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GenderCC Newsletter

December 2021

Dear readers,

This year UNFCCC COP26 took place in Glasgow between the 31st of October and 12th of November. GenderCC actively showcased its work from different projects at Side Events and network meetings at the COP26. We are pleased that the media coverage at UNFCCC COP26 in Glasgow has paid good amount of attention to gender and climate justice. However, the fact that nuclear energy was promoted heavily during the COP under the classification of “green energy” concerns us. We strongly criticize and stand against such false solutions.

Along with the updates of our activity at COP26, we are happy to keep you updated about the recent activities of gender and climate change community as well as a few recent publications on gender and climate justice.

We thank our members for involvement with GenderCC this year and wish that our community will continue to grow in coming years on our fight against gender and climate injustice.

We hope you enjoy this issue! 

Kind regards,

the GenderCC Secretariat team

Content

GenderCC @ UNFCCC

 

Activities of the Gender and Climate Change Community

 

  • Badabon Sangho facilitates an event organized for Global day of action for climate justice

 

News on Gender and Climate Change

  • Beyond COVID-19: A feminist plan for sustainability and social justice

 

Publications

  • Carbon pricing from a feminist perspective - a gender analysis
  • She Changes News Media: Gender representation & portrayal in news coverage of COP26 leadership team
  • The Gender Assessment and Monitoring of Adaptation and Mitigation (GAMMA) methodology: a practical handbook on gender and urban climate policy
  • Masculinities in forests: representations of diversity

 

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Gender @ UNFCCC

GenderCC participated at this year’s COP26 in Glasgow and showcased its work from different projects in Side Events and network meetings. This year’s COP has been criticized by us and many other observer organizations for being very exclusive, particularly for observers from the Global South. This also meant that observers were granted much smaller delegations. For GenderCC this implied that we were only assigned 5 delegation members each week in Glasgow in comparison to 27 delegates at COP25. The day usually started with standing in line at the venue for up to two hours to be granted access, since not only badges but also Covid-19 test results had to be checked by the entrance. The Women and Gender Constituency, of which GenderCC is a member, had its daily caucus meetings to zoom into gender and human rights relevant topics in the negotiations as well Side Events of that day and to allow for member organizations to get to know each other.

During the first week, GenderCC organized one Side Event at the Blue Zone on Engaging citizens in urban climate action for inclusive just transition programs together with the Climate Alliance and Heschel Sustainability Center. Gotelind Alber was the panelist for GenderCC and presented major outputs of the project “Gender into Urban Climate Change Initiative”, such as the methodology “GAMMA”. The methodology gives guidance for cities on how to develop and implement gender-responsive policies for mitigating climate change and adapting to its impacts. Many people took part in the Side Event and after the inputs from the panel a lively discussion emerged.

On Friday Ndivile Mokoena (GenderCC Southern Africa) brought in her perspective on sustainable agriculture as a panelist at the Side Event Uncovering justice gaps in Just Transitions – why technological solutions won’t solve the crises organized by Rosa-Luxemburg-Foundation at the Blue Zone. GenderCC delegates joined the kick-off demonstration to the People’s Summit on Saturday advocating to step up efforts at negotiations, joined by locals as well as COP26 participants. The weekend was used to prepare for the second week of the negotiations and meet up with the delegation of Rosa-Luxemburg-Foundation. The foundation funds the “Not without us!” project, which supports GenderCC’s and its partner’s work in actively taking part in the UNFCCC process.

During the second week, GenderCC was involved in two Side Events. The first event was organized by the “Not without us!” project of GenderCC and LIFE e.V. at the Green Zone Cinema Auditorium Not without us! – Pathways to a gender just transition. The event showcased examples and challenges to the just transition from different sectors and countries by Dunja Krause (UNRISD), Kavindu Ediriweera (Slycan Trust, Sri Lanka) and from a GenderCC member organization Dinda Yura (Solidaritas Perempuan, Indonesia). During the discussion many questions were directed at the panelists and showed a large interest in this topic.

