Blogs & Opinions

‘Afghan Women’ Aren’t Who You Think They Are

Aug 16, 2022 | Lima Halima Ahmad

On May 7, the Taliban issued a statement making their version of the hijab mandatory for all women of Afghanistan, even though this full-body covering, sometimes called…

We Must Recognise Women’s Work on Climate Action: Bushfire Survivor Jo Dodds

Aug 11, 2022 | Brianna Boecker

Jo Dodds watched a bushfire burn through her south coast NSW township and impact her own home on March 18, 2018. It was an event…

Indigenous Women at the Forefront of Transformational Change

Aug 9, 2022 | Jamison Ervin

The International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, commemorated annually on August 9, is a day to celebrate the many contributions of the 476 million…

Closing the Gender Gap to Build Forward Better

Aug 3, 2022

Drinkable, usable water is very rare in cyclone-affected areas. One has to walk long distances to reach just a little bit of potted water. Otherwise…

Women Entrepreneurs in Africa Face More Climate Risks Than Their Male Peers

Jul 28, 2022 | Kate Gannon

The world’s climate is changing. All of us will ultimately be affected by climatic shifts – but some will be hit harder than others.

On the African…

We Can’t Fight Climate Change Without Fighting for Gender Equity

Jul 26, 2022 | Jamie L. Gloor, Eugenia Bajet Mestre, Corinne Post, and Winfried Ruigrok

As the climate crisis becomes increasingly urgent, organizations around the world have begun investing in a wide array of environmental sustainability initiatives. Some of these…

Why Climate Change Disproportionally Impacts Women

Jul 25, 2022 | Demetria Dickinson

A number of recent studies show that the negative effects of climate change fall disproportionately on women, caused by and compounding long-standing effects of sexism…

How Climate Change Could Drive an Increase in Gender-Based Violence

Jul 14, 2022 | Meghie Rodrigues

As extreme weather events occur more frequently — something that climate scientists say is inevitable — so, too, will violence towards women and people from…

Women Should Be Leading Conservation Efforts in Africa

Jul 13, 2022 | Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

Women make up the backbone of society. Nowhere is this truer than in rural Africa, where the so-called “lesser sex” takes on the bulk of…

Climate Change Exacerbates Violence Against Women and Girls

Jul 12, 2022

It is estimated that 80 per cent of people displaced by climate change are women, according to UN Environment.

When women are displaced, they are at…

Empowering Women Aids Climate Resilience

Jun 30, 2022 | Nina Jeffs, Zainab Yunusa

The overturning of constitutional rights to abortion by the United States Supreme Court is the latest blow in a worldwide rollback of protections for gender…

Her Land, Her Power: How Geospatial Tech Secures Women’s Land Rights

Jun 29, 2022 | Amy Coughenour Betancourt

It is estimated that 70 percent of land in the developing world is undocumented. This makes one billion people vulnerable to eviction and, more specifically,…

From Where I Stand: “We Need Women’s Voices for a Sustainable Marine Life and Fisheries Sector.”

Jun 16, 2022 | Huriye Göncüoğlu Bodur

“I grew up in a house with a sea view. As a child, I loved watching and being in the sea. I always wanted to…

To Really Lead on Global Gender Equality, the United States Needs Dedicated, Sustained Leadership

Jun 16, 2022 | Megan O'Donnell

It’s been 512 days since President Biden took office, and 216 days since he announced the nomination of Geeta Rao Gupta to be the US Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s…

If Women Don’t Lead, We’ll Lose the Battle Against Climate Crisis

Jun 8, 2022 | Sally Abi Khalil

We are in the midst of so many crises across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region: the most unequal, water scarce, least democratic…

Gender Equality for Resilience and Peacebuilding

May 24, 2022 | Vongai Murugani

In the past 50 years, gender equality and women’s empowerment have come a long way in many parts of the world, benefiting each area’s economic development and strengthening…

How the Taliban’s New Burqa Order Threatens Economic and Workplace Progress for Afghanistan’s Women

May 17, 2022 | Olivia Peluso

Afghanistan’s Taliban government has ordered women to cover their faces in public in a return to a signature policy of their past rule and an escalation…

Reimagining the Aftermath of War, Now

May 10, 2022 | Aida A. Hozić and Juliana Restrepo Sanín

Feminist scholars stress two aspects of wars. First, they emphasise continuums and circuits of violence, challenging the usual dichotomies of war and peace, public and private, domestic and…

The Risks of Gender-Blind Climate Action

May 10, 2022 | Marisa O. Ensor

Climate change is widely recognized as one the greatest threats to peace and security in the 21st century. The causal pathways that link deteriorating environmental conditions, insecurity, and conflict, while…

#BringBackOurGirls: Ecofeminism, Climate, and Conflict

Apr 14, 2022 | Adenike Oladosu

On the night of April 14, 2014, a group of militants attacked the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Nigeria. They kidnapped 276 female students,…

Climate Policies Must Allow Women to Control their Bodies and their Fates

Apr 14, 2022 | Zainab Yunusa

Links between women’s sexual and reproductive health and the impacts of climate change are made clear in the recent Working Group II report from the UN Intergovernmental…

Converging Risks: Demographic Trends, Gender Inequity, and Security Challenges in the Sahel

Apr 4, 2022

Security conditions in the Sahel are rapidly deteriorating. Since 2016, the region has witnessed a 16-fold increase in terrorist attacks. In Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania,…

A Closer Look at the Intersection of Gender and Security

Mar 31, 2022 | Deseri Tsepetis

While there has been progress in advancing civil rights and visibility for women and transgender folks, there is a long way to go to build…

The Key to Climate Action and Sustainable Peace? Women’s Full and Equal Participation

Mar 31, 2022

Climate change is not gender neutral, and for activist Fatima Muriel, this fact is all too real for thousands of women in her home country, Colombia. 

In…

Informal Spouses and Other “Invisible" Women: The Dark Underbelly of Land Rights Formalization

Mar 23, 2022 | Dr. Anne Hennings

As every year, the month of March has been packed with content and events around the globe related to women's land rights. The Land Portal…

Is the World Making Enough Progress on Addressing Gender Equality Within Climate Action?

Mar 23, 2022 | Verania Chao

We can only transition to zero-carbon and climate resilient development to the extent that we transform our societies. One of the areas in which this…

Is Climate Change a Gender Issue? Impact of Climate Change on Women and Children

Mar 18, 2022 | Azera Parveen Rahman

As the number of vagaries of climate extremes increases, so has the disproportionate burden on women and children, finds growing evidence. Policies, however, are yet…

Putting Women at the Centre of Forest Solutions to Climate Change

Mar 18, 2022 | Alexis Arthur and Elizabeth Eggerts

The role of gender equality in climate mitigation activities is critical to address both the climate crisis and support ‘gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow’…

Africa: Women Bear Brunt of Climate Disasters - They Should Lead Climate Solutions #AfricaClimateCrisis

Mar 11, 2022 | Melody Chironda

Global news headlines focus on climate projections about rising sea levels and high temperatures - but we rarely discuss how girls and women are on…

Climate Talks 'Need Women'

Mar 10, 2022

Marking this year's International Women's Day, the United Nations has called for the inclusion of women as leading voices to address climate change and guard…