Article by Claudia Bernardo

Photo by Chris LeBoutillier on Unsplash

Global sustainability cannot exist in societies across the globe for as long as gender inequality remains an issue due to its “cause-and-effect” relationship with the environment. The continuous undermining and disregard of women as people and their voices remains a prominent factor that hinders the progress towards an equal society globally and global sustainability. In societies where men are dictators, how will women and other groups ever reach the resources they need if their ability is essentially out of reach?

The feminisation of global issues is one of the factors hindering global sustainability. By assigning stereotypical feminine traits, such as nurturance and empathy to global issues such as climate change, and ultimately placing the responsibility of saving the planet on women and girls, men and boys are driven away from educating themselves and contributing solutions to these issues as a way to preserve their masculinity. The responsibility is ultimately placed on women to provide solutions to problems that are not entirely caused by them due to the unwillingness of men and their persistence to maintain their masculine identities. Their attempts at solutions may end up being futile due to their lack of representation in politics and their disadvantaged status across the globe. Coolsaet (2020) shared that there is a link between gender equality and environmental protection, and that gender balance has shown to be effective in environmental decision making, essentially highlighting the importance of female voices to protect and facilitate the progress towards global sustainability. Men’s ignorance results in a lack of accountability for their contribution to climate change. Brough et al. (2016) has stated in their research that their rejection of “green femininity” by choosing non green products such as green batteries or lamps as to avoid being perceived as feminine as well as donating to charities and campaigns that support the environment, all directly affects the environment and hinders the progress towards global sustainability. Defeminisation of global issues will encourage men to educate themselves and provide different perspectives on how to achieve global sustainability in addition to taking the burden off of women and girls. Their participation will serve more effectively as men are more politically and socially advantaged, as well as over-represented, compared to women across multiple sectors in societies across the globe.

Another issue that hinders the progress towards global sustainability is gendered violence as  there is a disproportionate amount of violence between men and women with men being the main perpetrators. Their violence doesn’t just harm women but also the environment. Camey et al. (2021) reveals that women who are advocates for global sustainability and environmental protection are at a higher risk of experiencing violence from men such as threats of rape, intimidation and misogyny. These techniques are used to discourage women from advocating for the protection of the environment which regresses the existing progress. With no advocacy, when will we achieve global sustainability? Alongside men’s violence, their ignorance only adds to the detriment of the environment.

Women, despite all of their hardships, are the solution to a better globe. Their passion and advocacy to the betterment of the environment and society around the globe have shown to be greatly effective. Gaard (1993) states that ecofeminism studies the intersectionality of oppression between women, nature and animals that is based on patriarchal, western and hierarchical ideologies. These ideologies place women, animals and nature at the bottom and perceive them as trivial. By activally combating these ideologies, women are progressing towards a more equal and sustainable society where all groups despite their hierarchy are cared for. Ecofeminism encompasses multiple social problems that are intersectional while providing an understanding on how all of these issues are connected. It also directly critiques men’s ignorance and unwillingness to learn while also providing new solutions on how to tackle these problems to eventually reach global sustainability.

References:

Brough, A.R., Wilkie, J.E.B., Ma, J., Isaac, M.S. and Gal, D. (2016). Is Eco-Friendly Unmanly? The Green-Feminine Stereotype and Its Effect on Sustainable Consumption. Journal of Consumer Research, 43(4), pp.567–582. doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucw044.

Camey, I., Sabater, L., Owren, C., Boyer, A. and Wen, J. (2021). Gender-based Violence and Environment Linkages Summary for Policy Makers.

Coolsaet, B. (Ed.). (2020). Environmental Justice: Key Issues (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi-org.manchester.idm.oclc.org/10.4324/9780429029585

Gaard, G., 1993. Ecofeminism. In The Routledge Companion to Gender and Animals (pp. 49-70). Routledge.

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