Blogs & Opinions

Reconceptualizing Women's Participation in Water Governance

Jul 24, 2017 | Priyam Das

There is growing emphasis on community-managed water supply and sanitation that embodies a new paradigm in water governance based on demand management. However, projects have…

Inside Conflict: What Does Research Reveal About Women's Rights and Changing Gender Roles in Yemen?

Jul 24, 2017 | Suzy Madigan

Until the acceleration of violence in 2015, women in Yemen were making some headway in challenging a system that largely excludes them from public life.…

How Men Can Promote Gender-Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction

Jul 13, 2017 | Alex Rohlwing

Gender’s importance and the vital roles played by women in all facets of development, humanitarian aid, and disaster response are increasingly recognized. But recognition is…

Global Rights, Local Struggles: Barriers to Women's Participation in Community Land Decision-Making

Jun 28, 2017 | Celine Salcedo-La Vina

Seven women quietly filed in and sat on the rough cement floor of the tiny stone block house. We were in a small, dusty village…

Understanding Gender, Conflict And The Environment

Jun 5, 2017 | Alex Reid

The importance of gender in our understanding of the environment and conflict is often camouflaged. Take, for example, the infamous natural resource exploitation that characterised…

Understanding Gender, Conflict and the Environment

Jun 5, 2017 | Doug Weir

Last year’s landmark UNEA-2 resolution on conflict and the environment, the most significant of its kind since 1992, was the product of tough negotiations. Fortunately…

LDC Women in World Climate Talks: Building a Cohort of Champions

May 2, 2017 | Janna Tenzing

The upcoming United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Bonn will include a workshop on 10-11 May to develop elements of a 'Gender…

National Monitoring and Review of the Sustainable Development Goals and Development Justice

Apr 25, 2017 | ADWID

Since 2012, Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) has been advocating for a transformative development framework that addresses the structural causes of…

For Rural Afghan Women, Agriculture Holds the Potential for Better Jobs

Jan 12, 2017 | Anuja Kar and Mansur Ahmed

In Afghanistan, agriculture continues to be the backbone of the rural economy – about 70% of the population in rural areas is engaged in on-farm…

Missing Voices: Let's Hear Women's Experiences of Climate Change

Jan 6, 2017 | Anne Schulthess

Attending the UN climate talks feels like a big deal. Despite having been in the climate change movement for some years, Bonn was my first…

Women's Leadership: Critical to Securing the Paris Agreement; Essential to Fulfilling It

Nov 11, 2016 | Courtney Durham, Natalie Elwell, and Cynthia Elliot

The Paris Agreement on climate change wouldn’t be what it is today without action from strong women from around the world. Christiana Figueres, the UNFCCC…

At the Eye of the Storm: Women and Climate Change

Jul 26, 2016 | Aimee Jakeman

Struggling to save their failing crops. Walking farther afield to fetch clean water. Protecting their families from devastating storms and violent conflicts. “Women are usually…

When Climate Change Exacerbates Conflict, Women Pay the Price Says Mayesha Alam

May 13, 2016 | Sean Peoples, New Security Beat

Climate change has the potential to exacerbate conflict and political instability, and women will pay a steeper price than their male counterparts when it does,…

Enhancing Women's Role in Land Management Decisions

Mar 24, 2016 | Thierry Berger

How can women's rights be strengthened when decisions are being made about large-scale agricultural investments that affect their livelihoods?

A recent IIED webinar examined how women's…

Can Mining Dig Rural Women Out of Poverty in Ghana?

Mar 8, 2016 | Amani Mhinda

Walking within the artisanal and small-scale mining population in Tarkwa, one of Ghana's principal mining regions, it dawns on me that the local population has…

Women Pay Heavier Price for Big Dams

Mar 8, 2016 | Jamie Skinner

Large dams are displacing thousands of people in West Africa in societies where women traditionally have few legal or customary rights to the natural resources…

The Role of Women in Creating Climate Resilient Communities: Focus on the Philippines

Feb 19, 2016 | Laura Fairman

The Philippines is one of the world’s most vulnerable populations to the effects of climate change. When the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction…

Lessons From Uganda on Strengthening Women’s Voices in Environmental Governance

Jan 19, 2016 | Blake Ratner, Clementine Burnley and Paola Adriázola

It’s become popular to say that the health of the environment and the health of human communities are interlinked. Yet much of the investment aimed…

Will the European Endgame on Conflict Minerals Put an End to Financing Rape in the DRC?

Oct 26, 2015 | Margot Wallström and Denis Mukwege

In the Eastern parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), armed groups and criminal operators terrorize the population. Sexual violence against women is…

Getting to the Root of Gender Equal Land Governance

Sep 23, 2015 | Catriona Knapman

While there is international agreement that we need gender equality in land ownership – achieving this in practice is more complex.

Women face a number of…

Amazon Women on the Front Lines: The Waorani

Sep 17, 2015

Meet the Waorani of the Ecuadorian Amazon. They are fighting for traditional life and championing alternatives to threats to their ancestral territory—one of the wildest,…

Governance, Gender and no Guarantees in Africa’s Oil-Rich States

Jul 19, 2015 | Celeste Hicks and Laura Seay

The discovery of oil in Chad in 1969 did not yield many immediate benefits for a population that would soon be wracked by civil war,…

Does Gender Balance Improve Forestry and Fishery Management?

Jul 2, 2015 | Francesca Booker

Differences in women's and men's access to, control over, and use of local natural resources shapes the way that these resources are managed. Yet women…

Challenges After Conflict: Regional Consultation on Resolution 1325

Jun 16, 2015 | Aizhamal Bakashova

Resolution 1325 is not just a tool which can be used to protect women and sustain peace. It is also a testament to strong women…

Empowered Women = Happy Planet? Gender Equality in a Changing Environment

May 20, 2015 | International Institute for Environment and Development

Gender and women's empowerment are getting increasing attention in global discussions on climate change, sustainable development and the green economy. The international community is recognising…

Women On the Frontlines of Water Insecurity

Mar 25, 2015 | Mayesha Alam

Water is essential to life on earth, but we are facing a global crisis. According to a new report released by UNESCO on March 22…

Protecting & Empowering Women & Girls in Situations of Crisis & Conflict

Mar 9, 2015 | Annabelle Timsit

Since the mid-1990s, there have been significant increases in the recorded number of all disasters and in deaths resulting from those disasters, especially in low-income…

UN Report Highlights Women’s Roles in Natural Resource Management During and After Conflict

Jan 5, 2015 | Priya Kamdar

It’s been 14 years since the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 acknowledging women as important agents of change in recovery from conflict and peacebuilding…

'Outside the Net': Women's Participation in Fishing Activities in Trincomalee District of Sri Lanka

Jan 5, 2015 | Gayathri Lokuge

‘The woman left us slowly and moved to the other side of the beach seine, sat down on the sand and started piling the seaweed…

Women's Land Rights and Africa's Development Conundrum- Which Way Forward?

Dec 12, 2014 | Eric Yeboah

How can African countries use land policies to ensure agricultural development and inclusive growth? Particularly in countries which are dominated by patriarchal land ownership systems?…