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This COP, we have seen the thematic days of finance, trade and gender pulled together. This has the opportunity to combine these climate issues to ensure that they are analysed in a holistic way.
On the ground at the side events, the theme of women and finance has been consistently embedded. There’s a deep understanding that it will be women and girls who will be the ones who will be the ones who will face the brunt of the climate emergency, whilst doing the least to cause it. Evidence shows that climate change will push 158 million women and girls into poverty and 236 into hunger. There is also a strong narrative on the ground that it is an intersectional feminist solution that will solve the climate crisis.
From the World Bank to the UN, giving money directly to women has been shown to improve household wellbeing, increased children’s education and health outcomes, enhanced economic empowerment for women.
Women are also the ones who often have solutions to reduce carbon emissions and build resiliency, but their knowledge has often been overlooked due to patriarchal structures. As a woman from Cambodia said, “We have not been trained in bureaucracy, we have been trained to manage our lands and support our communities, and that is why we are the people with the best solutions”.
As Sarah Hendriks, UN Women Deputy Executive Director said, “We need to transform economies away from extraction and pollution and integrate women’s rights into all aspects of climate policy and financing. UN Women is calling for feminist climate justice, and a world in which everyone can enjoy their human rights, and flourish on a planet that is healthy and sustainable.”
The message seems clear from all parties of civil society and international institutions, but what about the decision makers at COP? There has been very little from the negotiations that is genuinely pushing for feminist climate justice, and although these issues have been on the same day they weren’t properly integrated. But this is just a step towards better integration. It’s not the negotiators who will deliver the carbon reduction we need, it will be the communities and civil society who are consistently recognising the importance of women and finance to be intertwined on the agenda.
