Blogs & Opinions

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…

Climate Change is Brutal for Everyone, but Worse for Women

Nov 25, 2019 | Matt Simon

The climate crisis is so epic, so vicious, so wide-reaching, that at this point there are few aspects of the human experience it isn’t transforming.…

A Gender Lens is Essential to Sustaining Peace: Evidence from Mozambique

Nov 25, 2019

Despite decades of relative peace and recent efforts to promote gender equality, women and girls in Mozambique continue to experience a disproportionate amount of insecurity.…

Colombia Must Protect the Women Risking Their Lives to Defend Black Communities

Nov 23, 2019 | Duncan Tucker

Danelly Estupiñán will never forget the first threats she received back in 2015. First came the text message declaring “Danelly, your end has come.” And…

Climate Change Affects Women More. What Can the State Do to Intervene?

Nov 19, 2019 | Sara Hayat

Climate change is affecting us all, but certain demographics more than others. Marginalised communities — and within them, women in particular — feel the discriminatory…

Countering the Caliphate in North Africa: Three Expert Views on Gender and the Need for Collective Action

Nov 15, 2019 | Sherine El Taraboulsi-McCarthy, Rachel George, and Melanie Pinet

While the transnational nature of violent extremism across North Africa is becoming increasingly clear, international and national prevention remains restricted by state borders and often…

Land Portal at CFS46: Empowering Advocates for Women's Land Rights Through Open Data

Nov 15, 2019 | Laura Meggiolaro

At CFS 46, the Land Portal had the opportunity to be the co-organizer of the side event How the VGGT have changed rural women’s lives:  Key…

"Creating the Future Together": SCARA Symposium on ICT and Innovations in Agriculture

Nov 14, 2019

The SCARA Symposium on ICT and innovations in agriculture, “Creating the Future Together“  under the APPEAR project “Strengthening Capacities for Agricultural Education, Research & Adoption in…

The Many Historical Courses of Gender and Water in India

Nov 12, 2019 | Indu Gupta

Water is essential for human survival and development, but the ongoing water crisis in India, despite 70 years of policy-making is widening the circle of…

How Feminist Research Can Help Confront the Climate Crisis

Nov 11, 2019 | Maria Tanyag

Humanity is now at a point where we can no longer afford to examine climate-related risks and their impacts on humans independent of other ecosystems,…

Debate Urges Broader Thinking on Diversity

Nov 11, 2019 | Kristie Batten

Despite its name, the debate focused on broader themes of diversity, based around the topic ‘a diversity debate that begins and ends with gender is…

New Challenges for Women's Land Rights in Africa

Nov 11, 2019 | Hosaena Ghebru

A new wave of gender-related land reforms has swept across Africa south of the Sahara in recent years. These reforms have incorporated innovative approaches to…

Why Should We Care About the Gender Dimension of Climate Change?

Nov 11, 2019 | Renz Louie Celeridad

Women farmers encounter a great deal of challenges that constrain their agricultural activities. Differing societal roles, unequal access to and control of resources, and women’s…

A Lifelong Fight for Gender Equality: In Conversation with Carmen Barroso

Nov 8, 2019

On a recent rainy morning in Portland, USA, Carmen Barroso, aged 75, stood amongst thousands of demonstrators who took to the streets to advocate for…

Can Women Make the World More Peaceful?

Nov 6, 2019 | Paulino Akon Yel Dut

A genuine comprehensive analysis shows that involving women in peacebuilding increases the probability that violence will end in an easy manner. Hence we should thank…

How Often Does the UN Security Council Use a Gender Lens? Not Often Enough

Nov 6, 2019 | Katelyn Jones

The WPS agenda was instituted in October 2000 via the unanimous passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325, which marked the first formal…

Guatemalan Women Force Development Bank to Investigate Gender Policy Violations

Nov 5, 2019 | Tamara Mohr

After a complaint filed by women's groups from Ixquisis, Guatemala, the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB) has started an investigation on several policy violations, amongst which…

Ghana Needs a Grievance Mechanism to Secure Women's Land Rights

Nov 5, 2019 | Nana Ama Yirrah

From farms to towns, women are a major provider of food and food security for their families, but women in half of the world still struggle to…

Gender Equality in African Agriculture: An Innovation Imperative

Nov 5, 2019 | Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg

President Barack Obama once highlighted the importance of leveraging the talents of Africa’s women using the analogy of a football match. He pointed out that…

Sudanese Women Urge Gender Balance in Country's Peace Process

Nov 5, 2019 | Amy Lieberman

 Sudanese women were influential in the widespread protests that led to the military overthrow of the country's president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, in April. Six months…