On Tuesday women all over the world celebrated the 100th anniversary of the UN's Day For Women's Rights. CIWEM (The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management) used the day to highlight the fact that women "play a crucial role in contributing to climate change mitigation".
CIWEM believes that women can be positive agents of change when it comes to environmental issues. However, they are still too often overlooked by society.
Women world-wide are fundamental when it comes to managing local resources and sustaining local communities, says CIWEM, but gender inequality and the exclusion of women from eco-related debates is impeding efforts to achieve wider goals such as poverty reduction, sustainable development and climate policy development.
CIWEM believes that women can be positive agents of change as long as we challenge and change gender inequality in society.
Women parliamentarians and decision-makers can help bring a gender perspective to climate change policies, but there needs to be positive action to include the voices of poor and vulnerable women.
CIWEM is calling for a holistic approach "that incorporates poverty eradication and women's economic empowerment in environmental management and conservation".
Paul Horton, CIWEM’s Director of International Development, says: “Sustainable development is not possible without the empowerment of women and gender equality. Their experience, their participation and their leadership are crucial to the success of global environmental efforts. We must have greater participation and involvement of women in environmental decision-making positions in order to meet the complex environmental challenges of our time.”