Blogs & Opinions

When You Picture a Farmer, Are They a Woman?

Jan 16, 2020 | Donna Hutchinson

CABI has today published a briefing, Empowering female farmers – Gender responsive programming, which is an overview of gender inequality in agriculture, its challenges and impacts,…

A Lukewarm Commitment: India and Gender Equality in Security Affairs

Jan 16, 2020 | Akanksha Khullar

Nearly two decades after the United Nations adopted the landmark Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda, India remains one of the many member states that…

Climate Change and Its Unequal Impact on Women

Jan 15, 2020 | Mary Merkenich

While some do not want to discuss the cause of Australia’s horrendous bushfires — runaway climate change — even fewer want to talk about how…

The Female Face of Southern Africa's Climate Crisis

Jan 14, 2020 | Mark Lowcock and Natalia Kanem

The global climate crisis is not gender neutral. Around the world, women and girls are on the front line of changing weather patterns – disproportionately…

Addressing Water Security Issues in Bangladesh: the Role of Regional Cooperation and Gender

Jan 14, 2020 | Sharmeen Murshid

Bangladesh faces a very vulnerable position in terms of climate change impacts due to its location, and our quality of water is extremely dependent on…

African Women Fight Underrepresentation in Climate Research

Jan 14, 2020 | Busani Bafana

As a child, Kenyan meteorologist Saumu Shaka helped out on her parents' small farm growing maize and pigeon pea and learned how the weather can…

A Greener, Gender-Equitable Decade Ahead

Jan 13, 2020

As we enter 2020, we leave behind a decade of successes and challenges in clean energy and climate action.

Wind and solar energy now represent the…

Realizing Dreams Through the Power of Land Rights

Jan 6, 2020 | My-Lan Dodd

In India, a widow named Sonamoti lacks the resources to feed her only son because she was deprived her share of family land. She wishes…

How the Climate Crisis Could Reverse Progress on Gender Equality Around the World

Jan 1, 2020 | Mark Leon Goldberg

People who directly depend on the natural world for their livelihoods, like farmers and fishers, will be among the greatest victims of the climate crisis.…

Geoengineering's Gender Problem Could Put the Planet at Risk

Dec 21, 2019 | Sarah Sax

A group of British scientists had a plan for a groundbreaking geoengineering test. Working from a disused military airstrip in Norfolk, U.K., they would attach a 3,000-foot…

CFFP Volunteer Lea Börgerding Speaks with Dorothy Nalubega, a Ugandan Minority Rights Activist, Feminist and Environmentalist

Dec 19, 2019 | Lea Börgerding and Leonie Schmid

Lea Börgerding (LB): Dorothy, you are a minority rights activist and environmentalist. Can you tell us a little bit more about yourself and your work? 

Dorothy…

The Role of Women and Gender in the Fight Against Climate Change

Dec 18, 2019 | Chiara Soletti

It’s now an established fact that climate change is a risk factor for the life and fundamental rights of millions of people in ways that reflect social and…

Gender Matters in Coastal Livelihood Programs in Indonesia

Dec 18, 2019 | Emily Gibson and Natasha Stacey

Significant investments have been made in improving the well-being of Indonesian coastal communities in recent decades. However, most of these programs have not tackled gender…

How Women Can Lift Malawi Out of Poverty

Dec 18, 2019 | Sarah Chabane

More than half of the agricultural labour force in Malawi are women. However, they rarely get their fair share for the hard work they do…

Women From the Xingu Territory Unite Against Threats from Bolsonaro Administration

Dec 18, 2019 | Maria Fernanda Ribeiro

“We don’t think about selling wood or any part of the Earth to get money. We have so many ways to support ourselves that we…

Benefits of Gender Equality in Sustainable Ecosystem Management

Dec 17, 2019

Over the last several decades, principles of gender equality and women’s empowerment have permeated into numerous internationally agreed-upon goals. Ranging from commitments on human rights, peace and security, climate…

Climate Conferences are Male, Pale and Stale- It's Time to Bring in Women

Dec 16, 2019 | Maria Tanyang and Jacqui True

The COP25 climate meeting in Madrid concluded over the weekend. As in past meetings, the talks failed to make much progress on international climate action.…

Advances for Gender Equality at COP25

Dec 13, 2019 | Women’s Environment and Development Organization

After nearly two weeks of negotiations at COP 25 climate negotiations in Madrid, Spain, the governments have adopted a new 5-year Gender Action Plan (GAP)…

Libera: Securing Women's Land Rights Advances Equity in Our Communities

Dec 3, 2019 | Josefa Sacko

The African Union (AU) Declaration on Land Issues and Challenges, the AU Declaration of committing 2010 - 2020 as the African Women's Decade and the…

Climate Crisis Could Reverse Progress in Achieving Gender Equality

Dec 3, 2019 | Nitya Rao

People who directly depend on the natural world for their livelihoods, like farmers and fishers, will be among the greatest victims of the climate crisis.…

Women in Local Governance Are Key to Building Resilience to Climate-Fragility Risks

Dec 3, 2019 | Molly Kellogg and Lauren Olosky

The United Nations has recognized climate change as having important implications for peace and security, acting as a “threat multiplier” to other drivers of insecurity.…

Their Land, Our Future: To Arrest the Climate Crisis, We Need a Democratic Over-haul

Dec 2, 2019 | Musimbi Kanyoro and Beth Roberts

Both the climate crisis and inequality require a democratic overhaul. And governments globally should start by turning over legal control of land and natural resources…

Land Access and Household Wellbeing in Cameroon: Does Gender Matter?

Nov 29, 2019 | Eric Feubi Pamen

Africa remains a net food importing region spending more than USD 35 billion annually on food imports, although this continent has about 65% of the…

Securing Women's Land Rights Advances Equity in Our Communities

Nov 29, 2019 | Josefa Sacko

The African Union (AU) Declaration on Land Issues and Challenges, the AU Declaration of committing 2010 – 2020 as the African Women’s Decade and the…

Women Land and Water Defenders Are the Real Peacebuilders

Nov 27, 2019 | Gabriela Jimenez

Large-scale resource extraction often perpetuates violence, even in countries with peace accords. Those who mobilize to protect the land and water to build peace are…

Deepening Our Engagement with Gender Dimensions in Agriculture

Nov 27, 2019 | Krista Jacobs

The Feed the Future Advancing Women’s Empowerment (AWE) Program was delighted to partner with Agrilinks this October to raise awareness about the impacts of gender-based violence in…

Sleepwalking into Catastrophe - Climate Change

Nov 26, 2019 | Linda Witong

Special Advisor to SI Advocacy, Linda Witong, takes a closer look at how and why climate change aggravates inequalities and increases the risks to women…

Women in Climate Change Hotspots Face Greater Burdens When Under Environmental Stress

Nov 26, 2019 | Suzannah Lyons

Climate change has a negative impact on women's ability to make meaningful decisions in their lives, according to new research looking at climate change hotspots…

Climate Change: Feminists Have Pushed for Marginalised Voices to Be Heard

Nov 25, 2019

As calls grow for climate action to be more responsive to frontline communities, CIVICUS spoke to Maria Nailevu, a feminist climate activist from Fiji, about…

Forest Conservation Must Address Violence Against Women

Nov 25, 2019 | Jeanette Sequeira, Juana Vera Delgado, and Ruth Nyambura

November 25th has been designated as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women by the United Nations. The day also marks the beginning…