ABSTRACT
Gender has become central to the discussions and work on development globally and there is a growing assessment of the linkages to the environment. The final decade of the last millennium witnessed increasing interest in the analysis of women-environment interactions and the gendered impact of environmental policies (Momsen 2002). In some contexts, there has been an overwhelming focus on the experiences of women because of the perceived and real inequities that place women in disadvantageous positions in some cultures and societies. The location of women in the decision-making hierarchy and the subjugation of women in some cultures are regarded by feminists as unfavourable for development and economic growth and a matter of injustice. At the twenty-first conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), members of the Women and Gender Constituency argued that the current global economic capitalist regime had been built on the backs of women. The last few decades have given rise to increased focus globally on climate studies with an emphasis on climate change and its connection with justice. In developing countries, climate change is having, and will have, devastating impacts on local economies because of the economic and geographic vulnerability of these countries. At the same time, a broader call to address gender in climate change policy has been taken up by several mainstream development organizations (for example, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, United Nations Development Programme Women’s Environment and Development Organization and United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction) (Bee et al. 2013).
