Research on Gender, the Environment and Sustainable Development

1. Contribution to the Spanish EU-Presidency Workshop on European Environmental Policies and Women Segovia, February 13th, 2002 Claudia Empacher, Institute for Social-Ecological Research (ISOE), Frankfurt, Germany Research on Gender, the Environment and Sustainable Development

2. 1. About ISOE and its research on “gender and environment” 2. Research on gender and the environment: Areas of debate 3. Why does gender matter? Empirical evidence 4. Selected theoretical reflections on gender and the environment: a. The linkage of gender and environment b. Environmental policy and its gender impacts 5. Conclusions for environmental policy Overview 2

3. 1. About ISOE: Who are we? The Institute for Social-Ecological Research (ISOE), Germany: • independent non-profit research institute • researchers from different academic disciplines • environmental research at the interface of natural and social sciences • in a problem- and actor-oriented transdisciplinary research approach 2000: Swiss Transdisciplinarity Award (Awarded by the Swiss National Science Foundation in Cooperation with Novartis Science Ltd., ETH Zürich, University of Berne, supported by the Gebert-Rüf-Stiftung) 3

4. Our Research on Gender and Environment • Systematic combination of environment and gender research • Concept of gender: women and men are considered in their diversity • Gender-differentiated perspective takes into account: • women’s responsibility for the environment • their knowledge stemming from their experience • their competence in every-day life. • Our research revolves around the question of the “shaping power” possessed by women Aim: work out action perspectives and recommendations in which women feature both as the “affected” and “acting” parties. 4

5. Recent Projects • 2000-2001: Gender Impact Assessment of the Environment and Sustainable Development Research Policy of the European Union(commissioned by the European Commission) • 2001: Study on Gender and Environmental Attitudes and Behaviour. (commissioned by the German Federal Environmental Agency) • 2001: Exploratory Study on Research Needs in the Field of Gender, Sustainable Consumption and Environmental Impacts(funded by the German Ministry for Education and Research) • 2001-2002: Working out a Gender Impact Assessment Concept for the German Ministry of the Environment, Nature Protection and Nuclear Safety 5

6. 2. Research on gender and the environment: Overview of the areas of debate Women and the Environment in the Development-Discussion Feminist Critique of Natural Sciences and Technologies Every-day life and the Environment-and-Health-Issue in Environmental Strategies Gender and Sustainable Development 6

7. 3. Why Does Gender Matter? Seager (1995): • Environmental institutions are gendered • Individual environmental behaviour is gendered • Men and women have different relationships to the environment • Environmental degradation has a different impact on men and women • Environmental action / conflict / discourse is gendered. 7

8. Empirical Evidence: Men and women think and act differently: • Women tend to have a higher environmental awareness than men • Women show more willingness to act for preserving the environment • Women are more sceptical towards technological risks • Women act more environmentally friendly: • they buy more environmentally sound products • they eat less meat • their mobility behaviour is less environmentally harmful 8

9. Empirical Evidence: Men and women are affected differently: By environmental degradation or hazards Example: Tchernobyl Accident By environmental policy measures Example: German Waste Policy 9

10. 4. Theoretical assumptions on the linkage of gender and environment Eco-Feminism: • Shiva, Mies • Women have a privileged bond to nature because of their ability to give birth Feminist environmentalism: • Agarwal • The relationship with the environment is caused by different forms of interaction between human beings and their material interests Women dispose of different resources (time and money) and have different every-day-life experiences than men 10

11. Theoretical reflections on environmental policies and their gender impacts The disregard of women’s everyday-life • Different patterns of time use • Different share of non-market and market activities • Different kind of work Environmental policy tends to take women’s time for environmental activities for granted 11

12. Theoretical reflections on environmental policies and their gender impacts The disregard of the needs of vulnerable groups: Pregnant women, small children and elderly people are vulnerable groups, women are the main carers Risk definitions, threshold limits and critical amounts are oriented to the needs of a middle-aged healthy man 12

13. Theoretical reflections on environmental policies and their gender impacts The “feminization of environmental responsibility”: Women as “nurses to the ill environment” The burden of environmental responsibility is assigned to women 13

14. Theoretical reflections on environmental policies and their gender impacts The lack of “shaping power” of women: • Gap between the responsibility for the environment that is assigned to women and their real influence • Lack of “Gestaltungsmacht” (shaping power) (Schultz/Weller 1995): • What is the shaping power of women? • the power to frame problems and fashion solutions, • the power to create and shape knowledge, new technologies and environmental strategies and planning • the possibility of influence on decision making processes • the possibility of influence on the technical design of products or technologies 14

15. 5. Conclusions for an environmental policy Environmental policy should: • take into account the different every-day needs of men and women • take into account the different needs of especially vulnerable groups • develop concepts of shared responsibility and • increase the shaping power of women, especially with respect to all forms of decision-making. 15

16. Instruments The most important integral instruments of gender mainstreaming are: Gender Budgets Gender Impact Assessment Adaptation to the purposes of environmental policy:  Gender budgeting and green budgeting have to be combined and applied at the European level.  Gender Impact Assessments for environmental policy measures should be carried out. 16