Gender Equality and The Environment: A Cross National Study

In every country around the world women experience inequality to some degree in relation to political power, educational resources, healthcare and income. In many countries they also have inequitable access to the necessary resources for survival and adaptation. These inequities become particularly pronounced in the face of ecological degradation where women are often disproportionately impacted due to their cultural status, gendered roles and limitations in resource access. Despite being more affected, women also face barriers in having their concerns, knowledge and input integrated into the policy decisions that drive, address and attempt to mitigate environmental issues. Ecofeminist philosophy promotes that equality and ecological issues are intertwined, similarly rooted and that increasing women’s input and political power will lead to more efficacious environmental policy. The connection between gender equality/equity across nations and environmental performance is explored in this study. The results demonstrate that countries with higher levels of gender equality in the areas of political power, education, healthcare and economics are associated with better overall environmental performance, net of other relevant factors. This lends support to the argument that the creation and implementation of policy needs to address these issues as inseparable in order to create better results for the environment