The Gender Imbalance at COP27

Nov 8, 2022 | Akanksha Khullar
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Women have historically been underrepresented at the UN’s global conference on climate change, and this year’s COP 27 congregation in Egypt, was no exception. A photo of the heads of state and government representatives participating in the event—which went viral across social media, at the beginning of the summit—in fact, showcased the presence of only seven women leaders among the grand total of 110 attendees.

This skewed gender ratio, however, reflected the broader trend across delegation teams, which participated in negotiations on key climate issues such as funding, limiting the use of fossil fuels, carbon emissions, etc. As per an analysis conducted by the BBC, women accounted for a mere 34 percent of the committee members in negotiations rooms with some country teams having more than 90 percent men.