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Gender Equity

Improving Distribution of Environmental Benefits and Burdens

Achieving gender equity is critical to sustainable development. In all societies women’s and men’s roles are socially constructed, but all too frequently gender-based disparities exist that disadvantage women; this impedes their development and hence that of humankind.

Despite decades of effort, overall progress in improving women’s lives has been inconsistent. Moreover, environmental benefits and burdens affecting human capabilities are inequitably distributed. Women are still underrepresented in all levels of government and other decision-making arenas, whether at work or, for many, at home. Such lack of power is linked to higher levels of female poverty, especially in rural areas of developing countries where women are responsible for 60–80 per cent of food production as well as fuel and water provision yet have little access or control over natural assets such as land, water and ecological conditions that create opportunities for a better life.

The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) aims to tackle gender issues such as this using an integrated approach that considers social, economic and environmental aspects of gender inequalities, a fresh way to address these challenges. Our approach is to provide policy advice on:

• Achieving equitable access for both women and men to

  • adequate food and water to increase personal security

  • ecosystem services, thus creating economic opportunities

  • information they need about their environment

• Striking a better gender balance in sustainable development decision-making

• Determining the gender impacts of sustainable development policies

• Reporting on gender issues arising during negotiations on the Rio Conventions and other relevant meetings

Contents

• Equitable Access to Life’s Resources
  Ecosystems underpin life and, through human intervention, the resources and services they provide translate into environmental benefits and burdens that are inequitably distributed. One of the distributional fault-lines is gender, with women more likely to have limited access to necessary ecosystem services and the opportunities those provide.

• Striking a Better Gender Balance in Decision-Making
  Governance and policy decisions determine the distribution of environmental benefits and burdens. This compels us to question who is “steering” development, how governance structures are formed and whether the outcomes of governance processes are equitable and accountable and lead to sustainable development. Indeed, inclusion in decision-making processes affecting one’s life is instrumental to development.

• Gender Impacts of Policies
  Many policies are gender-blind; they have been developed without considering gender impacts. In hindsight, a gender analysis would have resulted in different decisions being made and hence different policies. In the most optimistic scenario, gender-sensitive policy would provide more options so that women, as well as men, could be agents of change.

• Reporting on Sustainable Development and Rio Convention Gender Issues
  Transparency in decision-making is essential for progress. The collective conscience of humanity amplifies courses of action that support the many, rather than the few. This need also applies to gender issues, especially as women’s voices have historically been muffled due to their relative absence from the halls of power. Additionally, reporting on gender issues generally increases awareness and elevates their importance.