International Women’s Day celebrates the contribution of women and girls as influencers of climate solutions
Promoting gender equality reducing the climate crisis and disaster risk is one of the greatest global challenges of the 21st century. The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day (8 March) is “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow”Explores the ways in which women and girls lead the way in adapting to, mitigating and responding to climate change around the world and helping influential leaders and change makers create a more sustainable future for all.
During International Women’s Day, during a formal UN event, Secretary-General António Guterres emphasizes the important role of women and girls in combating climate change. “We need more female environment ministers, business leaders, and presidents and prime ministers. They can get countries to tackle the climate crisis, develop green jobs and build a fairer and more sustainable world. We cannot survive a pandemic as the clock rotates backwards in terms of gender equality.
Women are increasingly recognized as more vulnerable than men to the effects of climate change, as they make up the majority of the world’s poor and are more dependent on natural resources, which are most threatened by climate change. However, despite growing evidence, finding essential links between gender, social equality and climate change remains hesitant. At the same time, progress towards a more egalitarian world is being hampered by a number of interconnected and worsening crises, most recently the attack on Ukraine. Whatever the crisis, from the conflict to the climate, women and girls will suffer first and foremost. Without gender equality, a sustainable future today and an equal future are beyond our reach.
“We have seen the impact of COVID-19 on increasing inequality, promoting poverty and violence against women and girls; and slowing down their progress in employment, health and education. The accelerating crises of climate change and pollution are disproportionately undermining the rights and well-being of women and girls,” CEO of Women. Sima Bahous. “Today, we have the opportunity to put women and girls at the center of our planning and operations and to integrate gender perspectives into global and national laws and policies. We have the opportunity to think, frame and reallocate resources. We have the opportunity to benefit from the advocates and environmental activists of women and girls who guide the protection of our planet. Climate change is a multiplier of the threat. But women, and young women in particular, are disseminators of solutions.
Revealed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic and social consequences disproportionately affected women and girls, further challenging their ability to withstand the effects of climate and environmental crises. Pressure to reconcile work and family, combined with school closures and job losses in female-dominated sectors, meant that fewer women participated in employment, with some 113 million women aged 25-54 leaving their workforce with their spouses and young children. in 2020.
Climate change is also increasing vulnerability to gender-based violence. Women all over the world have a disproportionate responsibility for providing food, water and fuel, which makes climate change more time-consuming and difficult. The scarcity of resources and the need to travel further to acquire them can further open up women to violence, including increased risk factors related to human trafficking, child marriage or the availability of resources to protect them from gender-based violence.
Women and girls are doing climate and environmental action at all levels, but their voices, willpower and participation are under-supported, under-resourced, underestimated and under-recognized.
In order to achieve sustainable development and increase gender equality, it is essential to continue exploring the opportunities and constraints of women and girls to have a voice and be involved in decision-making on climate change and sustainability. Solutions must integrate a gender perspective into climate, environmental and disaster risk reduction policies and programs. to promote and protect women human rights defenders in the environment; build the resilience of women and girls and their organizations; strengthen and improve the prevention, response to and recovery from sexual and gender-based violence; and invest in gender-specific statistics and data to strengthen the relationship between gender and climate.
Commemorations around the world:
International Women’s Day commemorations worldwide include ministerial meetings, demonstrations, marches, media workshops, storytelling and content production, photo exhibitions, celebrity engagement, and social media activation.
The UN Women’s Offices will commemorate the commemoration through a number of events, including intergenerational cross-thematic dialogues in Thailand. virtual gallery tells stories about climate masters from Bangladesh, Cambodia and Vietnam Youth Climate Smart Entrepreneurs Video Challenge In East and South Africa, field visits to Senegal and Jamaica, official policy recommendation panel in Mali, interactive photo exhibition in Lebanon, collaboration with well-known illustrators from Europe and Central Asia, rowing competition in Egypt, awards ceremony for local women-friendly companies in Mexico, and the promotion of sustainable development in Liberia, as well as a high-level commemorative event #LACForumamong many others.
– Around the world, more than 110 exchanges hosted ringing ceremonies for the eighth year in a row to show support for women’s rights and gender equality. At the ADX Mall in Abu Dhabi, the ceremony was attended by UN Vice President Anita Bhatia during her official visit to the United Arab Emirates.
– In Photoville In New York and Dubai, the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations in collaboration with the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding and UN Women will present a photo exhibition “Hands: Women Receive Peace.” The exhibition features 14 women from around the world who have mediated , developing political solutions and advocating for women’s rights and participation, whose stories come from the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, South Sudan, Sudan, Lebanon, Yemen and Colombia.
Source: UN Women