Women lead protests but lack decision power

Source: The post Women lead protests but lack decision power has been created, based on the article “The women who remain largely invisible” published in “The Hindu” on 12 May 2025. Women lead protests but lack decision power.

UPSC Syllabus Topic: GS Paper1-Social empowerment

Context: Across India and South Asia, women have consistently led protests against harmful development and environmental degradation. Yet, despite their leadership, they remain largely excluded from formal decision-making processes, land rights, and climate policy frameworks. The article highlights the need for structural reforms to ensure gender-inclusive development and climate justice.

For detailed information on Women Empowerment- Economic Political and Social read this article here

Women-Led Resistance Across Regions

1. Sustained Movements on the Ground: From Odisha’s Sijimali forests to Tamil Nadu’s coastlines, women have been central in opposing mining, nuclear, and coal projects. In Jharkhand, Adivasi women actively defend ancestral land, while Tamil Nadu’s fishing communities resist infrastructure threats to coastal life.
2. Facing Repression and Risk: These women often endure state violence and marginalisation while upholding community rights and environmental protection. Their activism reflects deep-rooted ecological knowledge and survival concerns.

Exclusion from Decision-Making

1. Marginalisation in Consultations: Despite playing key roles in protests, women are largely excluded from community decisions and official consultations, even in processes claiming to follow Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC). Male-dominated meetings overlook their priorities and perspectives.
2. Dismissal of Women’s Knowledge: Women’s insights are often viewed as emotional rather than informed, despite being grounded in real-life socio-environmental understanding.

Legal Gaps and Governance Failures

1. Laws That Exist Only on Paper: Frameworks like India’s Forest Rights Act and PESA Act, Nepal’s joint land ownership policy, and Bangladesh’s Khas land initiative promise land rights and participation. However, women are rarely listed as landowners or decision-makers.
2. Implementation Barriers: Patriarchal norms, male-centric Gram Sabhas, and lack of gender-sensitive mechanisms restrict women’s access to legal rights. Many displaced women are denied compensation due to not being recognised as household heads.
3. Custom Over Statute: Even after legal reforms like the 2005 amendment to the Hindu Succession Act, customary practices continue to override women’s entitlements, especially in tribal regions.

Climate Change Deepens Gender Inequality

1. Disproportionate Impact on Women: Women face increased hardship due to extreme heat, water scarcity, and pollution. They walk longer distances for water, care for ill family members, and work longer hours.
2. Exclusion from Climate Solutions: Women are rarely included in climate adaptation and resilience planning. Their traditional ecological knowledge is overlooked in official frameworks.
3. Inadequate FPIC Application: Although FPIC is gaining traction in international discourse, its application remains flawed. Women often feel unsafe or unheard in consultation spaces dominated by men.

Way Forward

1. Inclusive Consultation Practices: Governments and corporations must ensure that FPIC processes are truly inclusive. This includes holding meetings at accessible times, creating women-only spaces, and offering translation and legal aid.
2. Recognition of Women as Stakeholders: Women must be acknowledged as independent landowners, not just dependents. Laws and compensation mechanisms must reflect this change.
3. Support for Women’s Leadership: Women’s leadership in movements must be promoted beyond grassroots mobilization. They need a seat at policy tables, in legislatures, and in decision-making bodies.
4. Reframing Development and Climate Justice: Development and climate strategies must center women’s visions, not merely treat them as victims. True justice requires that their voices lead, not follow.

Question for practice:

Evaluate the structural barriers that limit women’s participation in environmental governance and climate policy in South Asia.