GENDER & CLIMATE GENDER & CLIMATE CHANGECHANGE Gender as a Crosscutting Issue in

Climate Change Adaptation Lucy Wanjiru & Khamarunga Banda

Presented 1-3 June, 2009

Kingston Jamaica

Overview • Overview of UNDP

• UNDP has a mandate to mainstream Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in all programmes and projects.

• The UNDP Gender Team works to uphold this mandate; facilitating inclusive development, catalysing the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

Global Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA)

1. Integrate a gender perspective into policy and decision making in order to ensure that the UN mandates on gender equality are fully implemented.

2. Ensure that financing mechanisms on mitigation and adaptation address the needs of poor women and men equitably.

3. Build capacity at all levels to design and implement gender-responsive climate change policies, strategies and programmes.

4. Develop, compile, and share practical tools, information, and methodologies to facilitate the integration of gender into policy and programming.

Gender defined

When you hear Gender what When you hear Gender what comes to mind???comes to mind???

Defining Gender

• Gender mostly confused with sex• Sex is the biological characteristics pertaining to males

and females.• Gender is a cultural, social construct that assigns status

and roles to males and females.• The status and roles associated with gender create

differences between males and females that can result in inequality.

• Gender roles are learnt we learn to be a boy or girl• Women thoughts• Gender is also an analytical tool for understanding social

processes and aiding sustainable development practices – fro example use in CBA

Gender Approaches• Women-in-Development (WID) practical needs

– Aims at integrating a women perspective into existing development processes in order to counteract the exclusion of women (special projects, increase their productive incomes – ease household chores)

• Gender and development (GAD) strategic needs) aims for empowerment – Approach on relationships between men and women

addresses power relations aims at equity/equality and Sustainable development

Though in practices sometimes no fixed lines of demarcationThough in practices sometimes no fixed lines of demarcation

QUIZ

• Introduction – Global perspective

• QUIZ

SETTING THE STAGE

What percentage of the world’s 1.3 billion

people living in extreme poverty are women and girls?

a. 50% b. 60% c. 70%d. 80%

Sources: UNFPA 2008. State of World Population 2008; and The Global Gender Gap Report 2008

Answer:

c. 60%

What percentage of the world’s working

hours are worked by women?

a. 33% b. 50% c. 66%

Source: OXFAM, 2007 Millennium Development Goals Gender Quiz

Answer:

c. 66%

What percentage of property worldwide is owned by women?

a. 1% b. 5% c. 10% d. 25%

Source: OXFAM, 2007 Millennium Development Goals Gender Quiz

Answer:

a.1%

What percentage of parliamentary seats worldwide are held

by women?

a. 10% b. 17% c. 25% d. 50%

Source: Social Watch Gender Equity Index, 2008

Answer:

b. 17%

What per cent of the 876 million illiterate adults

are men?

a.10%b.75% c. 40%d.25%

Source: OXFAM, 2007 Millennium Development Goals Gender Quiz

Answer:

d. 25% are men and 75% are women

What percentage of women worldwide are

homeless or live in inadequate dwellings, such

as slums?

a. 20%b. 25% c. 33% d. 50%

Sources: OXFAM, 2007 Millennium Development Goals Gender Quiz

Answer:

d. 33%

In a sample of 141 countries over the period 1981 to 2002 it

was found that, natural disasters (and their subsequent impact)

on average:

a. Kill more men than women

b. Kill the same amount of women and men

c. Kill more women than men

Source: Neumayer and Plümper, 2007

Answer:

c. natural disasters on average kill more women than men or kill women at an

earlier age than men

Gender equality can promote:

a.Poverty eradicationb.Sustainable

developmentc. Reduce the risk of

disastersd. Increase family

income e.All of the above

Answer:

e. All of the above

Gender

• Gender is a social construct

• If a social construct it can also be deconstructed

• If gender is mainstreamed in the CBA projects this also offers a chance for deconstruction towards a more equitable society – SD outcomes – Bird cannot fly well with one wing– Nothing for us without us

Positioning Gender in CBA Climatic Impacts

Men Women/boys & Girls in a development process

(culture, Values in production and (culture, Values in production and reproduction & organizational processreproduction & organizational process(who has access, control of resources, (who has access, control of resources,

decision making) –meet first seek first etcdecision making) –meet first seek first etc

COMMUNITY

CBA

Why Gender in CBA?Ability to mainstream gender in CBA - Differentiated

Impacts:• Women have less access to resources that would

enhance their capacity to adapt to climate change—including land, credit, education etc. – making them vulnerable

• Vulnerability depends in large part on access to resources and assets (physical, financial, human, social, and natural) “The more assets, the less vulnerability”

• Gender inequality intersects with climate risks and vulnerabilities - 2007 HDR

• It is widely acknowledged that the negative effects of climate change are likely to hit the poor/poorest the most. 60 % of the world’s poorest one billion people are women and girls. (UNFPA 2008. State of World Population 2008)

Why Gender in CBA?Different RolesDifferent Roles• Women have a fundamental role as primary

managers of the environment:• Women meet 90 per cent of household

water and fuel needs in Africa. In arid areas they spend up to 8 hrs a day in search of water.

