Gender, Intersectionality and Climate Action
The consequences of climate change are not gender-neutral. As the climate crisis accelerates, its impacts are experienced unevenly. Women and gender-diverse people face disproportionate risks shaped not only by gender identity, but also by intersecting factors such as race, class, socio-economic development, education, disability, sexuality, and caste. Despite the growing recognition of these inequalities in international climate policy, global efforts to integrate gender into climate action remain slow and fragmented. Urgent global action is required to confront intersectional gendered climate impacts and ensure that no one is left behind. Here at Globalfields, we recognise this urgency and are committed to embedding a gendered lens in climate action to drive a just and inclusive transition.
As climate change intensifies and our ability to keep warming under 1.5°C slips, erratic weather patterns, rising ocean levels, and shrinking habitats are disrupting every sector of society. These climate impacts disproportionately harm women, trans people, and non-binary people, who already experience social inequality, far more than they affect men. Their effects are intersectional, compounding existing inequalities and acting as a threat multiplier.
International climate policy debates have integrated gender considerations since 1995, when the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action identified women and the environment as one of 12 critical areas for advancing gender equality. In 2001, gender was recognised by the United Nations Conference of the Parties (UN COPs), at COP7. In 2014, as part of COP20, a dedicated gender initiative was set up, the Lima Work Program on Gender (LWPG), which promoted gender-responsive climate policy. In 2015, the groundbreaking Paris Agreement acknowledged gender equality as a guiding principle to climate action. In 2020, the UNFCCC proposed a five-year enhanced LWPG and a Gender ActionPlan. Additionally, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 incorporated gender-sensitive dimensions into disaster policy. The following figure briefly summarises this timeline.
Despite these high-level decisions, progress on integrating gender into climate action remains slow. For instance, only around 20 per cent of long-term low-emissions development strategies submitted to the UNFCCC mention gender. While gender is increasingly acknowledged in policy, tangible and meaningful implementation of policy recommendations into activities falls short of the needed requitements to achieve gender mainstreaming.
Instrumental to this gap is the failure to formally recognise the intersectional links between gender and climate (see section below for the definition of intersectionality). This lack of recognition and inaction has serious consequences. The damaging effects of climate disasters on mental health, economic hardships, and resource poverty exacerbate gender-based violence. Women, in particular, encounter worse economic outcomes than men after natural disasters, such as reduced workforce re-entry, greater asset losses, and higher unemployment. According to the LSE commentary on gender mainstreaming, when gender is seen in isolation, existing inequalities can worsen.
Intersectionality, a term coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw, is now used as an academic term and practical tool to understand how different aspects of a person’s identity like gender, income or race, overlap and shape their experiences. In the context of gender and climate justice, it means recognising that not all women are affected equally by climate change. For example, a wealthy woman living in a developed nation may have access to more resources to escape climate disasters than a poor woman living in a developing country. The reason for this is that people’s exposure to climate risks, their ability to respond, and their influence in decision-making are shaped by social structures and characteristics like gender, socio-economic status, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, age, and health.
While addressing gender in climate action is essential, greater international recognition of gender intersectionality and stronger implementation of gender action plans are necessary. These efforts should be informed by evidence from pilot interventions and evaluations, and ongoing consultations with affected stakeholders to ensure long-term impact. Dedicated financing is also critical –for example, to enhance investment opportunities in women-led green enterprises, and thereby address structural disadvantages. Ultimately, an intersectional gender lens should be applied to all climate action programs, while inclusive, participatory integration should streamline the allocation of resources.
