Transcript PowerPoint-Präsentation

Climate for Change.
How research should incorporate
gender dimensions to inform
climate change policy-makers
Gotelind Alber
GenderCC-Women for Climate Justice
www.gendercc.net
Evidence on gender differentials related to climate
change and climate policy
 Politial power and influence on decision-making
(high evidence, high agreement)
 Carbon footprints (drivers) & vulnerability
(impacts)
(low to robust evidence, low to high agreement)
 Attitudes and preferences
(limited evidence, low agreement)
 Access to climate relevant resources and
services, capacities to respond to climate change
(limited evidence, medium agreement)
 Socio-economic impacts of policies (limited
evidence, low agreement)
2
Underlying factors
Gender power relations
Segregation in education
Income and assets
Care economy, livelihoods
Unpaid labour, informal economy
Cultural constraints
Legal discrimination
Gender bias in power & decision-making
Gender balance in the UNFCCC Process
Gendered causes of climate change:
different carbon footprints
Räty and CarlssonKanyama 2010
Gendered impacts of climate change
Vulnerability to the
impacts of climate
change is depending
on exposure,
sensitivity and
adaptive capacity
“Climate change is likely to
magnify existing patterns of
gender disadvantage”
(UNDP Human Development
Report, 2007)
Attitudes and preferences
 Concerns about climate change
 Expectations towards policy-makers
 Acceptance of risky technologies such as
nuclear, CCS, geo-engeneering
 Preferences in terms of strategies
(technological approach versus lifestyle
changes)
 Willingness to change own lifestyles
Example: Gender aspects of mobility
and transport
 Trip patterns
 Safety requirements
 Customary/cultural
constraints for women
 Available and preferred modes
 Attitudes to cars
 Scarcity of urban space road infrastructure competing
with other land use purposes
Example: Some gender aspects of energy
 Extremely low representation of women
 Exposure to indoor air pollution
 Different responsibilities in terms of
household energy
 Decision-making
at household level?
 Risk of energy poverty
 Different chances to invest
in energy efficiency
and renewables
The case for social aspects and climate justice to
be taken into consideration
IPCC AR4:
Four main criteria that should be used
to evaluate mitigation instruments and policies
 Environmental effectiveness
 Cost effectiveness
 Distributional and equity effects
 Institutional feasibility
A Topography of gender & climate change topics
Low/middle/high
income contries
Urban - rural
Gender in the recent IPCC AR5 reports – results of
a word count
Word frequency of
gender
women
men
WG I
(Physical Science Basis)
-
-
-
WG II
(Impacts, Adaptation,
and Vulnerability)
321
215
48
WG III
(Mitigation of
Climate Change)
36
31
2
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Existing research on climate change
Mainstream climate change research
 Science & technology plus economy
 Male dominated, gender blind, often blind for
social dimension in general
 Focus on technical solutions and one-fits-allmechanisms
Gender aware research
 Social sciences & humanities
 Often very theoretical
 Focus on impacts, vulnerability and resilience
building
 Concentration on case studies, only anecdotal
evidence
Some newer findings
 Relevance of gender for transition to low
carbon economies (Kronsell 2013: Gender
and Transition in Climate Governance)
 High level of awareness of the gendered
aspects of climate change likely to lead to
improved policies (Dyme, Andersson and
Langlais 2015 for local level)
 Gender balance alone not sufficient to ensure
gender sensitive policy-making, as masculine
norms deeply institutionalized in climate
institutions (Magnusdottir & Kronsell 2015)
Questions for Gender Advocacy
 How to address gendered carbon footprints, needs,
and preferences in terms of policy options?
 How to take lifestyles, structures and
infrastructures into consideration?
 How to respond to gender roles in practice without
reinforcing them
 How to deal with simplifications and gender myths
versus diversity and intersectionality?
 Low carbon development as a multi-dimensional
and multi-level transformative process towards
low-carbon, low-risk, climate-resilient, equitable,
gender-just and inclusive societies?
From Gender Balance to Gender Justice
 Gender balance / equal
representation and participation
 Recognise and address gender roles,
e.g. equitable and fair distributional
effects of benefits and burdens
 Challenge power relations and
institutionalised norms:
Transformational effects
Consequences: Priorities and
strategies might change, individual
policies and measure might need to
be modified
Research Needs - Principles
 Transdisciplinary, participatory and people-centred
 Gender awareness and gender competence of
reearchers plus involvement of specific gender experts
 Intersectional approach as integral part of research
 Gender disaggregated data plus further disaggregation
(see e.g. Eurobarometer) and examination of underlying
causes
 Value and address care economy
 Methodologies & tools to detect and address gender
differentials, e.g. in vulnerability assessments, GIA
 Address root causes: Androcentrism, segregation of care
Suggestions for Specific Research Questions
 Gender effects of carbon market and
mechanisms
 Care and informal economy and climate change
 GIA for mitigaton policies & measures
 How to deal with MRV, e.g. given the continuum
from resilience building to development in
general
 Loss & damage: how to compensate for losses in
the informal economy?
 Applicability of Gender Budgeting for the
Monitoring of International Climate Finance
GenderCC - Women for Climate Justice
Global network of women NGOs and gender
experts working for gender and climate justice
www.gendercc.net
comm.gendercc.net