Women and Climate Change Online Discussion

Read the SUMMARY REPORT of the online discussion! (PDF)

Have your voice heard at the 10th OECD DAC Network on Gender Equality (Gendernet) meeting on 14 June, the only international forum where gender experts from development co-operation agencies meet to share best practices and to define common approaches in support of gender equality. The Wikigender/Gendernet online discussion will kick off on 29 May and last until 8 June. As the Wikigender community, your comments will be collated into a summary report and presented at the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) Gendernet meeting as an introduction to the 14 June workshop on gender equality, climate change and green growth:

The primary objective of the Gendernet workshop in Paris is to increase Gendernet members’ understanding of issues related to climate change and green growth in developing countries so that they can better advise on the gender equality/women’s empowerment dimensions of agency approaches to these issues.

This Wikigender discussion provides an opportunity for researchers, donors, civil society, Wikigender partners and interested public to provide their insights into this issue by responding to the following question:

How can gender equality be better integrated into climate change policies and programmes in order to ensure sustainable development?

Responding to the issue of climate change is central to sustainable development. In the lead-up to Rio+20, it is essential to draw attention to and reinforce the linkages between climate change, sustainable development and gender equality issues. Indeed, progress in these areas will depend upon joint approaches to addressing climate change and gender equality. Climate change impacts men and women differently, yet both men and women can harness their respective capacities to act as active agents of change in response to this issue. In the rural areas of developing countries, it is often the woman’s role to collect water, secure energy for the household and to undertake subsistence farming activities. Women are also the primary producers of food. Consequently, when the repercussions of climate change hit rural areas, it increases the burden on those responsibilities primarily undertaken by women, meaning women must bear the brunt of most of these challenges. It is therefore vital to include a gender perspective in all climate change policies and programming and to ensure that both women and men can contribute their knowledge to solutions. This online discussion is an opportunity to gather the views of the Wikigender community on how we can work together to ensure that gender equality is better integrated into climate change policies and programming, since this is key to a sustainable future.

• Discrimination against women in terms of access to and control over resources such as land significantly hampers their ability to tackle the negative effects of climate change. What are some other challenges that women face in this regard? Are there examples of successful approaches to ensuring that women and men have an equal voice in decision-making processes on climate change and in broader governance processes?
• What are the priority issues related to gender and climate change: access to land and resources; food security and sustainable agriculture; access to energy; water policies? Can you provide examples of innovative and transformative local and grassroots-level initiatives that address these priority issues?
• What can be done to better influence global processes such as Rio+20 and to effectively integrate gender equality dimensions into Rio+20 and related discussions?
• What actions could governments, donors, UN bodies and civil society take to better incorporate gender equality and women’s empowerment into policies, programmes and financing for climate change?

• Cutting Edge Pack on Gender and Climate Change (BRIDGE 2011)
• OECD DAC Policy Statement for the Rio+20 Conference (OECD 2012)
• Policy Statement from the OECD Environment Policy Committee Ministerial Meeting on 29-30 March 2012 to the Rio+20 Conference
• Climate Change Adaptation: At the Core of Development Co-operation (OECD 2009)
• Climate Change and Development: Key principles to inform climate change financing (OECD Factsheet 2009)
• Gender-responsive strategies on climate change: recent progress and ways forward for donors (Otzelberger 2011)
• State of World Population 2009: Facing a Changing World: Women, Population and Climate (UNFPA 2009)
• UNFPA and Rio+20 (UNFPA)
• Population Dynamics and Sustainable Development (UNFPA 2011)

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We look forward to your participation! We strongly encourage you to disseminate news about the online discussion via your networks and on Twitter using #genderclimate

Anyone with an Internet connection is invited to participate in the discussion and we encourage you to express your views on this pressing issue.
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