The second Side Event “Life at the centre: towards a Feminist climate justice” was also organized by GenderCC and its partners from the “Not without us!” project as part of the People’s Summit. It critically questioned false solutions to climate change and proposed solutions from the work of caring, sustaining and reproducing life. Talking about the struggles against extractive capitalism, speakers from Observatorio de Ecología política de Venezuela, Movimiento por el Agua y los Territorios-MAT from Chile and GenderCC member Dinda Yura (Solidaritas Perempuan, Indonesia) highlighted their local struggles for gender just futures. Melissa Moreano (Colectivo de Geographía Crítica del Ecuador, GenderCC member) facilitated the session and took up the questions from the audience.

Women and Gender received a lot of attention with a color campaign: each day we had masks with another color raising a specific gender-related topic, e.g. orange for feminist leadership, or purple for a “NO” to false solutions. Find the issue briefs here

For our detailed evaluation of the COP26 outcomes and a gender specific progress, you can read our Press Release

Activities of the Gender and Climate Change Community

Badabon Sangho facilitated an event organized for Global day of action for climate justice

Badabon Sangho is a GenderCC member from Bangladesh. It is a women-led feminist organisation. Recently they facilitated an event on global day of action for climate justice. On this day various group members, federation leaders and women's rights organisations organised rallies and indigenous cultural programmes. Demanding clean drinking water, access to water bodies, and fisher-folk cards, local peoples organised traditional songs. By the way of the traditional songs local people, particularly women fisher-folk communities, become aware of climate change and ongoing discussion about this issue. It is notable to mention that the event was organised at the belt of the Bay of Bengal, right opposite of the mangrove forest – Sundarbans. Indigenous populations who are depending on the Sundarbans for their livelihoods joined the event. At the end of the songs, they shared their experiences of negative consequences of climate change. Particularly, the way women are becoming unhealthy within saline water, how fishing is shrinking and how marital relation and families are breaking were discussed in the gathering. It is important to note, that speakers don't have scientific knowledge on climate change, however they talked about their experiences.

 

News on Gender and Climate Change

Beyond COVID-19: A feminist plan for sustainability and social justice

UN WOMEN offers a vision and concrete ways to put gender equality, environmental sustainability, and social justice at the center of economic recovery and transformation, by drawing on the latest available data and input from more than 100 experts from academia, civil society, and the UN system. Read more here

Publications

Carbon pricing from a feminist perspective - a gender analysis

At the beginning of 2021, a carbon pricing system was introduced in Germany on the fossil fuels coal, petrol, diesel, heating oil, and gas. The aim is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and thereby contribute to achieving the climate goals. The level of the price, its effectiveness, and, above all, who will be particularly affected, and how the additional costs can be socially compensated are hotly debated in the political landscape. 

Ulrike Röhr from GenderCC analyses the effects of the carbon price on fairness and justice from a gender perspective as well as presents various compensation proposals for private households/individuals. Read more here

 

She Changes News Media: Gender representation & portrayal in news coverage of COP26 leadership team

“The underrepresentation and the stereotypical portrayal of women in the news media is an enduring matter. This thesis examines the gender representation and portrayal in news coverage of the underrepresentation of women at the United Nations’ 26th Conference of Parties (COP26). As frame of reference, the theories watchdog journalism, representation, feminist media, and homophily are used. The study conducts a manual content analysis on news reports and news tweets concerning the topic. The analysis focuses on four categories of women; reporters, sources, women who advocate for better representation at COP26, and women in relation to climate change. Previous research shows that women are underrepresented as reporters and sources in political news. However, this study concludes that women are highly represented in the news coverage of this topic, while men are almost totally absent”. Read more here

The Gender Assessment and Monitoring of Adaptation and Mitigation (GAMMA) methodology: a practical handbook on gender and urban climate policy

The GAMMA methodology has been developed within the framework of the GenderCC project "Gender into Urban Climate Change Initiative" (GUCCI). The guide will provide a methodology for assessing the gendered impacts of policies and solutions for adaptation and mitigation, instances in which policy fails to consider gender, and how to advocate for gender-responsive policy-making to prevent the entrenchment of inequalities in the context of increased climate change and rather maximise social and gender benefits. Read more here

Masculinities in forests: representations of diversity

Often, gender consideration focuses solely on women, however to date majority of environment related efforts are also hindered by gender stereotyping of men and by lack of attention to gendered conditions, identities and expectations associated with diverse masculinities. A new book titled “ Masculinities in forests: representations of diversity” written by Carol J. Pierce Colfer, attempts to fill in this gap and looks into masculinities and their role in climate change and environmental policies. Read more here