A House resolution sponsored by representative Barbara Lee (D, Calif.) and cosponsored by House members including Keith Ellison (D, Minn.) and Carolyn Maloney (D, N.Y.) is pushing Congress to acknowledge the “disparate impact of climate change on women” and adopt “gender-sensitive frameworks” to address environmental change.

The resolution argues that climate change may have a particularly dire impact on women. Climate change, it says, exacerbates food scarcity, and “Food insecure women with limited socioeconomic resources may be vulnerable to situations such as sex work, transactional sex, and early marriage that put them at risk for HIV, STIs, unplanned pregnancy, and poor reproductive health.”


Representative Lee told The Hill: ”My resolution will affirm the commitment to include and empower women in economic development planning and international climate change policies and practices. This will help communities adapt to climate impacts, and embark on a path towards clean and sustainable development.”

Her resolution also urges the inclusion of women in the development of climate-change policies.