Gender Dimensions of Environmental Unsustainability

Koh MiyaoiGender Practice Leader

UNDP Bratislava Regional CentreFollow me on Twitter: @kohmiyaoi

In this session, we are going to ask ourselves….

• What are ‘gender dimensions’?• Why do they matter to environmental

sustainability?• What can we do to make sure ‘gender

dimensions’ are properly addressed in environmental sustainability discussions?

Gender Dimensions

• What is GENDER?• What does it mean to individual men and

women?• What does it mean to a family?• What does it mean to a community?• What does it mean to policy-making?

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ECIS World European Union WB Gender Statistics 1980-2008

Armenia

UkraineTajikistan

Slovakia Serbia

Romania

MoldovaLithuania

KyrgyzstanKazakhstan

Chez Republic

CyprusCroatia

BelarusAzerbaijan

UNECE Gender Statistics

Poland Russia Tajikistan

WB; UNECE; Statistics Tajikistan

• What does it mean if a woman on average earn less than a man?

• What impacts can it have on a household income?

Unpaid and Paid Care Work

• What can happen to women and men if climate change or natural disasters cause additional care burdens on their households?

Percentage of single person households by car ownership, 2009

• What can we say about the different influences women and men are making on GHG emissions?

• Are there other circumstances you can think of in which men and women are differently impacting on climate change?

Differences as a result of gender roles

• Resilience • Vulnerability• Participation• Control

Gendered Differences: Resilience

• What makes individuals resilient?• What makes a household resilient?• What makes a community resilient?• What makes a nation resilient?

Gendered Differences: Vulnerability

• What makes a nation vulnerable?• What makes a community vulnerable?• What makes a household vulnerable?• What makes individuals vulnerable?

Gendered Differences: Participation

• How do you know if you are ‘participating’?• Who are participating in your country’s policy-

making?

Gendered Differences: Control

• How do we know who are in control of natural resources?

• Are men in control of their own life choices?• Are women in control of their own life

choices?

Land ownership & control over land use

• Common barriers to women’s ownership rights: – the precedence given to tradition over modern

laws– women’s own lack of awareness about their

entitlements

Examples of useful servicesKyrgyzstan

• 66 % of the population n rural areas and depend on agriculture for a living• Societal norms and customs often limit women’s opportunities and rights to land • Media campaigns and local seminars to raise awareness about women’s land rights• Legal advisory centres in districts where local organizations provide legal aid and

assistance on land issues to women, including direct legal representation• Working with the courts of elders that are authorized by the government to resolve

disputes at the local level and serve as informal justice systems in rural areas• Working with reigious leaders, imams, eg. a review of the basic principles of Islamic

Sharia law regulating property rights• A small grants fund to support women’s cooperatives and small local government

projects to address practical gender needs at the village level to improve their livelihoods through a variety of agricultural extension services such as increasing women’s access to irrigation and improved terms for grinding wheat.

Examples of useful services

Tajikistan• Smaller proportion of farms registered to

women (2% in 2002)• Provision of legal advice on land rights • Support rural women to attend classes on

leadership skills, cooperative formation, farm management and community activism.

• Meetings and consultations in villages

Why Gender Balance?

• The aim is diversity, and not a competition between men and women• Studies from various countries show that companies with a higher share

of women at top levels deliver strong organisational and financial performance

• Companies with the most gender-diverse management teams had 17 percentage-point higher stock price growth between 2005 and 2007 compared to the industry average (McKinsey & Co)

• Their average operating profit was almost double the industry average between 2003 and 2005 (McKinsey & Co)

• Companies with more women on their boards were found to outperform their rivals with a 42 % higher return in sales, 66 % higher return on invested capital and 53 % higher return on equity (Catalyst research )

Transformation of gender roles

• At present, gender norms influence the roles men and women play in their households and wider communities.

• Gender norms also influence opportunities and choices.

• While sustainable development interventions must take into account these gendered differences, we need to remember what we ultimately seek is a world where people’s life choices are not restrained by gender.

Come and see what we do at UNDP

http://europeandcis.undp.org/ourwork/gender/

http://europeandcis.undp.org/blog/tag/gender-equality-2/

Follow: @kohmiyaoi