Presentation at conference EnGendering Excellence, Research Council of Norway, Oslo, June 2015

1. Gotelind Alber
GenderCC-Women for Climate Justice
www.gendercc.net
Climate for Change.
How research should incorporate gender dimensions to
inform climate change policy-makers
EnGendering Excellence
Research Council of Norway
Oslo, 4 June 2015

2. 2
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, medium 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,
medium agreement)
* According to the terminology the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) is using to describe available evidence and confidence

3. Underlying factors of the gender dimensions of
climate change and climate policy
 Gender power relations
 Segregation in education
 Differences in income and assets
 Care economy, livelihoods
 Unpaid labour, informal economy
 Gendered cultural constraints
 Legal discrimination of women

4. Gender balance in the UNFCCC
Process
Gender balance in the UNFCCC
Process
Gender bias in power & decision-making

5. Gendered causes of climate change:
different carbon footprints
(Räty and
Carlsson-Kanyama
2010)

6. 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)

7. Gendered 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

8. Example: Gender aspects of mobility
 Complex trip patterns
due to care work
 Safety requirements
 Customary/cultural
constraints to women
 Available and preferred modes
 Attitudes to cars
 Scarcity of urban space -
road infrastructure competing with
other land use purposes

9. Example: Gender aspects of energy
 Extremely low representation of women in the
energy sector
 Risk of energy poverty
 Different chances to invest
in energy efficiency
and renewables
 Exposure to indoor air pollution
 Different responsibilities
in terms of household energy
 Decision-making
at household level

10. A topography of gender & climate change topics
Low/middle/high
income contries
Urban - rural
Large body of research
on gender aspects
Some research on gender
aspects

11. 11
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 321 215 48
(Impacts, Adaptation,
and Vulnerability)
WG III 36 31 2
(Mitigation of
Climate Change)

12. Existing research on climate change
Mainstream climate change research is largely gender
blind
 Focus on science & technology plus economy
 Male dominated, often blind for social dimension in
general
 Focus on technical solutions and one-fits-all-
mechanisms
Gender aware research on climate change
 Social sciences & humanities
 Often very theoretical
 Focus on impacts, vulnerability and resilience building
 Concentration on case studies, only anecdotal
evidence

13. Questions for Gender Advocacy
 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
 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?

14. 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,
additional specific initiatives might be
necessary

15. 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: EU wide aggregation is levelling
out gender differences) and examination of underlying
causes
 Value and address care economy
 Methodologies & tools to detect and address gender
differentials, e.g. in vulnerability assessments, Gender
Impact Assessment (GIA)
 Address root causes: Androcentrism, segregation of care

16. Suggestions for some specific research
questions on gender & climate change
 Gender effects of carbon market and mechanisms
 Care and informal economy and climate change
 Gender Impact Assessment for mitigaton policies &
measures
 How to deal with MRV (measurability, reportability,
verifiability) which is a prerequisite for funding, 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

17. 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