• They are active in production activities such as forests, fisheries, and in agriculture women produce up to 80 per cent in Africa, 60 per cent in Asia, 30 - 40 per cent in Latin America.

• This is a sector that is highly exposed to the risks that come with drought and floods.

Why Gender in Development ProjectsWhy Gender in Development Projects• The human rights perspective

– Women have as much right to participate in the production of knowledge in Africa, and right to be part of that knowledge

– The power to know and power to have one’s knowledge influence mainstream knowledge should be considered as part of human rights

– Global development of technology and finance has been based on what is termed as a “sexist definition”

– We cannot afford to waste human resource – right to intellectual input in re-conceptualizing new future development models

• Environmental rational– Women have knowledge, users and consumers of

environmental products, active caretakers need cleaner efficient technologies

• The economic rationale– The intellectual and labor input of men and women in important

to realize “meaningful" development– Women projects are on the average sustainable

Evidence …. Gender mainstreaming Evidence …. Gender mainstreaming improves CBA Projectsimproves CBA Projects

• Involving women in management of water projects increases efficiency

• Women’s Indigenous knowledge used in Conservation of forests - Green Belt movement

• A recent report on micro finance in Peru indicated that “in the current global financial crisis, women running micro-businesses are doing a better job at withstanding the negative effects

• Improved Response to disaster risk response – Honduras

•

Women bear greater responsibilities for crop and food production & preparation in developing world

Women are more susceptible to the impacts of climate change, as they must adapt to declining water supplies, climate variability, natural disasters, pest outbreaks, changing precipitation patterns and other impacts of climate change on crop production.

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Gender realities in Africa The whole Picture rural

Africa:• Women is in a subordinate position• Lives in household, community and

society where gender inequality/ is more or less pervasive

• Her labor is less considered, less valuable than that of her husband

• Decisions about finance and investment are not made by her in new appliances, land use, her mobility and what crops to plant

• Her voice on policies is less heard/ her ideas not well articulated e.g. government position on issues that affect her too

• Her time• Has less education, less access to

credit, land, and power

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Gendered realities in Africa!

– She also has other responsibilities e.g. fetching water, grinding grain etc. and childcare

– She is also cooking on smoky fires that may cause lung disease– 2.4 million still use traditional biomass (agric. Residue, cow-dung & wood) –

cooking & heating– 1.6 billion have no access to electricity – UNDP claims the numbers are

increasing in absolute terms and not decreasing– E.g. IEA reports show projected trends of increase of biomass from 646

million (2002) to 996 million (2030)– The burden is on women!

Daily Hours that women spend collecting fuels in different African geographical settings, by country, 1999-2003

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

Ho

urs

per

day

Gender the Missing link??

• Absent from decision making processes

• Institutional absence if present not vocal

• Semantic absence• Financial absence• Information related absent• Gender – low priority or

dismissed

Different levels of Different levels of Access to resourcesAccess to resources

Gives power andGives power and reinforces reinforces

gender practicesgender practices

Gender norms, value Gender norms, value gender division ofgender division of

LabourLabour

CBA PROJECT

Why Involvement of women and men

• Efficiency• Equity• Sustainability• “Ubuuntu” – linkage and

women/man man/man humans/ environment (essence of being humans living within a environment”

• (women have the will for accomplishment & outpace themselves in most projects in Africa)

Tools and methodologiesTools and methodologies

• Gender tools are not isolated entities. • They are not viewed as specific

products but as part of a process. • They are flexible, and build on, and

strengthen existing local knowledge, structures and institutions

• Enhance socio-economic benefits, gender equality/equity, and improve livelihoods.

• Sustainable continually promote learning and innovation

Monitoring and EvaluationMonitoring and EvaluationGender lens• Does the project include specific, measurable actions and

deliverables related to gender mainstreaming, gender equality and women’s empowerment?

• Has the project/programme assessed potential for contributing to gender equality and women’s empowerment through planned activities?

• Has sex-disaggregated baseline data been collected? • Has the project/programme assessed the potential for contributing

to gender equality and women’s empowerment through planned activities?

• Have gender specialists or representatives from women's stakeholders groups participated in all steps of the programme or project cycle?

• Have all possible steps been taken to ensure gender equity in the recruitment of project staff and consultants?

Adopting Gender Approach for holistic Adopting Gender Approach for holistic Sustainable DevelopmentSustainable Development

1.1. How can we market/demystify gender issues in How can we market/demystify gender issues in development to:development to:

a) development practitioners?

b) community members?

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Thank you for Thank you for listening!!!listening!!!