Eva de Bock
No country in the world has yet achieved full gender equality.1 Globally, women earn less than men, are less likely to be in paid employment and have less access to education, land and financial resources. Moreover, the effects of climate change hit women harder,2 reinforcing existing gender inequalities. At the same time, it also works the other way around: gender equality is a prerequisite for climate justice. In this article, I discuss some of the ways in which gender equality can contribute to tackling climate change.
First of all, it is important to note that the literature usually analyses gender as binary, and I will therefore refer to women and men here, while acknowledging that gender is broader than this dichotomy. It should also be emphasised that the inequality experienced by women varies greatly around the world, due to factors such as geographical context, socio-economic status and ethnicity. With these differences in mind, women are considered here as a group.
One important way in which gender equality can promote climate justice is through political participation. Worldwide, women’s political representation remains limited: only one in four parliamentary seats is held by a woman, and only 10% of heads of state are women.3 Studies show that countries with higher female political representation are more likely to sign international climate agreements and pursue more ambitious climate policies.4 5 These countries spend less on fossil fuel subsidies, impose more climate-related taxes and allocate more resources to climate mitigation and adaptation.6 However, when women are only a small minority, their presence generally makes little difference to policy decisions. This is because existing gender inequality reduces their ability to participate effectively. Research shows that female parliamentarians can only have a substantial impact on climate policy when their representation exceeds 30%, which underlines the importance of gender quotas.
Emancipation is also crucial for protecting the entire community in the event of climate disasters. Since men are often considered the “average person”, even though they represent only half of the population, the circumstances of women are often overlooked in disaster policy. One consequence of this is the higher mortality rate among women during floods.7 This difference can be partly explained by the fact that women are less likely to have learned to swim and have less access to telephones, which means they are warned later or are less well prepared. In other words, disaster policies fails to adequately account for existing gender inequality in education and access to resources. Effective disaster policy must recognise and address women-specific situations; both by adapting to this inequality, for example by setting up information channels that also reach people without telephones, as well as by taking measures to reduce this inequality, such as providing swimming lessons for girls and women. To ensure that these perspectives are taken into account, it is essential that women are better represented in the decision-making bodies that shape disaster policy.
Gender equality is a prerequisite for climate justice
Lastly, gender equality can indirectly contribute to climate justice through improved women-specific healthcare. Good menstrual care plays a major role in this. Many girls and women experience heavy and painful periods, which leads to them regularly taking sick leave from school or work, or being present but unable to be productive.8 Menopausal symptoms also frequently result in absence or reduced productivity.9 In addition, good reproductive care is crucial. Access to reliable contraception enables people to decide for themselves if and when they want to have children, and good pregnancy care improves the health of pregnant people and their children. Improving women-specific care increases educational levels and labour participation. This raises a country’s economic capacity, which creates room for investment in climate mitigation and adaptation.10 11 Furthermore, climate change will have an increasing impact on public health, while approximately 70% of healthcare workers are women.12 This makes their work in a changing climate even more important. Safeguarding women’s health is essential for the resilience of society in light of the climate crisis as a health crisis.
The structural undervaluation and exploitation of women reflects the same extractive ideas that underlie the depletion of natural systems. Climate justice therefore requires a fundamental reform of the power relations that exploit both women and the environment. Gender equality is not only a goal in itself, but also a crucial step towards an effective and just strategy for tackling climate change.
Author: Eva J.E. de Bock (PhD candidate Gynaecology and Technical Physician)
References
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