Global Rise in Gender-Responsive Climate Policies Reported

October 10, 2024

Recent reports from the UN Climate Change secretariat show an increasing effort to consider gender in climate policies. By July 2024, around 81% of the countries that are part of the Paris Agreement included gender references in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which is a big improvement compared to 2015.

Gender and Climate Change

Climate change affects men and women differently, with women being hit harder, especially in developing countries where many women work in agriculture. They often rely on farming for their food and income, so when climate conditions worsen, they lose both, making them more vulnerable to poverty and hunger.

Current Gender-Responsive Strategies

According to the report, 62.3% of the countries that mentioned gender in their climate plans are working on policies that include women’s needs. However, most of these policies focus mainly on women’s vulnerabilities and sometimes overlook men who may also be in difficult situations. About 55.7% of countries have committed to promoting gender equality in their climate actions.

Impact on Food Security

Climate change is making food production more challenging by affecting four key areas:

Availability (how much food is grown),
Accessibility (how easy it is to get food),
Utilization (how food is used for nutrition), and
System stability (the reliability of the entire food system).

Since women make up a large part of the workforce that grows food, they are particularly impacted when climate changes disrupt farming and food supplies.

Women’s Exclusion from Decision-Making

Despite their important role in farming and food production, women are often left out of decisions about key resources like land and water. Without a say in how these resources are managed, it’s harder for them to adapt their farming practices to cope with the changing climate.

Countries have an opportunity to improve gender-responsive strategies in their next climate action submissions in 2025. The first Global Stocktake (an assessment of global progress) from the 28th Conference of Parties (COP28) emphasized that integrating gender equality into climate policies can lead to better outcomes for everyone.

While progress has been made, there is still more to be done to ensure climate policies address the unique challenges that women face and involve them in decision-making.

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