Triple Bottom Line: Feminism is still relevant and the environmental movement needs it
International Women’s Day may have already passed, but I see no reason not to celebrate women every other day of the year as well. This week I’m examining environmental issues from a less-common perspective — gender. Looking at climate change through a gendered lens reveals inequities that may seem unrelated to the untrained eye. However, we would be remiss to consider the outcomes of climate change without acknowledging that some groups are more immediately vulnerable than others.
If I’m totally honest, I hadn’t heard of the term “ecofeminism” until recently, when I read an article for class. In layman’s terms, it refers to the intersectionality of the feminist and green movements, but, in reality, is much more multifaceted. Ecofeminists see the parallels between the exploitation of the environment and of women and work to bring attention to the ways that women are oppressed by the increasing effects of climate change.
According to the United Nations Environment Programme, environmental conditions impact the lives of women and men in different ways due to historically-established inequalities. Traditional gender roles create differences in the ways men and women act in relation to the environment and environmental change.
Gender gaps are a significant barrier to women’s freedom to make decisions and pursue opportunities, as well as to effective sustainable development and resource control and allocation. In many cases, they are at the mercy of a rapidly changing climate. Matcha Porn-In, a Thai human-rights organization, describes the gender-gap issue poignantly: “If you are invisible in everyday life, your needs will not be thought of, let alone addressed, in a crisis situation.”
While gender norms are slowly being redefined, this work isn’t necessarily progressing at the same rate around the world. In many developing countries, women have less opportunities for furthering their education and careers, instead assuming the traditional role of a family caretaker and mother. The UN Sustainable Development’s fifth goal seeks to eliminate forms of violence and discrimination against women, achieving gender equality and equal rights to economic resources and property ownership. While this goal is well-meaning and brings attention to a key aspect of development, it is also unspecific and lacking effective actions.
Environmental crises themselves can compound pre-existing issues in society. Climate change impacts, such as crop failure, can cause far-reaching food insecurity, putting added stress on women to source enough food to feed their households. Fossil fuel shortages in areas that lack developed infrastructure may burden women, for whom collecting fuel and water to cook for their households is a daily task. As resources become more scarce, women who act as caretakers spend more of their time expending energy searching for what they need to support their families, effectively ensuring that there is no time for them to further their education, pursue their own goals or better their own lives.
Natural disasters and resource conflict can uproot households and leave women more vulnerable to gender-based violence. Consequently, sustainability management programs created to address climate change issues must do a better job of taking local gender dynamics into account, creating safe spaces and rebuilding infrastructure with the dual goal of creating more sustainable habits as well as increased gender equality.
One way of addressing the societal inequities that women face is the establishment of microfinance institutions. Traditional banks require collateral, assets and high credit scores to take out loans, which keeps much of the world’s poorest populations locked within a perpetual cycle of poverty. In recent years, an increasing number of microfinance institutions have been created for marginalized unbanked communities to promote self-sufficiency and income generation. Many microfinance organizations were created specifically for low-income women, providing low-interest microloans and financial literacy information to start their own businesses and provide personal empowerment and autonomy.
Additionally, women are historically underrepresented in seats of political power, making up less than 25% of national parliamentarians worldwide. As a result, in the governance and sustainable management spheres, women’s needs and priorities are often overlooked. Establishing patterns of progressive and inclusive decision making is essential for environmental conservation and also for the promotion of women’s rights as a whole.
Jacinda Ardern, the recently reelected prime minister of New Zealand, has an ambitious agenda that includes both environmental and women’s rights issues, including net zero emissions by 2050, providing free menstrual products in all schools, approving paid leave for miscarriages and establishing a climate commission. One of the world’s youngest prime ministers, Finland’s Sanna Marin, is working towards economic, social and environmental sustainability:closing the pay gap between men and women, legislating stricter nationwide rape laws and attempting nationwide carbon neutrality by 2035.
Additionally, more countries around the world, including Finland, are beginning to provide free college education to university students. While this is the start of closing a financial and gender inequality gap in higher education, we need to consider how to adequately address gender biases and inclusivity in educational environments across the globe. Global female illiteracy rates are much higher than men, but every additional year of attending school provides lasting benefits. Going to school can help women earn higher wages and have better professional opportunities, as well as having fewer children and being less vulnerable to domestic violence.
As we begin the arduous process of redesigning our societies for a more sustainable future, more gender-based issues can also be addressed via urban planning. Developers continue to expand and build in the hopes of creating a greener, more sustainable urban utopia.
Designing sustainable and feminist cities are not mutually exclusive. Improving public transportation reduces the use of privately-owned cars, also benefiting women who may be pregnant or mothers who have to drop children off at daycare before heading off to work.
Walkable streets encourage foot traffic and are more accessible for strollers and wheelchairs. Using renewable energy to create extended lighting systems will save energy as well as potentially reduce violent crimes against women at night.
While these are merely a few examples of the intersection of environmentalism and feminism, I say all this with a caveat. Climate change affects groups around the world differently, but it most severely impacts marginalized communities, including women, Black and Indigenous people and people of color, low-income, those in rural, remote, or informal housing, those with disabilities and trans and gender-nonconforming individuals.
To dip briefly back into the theoretical realm, ecofeminism seeks to establish alliances across multiple sectors of struggle. To achieve real gender equality, we must reassess traditional gender roles and question our belief systems. We cannot effectively fight all aspects of climate change without addressing ensuing socio-economic issues and intersectional identities. Solutions need to recognize the individual ways that people around the globe are experiencing the changing climate, resource scarcity, increasing population density and pollution.
Incorporating intersectional feminism into environmental governance, decisions, activism and change is just one of many ways that we can approach societal injustices head-on and design solutions for unique climate problems faced by women.
At its root, climate change is both caused by and affects class struggles, poverty, racial discrimination and other forms of inequity. We must recognize this interconnectedness; fighting for climate justice cannot come without fighting against oppression and injustices on a larger scale. With greater conscientiousness, global leaders, institutions, NGOs and activists can simultaneously promote environmental protection and gender equality.
Montana Denton is a junior writing about environmental issues, sustainability and society. Her column, “Triple Bottom Line,” runs every other Thursday.