Has Anything Changed?

‘Women are increasingly being seen as more vulnerable than men to the impacts of climate change, mainly because they represent the majority of the world’s poor and are proportionally more dependent on threatened natural resources,’ the United Nations has said.

Each year, the global community gathers to discuss the rapidly warming planet and what governments and companies can do to reduce contributing factors and mitigate loss.

The United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, commonly referred to as COP, sees strategies, initiatives, and programs floated to address the impact of climate change globally.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) maintains the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting warming to within 1.5℃ of pre-industrial temperatures. It argues that crossing the 1.5°C threshold poses a grave threat to people, wildlife, and ecosystems. The agreement also covers providing funds to low-income countries to help them adapt to climate change; and to review countries’ national climate plans every five years.

At these events, discussions are set in motion by governments of states bound to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The gender concerns are two-fold: adequate female representation at the summit and commitments put forth by state and non-state actors.

A 2022 report from Women’s Environment & Development Organization (WEDO) notes that at these summits, it is largely male dominated. The report remarked that the percentage of women across all national delegations had risen from 30 per cent in 2009 to 38 per cent in 2021, despite policy commitments and activities to promote equal participation. According to the report: