SCP


Cross-cut Chapter 3 GLOBAL GENDER AND ENVIRONMENT OUTLOOK Food Fish Chapter 1


industry and polluting nearly all the water it uses (IPE 2012; China Water Risk 2011).


Chapter 4: Water Forest


Links between social and environmental damage are not surprising since both are integral to the global industrialization strategy. Environmental and gender inequalities converge in this sector of the modern global economy: a key part of the strategy of global production is not only to seek (usually feminized) low- wage production sites, but also to locate production in countries with low or poorly enforced workplace and environmental protection capacities.


Energy Chapter 2 Producing plastics and toxic chemicals


Hazardous chemicals in the workplace are among the most direct dangers to workers and the environment. The burden of direct workplace exposure to toxic materials is unevenly distributed. In the context of gender-segregated work and economic relations women not only have different susceptibilities to chemicals than men, but in many cases women and men have different gender roles and are exposed in different ways to chemicals (WECF 2016). Biologically and socially related determinants therefore define what chemicals women and men are exposed to and the threats these chemicals pose.


For women, occupational exposures to chemicals used in the plastics industry may contribute to the development of breast cancer and reproductive problems since many of the primary chemicals in plastics production either act as mammary carcinogens or disrupt the normal functioning of the body’s endocrine system, or both. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals such as phthalates, brominated flame retardants, and BPA are ubiquitous in plastics production environments (DeMatteo et al. 2012). Importantly, action at the endocrine level is such that significant adverse effects can be produced at concentrations thousands of times lower than the presumably safe levels established by traditional toxicology (DeMatteo et al. 2012). Other studies reinforce these findings, demonstrating, for example, that women who work in automotive plastics production and food canning industries have a five-fold increase in pre-menopausal breast cancer (Brophy et al. 2012).


Waste 118


High levels of consumption result in enormous quantities of waste. Many countries face waste


management crises, especially in urban areas. In most developing countries a large share of muncipal solid waste is collected and recycled by waste pickers and other people in the informal economy. Although it can be extremely hazardous, this may be one of their few sources of income (Medina 2008). There are millions of waste pickers in the world (women, men and children). They are estimated to represent about 1% of the urban population, but little is known about the exact number since statistical data are difficult to collect. Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO), an NGO, has developed a “Waste Pickers Around the World” database with information about waste picker organizations in Africa, Asia and Latin America (Global Alliance of Waste Pickers 2014).


Gender-disaggregated data on waste-picking is scarce. An International Labour Organization study found that, among informal workers, a higher percentage of men than women were found to be waste pickers in five out of seven West African cities. In one city (Cotonou, Benin) all the waste pickers identified were men. In Lima, Peru, 0.8% of men and 0.3% of women who were informal workers were waste pickers. In two cities in Africa (Bamako, Mali and Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso) more women than men informal workers were waste pickers; this was also the case in urban India (0.2% women and 0.1% men) (ILO 2013).


One of the most hazardous kinds of waste in developing countries is e-waste (end-of-life electronic and electrical waste) (Pellow 2007). E-waste is complex and expensive to treat in an environmentally sound manner. There is a general lack of legislation concerning it or enforcement of such legislation. Today most e-waste is discarded in the general waste stream. Of the e-waste in developed countries that is sent for recycling, 80% is shipped (often illegally) to developing countries (Lundgren 2012).


The manual sorting, stripping, burning and recycling of mountains of e-waste could be considered a symbol of the global consumption and production crisis. It also represents a health crisis for formal or informal e-waste workers and people living nearby. Much of the evidence on health effects is anecdotal and spotty, as there are few systematic and comparative long-term health studies of e-waste workers (Grant et al. 2013; Lundgren 2012). Health and environmental risks vary greatly, depending on the nature of the operations and who is involved. It is clear from several studies in China that rudimentary recycling techniques coupled with high


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