Gender Equality Mainstreaming Digest – November 2016 Issue
Here are the highlights of this month’s Gender Equality Mainstreaming Digest! Click HERE for the full version.
“The Lady in the Park” statue at Assiniboine Park, Winnipeg, Manitoba. The plaque quotes Cicero: “If you have a library and a garden, you have everything you need.” Photo courtesy of D. Ceplis.
Highlights:
Opportunities and Upcoming Events:
Panel: “Sustaining the Future: Women in Organic Agriculture” – The 2016 Organic Connections Convention and Trade Show is planned for November 3rd, 4th and 5th, 2016 and will be held at the Conexus Arts Centre in Regina, Saskatchewan. On the program on Friday, November 4th, hear a panel speak on the topic “Sustaining the Future: Women in Organic Agriculture”.
One sector, many goals: Designing Agricultural Programs that work – This full-day knowledge event in Ottawa, Ontario on November 14, 2016 is coordinated by Global Affairs Canada. It will bring together international experts and practitioners, Canadian NGOs, and civil servants to explore the role of agriculture in achieving Canada’s development priorities and Global Goals. Participants will discuss challenges and engage with practical examples of agriculture-related programming focused on: women as leaders and change-makers in the communities, achieving environmental goals, strengthening local governance, and bridging the divide between humanitarian assistance and agricultural development.
Global Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA) Forum – The 2016 GGCA Innovation Forum alongside the COP22, November 12-13, 2016 in Marrakech, Morocco, will bring together grassroots leaders and gender experts from the Global Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA) network, alongside students, researchers, practitioners and decision-makers, to reflect on milestones in achieving gender-responsive climate policy, learn valuable skills and best practice for implementation, and look forward to real action on climate for women and men around the world. Find out more about the GGCA by visiting the alliance website.
This Month’s News:
African Women in Agricultural Research and Development – The AWARD newsletter for October 2016 features the following articles: Applying the Gender Lens to Scientific Research, A Course on Enhancing Negotiation Skills for Women, and Funding and Grant Opportunities.
The Elusive Woman Secretary-General – United Nations’ apex forum, the General Assembly elected the next Secretary-General yesterday by acclamation rubber-stamping the recommendation of the Security Council (SC). Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury is appalled by the choice of 15 members of the Security Council of another man following eight others in 70 plus years of UN’s existence as if only men are destined to lead this global organization.
Government of Canada welcomes survey on university researchers and faculty members – Statistics Canada announced that it is reinstating a survey that will provide important data – including age and gender – on the makeup of Canada’s world-renowned university researchers. Prior to the discontinuation of UCASS in 2012, the survey had collected data on full-time faculty at Canadian universities every year since 1937. In an attempt to bridge the gap in data, Statistics Canada will also work with academic institutions to gather pertinent data from the years since 2012. They will also test the feasibility of expanding the survey to include part-time and public college staff.
Reports Publications and Resources:
How do gender approaches improve climate compatible development? Lessons from India – Although evidence shows that women are both victims of climate change and important contributors of knowledge and skills in disaster risk, adaptation and mitigation strategies, the gender perspective is largely missing from the design and planning of climate change responses and policies. In addition, most research into gender and climate change has been exclusively conducted in rural contexts. There is strong scope for filling these knowledge gaps to improve the understanding of the relationship between gender and climate change in urban settings. This policy brief explores the advantages and challenges of integrating a gender dimension into climate compatible development strategies in urban settings – Lessons from Peru – Lessons from Kenya.
Protecting women’s and children’s health from a changing climate – Climate change increases challenges to women’s and children’s health. There is more likelihood of women and children suffering and dying from problems such as diarrhoea, under-nutrition, malaria, and from the harmful effects of extreme weather events, including floods or drought. While women and children in developing countries have made comparatively small contributions to historical carbon emissions, they bear the brunt of the health effects of climate change, both now and in the future. Efforts to prevent, mitigate and address the effects of climate change should include integrated action across sectors to address these health inequities now and for future generations.
Climate change will have a substantial impact on the health and survival of future generations. Policies that act now to improve health can also reduce climate change. Such co-benefits can be achieved when coordinated action is taken across the health, transport, energy, education and agriculture sectors. Policies that address broader health and climate protection can also work to reduce the significant economic losses from damages to health and the environment.
Men, masculinities & climate change – The threats of climate change are not gender-neutral. Gender analysis on climate change over the past three decades has brought to light the disproportionate effects of climate change and environmental degradation on women’s lives – particularly those of low-income women in global South settings. In countries where there is marked gender inequality, four times as many women as men die in floods. In some cases during natural disasters, women and children are 14 times more likely to die than men. This phenomenon will grow more frequent with global warming. Research has also shown that women often have a smaller carbon footprint than men, regardless of whether they are rich or poor. Therefore, a greater understanding of how gendered identities affect men and women’s roles, activities and subsequent contributions to carbon emissions is essential if mitigation politics and programs are to achieve their desired effect.
This discussion paper presents the need for a more nuanced analysis of boys’ and men’s multiple roles vis a vis climate change. The purpose of such an investigation is to contribute to a more complete understanding of the gendered root causes, impacts and solutions to climate change adaptation and resilience and to further strengthen the call for social, economic and environmental justice for all. Boys and men must be seen as part of the solution to achieve gender-informed climate justice, as they are in different capacities in the fields of gender-based violence prevention, unpaid care work, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and peace and security. This paper seeks to outline these multiple roles to identify possible ways forward to engage boys and men as agents of sustainable, positive change alongside girls and women.
The Gender Equality Mainstreaming (GEM) Working Group of the Agricultural Institute of Canada gathers information and articles on an ongoing basis on gender quality mainstreaming within agriculture, scientific research, rural development, climate change, organizational development and international development. The views and opinions presented are not necessarily representative of AIC.
Back issues of the GEM Digest are available here.