Gender, Climate, and Security

This report from the United Nations Environment Programme focuses on three ideals, especially relevant to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): peace and security, climate action, and gender equality. This report consists of 11 different case studies, from Chad to El Salvador, highlighting how gender norms and power dynamics shape responses to climate-security. Interventions around natural resources can empower women politically, socially, and economically to build peace in their communities. The report highlights linkages between gender equality, climate vulnerability, and state fragility, revealing that these three areas are linked with each other—that is, countries with a high score in one issue area tends to also have a high score in the others.

The case studies show examples of the different barriers women face in gender equity, climate-security, and social freedoms. For example, in Freetown, Sierra Leone, women are pushing back against discriminatory norms by seeking formal representation in city government. In the Asia Pacific region, countries such as the Philippines, Cambodia, and Vanuatu have created frameworks which incorporate gender equality goals in national policy agendas, but need to create innovative solutions to unfold these frameworks into reality. There are certain global trends relating to the gender gap: women are sidelined, separated from decision-making processes, or denied the right to ownership (of land and natural resources, for example) which can support their social, political, and economic freedoms. This report highlights changes that are feasible in policy, research, program design, and financing, which can alleviate these inequities, and change climate health for the better.