from the use and cash value of women's environmental activities, has also been undermined. In addition, women's lack of access to development planning and policy formulation has also had a negative effect on the effective, long-term management and protection of the natural environment and the promotion of sustainable development.
Recognizing women's environmental needs an interest in S&T interventions for
sustainable development involves the promotion of sustainable livelihoods, the
protection of the natural environment, and women's equitable participation and
conceptual authority in environmental decision-making. Any failure to these
needs and interests is likely to have a negative impact on women's ability to
provide food, household needs, and income for themselves and their families, on
their ability to use and manage the natural environment in a sustainable manner,
and on their equitable participation as environmental decision-makers in their
own communities.
The government is giving priority to all-round progress of the mother
country, and in this context, it is also making systematic efforts to extend and
strengthen the inborn rights of women, which they have enjoyed throughout the
successive eras, and to develop the women's sector in accord with the State's
political, economic and social objectives and the national requirements. It is
also a time when effective efforts are being made to organize the active and
brilliant force of the women in the national development endeavors.
Everyone
knows women are victims of war, but they are never represented at the peace
table,”
Women’s
status in Science and Technology
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