Gender inequality and climate change are not separate challenges

Climate impacts are reversing gains in gender equality. Women and girls are disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis, which amplifies existing inequalities and builds on societal expectations related to gender roles. They face greater hurdles to climate adaptation, significant economic repercussions, increased unpaid care and domestic work, and a higher risk of violence due to the crisis’s compounding impacts.

For example, women and girls in many regions are responsible for securing food, water and fuel, which becomes a lot more taxing during droughts. Underlying gender disparities—whether in access to education, information, mobility, resources, training or health care—also make women less likely to survive disasters. When it comes to gender-based violence, studies have shown that it becomes more prevalent after natural emergencies, with far-reaching health consequences.

While women and girls experience serious impacts from climate change at the global level, the effects are not homogenous. UN Women reports that climate-change risks are especially critical for Indigenous and Afro-descendent women and girls, LGBTQI+ people, women and girls with disabilities, older women, migrant women, and those living in rural, remote, conflict- and disaster-prone areas.

Transgender and non-binary individuals are also particularly vulnerable to climate risks as a result of compounding discrimination. For example, they may not have access to gender-specific services and can face challenges in receiving aid during relief and recovery efforts, according to the Stockholm Environment Institute.

The disproportionate climate-change impacts felt by women and sexual minorities call even more loudly for inclusive governance. As workers, farmers, consumers, producers and household managers, women are key agents of change in implementing climate-resilient development pathways. Better integration of women and marginalised groups into decision-making at all levels would help improve climate mitigation and adaptation policies, according to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Beyond ensuring policies that are responsive to gender-differentiated impacts, greater representation of women in decision-making leads to more stringent climate measures, which in turn results in lower carbon dioxide emissions, as demonstrated by a 2019 study published in the European Journal of Political Economy.

Since 2012, the gender dimension of climate change has been addressed as a standing item under the UNFCCC Conference of Parties (COP) meetings. This year, during its second week, COP27 hosted a Gender Day to highlight integrating the gender perspective into climate policies, strategies and financing instruments, and discuss challenges and success stories from around the world. Since implementation was the focus of this COP, the day dedicated to gender highlighted the role of women as key drivers of climate solutions, stressing the need to include them in the agenda-setting process, and in national policies.

Despite some progress over recent years, the gender perspective needs further work to be fully integrated into policies and actions on the ground. There have been improvements in gender mainstreaming in countries’ plans and communications in the context of COP27. A UNFCCC report on the implementation of gender-responsive climate plans shows that gender is increasingly mentioned by a majority of countries in climate policy and planning.

However, much still needs to be done. For example, despite the increasing integration of gender in countries’ climate plans—their nationally determined contributions or NDCs—gender considerations are less integrated into long-term low-emission development strategies. Even in NDCs, only a few countries referred explicitly to gender as a non-binary term. Moreover, there is a need for more sex-disaggregated data to better understand the gender-differentiated impacts of climate change and implement targeted measures. Especially for non-binary individuals, a Lancet report showed that there is an unacceptable scarcity of research on climate change health effects.

This also holds true for businesses. More than a fifth of major corporations have pledged to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Yet few actively include or consider women in their climate action decisions and plans. As noted by the UNFCCC in 2016, gender mainstreaming for climate change is the process of assessing and responding to the differentiated implications for women and men of any planned climate action. It is not simply about adding a “gender equality” component to a planned activity—it is about thinking differently.

COP27 has confirmed the need for stronger co-operation on key issues such as climate finance and corporate net-zero commitments. This important theme will continue into 2023, with the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos focusing on “Co-operation in a Fragmented World”. Stick with The Sustainability Project to find out how co-operation will shape the sustainability agenda in 2023.

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