Thursday, November 12th, 2009 - No comments

Climate change affects African American and African women

Is there a difference between the negative effects of climate change felt by African American and African women?

Invisible Women Melting is the title of a play written by a graduate student in the United States that seeks to draw the comparison between the negative effects of climate change felt by African American and African women.

A play written by Jessica Ann Mitchell called “Invisible Women Melting,” aims to draw the comparison between the negative effects of climate change by African American women and African women. She draws upon the experiences of women living in Atlanta, Georgia and in Imbaseni, Tanzania to show how this sector of society is more likely to suffer the consequences of climate change, and how it affects them personally.

One common theme shared by both sets of women is the high percentage who are living in poverty. According to a study called Gender and Climate Change produced by the World Conservation Union, women are more affected because of their social roles, as well as factors such as discrimination and poverty.

For example, in Atlanta, 21% of its residents fall below the poverty line, and nearly 80% of these families are “female, with no husband present.” In the village of Imbaseni, poverty has been an obstacle for many years, especially with the lack of safe drinking water.

In this YouTube video, Mitchell states that “Climate Change is a Black Woman’s Issue,” and continues by listing statistics such as the fact that global food prices have risen 83% over the past years partly because of the fluctuation in precipitation and temperature that affects the food supply and demand.

The following is an excerpt of the play provided on YouTube by the Educational Performing Arts Company “Wrong is Not our Name,” which produced the play.

For her work, Mitchell was honored with the 2009 Master’s Prize in the College of Arts and Sciences at Syracuse University.

The views expressed in this blog-post are solely those of the author.