Research Proposal Presentation Title

A Critical Analysis of Climate Change and Gender Inequality in Southeast Asia

Student researchers

Jiayi Dong, Yiming Xu, Hayoung Yang

What is your research question?

Is There a Tight Relationship Between Climate Change and Gender Wage Gap in Southeast Asia?

Research proposal keywords or concepts

Climate Change; Gender Inequality; Wage gap

How would you summarize your proposed research idea?

In general, women are negatively affected by climate change. Both psychological thoughts and social status show the affects of climate change to women. In this research project, we aim to discuss the relationship between climate change and gender wage gap in Southeast Asian countries, methodology, and possible contributions toward minimizing gender inequality in Southeast Asian countries.

Where is the literature gap and how does your proposed research attempt to fill that gap?

The awareness of gender inequality caused by climate change is well researched in Africa and South Asia (Balehey et al., 2018), however, the awareness of it from local areas in Southeast Asia are researched poorly. Thus, our project might highlight the degree of local awareness by seeing the problem through gender wage gap along with the researcher-created questionnaire survey.

Why is this gap worthy of research?

According to Tandon (2020), more than 70% of women in Southeast Asia are suffering from enduring gender inequalities which the proportion includes the impact from climate changes. Therefore, a qualitative inquiry on gender wage gap can contribute to identify and inform the urgency of providing gender-based climate change adaptation capacity.

What future change could this research possibly contribute to, related to sustainability?

The findings of the proposed study may help us to understand the relationship between the climate change and gender inequality. This study may provide the possible solution which might make a balance between the different genders. In a world without discrimination, our future can be fully sustainable.

What made your group interested in and/or what excites you about your proposed topic?

In general, compared to developed countries, Southeast Asian countries are more vulnerable to climate disasters. Especially, in the context of biological gender, females are considered to be more victimized than males. We became interested in gender inequality after assessing the ‘Me-too movement' in developed countries. We anticipate that this study can bring people’s awareness of Southeast Asia’s gender inequality issue. The research also might have a significant influence on promoting solutions to minimize the gap between males and females in order to secure their sustainable lifestyles.

References

Balehey, S., Tesfay, G., & Balehegn, M. (2018). Traditional gender inequalities limit pastoral women’s opportunities for adaptation to climate change: Evidence from the Afar pastoralists of Ethiopia. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Tandon, A. (2020). Tackling gender inequality is 'crucial' for climate adaptation. Carbon Brief. https://www.carbonbrief.org/tackling-gender-inequality-is-crucial-for-climateadaptation