The Gendered Blindspots of Climate Policies

The 1970s and 1980s saw significant developments in the field of climate change, as scientific consensus on its realities gained public recognition. Academics, development agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) began examining the relationship between social norms and climate change, giving rise to the Ecofeminist and Women, Environment, and Development (WED) discourses. These frameworks emphasized an inherent connection between women and nature, attributing women’s dependence on the environment to their role as primary gatherers of natural resources for household activities. WED provided the policy framework for ecofeminist arguments, as much of the rhetoric associated with ecofeminism was already in circulation within the development discourse. Anthropological narratives embedded in WED, many of which have since been critiqued, contributed to early ecofeminist thought, particularly strands that framed women’s environmental engagement as an extension of their biological and social roles.