Blogs & Opinions

If Women Don’t Lead, We’ll Lose the Battle Against Climate Crisis

Jun 8, 2022 | Sally Abi Khalil

We are in the midst of so many crises across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region: the most unequal, water scarce, least democratic…

Gender Equality for Resilience and Peacebuilding

May 24, 2022 | Vongai Murugani

In the past 50 years, gender equality and women’s empowerment have come a long way in many parts of the world, benefiting each area’s economic development and strengthening…

How the Taliban’s New Burqa Order Threatens Economic and Workplace Progress for Afghanistan’s Women

May 17, 2022 | Olivia Peluso

Afghanistan’s Taliban government has ordered women to cover their faces in public in a return to a signature policy of their past rule and an escalation…

The Risks of Gender-Blind Climate Action

May 10, 2022 | Marisa O. Ensor

Climate change is widely recognized as one the greatest threats to peace and security in the 21st century. The causal pathways that link deteriorating environmental conditions, insecurity, and conflict, while…

Reimagining the Aftermath of War, Now

May 10, 2022 | Aida A. Hozić and Juliana Restrepo Sanín

Feminist scholars stress two aspects of wars. First, they emphasise continuums and circuits of violence, challenging the usual dichotomies of war and peace, public and private, domestic and…

#BringBackOurGirls: Ecofeminism, Climate, and Conflict

Apr 14, 2022 | Adenike Oladosu

On the night of April 14, 2014, a group of militants attacked the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Nigeria. They kidnapped 276 female students,…

Climate Policies Must Allow Women to Control their Bodies and their Fates

Apr 14, 2022 | Zainab Yunusa

Links between women’s sexual and reproductive health and the impacts of climate change are made clear in the recent Working Group II report from the UN Intergovernmental…

Converging Risks: Demographic Trends, Gender Inequity, and Security Challenges in the Sahel

Apr 4, 2022

Security conditions in the Sahel are rapidly deteriorating. Since 2016, the region has witnessed a 16-fold increase in terrorist attacks. In Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania,…

A Closer Look at the Intersection of Gender and Security

Mar 31, 2022 | Deseri Tsepetis

While there has been progress in advancing civil rights and visibility for women and transgender folks, there is a long way to go to build…

The Key to Climate Action and Sustainable Peace? Women’s Full and Equal Participation

Mar 31, 2022

Climate change is not gender neutral, and for activist Fatima Muriel, this fact is all too real for thousands of women in her home country, Colombia. 

In…

Informal Spouses and Other “Invisible" Women: The Dark Underbelly of Land Rights Formalization

Mar 23, 2022 | Dr. Anne Hennings

As every year, the month of March has been packed with content and events around the globe related to women's land rights. The Land Portal…

Is the World Making Enough Progress on Addressing Gender Equality Within Climate Action?

Mar 23, 2022 | Verania Chao

We can only transition to zero-carbon and climate resilient development to the extent that we transform our societies. One of the areas in which this…

Putting Women at the Centre of Forest Solutions to Climate Change

Mar 18, 2022 | Alexis Arthur and Elizabeth Eggerts

The role of gender equality in climate mitigation activities is critical to address both the climate crisis and support ‘gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow’…

Is Climate Change a Gender Issue? Impact of Climate Change on Women and Children

Mar 18, 2022 | Azera Parveen Rahman

As the number of vagaries of climate extremes increases, so has the disproportionate burden on women and children, finds growing evidence. Policies, however, are yet…

Africa: Women Bear Brunt of Climate Disasters - They Should Lead Climate Solutions #AfricaClimateCrisis

Mar 11, 2022 | Melody Chironda

Global news headlines focus on climate projections about rising sea levels and high temperatures - but we rarely discuss how girls and women are on…

Climate Talks 'Need Women'

Mar 10, 2022

Marking this year's International Women's Day, the United Nations has called for the inclusion of women as leading voices to address climate change and guard…

International Women’s Day Celebrates the Contribution of Women and Girls as Climate Solution Multipliers

Mar 8, 2022

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over the past three years led the Obama administration in making international women’s issues central to progressive foreign policy. A…

Gender Lens, Essential in Global Response to Climate-Induced Migration

Mar 8, 2022 | Renate Held

Vienna, International Women’s Day 2022 – Some people think of migration as a relatively new phenomenon: the “unfinished business of globalization”. Others call it humanity’s oldest…

Women Play a Key Role in Fighting Climate Change

Mar 8, 2022 | Annette Ssemuwemba, Apurva Mudliar, and Peter Donelan

Women are 14 times more likely to die from a climate disaster than men. That finding, by UN Women, reflects growing acknowledgment that the adverse effects…

Covid-19 and Climate Crisis Worsen Inequalities for Displaced Women and Girls

Mar 8, 2022

Conflict, climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic are delivering a triple blow to the rights and safety of refugee, internally displaced and stateless women and…

Women and the Environment: An Asia-Pacific Snapshot

Mar 8, 2022

Women and men interact with their environments differently. Women are disproportionately dependent on natural resources, but have less decision-making power over them. Men are more…

How These Women Are Contributing to a Sustainable Tomorrow

Mar 8, 2022

Every year on March 8, International Women’s Day celebrates women’s achievements and calls attention to the challenges they face. The 2022 International Women’s Day  theme is “Gender…

International Women’s Day: Women at the Heart of Climate Action

Mar 8, 2022

The theme for International Women’s Day, 8 March, 2022 is “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow,” recognizing the leading role of women and girls…

Climate Crisis Threatens Food Security for Women and Girls

Mar 8, 2022

Johannesburg – Women and girls, especially in rural communities, continue to face the brunt of the climate crisis that exacerbates pre-existing inequalities, jeopardizes their food…

Education - A Crucial Piece of the Climate Justice and Gender Equality Puzzle

Mar 7, 2022 | Susan Hopgood

For decades we have mobilised across the world and have worked towards gender equality, and increasingly over the last few years to address climate injustice.…

Explainer: Why Women Need to be at the Heart of Climate Action

Mar 1, 2022

Those who are most affected by climate change today–women, girls and marginalised communities–must be involved in the design and implementation of climate response actions to…

Bending Gender Norms: Women’s Engagement in Agriculture

Feb 11, 2022 | Manisha Shrestha

Researchers at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) have studied and witnessed that women, particularly in South Asia, have strongly ingrained and culturally…

Why Women’s Leadership is Key to Climate Action

Feb 2, 2022 | Nina Jeffs

At the COP26 climate summit, the leaders of Estonia, Tanzania and Bangladesh were the first to sign the Glasgow Women’s Leadership statement, calling for countries to…

Guatemala’s Western Highlands: Addressing Gendered Vulnerability to Climate Change

Jan 30, 2022 | Jessie Pinchoff and Angel del Valle

The Population Institute’s recent report, Invisible Threads: Addressing the root causes of migration from Guatemala by investing in women and girls, has brought attention to…

Turning Climate Adaptation Commitments into Reality in Peru

Jan 26, 2022

Peru was one of the first countries to set climate adaptation goals as part of its climate change commitments, known as Nationally Determined Contributions or…