Last year, a report published by UN Women observed that at national and community levels, women’s representation and leadership appear to drive better environmental outcomes. Countries with higher percentages of women in parliament tend to adopt stricter climate change policies, resulting in lower emissions. At the local level, women’s participation in managing natural resources leads to more equitable and inclusive resource governance and better conservation outcomes. And when community climate programmes include women, they tend to be more effective and efficient in their use of resources.
In general, women are more likely to consider their families and communities in decision-making processes, which is crucial to producing the kind of holistic solutions that make for effective climate action. Indigenous women, in particular, possess unique knowledge about agriculture, conservation and natural resource management that make their voices indispensable in any decision-making process.
Among the United Nations’ Sustainable Developmental Goals for their 2030 agenda is gender equality. Human Resource consultant, Shalini Muthukumar, says, “Women are at the receiving end of a disproportionate burden of unpaid work, specifically housework and childcare. This means that occupational segregation automatically sets in and they cannot contribute effectively to work. For this to shift over time, men and women should view these forms of unpaid work as a shared responsibility. It is only when their partners acknowledge this and contribute equally that women can participate effectively in the workforce.
“Now, when we say that women’s participation in the global workforce contributes to sustainability, we are not just talking about carbon emissions. Women make up approximately half of the world’s population. They are shoppers, decision-makers, legacy keepers, and the heart of the family or community of which they are a part. Whatever product or service a workplace offers, women are 50 per cent of its consumers. So for workplaces to stay agile, they need to mirror this diversity and keep up. One of the key factors to the sustainability and success of a workplace depends on having adequate representation across the spectrum of gender. Many companies have formal policies in place on gender equality, but there is a huge gap between these commitments and actual implementation. Closing these gaps is also key to ensuring proper practices that contribute to workplace gender equality.”
Access to land as well as its resources, such as water and plants is linked with economic independence. A study published in the Environmental Evidence Journal says that in India and Nepal, there is strong and clear evidence of the importance of including women in forest management groups for better resource governance and conservation outcomes.
The same study cites that there could be both ethical and instrumental reasons for giving a greater voice to women in local resource governance. Ethically, improving equity in resource allocation as well as in decision-making could better balance the needs of both men and women. In the business sector, there is evidence that decision-making groups that include both men and women have better outcomes than male-only or female-only groups.
A 2012 study, for example, of 2,360 of the largest companies globally found that, over a six-year period, companies with women represented on their Boards of Directors had better financial performance than companies with men-only boards. In another large study, students from 2,200 business schools in 128 countries competed in teams of three in a business strategy game. When the data for three years of the game was analysed (37,914 participants), mixed-gender teams consistently outperformed both male and female single-gender teams.
Diversity and Inclusivity consultant, Maya Christopher, says, “Women and environmental benefits go hand in hand. They often bear the negative impact of climate change and natural calamities more than men do, due to discriminatory factors. Therefore, women naturally gravitate towards practices that are kinder to the environment and eco-friendly. In their families and communities, they occupy traditional roles of conserving natural resources and building long-term resilience for the well-being of the planet and generations to come. To achieve this in workplaces, it is important to provide access to higher education, empower women with digital financial management and dispel ingrained biases that prevent them from reaching their full potential.”
Stephanie Copus Campbell, Australia’s Ambassador for Gender Equality, said to HerCircle on a recent visit to India, “There is no country on track to meet the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal #5 of gender equality -- not mine, not yours. There are barriers to participate in the workforce economically and socially. There are significant gaps accessing leadership roles and power in decision-making. But your country is identifying some of those challenges and working to address them through really strong leadership as well as through overarching priorities like the digital space. There are not enough women in the formal workforce and not enough women who are economically empowered to choose their own path to contribute to their own goals and support their families and their community. So, getting more women economically empowered is essential.”
In countries, workplaces and communities around the world, women are still the key to handling environmental resources such as energy, water, land and agriculture management, fisheries, waste disposal systems, chemicals and other toxic materials. They have a unique perspective on how to navigate these resources effectively to benefit us and the planet. The connection between gender equality and sustainable goals is evident. There is no better time than now to take action and work towards making those goals a reality.