ABSTRACT
This chapter shifts focus to the empirical content of this book and represents an important contribution in that it provides the first rigorous tracing of the political process that has seen the UNFCCC go from gender-blind to gender-bind. There have been three important phases in this history: 1992–2007 ‘Zero Gender’; 2007–2013 ‘Mainstreaming Gender into the UNFCCC’; and 2014–2021 ‘Gender Action Plan’. In the early phase ‘Zero Gender’, the UNFCCC was, largely, characterised by an institutional blindness to gender(ed) concerns despite a very active, but informal, coalition of feminist climate activists who were working hard in the Conference of the Parties (COP) spaces. In contrast, the period between 2007 and 2013 demonstrates a period of mainstreaming gender into the UNFCCC and a slow shift from feminist climate activists focusing on ‘outsider’ tactics towards more ‘insider’ strategies. The third and last period is between 2014 and 2021 and is characterised by the ongoing negotiations towards adopting and implementing a Gender Action Plan, a decision that was finally adopted in 2017 (and renewed in 2019).
