Some evidence suggests that women’s involvement in political institutions is associated with better local environmental management. Yet, women’s mere presence in institutions is not enough to overcome entrenched disparities – additional changes and flexibility in institutional forms are needed to ensure that women can participate effectively in decision-making.
In some cases including women and other marginal groups is perceived as a way of maintaining the status quo rather than achieving any specific outcomes or questioning inequalities. So what matters, then, is no simply women’s presence but the nature of their participation. An excerpt from Sustainability and Equity: A Better Future for All (UNDP Human Development Report 2011).
Gender inequalities are also reflected in women’s low participation in national and local political fora. This has ramifications for sustainability if, as some research suggests, women express more concern for the environment, support more proenvironmental policies and vote for proenvironmental leaders.
But women continue to be underrepresented in national parliaments, on average occupying only 19 percent of seats and accounting for just 18 percent of ministers. (See www.ipu.org/wmn-e/world.htm). Higher positions are even more elusive: only 7 of 150 elected heads of state and only 11 of 192 heads of government are women. The situation is similar in local government (UNDESA 2010b).
Other evidence suggests that gender empowerment and environmental awareness may be related. The number of women’s and environmental NGOs per capita was negatively correlated with deforestation in a study on 61 countries between 1990 and 2005. That may be partly because of women’s incentives to avert the negative effects of deforestation on their workload, income and health (Shandra, Shandra and London 2008). In developed countries survey data shows that women are more likely than men to engage in environmentally sensitive behaviours, such as recycling, conserving water and avoiding environmentally harmful products (Gallup World Poll data (www.gallup.com/se/126848/worldview.aspx).
But the relationship, far from straightforward, varies with development. (An) analysis of Gallup World Poll data on environmental attitudes suggests that concerns about environmental problems are not very high. On average, the attitudes of men and women differ little (differences between men and women are significant for perceived severity of climate change and government environmental efforts – at the 95 percent level – and for air quality and emissions policy – 99 percent level – but not for satisfaction of water quality), but some variation appears across HDI groups. In very high HDI countries women express more concern for environmental issues (climate change, water and air quality) than do men, while men express more concern in low HDI countries. The medium and high HDI countries (and most developing regions) fall in between.
While overall levels of education influence attitudes, the ratio of the share of women to men in secondary and tertiary education does not. The implication: women’s greater concern for the environment in rich countries is not a function of their having more education, nor is the converse true in very poor countries.
Some evidence suggests that women’s involvement is associated with better local environmental management. Yet women’s mere presence in institutions is not enough to overcome entrenched disparities – additional changes and flexibility in institutional forms are needed to ensure that women can participate effectively in decision-making. In some cases including women and other marginal groups is perceived as a way of maintaining the status quo rather than achieving any specific outcomes or questioning inequalities (Arora-Jonsson 2011).
What matters, then, is not simply women’s presence but the nature of their participation. Consider forestry management. A recently published study of community forestry institutions in India and Nepal found that women’s proportional strength in forest management committees affects the effectiveness of their participation (Agarwal, 2009). The more women on the management committee, the greater is the likelihood that they will attend committee meetings, speak up and become office holders.
The arguments here are not new. But they point to an important part of a reform package to address inequality and environmental degradation – with major expansions of women’s freedoms.
As a critical dimension of people’s freedom, empowerment is an important end in itself. But disempowerment and power imbalances add to environmental challenges.
(Excerpted from ‘Sustainability and Equity: A Better Future for All’ – UNDP Human Development Report 2011)
