Gender and Development in Brief 'Gender and Climate Change'

Abstract

Climate change is increasingly being recognised as a global crisis, but responses to it have so far been overly focused on scientific and economic solutions. How then do we move towards more people-centred, gender-aware climate change policies and processes? How do we respond to the different needs and concerns of women and men, and also challenge the gender inequalities that mean women are more likely to lose out than men in the face of climate change? This In Brief sets out why it is vital to address the gender dimensions of climate change. It maps pathways for making climate change responses more gender aware and – potentially – transformative and suggests promoting a rights based approach to climate change. This is to ensure that climate change policies and processes draw on human rights frameworks as well as finding alternatives to market-based approaches. When market-based approaches are used to address climate change mitigation they should benefit women equally and not exclude or further disadvantage them. Another recommendation suggests learning from people focused gender – transformative approaches at the local level and apply these lessons to national and international policy. In this respect, the In Brief includes inspiring examples of local, gender-aware innovations in Colombia and India. The case studies have been produced collaboratively through participatory workshops, semi-structured interviews and site visits with FUNDAEXPRESIÓN in Colombia and the Community Awareness Centre (CAC) in India. FUNDAEXPRESIÓN plays a key role in promoting strong local networks to create resilience to climate change and CAC engages women and men in developing relevant solutions that empower women.