Friends of the Earth - Why Women Will Save the Planet

WHY
WOMEN
WILL SAVE
THE
PLANET

About Friends of the Earth

For more than forty years Friends of the Earth has seen that the well-being of people and planet go hand in hand and its been the inspiration for our campaigns. Together with thousands of people like you weve secured safer food and water, defended wildlife and natural habitats, championed the move to clean energy and acted to keep our climate stable.

This book forms part of our three-year research project Big Ideas Change the World, which aims to inspire a new campaigning journey for Friends of the Earth and others. It is collaboratively researching ten topics, including the future of cities, innovation, womens empowerment and the history of change. It starts from the premise that humans are ingenious and have enormous capacity for collaboration and empathy, even though right now we are doing some pretty stupid things.

Big Ideas Change the World will identify what needs to change to focus some of humanitys amazing abilities on solving the challenges we face and building a brighter future for everyone.

Find out more and get involved at www.foe.co.uk/bigideas

WHY
WOMEN
WILL SAVE
THE
PLANET

A COLLECTION OF ARTICLES
FOR FRIENDS OF THE EARTH

Edited by Jenny Hawley

Why Women Will Save the Planet was first published in 2015 by Zed Books Ltd, The Foundry, 17 Oval Way, London SE11 5RR, UK.

www.zedbooks.co.uk

Copyright Friends of the Earth 2015

The right of Friends of the Earth to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

Typeset in ITC Galliard by seagulls.net.

Cover designed by Kika Sroka-Miller.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of Zed Books Ltd.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978-1-78360-580-4 hb

ISBN 978-1-78360-579-8 pb

ISBN 978-1-78360-581-1 pdf

ISBN 978-1-78360-582-8 epub

ISBN 978-1-78360-583-5 mobi

CONTENTS

JENNY HAWLEY

University of Essex

Womens empowerment and environmental sustainability in the context of international UN agreements

Green Belt Movement, Kenya

Women as drivers of forest restoration to combat climate change

Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex

Why do gender equality and sustainability go hand in hand?

UK Green Party MP

Is there a specific role for women in helping to achieve environmental sustainability through politics?

Feminist geographer, Brunel University

The institutionalisation and masculinisation of environmental knowledge

Andrew Lees Trust

Media empowering women in southern Madagascar

Economist, University of Massachusetts Boston

Empowering a balanced and useful economics of sustainability: the role of gender

Centre for Sustainable Fashion, University of the Arts London

The role of fashion in bringing about social and ecological change

Activist with the World March of Women

How the defence of the commons and territories has become a core part of feminist, anti-capitalist struggles

Philosopher, activist and co-author of Ecofeminism

Hand in hand: womens empowerment and sustainability

International Food Policy Research Institute

Womens empowerment in sustainable agriculture

Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights

The impacts of environmental mismanagement on Egypts poor

University of Antwerp

How gender-sensitive are National Adaptation Programmes of Action? Selected findings from a desk review of thirty-one sub-Saharan African countries

NGO leaders

Women, conflict and the environment in Somali society

Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)

Gender, participation and community forestry: lessons from beneath the canopy

Former CEO of Oxfam GB

Putting gender equality at the heart of Oxfams work

Networked Intelligence for Development, Canada

From individual to communal rights: empowering women for sustainable use of natural resources

Sociologist, activist and co-author of Ecofeminism

Mother Earth

Population and Sustainability Network

Sexual and reproductive health and rights: a win-win for women and sustainability

UK Womens Environmental Network

The power of grassroots action for womens empowerment and the environment

National Federation of Womens Institutes

One hundred years of collective action for environmental change

CEO of Good Energy

The impact of gender balance in the renewable energy sector

30% Club for women in business leadership

More women in business for a sustainable economy

Former director general of the National Trust

Sustainability is about people

Journalist and TV presenter for Channel 4 News , UK

Sexism and gender equality in British politics

Historian, University of Warwick

Mistresses of their own destiny: a history of womens empowerment in nineteenth-century British politics

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, Friends of the Earth and I are grateful to all the contributors who have generously shared their expertise, energy and time to make this book possible. We would like to thank all those at Zed Books for their support in its publication and the staff, volunteers and activists at Friends of the Earth who have championed this book and helped in its production and promotion. Finally, I would like to thank in particular Mike Childs at Friends of the Earth for enabling me to work on this fascinating book, as well as his support and encouragement during the process of pulling it together.

Jenny Hawley

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS

Celia Alldridge

Celia Alldridge has contributed a piece on behalf of the World March of Women (WMW), an international feminist, anti-capitalist movement bringing together organized grassroots women as individuals or as part of groups, collectives, trade unions or social movements in the struggle against all forms of inequality and discrimination against women. WMW recognizes the deep relationship between feminist activism and territorial self-determination, with parallels between the exploitation and commodification of women and the environment.

www.worldmarchofwomen.org

Shukri Haji Ismail Bandare

Shukri Haji Ismail Bandare has served as the minister for environment of Somaliland since 2013. Previous to her political appointment, she was an active campaigner on environmental issues and founded a local NGO, Candlelight for Health, Education and Environment. The charity continues to deliver training, education and healthcare programmes with communities across Somaliland.

www.candlelightsomal.org

Quinn Bernier, Chiara Kovarik, Ruth Meinzen-Dick and Agnes Quisumbing

At the time of writing, the authors worked in the Environment and Production Technology Division and the Poverty, Health and Nutrition Division at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Their piece draws heavily on an article on Gender and sustainability by Meinzen-Dick et al. published in 2014 and extends it to suggest that the Womens Empowerment in Agriculture Index may be a useful tool for understanding this relationship. They conclude that empowerment does matter for environmental sustainability both for men and for women and that there are important gender differences to address to allow this to happen.