This year is expected to be hottest on record. The latest United Nations estimates state, without radical and immediate action, that we are moving towards an increasingly uninhabitable planet with an increase of 3.1 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. Solving the climate crisis requires urgent global cooperation.
But the annual global climate meeting (known as the Conference of the Parties, or COP) held in the petrostate of Azerbaijan in November confirmed the situation at best. The current economic system underlying this status quo is based on the extraction of natural resources and the exploitation of cheap or unpaid labor, often performed by women and marginalized communities. This system therefore fuels the climate crisis while perpetuating inequalities based on gender, race and class. It prioritizes the interests of corporations, governments and elites in positions of power and wealth, while destroying the natural environment on which the poor and marginalized depend most.
We need another stroke to move the needle. As a UN gender equality researcher, we see more and more evidence that women, girls and people of different genders are bearing the brunt of climate change. And this raises a question: what happens if we approach the climate from a feminist perspective?
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Feminism examines how inequality structures our world and thus drives the climate crisis, among other global concerns. We believe it provides a vision of a better climate future, and a practical approach to moving towards it. This strong future is not just an end to fossil fuel-based economies – although that is urgent and necessary – but a more fundamental transformation of our economic and political systems.
Women around the world have unequal access to economic resources such as jobs, bank accounts, land and technology. This means that when weather patterns change, disrupting infrastructure and public services, they are less able to adapt, recover and rebuild. As a result, their livelihood and economic security are particularly at risk. Recent UN Women research says that globally, climate change could push 158 million more women and girls into poverty, and 236 million more women and girls into food insecurity by 2050, in the worst-case scenario. In addition to income poverty, women and girls are increasingly experiencing time poverty. As access to water, fuel and nutritious food becomes more difficult and the health needs of family members increase, women and girls must spend more time in unpaid care work. This reduces the time they need to do paid work, go to school or take care of themselves.
This toxic combination of time and income poverty has far-reaching, long-term consequences. For example, after years of slow progress in reducing child marriage rates, the practice is once again on the rise in places experiencing environmental stress, as families struggle financially and see early marriage as a form of security for their girls. In areas prone to droughtgirls are increasingly likely to drop out of school as families cannot afford fees and their girls have to help with household chores, reducing their life chances.
A feminist climate justice approach attempts to address the interconnected challenges of climate change, gender inequality, and social injustice. It is based on the recognition that the poor, women and girls who belong to “lower” caste or marginalized ethnic groups or disabled people are most affected by disasters and environmental degradation, while their knowledge and contributions to deal with them are constantly marginalized. Feminist climate justice raises their voices and values their contributions to understanding the climate crisis and charting a new path forward. For example, indigenous and local women have used theirs traditional knowledge tree species to guide sustainable forestry initiatives in Colombia; and in Bangladesh, during extreme floods, women relied on traditional rural cooking methods to provide food in remote affected areas.
We need to move away from economies based on extraction and pollution to ones based on regeneration and care for each other and the environment. These new systems would prioritize the well-being of people and the planet, over profits and the power of elites, to enable a more sustainable, resilient, inclusive and just future. This feminist perspective is based on a growing interest in thinking from many cultural contexts.welfare economics“. For example, the Buen Vivir paradigm that underpins the development strategies of Bolivia and Ecuador is inspired by indigenous knowledge and values that promote harmonious relationships between humans and nature. Meanwhile, in Canada, a Quality of Life strategy It was introduced to support a resilient recovery from COVID-19 by focusing on improving key areas of life such as health, social belonging, environmental quality, prosperity and public confidence.
As detailed in our report Feminist Climate Justice: A Framework for Action, to move towards this vision requires actions around four pillars.
First, we must recognize women’s rights, work and knowledge. To be effective, climate policy-making must take into account the expertise of women, including indigenous and rural women, on issues such as ecosystem conservation and environmentally sustainable agriculture. This is essential to avoid the problem of maladaptation: well-intentioned adaptation projects that do not work or do more harm than good.
We need to redistribute resources away from male-dominated economic activities that harm the environment towards women’s employment, regeneration and the care of people and ecosystems. The idea of a just transition, which is taking center stage on the climate agenda, must extend beyond providing new jobs for men laid off in fossil fuel industries to address the economic disadvantages faced by women and marginalized groups: persistent wage gaps; wide disparities in land ownership, labor force participation, access to education, training and technology; and inadequate or lack of social protection.
When making environmental decisions, we must guarantee the representation of multiple women’s voices, both in social movements, in environmental ministries and in COP delegations. In civil society, women who organize collectively within movements and between movements have the right to be heard and to see their interests reflected, without being threatened, persecuted or even killed for their activism. Therefore, it is also essential to end the impunity of violence against defenders of human and environmental rights.
And we must address the impacts of environmental degradation—recognizing that the Global North bears most of the responsibility for historical emissions—and ensure that such damage is not repeated. Rich countries must meet their long-standing climate finance commitments and ensure that resources reach grassroots women’s organizations at the forefront of this crisis. As campaigners shouted at COP28, “millions not millions, polluters pay”. Taxing and regulating corporations causing climate chaos in developing countries is necessary as part of reparations.
In addition to the “what” of feminist climate justice, the “how” is also important. The wide gap between calls for bold climate action and sluggish government responses raises urgent questions about how to hold them accountable. Given the tensions and conflicts between countries at the moment, the fact that all governments meet every year for climate negotiations is an achievement that should not be ignored. But still, it feels like we’re a million miles from where we need to be. The role of social movements—feminists, environmentalists, indigenous organizations, youth—working with UN allies, governments and progressive businesses to demand faster and more radical action will be critical. It is our hope that a feminist climate justice framework can help bring together a common understanding of the urgency and direction of action needed across these four pillars to demand a more sustainable future.
This is an opinion and analysis article, and the views expressed by the author(s) are not necessarily their own. American scientific
Laura Turquet She is UN Women’s deputy head of research and data. Follow Turquet Bluesky at lauraturquet.bsky.socialand LinkedIn
Silke Staab She is an expert in UN Women research. Follow him on Bluesky @silkestaab.bsky.social and LinkedIn
Brianna Howell She is a research analyst for UN Women. Follow him LinkedIn
