Gender, Capitalism & Climate Change

Cayetana Carrion, of the Women's Environmental Development Organization, explains how poverty, the lack of access to energy, and the effects of climate change are interlinked, and how the impacts on women’s lives, both in developing and industrialized countries, reflect the gender inequalities prevailing in the social, economic and political arenas. Considering that sexism is so endemic in our world that it can be nearly invisible, the solution to this problem leads us to a questioning of capitalism itself.

Where social inequalities dictate that men and women have distinct roles and responsibilities based on their gender, inattention to these differences can lead to policies and projects that do not improve the lives of women (especially those in poor communities) and may even make their lives more difficult by reinforcing women’s low status, economic disadvantages, poor health and lack of power.

For example, 70% of people living in poverty are women, and women also carry a heavier share of responsibility for childcare, supplying their families with food, fuel, and water, and thus have greater difficulty in disaster situations (which climate change is quickly becoming).

Download 35:46   Recorded February 8, 2006

WEDO has published two comprehensive papers on gender and climate change, titled Global Warning: Women Matter! and Engendering the Energy and Climate Change Agenda, and WEDO's website is www.wedo.org.