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Adding an Environmental Justice subsection to the Causes section in Gender Disparities in health to connect the issue of gender disparity to environmental justice issues that affect health and safety.

Environmental Justice
Environmental injustice at its core is the presence of distributional injustice including both the distribution of decision-making power as well as the distribution of environmental burden. Environmental burdens, which include water pollution, toxic chemicals, etc., can disproportionately impact the health of women. Women are often left out of policy making and decisions. These injustices occur because women are generally affected by intersectionality of oppression which leads to lower incomes and less social status. Root causes of these injustices is the fundamental presence of gender inequality, particularly in marginalized communities (Indigenous women, women from low-income communities, women from the Global South, etc) that will become amplified by climate change. These women are often reliant on natural resources for their livelihoods and, therefore, are one of the first groups of people to be severely impacted by global climate change and environmental injustice. In addition, women all around the world are held responsible for providing food, water, and care to their families. This has sparked a movement to make the literature, research, and teaching more gender aware in the sphere of feminism.

However, women continue to face oppression in the sphere of media. CNN and Media Matters have reported that only 15% of those interviewed in the media on climate change have been women. Comparatively, women make up 90% of environmental justice groups across the United States. UN climate chief Christiana Figueres has publicly recognized gender disparity in environmental injustice and has pledged to put gender at the center of the Paris talks on climate change. “Women are disproportionately affected by climate change. It is increasingly evident that involving women and men in all decision-making on climate action is a significant factor in meeting the climate challenge.” Studies have shown that women’s involvement and participation in policy leadership and decision-making has led to a greater increase in conservation and climate change mitigation efforts.

When we analyze root causes, it is clear that women experience climate change with disproportionate severity precisely because their basic rights continue to be denied in varying forms and intensities across the world. Enforced gender inequality reduces women’s physical and economic mobility, voice, and opportunity in many places, making them more vulnerable to mounting environmental stresses. Indigenous pregnant women and their unborn children are more vulnerable to climate change and health impacts by way of environmental injustice. Indigenous women, women from low-income communities, and women from the Global South bear an even heavier burden from the impacts of climate change because of the historic and continuing impacts of colonialism, racism and inequality; and in many cases, because they are more reliant upon natural resources for their survival and/or live in areas that have poor infrastructure. Drought, flooding, and unpredictable and extreme weather patterns  present life or death challenges for many women, who are most often the ones responsible for providing food, water and energy for their families.