Women as agents of change? : Reflections on Women in climate adaptation and mitigation in the Global North and South

This chapter argues that most efforts aimed at using women’s positions relative to climate change will be insufficient if not conducted with great care and analytical sensitivity. It shows that mitigation and adaptation measures of climate change often target women, either as untapped resources for combating climate change or as active and powerful participants in adaptation or mitigation efforts. The chapter demonstrates that even if discussions of climate change attempt to include gender, actual efforts rarely challenge the status quo but rather reinforce stereotypical perceptions of gender or may even result in greater vulnerability. It reviews relevant literature on gender and climate change, focusing in particular on gender mainstreaming; a tool used in many different contexts. The chapter discusses the perceived roles of women, first in the Global South, then in the Global North. It describes the implications of this for the larger field of gendered ramifications of climate change