Key messages
The project’s key messages on gender and climate change are now also available in English. A more extended version, as well as further outcomes of the project GenderNETCLIM are published in German only.
Download the key messages (in English)
Download the full publication of the outcomes (in German only)
Conference
The conference “Climate needs change: fostering the potential of gender research” took place on March 1, 2016 in Berlin, Germany.
It presented the project’s core messages and discussed them with experts from science and practice in the fields of climate change and gender equality as well as with the audience. We debated how climate mitigation and adaptation can become more (gender-)equal, where and how findings from Gender Studies research can be made useful for political strategies on climate change and what need for action for the integration of gender in climate mitigation and adaptation there is. We discussed the development of (gender-)responsive climate policies and politics and the respective implementation.
See the full program here. For more information and selected presentations take a look at the project’s website www.gendernetclim.de/tagung (go to “Das Programm” to view the presentations, some are in German only).
About the project
Background: Why address gender and climate change at the same time?
As climate change is anthropogenic, ie. caused by humans, climate-related changes, individual behaviour and social conditions interact in a range of ways. People’s socio-economic status, background, age and also gender are all factors that influence their consumption and mobility patterns, as well as their access to jobs and their political influence. Climate change therefore has different impacts on different groups of men and women, as well as on gender relations. Women are underrepresented in all levels of climate politics and climate research, which distorts the perspective of mitigation and adaptation measures. Equal access to new fields of employment is also not assured. At the same time, studies show that gender relations are linked to gender-specific consumption and mobility patters, resulting in differing ecological footprints for women and men. For example, there are considerable differences in the amount of meat and dairy consumed by men and women on average (a factor which is not to be underestimated in the context of climate change), whether they take public transport, and how often they use electronic devices. The effects of climate change also have an impact in different ways: more (unpaid) care work is required, for example, when the health impacts of more frequent extreme weather events or natural disasters increase. Other important questions include considering possible gender-related differences in terms of how the problem of climate change is seen, what kind of solutions are favoured (eg. technical solutions vs. life style changes), and how the risks involved with climate change are perceived.
Project aims
The project will contribute to the development of strategies for climate protection as well as to climate change adaptation, integrating the aim of promoting equitable opportunities. This will involve:
- Networking and providing assistance for key actors, women scientists in climate research, mitigation and adaptation,
- Continuing the development of existing instruments used to address gender in climate mitigation and adaptation,
- Using existing knowledge in the field of gender studies to shape climate-related technical and social transformative processes,
- The transfer and further practical development of the findings relating to equitable opportunities that emerged from the research partnership “nordwest2050 perspectives for climate-adapted innovation processes in the metropolitan region Bremen-Oldenburg in north-western Germany”.
What will the project involve?
- Workshops with experts from the field of climate mitigation/adaptation, as well as gender experts, who will discuss and develop practice-oriented courses of action for equitable opportunities to be integrated into climate research and politics,
- The creation of a German competence and expert network,
- The development of an interactive communication platform, as well as a brochure containing the results of the project and guidelines for implementing equitable opportunities in the field of climate change,
- A concluding conference on March 1, 2016 with (international) experts from research, politics, administration and the field.
Project duration
01.04.2015 to 31.03.2016
Carried out by
University of Bremen, Sustainability Research Center (artec), in collaboration with GenderCC – Women for Climate Justice e.V., Berlin
Contact
University of Bremen: Melanie Böckmann (m.boeckmann(at)uni-bremen.de); Karin Fischer (fischerk(at)uni-bremen.de)
GenderCC: Ulrike Röhr (u.roehr(at)gendercc.net)
The project is supported by funding from the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) with the grant number 01FP1425.
Visit the project website (in German)