Women and the Environment
I attended the recent Women and the Environment Workshop, led by Irene Shen [Area Reference Person for the Brooklyn Queens Connect Area in New York, USA] and Diane Balser [International Liberation Reference Person for Women]. It was primarily for the northeast United States and eastern Canada. Two women from Nigeria also attended. About a hundred women participated.
Irene and Diane made clear the interconnectedness of women’s liberation work and the global fight to stop climate change. Sexism and male domination are part of the same system of exploitation and domination that has created the climate crisis.
We need to fight for ourselves as females to successfully take on [undertake] a big fight like stopping climate change. We cannot leave ourselves behind. Going back to fight our early battles as girls will allow us to use our great intelligence and power as we face this global crisis.
Our historic exploitation as females has been central to the concentration of wealth in the capitalist system that prioritizes profit above all else.
Women are over-represented in high-level international committees focused on climate adaptation (figuring out how to adapt to a changing climate) and massively under-represented in committees focused on climate mitigation (the work of trying to stop climate change). This correlates with the role imposed on us of being caretakers as opposed to scientists.
I led a topic group on health and the climate crisis. Sexism often makes us feel separated from our bodies. We might also struggle to feel connected to the ecosystems we are a part of. I reminded us that as we take on the climate emergency, we must not sacrifice our health and well-being—that taking care of our health as females is taking a stand against sexism and male domination as well as against racism, genocide, colonization, and anti-Semitism. We also discussed how environmental challenges—for example, air pollution—affect our female bodies.
Putting being female at the heart of our climate work was powerful.
Dorchester, Massachusetts, USA
Reprinted from the RC e-mail discussion list for leaders of women
(Present Time 208, July 2022)