Women in Environmental Governance

1. Women in Environmental Governance To Be Absent or to Be Present? WANG Huanhuan RIEL, Wuhan University ahwanghuanhuan@163.com

2. Women’s ‘presence’ in EG 1 2 3 EG and gender gap Contents Women’s ‘Absence’ from EG

3. Major social transformation major social transformations are impossible without ferment among the women.Karl Max • ……the future of this planet depends on women.Kofi Annan • Women have a vital role in environmental management and development. Their full participation is therefore essential to achieve sustainable development.Rio Declaration Principle 20

4. Environmental Governance and gender gap • Environmental governance Environmental governance refers to the rules, processes and behavior that affect the way power is exercised at all levels in the field of environmental policy. It also includes other areas that have an impact on the environment, and concepts such as openness participation, accountability, effectiveness and coherence.

5. Environmental Governance and gender gap Web structure of actors in EG ENGOs Government Market industry Rural/urban residents Man/women Indigenous people Citizens

6. Environmental Governance and gender gap • Environmental governance should tolerate gender gap • Gender gap is one of the most prominent social disparities. • It is more than a category. Rather, it contains differences with respect to value, social status and rank. • Historically and practically, man dominates woman. • The needs and roles of man and woman in environmental governance are distinguishable.

7. Environmental Governance and gender gap • Women have unique value as well as role in environmental governance • Value • Web-structured thinking pattern which is in accordance with ecosystem • Reproduction and caretakers of children intergeneration equality; Ethic of care • Women are more generous to public goods • Role (social) • Women-population-environment • Women-poverty-environment • Women-natural resource-environment • Women-environmental education-environment • Women-consumption-environment • Women-traditional knowledge-environment

8. Environmental Governance and gender gap • Women have special needs compared with men when faced with environmental degradation • Physiological difference • Division of labor • Environmental right distribution

9. Environmental Governance and gender gap The emergence of women environmental protection organizations • Outstanding women Rachel Carson/Gro Brundtland/Edith Weiss/Babara Ward/Wangari Maathai • Lay women • Women in Chipko Movement in India • Women in Warren County Protest • Lois Gibbs and other Women in Love Canal parent movement …...

10. Environmental Governance and gender gap In spite of the special demands, unique value and vital role women have in environmental governance, disempowerment of women in other social domain is duplicated into environmental governance. Faced with expanded masculinization of contemporary environmental governance, it’s time for us to realized that women is forced to be ‘absent’ from EG. They are considered as outside forces. The conclusion will be more understandable if we have an look at the vertical structure of environmental governance.

11. Women’s ‘absence’ from EG actors EG positions Functioning mechanisms Vertical structure of environmental governance

12. Women’s ‘absence’ from EG • ‘actors’ of environmental governance • It is human, rather than women or men who are actors of environmental governance. • The seemingly neutral paradigm, de facto, covers the differences existed. • It was proved to be wrong after environmental justice movement in which race was gradually incorporated into actors. • Gender gap is barely embraced in EG till now. • “Women” do not exist in environmental governance.

13. Women’s ‘absence’ from EG • ‘positions’ of actors in EG • Generally, civil society is gradually emerging as opposing strength to government, industries and market. • Given its structural complication, ENGOs, mass media and contingent environmental movement are developed or relied on to deliberate with other actors. • Women are confronted with more obstruction when using the above deliberative pipelines due to their disadvantages in the society. • Women are unreasonably positioned in environmental governance.

14. Women’s ‘absence’ from EG • ‘Functioning mechanism’ of EG • Women are less involved in environmental decision making. • Women have less capacity in participating environmental decision making. • The disparity between men and women are hardly addressed in environmental decision making. • The impacts of environmental decision making to women are barely assessed.

15. Women’s ‘absence’ from EG Women, who embraceunique concerns, values, and perceptions in terms of environmental protection are marginalized in the current man-centered and man-benchmarked environmental governance structure.

16. Women’s ‘absence’ from EG • Patriarchy—the root of women’s absence from EG • Patriarchy is a social system in which the father is head of the household, having authority over women and children. It also refers to a system of government by males, and to the dominance of men in social or cultural systems. • “Perhaps patriarchy’s greatest psychological weapon is simply its universality and longevity…… patriarchy has a [still more] tenacious or powerful hold through its successful habit of passing itself off as nature.”—Kate Millet wrote in Sexual Politics

17. Women’s ‘absence’ in EG • Patriarchy in environmental governance • Unintentional • Invisible • Substantial inequality with little ethic judgment

18. Women’s ‘presence’ in EG • The significance of women’s presence in EG • Better way to gender equality • Enhancement of environmental protection • Improvement of environmental legal system and good environmental governance

19. Women’s ‘presence’ in EG • The critique of patriarchy Structural disadvantage suffered by women provides the basis for one argument for their increased influence upon the principles and practices of EG; those who benefit least from existing power structures have, in principle, the greatest interest in opposing them. The critique of patriarchy is a exclusive way to ensure women’s presence, while women’s presence will accelerate the break down of patriarchy in EG.

20. Women’s ‘presence’ in EG Gender mainstreaming, empowerment of women and environmental protection conscious raising. Combine women’s participation in EG with other themes such as poverty alleviating and development. Encourage development of women environmental organizations to partly realize autonomy of women in EG. Pay special attention to the part environmental law plays.

21. Women’s ‘presence’ in EG • Existing legal response • National law • The different average weight between men and women is one of the concern when set brownfield restore standard in Ontario, Canada. • Gender Impact Assessment (Germany) It is conceived as an assessment of effects to accompany environmental measures, which makes it easier to integrate aspects relating to gender issues into environmental policy.

22. Women’s ‘presence’ in EG Oversimplified • Existing legal response • International law • Rio declaration Principle 20 • Agenda 21 • Convention on Biological Diversity • UN Convention on Combating Desertification

23. Women’s ‘presence’ in EG • Implication for environmental in China • Animal Law • Indoor pollution control • Environmental justice: gender justice • Transformation from international into national law in term of women’s role in EG • Gender Impact Assessment

24. Thanks for your attention!