Gender

The term gender refers to socially constructed gender roles, i.e. the understanding of what characteristics, norms and behaviour are understood as appropriate for different genders. Thus, the term does not refer exclusively to women – even though equal rights for women are a major aspect of gender analysis.

Gender analysis is an important tool in the field of climate protection because global warming and its consequences do not have a gender-neutral impact but have different implications for people depending on their gender.

The Paris Agreement, which makes gender justice binding under international law in its preamble, and the Gender Action Plan (GAP), which the member states of the Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) adopted at COP23 in 2017, are milestones for the inclusion of a gender perspective in climate protection. The GAP aims to strengthen the influence of women in climate policy by defining activities in five priority areas to be implemented step by step. That includes building up knowledge on the topic, achieving equal participation of women in the UNFCCC process and gender-responsive implementation of the Paris Convention and regular reporting.

For our work, in which we pursue an intersectional understanding, the topic of gender justice plays an important role in many places. For example, when evaluating climate change projects such as the International Climate Initiative, we regularly check whether gender aspects have been taken into account. As part of the development of a project on electric mobility for UNEP, Arepo presented a Gender Action Plan and a gender analysis to be considered when introducing electrically powered vehicles in public transport in Côte d’Ivoire.

And of course gender aspects also play an important role in our daily teamwork.