20th November 2024 In News

Empowering women in just transitions: Insights from the GLOW programme

Gender Equality in a Low Carbon World (GLOW) is an action research programme, 2021-24, which investigates opportunities for women’s economic empowerment in low-carbon transitions across 12 projects in 17 countries. Its projects target the land use sectors (agriculture, agroforestry and forestry), the blue economy and eco-tourism. Elements of the programme look at the application of biocircular economy principles to reuse organic wastes, reduce emissions and enhance livelihoods.

CDKN and ODI are running the GLOW Knowledge Translation Hub, which seeks to synthesise knowledge from across the programme, support peer learning among the projects and engage relevant international audiences with the findings. A new report summarises learning from GLOW on common challenges and promising solutions for advancing women’s empowerment in the transitions in these sectors.

 

Some of the main findings include:

  • In the natural resource-based sectors where GLOW is focused, it is not easy, practical, nor desirable to separate the ‘low-carbon’ from the ‘climate-resilient’.
  • Climate risk reduction must be fully integrated.
  • Climate action must be rights-based and locally appropriate.
  • Climate initiatives can address and reduce discriminatory barriers for women, with positive spillover benefits into other areas of women’s lives.
  • Women’s contributions matter: their access to emergent low-carbon, climate-resilient technologies drives innovation and learning; while women’s increased involvement in promotion and marketing accelerates the uptake of low-carbon technologies and practices.
  • Some groups of women are guardians of knowledge and practices that are inherently low-carbon, climate-resilient and ecologically sustainable.
  • There are many well-established measures of good ‘gender and development practice’ that apply equally to or can be adapted for, low-carbon, climate-resilient development initiatives.

 

​​The report contains detailed, practical and actionable recommendations, which are clustered in the following dimensions:

  • Address women’s under-representation in public policy-making and collective decision-making by increasing the representation of women and boosting their capabilities to fulfil these roles.
  • Increase women’s uptake of decent, low-carbon, climate-resilient jobs, including by mapping the gaps and potentials for women’s participation, making alliances with power-holders to increase women’s influence and sphere of activity; and encouraging gender champions, role models and mentors.
  • Increase women’s access to productive assets for low-carbon, climate-resilient economic transitions, including by supporting collective actions by women to increase green business activity and exploring how emergent low-carbon, climate-resilient technologies and new production modes may be particularly suitable for women workers and entrepreneurs.  
  • Increase women’s access to markets for sustainably produced goods and services, including by leveraging the potential for women’s use of information and communication technologies.
  • Capitalise on many women’s high degree of initiative but ensure that the most marginalised women are not left behind, including by tailoring capacity development to specific groups of women and designing and implementing social protection supports for the poorest and most heavily disadvantaged women.
  • Strengthen enabling policies and their implementation, including by strengthening the gender and social equity dimensions of climate policies and of relevant sectoral and economic policies (such as land restoration, environmental protection, fisheries and maritime policies); getting funding into the hands of women entrepreneurs; strengthening the gender capacity of local government personnel.
  • Address unpaid and heavily underpaid work as an intrinsic part of climate action.

 

In each country, these recommendations apply to governments’ strategies and plans for ‘just transitions,’ which may include preferential investment for entirely new sectors and industries. The recommendations are also highly relevant to international dialogues and negotiations on just transitions in the UNFCCC and elsewhere.

Action across the above dimensions will deliver the climate and gender justice we want to see in the world. People currently left behind in economically vulnerable, climate-vulnerable, low-productivity and insecure jobs will have decent work and new leadership opportunities that raise their capabilities and well-being. Women will be equally co-leading and benefiting from transitions to a net-zero, climate-resilient future.

 

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Photo: A Nepalese Woman tends her cabbage field, Nepal. Courtesy of Matthew Erdman via Flickr