Climate Change and Gender Justice

Awareness of the complex and dynamic links between gender relations and climate change is growing fast in gender and development (GAD) circles and among women’s rights activists, but in mainstream policies they still tend to be overlooked. This book offers information and evidence towards a more informed, nuanced gender perspective in the context of climate change. It notes that, until recently, the interactions between gender relations and climate change have been obscured, firstly because the mainstream policy discourse is stereotypically masculine, and secondly because of the complex relationship between climate change and other global phenomena such as economic and food crises, population growth and conflict; which add multiple dimensions to the problem and potential solutions. The book includes case studies from Asia, Africa, Latin and Central America and the Pacific region, and the chapters cover a wide spectrum of climate change related topics: gendered vulnerability; disaster-preparedness and adaptation; mitigation initiatives; and advocacy aimed at influencing climate policies. Key strands running through the book are: • The need to move beyond simply presenting women as victims of climate change, and to see them as agents capable of contributing to solutions • The need to consider how social differences such as class, gender, and ethnicity shape people’s vulnerability • The fact that women have a vital role to play in adaptation because of their gendered knowledge, for instance in managing water resources • The need for women to have a say in setting overall development priorities and strategies