ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights an important component of the relationship between gender equality and development: - the relationship between the empowerment of women and protecting the environment. Empowered women are important agents of social change and when they take hold of the reins they positively affect development. Women throughout the world have taken it upon themselves to seek empowerment and justice, not merely for their own sake and their families but also for the planet with which they are so intimately involved. The empowerment of women has powerful effects on environmental well-being and the health of societies around the world. As the world's proportion of women in the labor force increases as well as their roles in other areas such as agriculture and food systems, conflict/war, domestic violence, education, family planning and health, population and politics, women have claimed an increasingly influential place in shaping policy and program implementation.
