On Earth Day 2021, we’re paying special attention to the intersection of climate and gender justice. We believe that there is no gender justice without climate justice, and there is no climate justice without gender justice. Yet not all feminists and environmentalists are aware of how interconnected our fights for justice are.
Across the board, women are disproportionately affected by climate change. Women make up 70% of the global population living in poverty. Through rising sea levels and extreme weather events, global warming places millions of people at risk of displacement, a staggering 80% of whom are women.
Climate change severely impacts the agricultural industry and in developing countries, women are responsible for producing 60 to 80% of food. Climate change-related extreme weather events are also associated with greater risks of low birth weight and pre-term births. With women disproportionately carrying the burden of climate change, it should come as no surprise that they are also more likely to recognize the dangers of climate change.
According to a 2020 report by the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) and the Sierra Club, 53% of women, as compared to 45% of men, believe the climate crisis is currently harming the United States. Latinx (67%) and Black (63%) women are the most likely to agree with this statement.
Policymakers are already starting to bring gender and racial equity into their plans to combat climate change. The Paris Climate Agreement specifically names “gender equality, empowerment of women and intergenerational equity” as being essential to addressing climate change, and calls for a gender-responsive approach in solutions. Women are not just experiencing the negative effects of climate change – they are also at the forefront of finding solutions.
In her 2018 TED talk, “How empowering women and girls can help stop global warming,” Dr. Katharine Wilkinson noted that “to address climate change, we must make gender equity a reality. And in the face of a seemingly impossible challenge, women and girls are a fierce source of possibility.”
President Biden has just appointed a woman at the forefront of energy justice, Shalanda Baker, as the first ever deputy director for energy justice for the Department of Energy. Having women with an intersectional perspective on climate change leading our energy policy is a great step forward.
New Hampshire certainly has its own share of women who are on the forefront of climate policymaking. Congresswoman Annie Kuster serves on the House Committee on Commerce and Energy and has released a comprehensive Clean Energy Agenda, prioritizing 20 bills to advance climate change action and move the nation towards a clean energy future. New Hampshire State Sen. Rebecca Perkins Kwoka serves on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and serves as Counsel to SunRaise, a New England based renewable energy developer.
Recognizing the intersection of our work, the New Hampshire Women’s Foundation and League of Conservation Voters are teaming up to feature these state and national leaders in climate justice, with a focus on underrepresented groups including women, people of color and lower-income folks.
As we celebrate Earth Day, we hope you’ll add a gender lens to your consideration of climate justice. The promise of solutions from bold women and eco-feminists that lead the fight against climate change, contrasted with the disproportionate burden that women bear for environmental harms, calls us to action. There is no climate justice without gender justice.
(Tanna Clews is the CEO of the New Hampshire Women’s Foundation. Rob Werner is the New Hampshire State Director for the League of Conservation Voters.)