Blogs & Opinions

Women & Climate: Planting a Global Forest in a Connected World

Mar 23, 2020 | Rita Ann Wallace and Cynthia S Reyes

In January of this year, Britain’s Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, shocked much of the world when they…

Herstory: 10 Guatemalan Women Who Changed the Course of History

Mar 20, 2020 | Melissa Vida

Guatemala’s Indigenous peoples make up 60% of the country’s population, yet somehow Indigenous people—and especially Indigenous women—rarely made it into history books. Overall, there seems…

6 Reasons Gender Equality Is Crucial to Achieving the UN's Global Goals

Mar 16, 2020 | Joe McCarthy

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) envision a world without poverty, hunger, and conflict; one with access to health care, education, and economic opportunity — in short,…

Why Feminine Leadership Is Essential for the Clean Energy Transition

Mar 13, 2020 | Sarah Golden

Feminine leadership is essential to solving society’s largest, intractable challenges, according to Sarah Shanley Hope, executive director of the Solutions Project. 

The Solutions Project is a small…

Women and the Environment: Roles, Risks and Rights

Mar 12, 2020 | Theresa W. Devasahayam

“Each year, the month of March is a crucial time for women’s organisations worldwide as we take stock of the progress women and girls in…

Why I Marched for the Environment on International Women's Day

Mar 12, 2020 | Katy Wiese

Last Sunday marked the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA), a ground-breaking resolution that set out objectives in 12…

An Ambitious Year for Climate Action Is a Big Year for Women's Empowerment

Mar 9, 2020 | Frank Rijsberman and Ingvild Solvang

This year, the Paris Agreement’s effectiveness as a global response to the climate crisis is being tested as governments are preparing to submit more ambitious…

Scaling-Out Gender Transformation for Climate Change

Mar 9, 2020 | Sophie Huyer and Heidi Braun

Climate change has enormous implications for women in the developing world through increased workloads, food insecurity, threats to health, and more responsibilities due to male…

Reframing the Debate Around Women, Peace and Security

Mar 8, 2020 | Shreen Abdul Saroor

When a peace deal is struck between warring factions, it is widely understood that peace has been achieved. However, when key sections of society—in most…

Supporting More Than Equal Numbers in International Climate Debates

Mar 8, 2020 | Brianna Craft and Samantha McCraine

#EachforEqual is the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day. It recognises that equality requires everyone’s support and that, when we all support each other, we…

Women's Safety Means Earth's Safety

Mar 8, 2020 | Jessica Carey-Webb

Across the world, women are actively protecting the natural environment. In Latin America, despite consistent threats of violence and widening gender inequality due to climate…

Women's Rights Are Early Casualties of War

Mar 8, 2020

When conflict and crisis strike displacement, hunger, and poverty follow. But, all too often, it is women’s rights that become the early casualties of war.…

Can Green Development Be Fair Development?

Mar 8, 2020 | Helen Schneider

Aceh is Indonesia’s westernmost province, situated on the northern tip of the island of Sumatra where the Andaman Sea, Malacca Straits and Indian Ocean converge.…

Strategies for Integrating Gender in Sustainable Ecosystem Management

Mar 8, 2020

Understanding men and women’s different roles and responsibilities related to the use, management and conservation of ecosystems and addressing the barriers to gender equality are…

Want to Go for Inclusive Climate Action? Then Start with Integrating Gender Equality into Climate Finance

Mar 8, 2020 | Verania Chaeo and Koh Miyaoi

Gender equality and women’s rights have progressed immensely since the adoption of the most visionary agenda on women’s empowerment, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for…

Power Structures over Gender Make Women More Vulnerable to Climate Change

Mar 8, 2020 | Adelle Thomas

As the global community assesses progress made for women’s rights during the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action, it is timely to take stock…

International Women's Day 2020: Women, War and Water in Yemen

Mar 6, 2020 | Leonie Nimmo

On International Women’s Day 2018 the UN Envoy to Yemen received an open letter calling on him to take a firm stand on women’s demands and to…

Gender Inequality Must Be Addressed for Our Work to Make a Lasting Difference

Mar 6, 2020 | Danny Harvey

I started working in international development over 20 years ago. Very enthusiastic, I believed my knowledge and skills in agriculture would bring about real transformation…

Weathering the Storm or Storming the Norms: Can Climate-Smart Agriculture Produce Gender Equality?

Mar 6, 2020 | Sophia Huyer, Samuel Partey, and Bruce Campbell

As Nitya Rao and colleagues show, a lot is known about the effects of climate change on women. Most research focuses on women’s vulnerability as a result…

Making Gender Equality Integral to Global Agricultural Research

Mar 6, 2020

Our food systems face unprecedented challenges, from increasingly unpredictable weather to acute biodiversity loss. To feed a population of over 9.6 billion people in 2050, the…

Women Ally with Nature to Adapt to Climate Change

Mar 6, 2020 | Gabriela Flores

Nature-based solutions to the global environment crisis are increasingly in the spotlight. High-profile individuals such as campaigner Greta Thunberg and actor Leonardo DiCaprio, as well as business and governments, have all emphasised…

Climate Change Worsening Violence Against Women

Mar 6, 2020

Climate change disproportionately affects women. In the United States, women have their pregnancies affected by climate change and according to Climate Reality, there’s evidence of how climate change is…

Five Ways Gender Equity Can Help Save the Planet

Mar 6, 2020

Around the world, women are pulling above their weight to sustain communities despite barriers in access to nearly everything: education, information, paid work, credit, lands,…

Why Climate Change Disproportionately Affects Women

Mar 5, 2020 | Joe McCarthy

Climate change is a planetary phenomenon that will impact all countries, but its effects are being shaped by pervasive and entrenched gender inequality.

Heat waves, droughts, rising…

Eliminate Legal Discrimination Against Women to Advance Food Security and Nutrition

Mar 5, 2020 | Ilaria Bottigliero and Françoise Trine

In societies where there is a high degree of gender inequality, there is also a significantly higher proportion of undernourishment among women and girls.

In order to effectively…

Silicon Valley Insider: The Intersection of Food and Gender

Feb 28, 2020 | Fiorella Riccobono

When examining the Sustainable Development Goals of The United Nations; zero hunger, responsible production, and climate action are three of the main focal points. In…

Climate Change Leads to More Violence Against Women, Girls

Feb 27, 2020 | Jeannette Cwienk

Ntoya Sande was 13 years old when she got married — against her will. "I was sent to be married because of a shortage of food in…

What Can National Action Plans on Business and Human Rights Do for Women's Rights?

Feb 27, 2020 | Nora Götzmann and Wangui Kimotho

National action plans (NAPs) are currently applied by states as one of the key policy tools for the implementation of the United Nations Guiding Principles…

Youth Transitions in the Drylands: Gendered Rights in Land Access and Control

Feb 26, 2020 | Esther Njuguna, Shambel Getachew, Brenda BoonaBaana, Dismas Mwaseba, and Eleanor Mavis

In 2019, the CGIAR Research Program on Grain Legumes and Dryland Cereals (CRP-GLDC) initiated a study to understand ‘youth realities, youth aspirations and youth opportunity…

Gender Gap Is Causing Wars Says Defence Forces Chief

Feb 26, 2020

“In the context of eco-system governance, perhaps the most invasive species of all is human beings,” he said.

The gender gap is one of the biggest…