Gender, is related to climate change in a myriad of complex ways. Firstly, many causes of climate change were often shown to be gender-dependent, as the average man in a developed country tends both to consume more energy, and be less engaged in household recycling and so forth, than his average countrywomen.
Secondly gender was consistently highlighted as being spun together with processes of climate change mitigation. The gendered patterns of consumption and the need to decrease consumption were also discussed. As were the processes of mitigation, including the gendered character of decision-making, which see many of the influential political bodies and industries producing greenhouse gases dominated by men.
Thirdly, gender was seen as being fundamentally related to questions of vulnerability and adaptation to the effects of climate change such as increases in the incidence of heat waves, droughts, heavy rainfall, floods, landslides, rising sea levels, deforestation, as well as changing conditions in respect of agriculture, access to clean water, and food-security.
The way in which 'masculinist' scientific discourses separate the masculine from the feminine, culture from nature and human-animals from other animals was underlined as a necessary framework for better understanding the gendering of climate and (un-)sustainability. Researchers at the conference, however, urged us not to over-simplify this discussion as conditions of class, ethnicity and, above all, nationality, also influence the rate of greenhouse gas emissions.
The conference was attended by around 100 researchers and practitioners from over twenty countries around the world. The organizers were the Coordination for gender studies, Copenhagen University.
More information: Gendering climate and sustainability
Nordregio is, together with Uppsala University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, doing research on gender and climate change, funded by the Swedish Research Council, the Swedish Research Council Formas and the Swedish national Space Board.
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