The Climate Crisis is a Leadership Crisis
We sit at a critical juncture, collectively faced with “a brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all". In the last 22 years, we have experienced 20 of the hottest years recorded on earth. Without rapid and transformative action, humanity heads toward a planet that will be 3°C warmer than pre-industrial levels, with wide-reaching and unequal consequences for human and natural life.
Climate change has been declared a state of emergency, and so is the impact that it has on women. Numerous studies show that climate change deepens existing inequalities and exacerbates systemic disadvantages, such as race and gender. Women are 14 times more likely to die during an extreme weather event, and around 80% of climate refugees are women.
Yet, perspectives on, and decisions about, the climate emergency and interlinked global issues have been made mainly by men, and even then, leadership lacks geographical and intersectional diversity. At COP26, women numbered just 35% on delegation committees and women led 37% of delegations as heads or deputies - despite the UNFCCC Gender Action Plan requiring 50% participation of women in all levels of climate action. At the last G7 meeting, only one woman was among the decision-makers.
In 2021, 26 women sat as the head of state or government in 193 countries around the world. 119 countries have never had a female leader.
The climate crisis is a leadership crisis.
At the highest levels of executive leadership within the UK’s COP26 Presidency team, men initially took up 10 of the 12 posts. This action resulted in an open letter signed by 450 women climate leaders and allies ahead of COP26. It is evident that the wider composition of the U.K. COP26 Presidency team did have a much higher representation of women (45%), but their roles tended to relate to event organising, or serving as advisors or deputies rather than on the core leadership team. This division of labor within the COP26 leadership team is characteristic of wider systemic issues in climate negotiations.
From passing climate legislation to assuring net-zero funding commitments are met, national politicians play a crucial role in dictating the speed of climate action, and the extent citizens are engaged on the issue.
As political leaders have decisive power over how climate change is tackled domestically and internationally, intersectional political leadership is crucial to ensuring that climate decisions are the product of diverse voices, needs, and priorities.
Yet, structural barriers through discriminatory laws and institutions still limit women’s options to run for office in many nation-states, and capacity gaps mean women are less likely than men to have the education, contacts, and resources needed to become effective leaders.
At the current rate of change, UN Women estimate that female representation will not be achieved in the highest positions of political power until 2151. From heads of state to national parliamentarians to local government, data indicates that women are underrepresented at all stages of the political system.
We need to include more perspectives for more successful outcomes on climate solutions:
Women as parliamentarians are more likely to adopt more stringent climate change policies
Nations with greater female representation in governing bodies have lower climate footprints, controlling for domestic (urbanization, production) and global (world-system integration) drivers.
Research shows that women are more likely to raise the importance of climate and sustainability goals.
The climate crisis affects the whole world, and decisions about our future should not just be made by half of it. Support SHE Changes Climate mission for a 50:50 representation of men and women in climate negotiations.
