Only eight out of 78 world leaders at the last climate summit were women. How can we fix that?
The climate crisis doesn’t affect everyone equally – women and girls bear the brunt of the suffering, largely because they make up the majority of the world’s poor.
In rural areas, it is women and girls often responsible for securing water, food, and firewood for their families. During drought and floods, women are forced to work harder and walk further.
As climate change exacerbates conflicts, inequalities and vulnerabilities, women also face increased risks of gender-based violence. When extreme weather hits, women and children are 14 times more likely to die than men, and an estimated four out of five people displaced by the impacts of climate change are women and girls.
“Put simply: climate change is sexist,” Helen Pankhurst, senior advisor on gender equality at CARE International UK tells Euronews Green. “It’s a feminist issue which threatens the fundamental rights of women and girls.”
Despite the labour burden climate changes places on women, they are on the ground “leading the charge when it comes to grassroots campaigning and inspiring change,” according to Pankhurst.
“They’re pulling together their communities and showing leadership in coming up with solutions, demonstrating resilience and delivering hope for a better future,” she says.
“They are also leading in civil society, fighting back against policies which are doing irreparable harm. There is a groundswell of women standing up and saying things must change; they’re just not in seats of political power.”
Only eight out of 78 world leaders at the last climate summit were women
“It is deeply frustrating that the women and girls whose lives are so disproportionately affected are not being heard on the global stage,” says Pankhurst. “Climate and gender justice go hand in hand; you can’t have one without the other.”
Only eight out of 78 world leaders who participated in the most recent COP29 were women. Although delegations at the UN climate conference are consistently increasing in numbers, women’s representation has stagnated and even decreased.
Bianca Pitt, co-founder of SHE Changes Climate, a campaign to get women equally represented at international climate negotiations and beyond, tells Euronews why it is vital women be included in climate talks and negotiations.
“When women suffer, everyone suffers,” she says. “It has a knock-on effect.”
If women – ideally from economically marginalised backgrounds – aren’t included in decision making about climate change, then women’s lived experiences and perspectives aren’t being heard.
“If we only have a select group of people making decisions, the decisions will be incomplete – they won’t have the desired outcome,” she adds. “The majority of decisions are made by men for men and women. That creates a blind spot because we can only make decisions based on our own lived experience in the peer group we are in.”
Women in power leads to stronger climate policies, studies show
Pitt said it isn’t “fair” that women aren’t included in the most important discussions being had about our planet, but it isn’t just about fairness – it’s about what is going to produce the best outcomes.
When decision-making processes incorporate the perspectives of men and women, solutions are more comprehensive and robust.
One study on gender and climate change found that female representation in national parliaments across 91 countries correlated with more stringent climate change policies and lower carbon emissions.
Another Italian study found that women leaders prioritise proper waste management, decreasing the misuse of water, energy and resources.
In the private sector, research shows that companies with a bigger share of women on their boards are more likely to improve energy efficiency, reduce firms’ overall environmental impact and invest in renewable energy.
Women-led firms make more efforts to curb emissions and have better results for environmental, social and governance indicators.
“Research shows the economies in which women participate are more resilient – they’re stronger, more productive, and have better outcomes for everyone,” Pitt says.
It’s the same for nations and businesses for whom women lead on climate change, she says. When women are involved in making decisions on climate change, policies are more likely to succeed.
Why aren’t more women leading on climate change?
“We know that women are leading on climate change at a grassroots level and within civil society; we see it at CARE International through our programmes all over the world,” Pankhurst says.
“Women are leading the climate response in their homes and communities, coming up with innovative and sustainable solutions like leading agriculture cooperatives, encouraging their communities to plant drought-resistant crops, and creating early warning systems that save the lives and livelihoods of women who don’t have access to traditional media.”
If the evidence so starkly shows the need for women leading on climate change, then why are women still underrepresented as climate change leaders in politics?
“There’s definitely a gender bias,” says Pitt. “It’s real and strong.”
Perhaps there is a lurking, unconscious gender bias that distrusts women leaders or thinks they don’t display the authority or assertiveness of men, as explored by the BBC when Kamala Harris became the first woman vice president of the United States.
And according to Pitt, lack of female representation about climate on the national level is in part due to lack of representation.
“If you don’t have women leading, you don’t set the example for younger women to take that career,” she says. “If you don’t see women leading these conferences, young girls won’t be inspired – they’ll think it is just men in grey suits.”
How can more women reach climate leadership positions?
Public bodies, businesses, and governments are starting to realise the unconscious biases toward women in the climate change sector, but there isn’t time to wait around for a slow, organic change, the experts argue.
“Organic growth [of women leading on climate change] is not delivering the results,” Pitt says. “50 per cent of delegations of climate negotiations have to be women as per the UNFCCC Gender Action Plan.”
Pitt also urges that women be “skilled up” to join negotiations, and be given ample amount of speaking time.
“If a woman chairs something, the remaining women in the room are more likely to speak up,” she says.
By “shining a light” on the women already leading in this space, younger girls will be inspired to follow – they will see it’s possible to lead.”
Likewise, Pankhurst – who, yes, is the great-granddaughter of British suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst – wants to see “more room made at the table for women and girls to speak into this crisis.”
“We need to fund women-led organisations working in this space; supporting them to thrive and make a real difference at a political level locally, nationally and globally,” she says.
And, this International Women’s Day (8 March), there’s no time to maintain the status quo.
“We don’t have time to waste – climate change is here, now. It’s not some far off threat,” she adds. “We don’t have the luxury of time.”
