Article by Lily Keegan

Photo by Brice Cooper on Unsplash

Climate change is not a new issue, links showing that carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere leads to global warming were made as early as 1938. However, with September 2023 being the hottest month ever on record, evidently not enough is being done to slow down or even potentially reverse the impacts of climate change. But whose job is it to resolve this issue? Should men and women shoulder equal responsibilities in the name of environmental justice? This is what I want to discuss in this blog.

The effects of Climate change include many extreme weather events with droughts, hurricanes, wildfires being merely a few that have widespread impacts affecting people across the globe. Although these impacts are not felt equally. As researcher Brendan Coolsaet pointed out, women who are poor are vulnerable in the case of extreme weather events and as such are more likely to be killed by effects of climate change. Furthermore, with the UN Gender Snapshot 2023 depicting that Women on average earn 51 cents to every 1 dollar earned in labour income by a man, women are undoubtedly at more risk to the effects of climate change.

Surely then women should be the ones most concerned with global warming? Arguments show this is the case, with numerous examples of women being at the forefront of environmental activism. The Love Canal in New York being just one. In short, a group of women living in the area noticed increases in illness amongst their community. After pushing for authorities to investigate why this was occurring, it was found that the estate was built on a chemical dump.

Several reasonings can be drawn as to why in this, as well as many other examples, women have been at the forefront of environmental justice. One being the idea of women as innately more caring. Typically, shouldering a large proportion of care for children, elderly as well as their community women are more likely than men to get involved in protests regarding environmental out of concern for loved ones. Another factor that means women are more likely to be at forefront of environmental activism is that women are more often homemakers, especially in the nuclear family structure, meaning they are more likely to notice the effects of climate change on a local scale. Considering all this, does it not make sense for women to take the reins on environmental justice? Why should men care?

Put simply, the current organisation of societies globally mean men are the ones who hold power enabling change to be made. The Forbes Fortune 500 report in 2033 depicted women made up just 10% of CEOs of the top U.S. corporations. These corporations hold immense power, making decisions about production and distribution of goods, that directly impact levels of carbon dioxide production and therefore impact climate change. Men are less likely to get involved in environmental justice as they view it as unmanly. If this is the case, should we not be concerned that men are the ones making these important decisions that could make or break the future of planet Earth.

Furthermore, as stated by Buckingham, while women may be over-represented in grassroots environmental groups, men are more likely to hold leadership and paid roles in formal environmental organisation. Although this was stated in 2017 this is evident today. Initially, no women were appointed to COP29’s 28- strong organising committee in Azerbaijan this year. Although this decision was later amended after public outcry, it is an example which is truly showing of the lack of equal representation of women in environmental justice.

To conclude, there is a distinct gender divide in environmental justice, and I believe our world is suffering unnecessarily as a result of this. I want to point out though that this blog is not an attempt to bash men, men should care about climate change especially as they are the ones holding the power to make a difference. However, I believe everyone has played a part in increasing CO2 levels and therefore everybody no matter what gender, age, race should play a part in helping fix the problem at hand before it’s too late.

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