A presentation by Shaikh Eskander, an applied economist specialising in environmental and development economics, on a Bangladesh-focused study into gender equality in climate finance. The presentation was given at a webinar on 'Gender inequalities in social protection – people, households and climate adaptation' hosted by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) on 2 April 2020. Eskander is a visiting research fellow at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Department for Geography and Environment at the London School of Economics. He co-authored the report 'Bearing the climate burden: how households in Bangladesh are spending too much'. More details: https://www.iied.org/webinar-gender-inequalities-social-protection-people-households-climate-adaptation

1. Gender (in)equality in climate finance:
Bangladesh
Shaikh Eskander
April 2, 2020
Kingston University London and London School of Economics

2. Burdens of climate and disaster
Climate and disaster finance per rural household, 2015
Climate and disaster management budget, per rural household, 2014–2019
Donor contributions per household (taka) Allocation by thematic area, 2014–2019

3. Burdens of climate and disaster
• Eskander and Steele (2019)
• Government: US$ 0.88 billion
• Donors: US$ 154 million
• Households: US$ 1.9 billion
• Despite contributions from the
government and international donors,
households still bear a hefty financial
burden from exposure to climate and
disaster risks
https://pubs.iied.org/16643IIED

4. Gendered variations in climate expenditure

5. Gendered variations in climate expenditure
• When compared to male-headed households
• female-headed rural households spend similar absolute amounts
• as a share of income, they spend three times more
• females care more, and that has somewhat a detrimental effect on
female-headed households

6. Source of expenditure
• Microcredit
• accessed primarily by women
• fast disbursement
• smaller amount
• higher interest rates
• Informal sources
• accessed primarily by men
• fast disbursement
• higher interest rates
• Formal financial institutions
• accessed primarily by men
• slow disbursement
• larger amount
• lower interest rates

7. Policy recommendation
• Instalment breaks during disasters
• Involve women in the policymaking process – make their voices heard
• Make formal sources of finance, not just micro-finance, accessible to
women
• Fast-track loans from formal sources during emergencies