10. April 2010

Gender for Softies only? – Gender is also good for the hard stuff !

A gender check of the current negotiating text shows that the groups in the recently formed Women and Gender constituency have made substantial progress in introducing gender, in particular into the current LCA version. However, it is mainly the “softer” issues such as adaptation, stakeholder participation or capacity building where gender issues have been taken into consideration. As for mitigation, technologies and financing, gender is still absent. Is there anything gender has got to do with these tough issues? Yes. For instance, women and men have different priorities in terms of mitigation and different perceptions of risk. A vast majority of women rejects nuclear power and other pseudo-solutions such as carbon capture and storage and geo-engineering which do not offer sustainable solutions and tend to shift the problems to future generations. A climate agreement must take this into account and exclude incentives for such technologies. On financing, says Gotelind Alber from GenderCC – Women for Climate Justice, “All over the world, women have less income and less access to financial resources. Once all the climate related funds that have been promised will be operational, we need to ensure that there is gender equity in their distribution.” Gender sensitive criteria or gender impact assessments of the projects to be funded are tools to support the goal of gender justice in climate financing.  Among the list of unresolved items, these issues need to be included. We will urge Parties to address these gender dimensions properly in the future climate regime.
GenderCC - Women for Climate Justice is the global network of women and gender activists and experts from all world regions working for gender and climate justice. GenderCC's work includes awareness raising, capacity building, research and action learning, advocacy and collaboration on gender and climate issues at local, national, regional and international levels. Contact: Gotelind Alber
g.alber(at)gendercc.net
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Mobile +49-151-15240802