Women and men leave different ecological footprints. They approach environmental issues and sustainability in different ways. Their preferred means of transport vary, as do their general consumption patterns. Moreover, women in the world’s developing countries are affected more severely by climate change and natural disasters than men. These are some of the reasons why the gender dimension is being integrated into all activities forming part of the Nordic Prime Ministers’ green growth initiative.
“There is a difference in how men and women act and consume things, which is interesting from an environmental and climate perspective,” says gender expert Charlotte Kirkegaard from the consulting company Unisex Progress. She will be incorporating the gender equality dimension into the programme design and implementation of three projects in the Nordic Prime Ministers’ green growth initiative. The process is called gender mainstreaming.
“Sustainability has to include both genders’ perspectives. If you lack the perspective of half the world’s population, you will not be able to find the right solutions to achieve your goals,” Kirkegaard says.
The three projects address cooperation on education and research on green growth, the inclusion of environmental and climate issues in Nordic development aid, and financing green investment and companies.
By definition, gender equality is about ensuring equal access to opportunities in society, whether social, political or economic. From a growth perspective, gender inequality prevents women from fully optimising their economic potential and thus restricts their ability to contribute to the shift towards a greener economy. An unbalanced society, in other words, does not fully benefit from its human capital.
One of the solutions to this problem is more research. European studies have shown a lack of research on the significance of the gender perspective to the economy. The research segment of the green growth initiative will therefore work towards further integrating the perspective into Nordic research. The aim is to ensure funding that will be targeted specifically at the linkage between green growth and the gender dimension.
“The gender perspective needs to be put on the climate change research agenda. We need to understand the situation today and explore ways to benefit more extensively from applying the gender dimension in research. This would promote green growth and gender equality at the same time,” says Kirkegaard.
Transportation is one of the major issues of the climate change debate. It is also an area where there is a clear difference between the behaviour of men and women. As an example, women use trains and busses to a larger extent then men, who, on the other hand, are more likely to choose cars and planes as their preferred means of transportation.
“Decision-making in the transportation and energy sectors is still very male dominated, while the gender ratio in climate change negotiations is slightly better. We don’t have a clear gender perspective or sufficient research into our own way of dealing with this,” Kirkegaard says.
She also points out that female entrepreneurs tend to be more environmentally aware than their male counterparts.
“Women in business are usually more aware of environmental issues, and CSR strategies around the world are very much driven by women. This is an area where we have some talent and knowledge that should be embraced much more than it is today.”
The Nordic countries aim to use a larger proportion of their development aid to support projects that encourage third world countries to make the transition towards greener economies. Fossil fuel subsidies reform is a prominent issue in this regard, and here, the gender perspective must be carefully considered.
“We need to be aware that taking this approach has a huge impact, especially on poor people and notably on women. Failure to take account of the gender dimension in the reform of fossil fuel subsidies could potentially create massive problems for women,” Kirkegaard emphasises.
One of the solutions to the problem of ensuring that the economic impact of a fossil fuel subsidies reform is borne equitably is to phase in refunds to those affected by them. This brings a very practical gender issue to light, namely the fact that women in developing countries often do not have access to bank accounts. They might therefore not get their fair share of compensation.
“If you don’t consider the problems that are specific to women, you cannot make sustainable development happen. The main point is that when you remove these subsidies and have to find alternatives, the strategy should be designed as a driver for development. It should ensure improved conditions for both men and women, but could also be used to promote women’s opportunities to create their own businesses,” Kirkegaard explains.
“This is about changing how resources are shared. Equality in funding is very important, you have to make sure that women get funding to make their projects a reality,” she continues.
The Nordic countries will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of cooperation on gender equality in 2014. The five countries are among the world’s leading nations when it comes to equal opportunities for men and women. In the Global Gender Gap Report 2013, a World Economic Forum report that ranks countries on their ability to close the gender gap in four key areas: health, education, political engagement and economic participation; Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden occupy the top four spots, while Denmark comes eighth on the list.
According to Kirkegaard, more insight is, however, still needed to fully understand the importance of including the gender dimension in Nordic programme design and policies.
“We’re just at the beginning of analysing gender inequality as a counterproductive element in the way we think about green growth. We need more knowledge on how the genders perform and how results from gender research could improve our ability to stimulate green growth, whether in the region itself or through development aid,” says Kirkegaard.
Each of the Nordic Council of Ministers’ sectors is now working on strategies for how best to promote the gender equality issue through Nordic cooperation.
”The time horizon depends on the political will to push the gender dimension forward. It takes political courage and resources to develop these issues, conduct the research and introduce this extra dimension on a professional basis,” she concludes.
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This post was originally published in the Nordic Council of Ministers' web magazine: Green growth - the Nordic way.
The opinions expressed herein are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the GGKP or its Partners.