Women's Participation in Environmental Decision-Making

Abstract

Ensuring women’s perspectives, experiences and needs inform policy making is critical for sustainable development and improving livelihood outcomes. Often, women are viewed as vulnerable victims to the effects of climate change, and their contributions to environmental decision-making and natural resource management are overlooked and ignored. In 2013, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Global Gender Office (GGO) launched the Environment and Gender Index (EGI), a composite index to monitor gender equality and women’s empowerment in the environmental arena. To support the GGO and enrich the EGI, I collected information for a global dataset that compiles indicators on women’s involvement in international environmental delegations, leadership of international environmental institutions, representation in elected green party positions and as heads of national environmental ministries. The indicator frameworks were applied to case studies in Ecuador, Liberia and the Philippines. The indicators provide information for policy-makers and civil society to evaluate countries’ progress and identify gapes in achieving gender equality in environmental fora.