Editor’s note: This article is part of the #Interlinked series designed by the Sustainable Development Goals working group from Generation Climate of this campaign is to  Europe. The objective is to raise awareness of the interlinkages existing between climate change and other SDGs.

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges the world, and especially its female population, is facing. In the first article of this series, we illustrated the greater impact climate change has on women. This second article will rather portray women as powerful agents of change in the fight against climate change and address the following questions:

What role do women, and in particular female political leaders, play in responding to this challenge? How are they leading climate actions? Why is it important to ensure women’s inclusion at the leadership level? What are the barriers to their full and equal participation in decision-making and management, and what could be done to reduce this global inequality?

To answer those concerns, we found it crucial to interview young female activists to have their views on the issue and draw together the path towards global gender-equal climate action. The second part of this article is therefore dedicated to these women and their action to address both the climate change and the gender equality challenges.

Women can and do play a critical role in response to climate change due to their local knowledge of and leadership in sustainable resource management and/or leading sustainable practises at the household and community level, for example. Women are the most reliant on natural resources for their livelihoods and, thus, now recognized as the most important actors in the development and implementation of climate policies. 

In 2018, the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society has called the G7 to take seven key steps for women’s empowerment and gender equality such as leading by example in the public sector by using gender budgeting and placing women in decision-making roles; ensuring equal access to advanced technological education for equal outcomes for women; and drawing on women’s leadership where possible. Yet, as Sophie Lambin, chief executive of Kite Insights (consulting agency) and expert in the field of gender equality and climate change, explains putting females in a position of power is often seen as corporate responsibility or a diversity quota. However, women leadership in climate change is essential to its success and should not be considered as merely a diversity effort. Women’s participation at the political level has resulted in greater responsiveness to citizens’ needs, often increasing cooperation across parties and ethnic lines and delivering more sustainable peace, which accounts for local and global efforts. At the local level, women’s inclusion in leadership positions has led to improved outcomes of climate-related projects and policies. On the contrary, when policies and projects are implemented without women’s meaningful participation it increases existing inequalities while negatively impacting the effectiveness of the plans or measures put in place. Initiatives have been launched to include women in all areas of society from the public, private, academic to the civil society sectors. On the global level, international bodies and organisations display different levels of women representations but remain rather low. 

On the other hand, women have been leading climate change actions in some organisations and launched groundbreaking initiatives. Indeed, women in leadership roles were essential in creating the Paris Agreement, which includes a soon-to-be-implemented Gender Action Plan that will ensure greater female participation in climate negotiations. The new presidency of the EU is a great example of these achievements. Ursula Von Der Leyen and her new Commission have been emphasising climate change as a priority in their agenda, especially with the European Green Deal which was presented to the Council of Europe at the beginning of their mandate and setting Europe’s roadmap towards a green transition while creating jobs and new opportunities in an inclusive and just way.

Women are powerful agents of change in the fight for a sustainable future. That is why it is crucial to promote initiatives empowering girls and women in taking leading roles in climate action. That is the role of EmpoderaClima, a programme that started in April 2019 within Care About Climate, a US-based organisation, which mainly focuses on educating young women from the global south on gender equality and climate change. Renata Koch Alvarenga, the creator of the programme, strongly advocates for gender equality and diversity in climate action by bridging the gap through climate justice education. Her action within EmpoderaClima aims at empowering people so they can take action in their communities. 

Such a women-led initiative highlights several flaws in the climate action movement. Indeed, high-level meetings and events tend to be inaccessible to the youth and women, in particular, marginalising them from the debates where they should be a key part of the conversation. Renata especially pointed out the central role of women in their communities as they often are the ones protecting vital environmental resources, advocating for and playing a leadership role on the forefront of local climate action. So, according to Renata, the logical next step would be to bring women to decision-making tables to make sure their voices are heard.

Yet, a burden remains on women’s shoulders that is their caretaker’s responsibility for their families and communities, which weighs even more following the consequences of climate change. Besides, women are also deprived of a pivotal element: time. Renata explains that they cannot empower themselves through education because they do not have the time to dedicate themselves to it, which is why the focus should be on investing in young girls’ education to foster local activism and give them the resources they need to later become national or global leaders.

V’cenza Cirefice, an ecofeminist researcher activist, is studying the gendered-dynamics present in activist movements and noticed women prevailing involvement at the front of the climate struggle all around the world. She claims gender is an important part of climate-related issues because the climate crisis is a social justice crisis. Women are indeed confronted with the worst impacts of the climate crisis but, at the same time, they are the ones at the front line, standing up at their own risk, facing gender-specific threats and deprived of the same resources and access to platforming their voices as men. In addition to their care work taking them so much time and energy, the structures to address the crisis are hierarchical and patriarchal in themselves (i.e. gender pay gap, top roles often held by men). 

Women are indeed confronted with the worst impacts of the climate crisis but, at the same time, they are the ones at the front line, standing up at their own risk, facing gender-specific threats and deprived of the same resources and access to platforming their voices as men.

From her ecofeminist perspective, the historical roots of the climate crisis go back to the intertwined systems of oppression that are patriarchy, capitalism and colonialism. That is why she also argues that individual behaviour changes alone won’t be enough and that structural changes are needed to move away from growth-oriented economics towards more sustainable economics. That is the reason why V’cenza advocates for horizontal organising and consensus decision-making which, though take longer and have more difficult processes, are more inclusive and help all voices to be heard. Therefore, gender lands have to be added in every aspect of the fight against climate change, otherwise, the same hierarchies of oppression will be reproduced and women will end up with more work and a bigger burden. 

To achieve women’s full participation in decision-making roles, it is not only a question of who is getting to the table but also who feels confident enough to speak. Thereby, V’cenza argument meets the ones of EmpoderaClima that education is the only way to have around these gender-dynamics. She also added that such a complex issue should be approached through intersectional lands and understood in context-specific ways as women have different experiences of climate change and environmental education based on age, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation and immigration status.

EmpoderaClima focuses its action towards the global south since it is obviously where the most urgent actions are needed. Nevertheless, intersectional and international partnerships are essential to reach these objectives. That is why the role of Europe and the European Union in supporting other nations’ climate and social justice ambition, either financially, logistically or morally, is fundamental.

The European Union is moving forward on the issue of climate change, leading by example and providing additional help to countries in difficulty. Yet, it is still lagging on gender equality and particularly in bringing a gender approach to environmental and climate issues. Like V’cenza argued, a systemic change is crucial to avoid repeating the same mistakes that created the climate crisis that we are currently facing. Initiatives such as EmpoderaClima, clearly show the commitment of women in assuming the role of powerful agents of change and leading on those issues. Women are powerful agents of change that need to be included in the fight against climate change to achieve the EU green objectives and more.