International Women’s Day: 'Gender Equality Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow'

Following on from 'Gender Day' at COP26, this year's International Women's Day's theme is 'gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow'. Women have so much to offer regarding climate action, yet many women face social, economic, and political barriers that limit their coping capacity. The UN (United Nation) states ‘equal and meaningful participation and leadership is vital to achieve climate goals', and although progress has been made, there is still a way to go.  

Why is gender equality interlinked with climate change? 

1. Women are the worst affected by climate change globally 

Women are the most vulnerable to climate change due to several linked factors. For a start, women constitute the majority of people living in poverty, with 70% of the world's poor being women, making them less financially equipped to deal with climate impacts. Women are also more dependent on natural resources for their livelihood, with many relying on the land for income; around two-thirds of the female labour force in developing countries are women. On top of this, women are often the ones responsible for securing water, food and fuel for cooking and heating which are all impacted by global temperature changes. This reduction in income and increase in the time taken to do daily household tasks means that an increasing number of children are dropping out of school for financial reasons or to help at home. It has been documented that households tend to resort to more traditional gender roles in times of stress, making girls the most affected.  

2. Women are often the ones who can make the greatest local impact

Women traditionally have a strong body of knowledge and expertise, making them effective forces against climate change. Knowledge and skills passed down generations include water harvesting and storage, food preservation and rationing, and natural resource management. Additionally, the roles that women traditionally have places them as stewards of resources, putting them in a prime position to enforce adaptation and mitigation practices. However, despite this, restricted land rights, lack of access to financial resources, training and technology, and limited access to political decision-making spheres often prevent women from playing a leading role in tackling environmental challenges - a precious source of knowledge and action being dismissed as unimportant. As those most affected by climate change, women deserve the opportunity to help create a sustainable future for themselves and their families: to forge their own destinies. 

3. Women are powerful and effective leaders of Climate Action 

You need not look far to find startling examples of women that are powerful climate leaders. Yet even after efforts to increase the number of women climate delegates at COP26 to almost half, a UN report revealed that men spoke for 74% of the time, still vastly dominating the negotiations. Women make up around 50% of the world's population, and we need the input of everyone to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement. Not only that but women have been shown to act more effectively than men in times of crisis. In rural Sudan, women formed the first-ever Women's Farmers Union to improve food security in their communities facing drought and famine. A study of 194 countries found that pandemic responses were systematically better in countries led by women. Women have proven to be powerful organisers and leaders. Not having women at the forefront of climate leadership can therefore be considered a serious error.  

 The world has an abundance of influential women within the climate fight. Here are two extraordinary examples:   

Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, from the Mbororo pastoralist community in Chad, was a key leader among Indigenous groups that successfully lobbied to have their rights recognised at the 2015 Paris climate change meetings. She was chosen to speak at the signing ceremony of accords and is coordinator of the Association des Femmes Peules Autochtones du Chad (AFPAT, the association of Indigenous Fulani women of Chad). Ibrahim is an expert in the adaptation and mitigation of indigenous peoples to climate change and works to bridge the gap between those making international climate decisions and those on the front line. Ibrahim received the Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award and was appointed as a United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Advocate.

 Since 2018, Greta Thunberg has become a household name. At just age 15, she began sitting outside the Swedish parliament, with a sign reading Skolstrejk för klimatet (School strike for climate change), kickstarting the international 'Fridays for Future' movement. Since then, she has addressed the 2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference, sailed in yachts to attend climate summits, and received numerous honours and awards. These include youngest Time Person of the Year, inclusion in the Forbes list of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women  and three nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize.  

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