Blogs & Opinions

Understanding the Nexus Between Gender, Climate and Conflict Is Crucial for International Peace and Security

Nov 18, 2021 | Michelle Onello

Understanding the nexus between gender, climate and conflict is crucial for developing successful policies to combat climate change and resolve conflicts, and women must meaningfully…

Why Women’s Participation is Essential to Achieve Global Climate Targets

Nov 17, 2021 | Joanna Collingwood, Georgia Kremmyda, and Modupe Olufunmilayo Jimoh

We are engineers and scientists. We happen to be women, but first and foremost we are citizens of this planet who believe that immediate action…

Women’s Land Rights Are Necessary to Build Climate-Resilient Futures

Nov 17, 2021 | Juliet Schulman-Hall

COP 26, the UN Conference on Climate, ended last Friday, after world leaders made several collective pledges to the climate crisis on issues like deforestation,…

Promoting Gender and Climate Smart Investment

Nov 16, 2021 | Katja Silva-Leander and Kongkona Sarma

Climate change is set to cause unimaginable disruption unless immediate action is taken, and its impacts will disproportionately affect women — increasing inequality. In many…

We Need More Female Leaders in the Fight Against Climate Change

Nov 14, 2021 | Maria Tanyag

In a stirring speech at the opening of the Cop26 world leaders summit, Mia Mottley, prime minister of Barbados, asked: “When will leaders lead?” The problem…

How to Address the Sexual Violence Epidemic in Ethiopia?

Nov 12, 2021 | Ndeye Sow

Earlier this month, a joint report by the United Nations and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) exposed how Ethiopia’s brutal and rapidly expanding war has…

Africa: Peacebuilding Needs More Women, Youth - What's Holding Them Back?

Nov 9, 2021

First, I just want to welcome you both to all Africa's Silence The Guns series, where we focus on peacebuilding on the continent. I am…

Why We Need to Get Loud About Gender Inequality in Climate Politics

Nov 9, 2021 | Philippa Nuttall

Last month a female friend and I were quietly having dinner in Brussels when the subject of periods came into the conversation. Immediately the gentleman…

Fair COP? The African Women Showing Why Gender Justice Equals Climate Justice

Nov 9, 2021 | David Vetter

While women and girls are bearing the brunt of increasingly brutal climate impacts in the developing world, they also hold the key to taking decisive…

Afghanistan: A Way Forward for Women and Girls

Nov 8, 2021 | Stephenie Foster and Susan Markham

Since Afghanistan fell to the Taliban in mid-August, the world has witnessed stories of perseverance, heroism, and heartache as Afghans flee their country. But almost…

COP26: Why Education for Girls is Crucial in the Fight Against Climate Change

Nov 8, 2021 | Betty Barkha and Katrina Lee-Koo

The Glasgow climate change conference is in its second week, with Tuesday November 9 dedicated to recognising gender equality, and the empowerment of women and girls…

Safe Water and Sanitation: A Challenge for Gender Equality

Nov 1, 2021 | Wahid Bhat

Without clean and safe water there is no gender equality. Although access to water and sanitation has been recognized for more than a decade as…

COP26: Why Are Women Still Missing at the Top Climate Table

Oct 30, 2021 | Bonnie Chiu

When the global face to climate action is Greta Thunberg, it can appear that women and girls are well represented at the top table. As…

Can COP26 Become a Turning Point for Gender Responsive Climate Action?

Oct 26, 2021 | Mohammad Naciri, Samantha Hung, and Sun-Ah Kim

In a recent United Nations poll of young people in South Asia, 78 percent said that climate change has impacted their studies. More girls reported…

How Gender Matters in the Climate Fight

Oct 22, 2021 | Shia Kapos

When it comes to fighting climate change, it turns out gender matters.

Ahead of a major United Nations climate conference that begins later this month, a new…

Gendering Just Transition

Oct 22, 2021 | Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt

As policymakers across the world look to shift their power sources away from coal, they must keep in mind the gendered impacts of their energy…

Bangladeshi Women’s Leadership in Water Governance

Oct 16, 2021

Women in Bangladesh play a crucial role in collecting water, often bearing the brunt of physical labor and household chores. Despite women and girls playing…

How Can Climate Considerations Be Better Integrated into the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda?

Oct 15, 2021 | Adriana Abdenur, Mayesha Alam, Adam Day, Cristal Downing, and Beatrice Mosello

As the impacts of climate change become more clear—starkly outlined this August by the International Panel on Climate Change’s latest report—responses to them will require an…

Focus on Women and Girls Matters as Disaster Risks Shift

Oct 14, 2021 | Riyanti Djalante and Mohammad Naciri

At its heart, ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response has a simple but visionary objective to reduce disaster risks and losses in lives. …

The Women’s Agenda for Climate Crisis

Oct 14, 2021

80% of the world’s resources are looked after, consolidated by women across the globe. If that is not an agenda that Women Peace and Security…

Educating Girls: The Overlooked Solution to Climate Change

Oct 12, 2021 | T. Shawn Taylor

Addressing a global challenge as complex as climate change demands a full suite of solutions and actors, but one powerful intervention is widely overlooked: educating…

Analysis: The Lack of Diversity in Climate-Science Research

Oct 6, 2021 | Ayesha Tandon

Publishing research in respected journals, such as Nature or Science, is a key way for academics to share their findings with the scientific community and beyond.

A researcher’s publication…

Women, Peace, and What is Security?

Oct 4, 2021 | Phoebe Donnelly, Gretchen Baldwin, Masooma Rahmaty, and Phesheya Nxumalo

The past year has raised many questions for those focused on the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, as well as highlighting issues that feminist…

The Imperative of Climate Adaption for Africa: Building Resilience Across Societies in an Inclusive Manner

Sep 30, 2021

Empowered women and girls have the capacity to build resilient communities using local solutions to climate change to safeguard lives and ensure a sustainable future…

Addressing Masculinities and Gender Stereotypes to Prevent Violent Extremism and Terrorism

Sep 30, 2021 | Pablo Arrocha Olabuenaga

Fifteen years ago, the General Assembly unanimously adopted the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy (GCTS), which has served as the backbone for the efforts of States to…

Women and Climate Justice: It’s Time to Act

Sep 24, 2021 | Leocadia I. Zak and Susan Kidd

The headlines are clear. Human suffering from a changing climate is escalating and projections show clearly how it will worsen. Equally clear is the need…

Climate Action Must Advance the Rights of Women and Girls

Sep 22, 2021 | Baroness Sugg

As an advocate for gender equality, I believe the most urgent change needed for women and girls is strong action on the climate crisis.

Today is…

It Makes Economic Sense for Women to Lead the Fight Against the Climate Crisis

Sep 22, 2021 | Oladosu Adenike

For the first time ever, the United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world, passed a resolution recognising access…

Environmental Justice: Why Civil Rights and Protecting the Planet Go Hand-in-hand

Sep 15, 2021

As the global ecological crisis impacts ever-more lives, it is becoming clearer that we cannot talk about cimate change, pollution or biodiversity loss without talking…

Federal Election 2021: Gender-Based Violence is an Issue We Should All Prioritize

Sep 8, 2021 | Nancy Marie Ross and Stephanie Zubriski

National strategies to end gender-based violence, public activism movements like #MeToo and One Billion Rising and the continued use of tough-on-crime policies have failed to reduce rates of…