Innovation in the Face of Plight: Voices of Pakistani Women in Climate Crisis
Pakistan is one of the countries at the forefront of the climate crisis. Global South, in general, and Pakistan, in particular, has suffered the brunt of the climate crisis caused by large economies like the UK and the US. Minority groups, especially women, have suffered disproportionately under the effects of climate change in the form of historic floods of 2022, heat waves, and global warming
While an augmented sense of awareness has been attempted to develop at a national level in the form of capacity building and outreach, there is still a lack of individual power in combating this problem. People belonging to lower socioeconomic strata are rendered incapable of taking control and devising innovative solutions to their plight. Women and other marginalized gender groups suffer an extra layer of discrimination due to a lack of access to resources to protect themselves from these changes.
For instance, a 40-year-old woman named Sonia Arif shares her struggles coupled with the ongoing extreme weather patterns. She’s a beautician by profession, and her husband owns a tailor shop. She says that she’s struggling to make ends meet after her husband had to close their tailor shop because they couldn’t afford to pay its rent. Sonia says, “I’m sick of the yelling in my house. The unbearable heat has added to my plight. In my next life, I want to be born as a man.” While this may seem yet another story in a never-ending trail of headlines and newspaper columns, we need to internalize that this is the lived, everyday reality of hundreds of thousands of women in Pakistan.
It is true that the obstacles faced by people in South Asia are enormous, but their mettle and determination are also on par. In the past few years, an increasing trend has been observed wherein individuals are taking control and shaping their narrative. Amongst this fervent group, young people, especially women, have made substantial strides to take part in combating climate change.
One such prominent innovator is Nida Yousaf Sheikh. Thirty-one-year-old Nida shares how her experiences with women in rural areas have motivated her to work on environmental initiatives. According to WaterAid Pakistan, 22 million people lack access to clean water, and 70 percent of households rely on contaminated sources. Nida shares how she saw women in rural areas bear the burden of fetching clean water and how their reduction to the roles of “water laborers” was degrading.
In 2020, Nida joined Tayaba (@tayabaorg), an NGO providing sanitation and washing solutions to women in remote areas through its various programs. One of such programs is “Help-2-Others” (H2O) initiative. H2O provides various services, such as biodegradable menstrual hygiene products, water generators, recycled soaps, and an H2O wheel. This wheel consists of a rotatable water bottle and is used to make the process of water transportation easier and less tedious. The H2O wheel can carry up to 40 liters of water, as it is made of a recyclable plastic wheel container that is connected to a metal bar. This allows it to be rolled with minimal effort.
Since its inception in 2020, Tayaba has been steadily working towards a better water transportation system in rural areas. In the beginning, Tayaba started with only 100 H2O wheels in Tharparkar, but now they’ve distributed over 30,000 of these wheels. It’s innovations like these and the spirit of women like Nida Yousaf Sheikh that provide a beacon of hope in these tumultuous times.
Author: Fatima Zahra
