COP26, the climate talks considered the last chance to put the world on track to meet its climate ambitions, is “recognising and celebrating” gender equality and the empowerment of women in climate policy and action. However, women are still missing at the top climate table.
The recognition of what women contribute, or can contribute, to the survival of the planet and to development remains limited. Gender inequality and social exclusion continue to increase the negative effects of unsustainable and destructive environmental management on women and girls.
At its COP26 Gender Day on Tuesday 9 November, the UK will announce £165 million to tackle climate change while addressing the inequalities that make women and girls more vulnerable to climate change and empowering them to take climate action.
The Glasgow Women’s Leadership Statement on gender equality and climate change acknowledges the disproportionate impacts of climate change on women and girls. It also celebrates the role of women leaders at all levels in addressing the climate crisis, and commits signatories to increased support for women and girls’ climate action.
Around the world, women will experience heightened risk in the face of climate change. From slow-onset disasters to abrupt environmental shocks, women are more exposed to economic instability, displacement, sexual violence and death, especially in the context of the global south. For younger women, this could prompt removal from school or early marriage.
About 80% of people displaced by climate change are women, but only 19% of International Monetary Fund and World Bank board members are female.
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A new formal network of senior women negotiators was launched by Dr Annela Anger-Kraavi, SBSTA Vice-Chair, and Stella Gama, SBSTA Rapporteur and ecbi Gender Advisor, at a side event at COP25 in Madrid, on 4 December 2019. “I am immensely proud of launching the peer-to-peer network for female negotiators in Madrid, and the Oxford gender meeting in March [2019] was instrumental for getting this off ground,” Dr Anger-Kraavi said.
Examining the wider composition of the U.K. COP26 team, there is higher representation of women (45%), but their roles tend to relate to event organizing, or they serve as Advisors rather than the core team members. This gendered division of labor at the COP26 leadership team is characteristic of wider systemic issues in climate negotiations.
Over 400 female climate leaders have signed an open letter to the British Government calling for greater accountability and transparency on gender equality at COP26.