This year is expected to be the year. hottest on record. Latest UN estimates Without radical and immediate action, temperatures will rise by 3.1 degrees Celsius by the end of this century, indicating that we are heading towards an increasingly uninhabitable planet. Solving the climate crisis requires urgent global cooperation.
But the annual World Climate Conference (Conference of the Parties, COP), held in November in the Azerbaijan Petroleum State, maintained the status quo at best. The current economic system that supports this status quo is rooted in the extraction of natural resources and the exploitation of cheap or unpaid labor, often by women and marginalized communities. This system is therefore driving the climate crisis while perpetuating inequalities along gender, race, and class. It prioritizes the interests of corporations, governments, and elites in positions of power and wealth, while destroying the natural environment on which the poor and marginalized depend most.
It takes another tack to move the needle. As gender equality researchers at the UN, we growing evidence The fact is that women, girls and gender diverse people are bearing the brunt of climate change. And that raises the question: What if we approached climate from a feminist perspective?
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Feminism provides an analysis of how inequality structures our world and thereby causes the climate crisis. We believe it provides a vision for a better climate future and a practical approach to moving towards it. That healthy future involves not only ending the fossil fuel-based economy (although that is urgent and necessary) but also more fundamentally transforming our economic and political systems.
Around the world, women have unequal access to economic resources, including jobs, bank accounts, land, and technology. This means that when weather patterns change and infrastructure and public services are disrupted, our ability to adapt, recover and rebuild is compromised. As a result, their livelihoods and economic security are particularly at risk. Latest research from UN Women In a worst-case scenario, climate change could push up to 158 million women and girls into poverty and 236 million women and girls into food insecurity globally by 2050, the study found. In addition to income poverty, women and girls also face increasing time poverty. As water, fuel and nutritious food become more difficult to obtain and the health care needs of family members increase, women and girls are forced to spend more time doing unpaid care work. This reduces the time they need to do paid work, go to school, or take care of themselves.
The harmful combination of time and income poverty has far-reaching, long-term consequences. For example, after years of slow declines in child marriage rates, the practice is on the rise again in places where families are struggling financially and experiencing environmental stress as they view child marriage as a form of security for their daughters. in Drought-prone areasGirls are increasingly more likely to drop out of school because their families cannot afford school fees and girls’ life chances are hampered by having to contribute to household chores.
Feminist climate justice approaches seek to address the interconnected problems of climate change, gender inequality and social injustice. It is based on the recognition that poor women and girls, those from “lower” castes or marginalized ethnic groups, and women with disabilities are the most affected by disasters and environmental degradation, while their knowledge and contribution to solutions continue to be marginalized. . A feminist climate justice approach elevates their voices and values their contributions in understanding the climate crisis and charting a new path forward. For example, women from indigenous and local communities traditional knowledge Tree species that will drive sustainable forestry projects in Colombia; In Bangladesh, during severe flooding, women relied on traditional rural cooking methods to provide food to remote affected areas.
We must move away from an economy based on extraction and pollution to one based on regeneration and care for each other and the environment. These new systems will enable a more sustainable, resilient, inclusive and equitable future by prioritizing the well-being of people and the planet over profit and elite power. This feminist vision requires thinking in diverse cultural contexts and “wellness economy.” For example, the Buen Vivir (Living Well) paradigm that underpins development strategies in Bolivia and Ecuador is inspired by indigenous knowledge and values that promote harmonious relationships between people and nature. Meanwhile, in Canada Quality of Life Strategies Introduced to support a resilient COVID-19 recovery, it focuses on improving key areas of life including health, social belonging, environmental quality, prosperity and public trust.
As detailed in the report Feminist Climate Justice: A Framework for Action, Moving toward this vision requires action around four pillars:
First, women’s rights, labor, and knowledge must be recognized. To be effective, climate policy decisions must take into account the expertise of women, including indigenous and rural women, on issues such as ecosystem conservation and environmentally sustainable agriculture. This is essential to avoid the problem of maladaptation (where well-intended adaptation projects are ineffective or cause more harm than good).
We must reallocate resources away from male-dominated, environmentally harmful economic activities and toward prioritizing women’s employment, regeneration, and the protection of people and ecosystems. The idea of a just transition, which is so prominent on the climate agenda, must extend beyond providing new jobs for men laid off from the fossil fuel industry and address the long-standing economic disadvantages faced by women and marginalized groups. persistent wage gap; enormous inequalities in land ownership, labor force participation, and access to education, training, and skills; Social protection is inadequate or absent.
We must ensure that diverse women’s voices are represented in environmental decision-making, including in social movements, environment ministries, and COP delegations. In civil society, women who organize collectively within and across movements have the right to hear and see their interests reflected without being threatened, harassed or even killed for their activities. It is therefore also essential to end impunity for violence against human and environmental rights defenders.
And we must reverse the effects of environmental degradation – acknowledging that the Global North bears the greatest responsibility for historical emissions – and ensure that such damage is not repeated. Wealthy countries must make good on their long-standing climate finance commitments and ensure that resources reach the grassroots women’s organizations on the front lines of this crisis. At COP28, activists chanted, “Make polluters pay – billions, not millions.” Taxation and regulation of companies causing climate chaos in developing countries is needed as part of compensation.
The ‘what’ as well as the ‘how’ of feminist climate justice are equally important. The enormous gap between calls for bold climate action and lackluster government responses raises urgent questions about how to ensure accountability. Given the current tensions and conflicts between countries, the fact that all governments come together every year to negotiate on climate issues is an achievement that cannot be ignored. But it still feels like we’re a million miles away from where we need to be. The role of social movements, including feminists, environmentalists, indigenous groups and youth, working with allies in the UN, governments and progressive businesses to demand faster and more radical action will be critical. Our hope is that a feminist climate justice framework can help unify a common understanding of the urgency and direction of action needed across these four pillars to demand a more sustainable future.
This article is an opinion and analysis piece, and the views expressed by the author or authors do not necessarily reflect those of the author. Scientific American.
Laura Tuckett She is Deputy Director of Research and Data at UN Women. Follow Turquet at Bluesky lauraturquet.bsky.socialand. LinkedIn
Silke Stave He is a senior research expert at UN Women. Follow her on Bluesky @silkestaab.bsky.social and linkedin
Brianna Howell He is a research analyst at UN Women. follow her linkedin
