Blogs & Opinions

Building Women's Resilience and Livelihoods

Feb 3, 2020

At IFAD we know that the face of a farmer is often a woman’s face. Around the world today, women make up over half the…

For Thailand's Female Land Rights Defenders, Activism Is a Dangerous and Daunting Necessity

Feb 2, 2020 | Lam Le

Growing up, cassava farmer Nittaya Muangklang did not think she would ever become an activist – let alone that she would lead a group of…

Why Post- War Women's Livelihood Strategies Have Failed in Lanka's Eastern Province

Feb 2, 2020 | PK Balachandran

Sri Lanka’s post-war livelihood strategies for women in the Eastern Province have failed, necessitating fresh thinking based on the experience garnered so far and the…

Mountain Women Bear the Brunt of Climate Change

Feb 1, 2020 | Suruchi Bhadwal, Ghanashyam Sharma, Ganesh Gorti, and Sudeshna Maya Sen

Climate change impacts are disproportionate and influence lives and livelihoods variedly. One crucial determinant of these disproportionate impacts is gender. Existing social norms determine roles…

Enhancing Gender-Responsive Disaster Risk Management: Why a Change of Mindset Is the First Step

Jan 30, 2020 | Emily Brearley, Thembi Kumapley, and Katharine Vincent

Mortality rates from disaster occurrences are exponentially higher for women than for men. Some studies actually find that women and children are 14 times more…

Climate Breakdown "Is Increasing Violence Against Women"

Jan 29, 2020 | Fiona Harvey

Climate breakdown and the global crisis of environmental degradation are increasing violence against women and girls, while gender-based exploitation is in turn hampering our ability…

Climate Change is Contributing to Exploitation of Women, New Report Details

Jan 29, 2020 | Tebany Yune

Climate-related crises in poorer countries increases violence and exploitation of women, says a recent report, and current attempts to address climate change fail to tackle this…

Facing Climate Change in Honduras: The Importance of Gender Equity

Jan 28, 2020 | Arely Valdivia

The women of the municipality of Namasigue, Honduras, have found empowerment in the Local Technical Agroclimatic Committee (LTAC) of the municipality of Choluteca. LTACs allow women to…

How One Woman's Aptitude for Farming Inspired a Whole Community

Jan 24, 2020

Nestled among date trees and endless lush fields in southeastern Pakistan is the district of Tando Allahyar. The main source of income for many villages…

Women, Burdened with Unpaid Labor, Bear Brunt of Global Inequality

Jan 23, 2020 | Alisha Haridasani Gupta

As world leaders and executives descended in their private jets this week on the snow-capped town of Davos, Switzerland, to discuss climate change and inclusive…

UK-Africa Summit Ignored Gender, Climate and Poverty Concerns, Advocates Say

Jan 23, 2020 | William Worley

Civil society campaigners have raised concerns over the U.K.-Africa Investment Summit’s commitment to gender equality — despite the government’s claims it would be a key focus of…

Getting "Gender Rights" Is Essential for the Sustainability of Food Systems

Jan 23, 2020 | Elizabeth Bryan

The growing emphasis on sustainability of food systems (rather than of agriculture alone) highlights the importance of considering gender at all stages, from production to…

How Can We Address Climate Change, Pollution and Women's Empowerment? Clean Cooking

Jan 22, 2020 | Anne-Sophie Garrigou and Dymphna van der Lans

From the World Wildlife Fund to the Clinton Foundation, and BP Alternative Energy, Dymphna van der Lans has been working in global development, energy and…

Gender and the Environment: What Are the Barriers to Gender Equality in Sustainable Ecosystem Management?

Jan 22, 2020 | Frederique Holle

A gender gap is a gender-based inequality; it is any disparity in treatment or situation between women and men, often rooted in social, cultural and legal norms…

Why We Need Gender Equality in the Fight Against Climate Change

Jan 21, 2020

Climate change affects everyone globally, but its impact worsens in those sections of the population that are most vulnerable. Social, economic, political and historical factors…

Gender-Focused Policies in Cuban Farming

Jan 21, 2020 | Ivet Gonzalez

The first gender-focused strategy implemented by the Cuban Ministry of Agriculture raised female participation within a key sector for the economy and food security, although…

Operational Challenges for the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in South Sudan

Jan 20, 2020 | Angeline Lewis

Experience in the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) highlights many of the operational challenges in implementing the UN’s agenda of women, peace and security…

"You Need to Act Now": Meet 4 Girls Working to Save the Warming World

Jan 19, 2020 | Anya Kamenetz

A teenage girl, Greta Thunberg, has become the world-famous face of the climate strike movement. But she's far from alone: Thunberg has helped rally and inspire…

Gender Activists in a March Dubbed Usawa Demand Action Against GBV, Youth Empowerment, Women Land Rights

Jan 18, 2020 | Louise Donovan and Kamau Maichuhie

A section of gender rights activists on Friday held a peaceful march in Nairobi to press for gender equality in the country.

The march dubbed Usawa kicked-off at…

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…