{"id":4799,"date":"2025-01-16T18:06:17","date_gmt":"2025-01-16T18:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/global-social-challenges\/?p=4799"},"modified":"2025-01-20T18:59:19","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T18:59:19","slug":"fighting-on-the-frontlines-for-the-climate-emergency-but-no-one-is-listening-why-women-are-the-face-of-environmental-activism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/global-social-challenges\/2025\/01\/16\/fighting-on-the-frontlines-for-the-climate-emergency-but-no-one-is-listening-why-women-are-the-face-of-environmental-activism\/","title":{"rendered":"Fighting on the Frontlines for the Climate Emergency, but No One is Listening: Why women are the face of environmental activism"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Article by\u00a0Polly Barton<\/strong><\/p>\n

Photo by\u00a0Mika Baumeister<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u201cWomen must see that there can be no liberation for them and no solution to ecological crisis within a society whose fundamental model of relationships continues to be one of domination.\u201d (Ruether 1975) These words encourage the liberation of women against power imbalances that dominate society, specifically regarding how ecological issues effect women. Women, are constantly at the forefront of climate politics and possess the desire to combat our climate emergency, so I begin to raise to the question of why women lack the platform to express climate difficulties we face on a societal level and why women are subject to the most environmental injustices?<\/p>\n

Distributive justice refers to the distribution of environmental goods, such as clean water or green space, or a lack of the latter, replacing \u2018goods\u2019 with negative distribution such as toxic pollution. (MacGregor 2020) Gender inequality directly coincides with women being subject to more \u2018negative distributions\u2019 than positive ones. According to the gender snapshot of 2023 produced by UN Women gender inequality is entrenched within society, if trends continue it is expected that 340 million women and girls will still live in extreme poverty by 2030 and one in four will endure severe food insecurity (UN Women 2023) Women living in areas of negative distribution are likely to have\u00a0 poorsocioeconomic backgrounds too and thus\u00a0 women are more likely to be economically deprived in comparison to men, they are therefore less likely to be able to face environmental change. The World Health Organisation has estimated that climate change could cause 250,000 deaths per year between 2030 and 2050 due to undernutrition or heat stress, specifically women (WHO, 2023) Similarly, agriculture, being an accessible form of employment for women in low-middle income countries, during periods of environmental change such as drought or increased rainfall there are increased implications for the wellbeing of these women. For example, girls often leave school and become vulnerable to sexual violence and human trafficking and as a result have lower survival rates (UN women, 2023).<\/p>\n

Through assessing this information, it is unequivocally apparent that women are facing environmental injustice due to gender inequality as they are forced into positions where they inevitably suffer. However, what is interesting is that women are the individuals fighting for our planet. There is debate raised by eco-feminists that this is due to women feeling a moral obligation to care for the environment, as part of being a woman, stereotypically this can mean that they possess an innate ability to care and nurture. I argue that believing that women have a purpose to nurture and that this purpose cannot be fulfilled by a man further perpetuates a patriarchal narrative. Additionally, this view places women in a position of inferiority as it disregards and undermines a woman\u2019s knowledge and intelligence regarding interest in climate change and despite women have a supposed innate \u2018care\u2019 for the environment, they are constantly exiled from climate debate on a global scale. Women act as environmental agents; women are more likely to recycle, save water and energy in households and they also engage in higher levels of political activism. Despite this, men still widely dominate powerful paid roles in environmental organisations. Paradoxically, aggregated data indicates that men are less concerned with environmental issues facing the planet and engage in less environmental activities that would positively benefit the environment in contrast to women (Kennedy and Dzialo, 2015) It is commonly argued that gender-balance\u00a0 within government does create effective sustainable policies (Buckingham et al, 2005)\u00a0 Heightened amounts of women in positions of power regarding environmental awareness such as women holding positions in government or environmental organisations not only would this increase equality but it would create an awareness of the inequality faced by women due to climate change, which is something that the men in these areas would not relate to as well, therefore we eradicate women carrying the burden of environmental struggle. We therefore are helping to remove the idea that only one section of the population can implement effective policies that combat our SHARED climate crisis.<\/p>\n

Women are the \u2018undercover agents\u2019 that are directly fighting on the frontlines against our imminent climate emergency and it\u2019s about time that women receive recognition within this sphere. Women are vulnerable to the harmful effects of climate change; they need to be heard.<\/p>\n

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Links:<\/p>\n

NEW WOMAN, NEW EARTH<\/a>\u2014<\/a>SETTING THE AGENDA on JSTOR<\/a><\/p>\n

Gender matters in environmental justice <\/a>\u2014 <\/a>Research Explorer the University of<\/a> Manchester<\/a><\/p>\n

New report shows how feminism can be a powerful tool to fight climate change | UN\u00a0<\/a>Women <\/a>\u2013 <\/a>Headquarters<\/a><\/p>\n

Climate change<\/a><\/p>\n

Locating Gender in Environmental Sociology <\/a>– <\/a>Kennedy <\/a>– <\/a>2015 <\/a>– <\/a>Sociology Compass <\/a>–<\/a> Wiley Online Library<\/a><\/p>\n

Gender and Environment by Susan Buckingham, 2nd edition | 9781351717793<\/a><\/p>\n

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