The forgotten casualties: women, children, and environmental change

The concept of equity is used to highlight the impacts of environmental change on women and children. Three types of equity are defined (social, generational, and procedural) and both process and outcome (distributions) dimensions are described. The application of the equity concept to the understanding of the socio-spatial impacts on women and children is illustrated using three themes. The effect of environmental contamination on women and children provides an example of generational inequity. Evidence of social inequity is seen in the poverty, population, environmental degradation spiral especially as it compromises the wellbeing of women and children and their ability to mitigate the consequence of environmental disturbances. Finally, procedural inequities are described in the context of equal rights for women, including their rights to resources. Women and children bear and will continue to bear a disproportionate burden of global environmental changes. They also have unequal capabilities and opportunities for adjustments, rendering them more vulnerable to the regional and global environmental transformations currently underway.