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Gender & climate change

 

Climate change has been identified as the defining human development issue of our time. While often viewed as a purely scientific and technical phenomenon, climate change is in fact a social, economic and political phenomenon with profound implications for social justice and gender equality. People experience climate change differently depending on their gender. Coping strategies towards the climate crisis may also vary according to gender. 

Power relations and socially constructed gender norms shape the rights, roles, capacities and preferences of  people with different gender identities throughout the world. Women are often impacted disproportionately by the impacts of climate change compared to men. At the same time, they face limitations when it comes to participating in climate policy and responses.

Of course, the nature of these differences vary according to context, and they are also influenced by age, ethnicity, class, and a range of other factors that interact with gender relations. That is why an understanding of intersecting forms of oppression is important.

This section will broadly identify gender dimensions in the various fields of action on climate change, from agriculture to water and waste. It will attempt to what gender-aware, transformative responses to climate change would look like, providing recommendations to policymakers.