Women Rising: Tackling GBVH in a Changing Climate

Anannya Bhattacherjee at the ‘Women Rising: Tackling GBVH in a Changing Climate’ Webinar

On March 18, 2025, FORGE hosted a parallel event as part of the NGO CSW69 Forum. The event, titled ‘Women Rising: Tackling GBVH in a Changing Climate’, addressed the complex intersections between gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH), climate change, and labor rights, spotlighting the intensified impacts on women workers.

Anannya Bhattacharjee, President of the Garment and Allied Workers’ Union (GAWU), highlighted how extreme heat in garment factories has led to increasingly inhumane conditions, further increasing the vulnerability of women workers. She stated, “Climate change adds another layer of intensification and escalation to an already volatile situation that brands have failed to address. Workers face unrelenting production demands in extreme heat, leading to fainting, miscarriages, and even deaths, all while management denies responsibility.”

The discussion affirmed the necessity of centering firsthand experiences of women workers to drive action in the fight against climate change. Bhattacharjee noted, “Just as we developed worker-led documentation to tackle GBVH, we must now document climate-impacted violence. Workers need to define for themselves what climate-impacted GBVH looks like, ensuring their lived experiences inform our collective responses.”

Panelists discussed promising strategies to combat GBVH exacerbated by climate conditions, underscoring the importance of women’s leadership and collective action. Bhattacharjee reinforced the significance of collective bargaining agreements, citing existing successes such as the Dindigul Agreement and the Central Java Agreement in Indonesia. She remarked, “Enforceable agreements with clear worker-defined terms have proven essential for addressing GBVH. We need to carry these lessons into climate justice negotiations to achieve meaningful and lasting change.”

The event concluded with emphasis on supporting women workers through capacity building, collective bargaining, and leadership development as essential for achieving workplaces free from violence and harassment. Recognizing women workers as central agents of climate justice, the event highlighted their role in shaping effective, equitable responses to the climate crisis at local, national, and international levels.

Watch the webinar here: link