ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the WGC’s role in embedding gender in the UNFCCC and represents an important move in understanding why feminist activists make the arguments that they do. There are four primary rhetorical strategies uncovered by this analysis: empowering women; universalising lived experience; equating gender with women; and intersectionality in baby steps. The rhetorical strategies mobilised by members of the WGC are put to work in the UNFCCC through a carefully developed procedural modus operandi: identifying entry points for gender aspects in the climate change debate; raising awareness and disseminating information; building women’s capacity and joint strategising; and developing a future research agenda. While these strategies have been successful in influencing the negotiations, they have typically focused on the workings of the UNFCCC as an institution, and strategies through which to engage with that institution, and less on the inner workings of the Constituency itself. This kind of self-reflection is necessary for a next phase of feminist organising in the UNFCCC if it is to overcome the challenges of making intersectional arguments in a political space that has traditionally been resistant to them.
