Gendered Climate?

Topics: Climate Change, Gender

Age: from 12 years old Group size: 5-20 people Duration: 45 mins - 1 hour

Preparation needed:

Quiz

Introduction:

Gender and Climate are not two concepts that everyone links on a first thought. But let’s explore together the links between the two topics... You might be surprised! This workshop idea was originally developed by Aggie Taylor (Woodcraft Folk) and Pia Zevnik (Slovenian Falcons), as part of Resist! The Global Climate Divide, a project supported by the European Youth Foundation and the Council of Europe.

Step by step instructions:

1. Ask the participants to stand up in the room, and assign one side of the room to “true” and another to “false” (you can make signs for example) 2. Read the statements related to Climate Change and gender aloud one by one. After everyone has moved to what they think is the right answer, reveal the answer and open the floor for discussion. See Annex I for examples of the statements. 3. As well as a small discussion after each statement, close the activity by coming back into a circle and putting the statements into context. - Were you surprised at the answers? - What does this tell us about the link between gender and climate? - How is the awareness of this connection in my society or organisation? - What ways can we highlight or change this?

Online adaptation

This workshop was planned for an online environment so it’s easily adaptable to both online and online events. For the quiz, you can use tools like Kahoot and for discussions and debriefings Google Jam Board. Ask participants to place themselves at either end of a line on the screen or circle “true” or “false” on Jamboard.

Tips and variations

- This activity can be adapted to different topics with statements that you research and write yourselves.

- As well as yes/no answers, with different statements the activity can be a ‘barometer of opinion’, where participants stand along a line depending on whether they agree or disagree. 30

Annex I: Examples of statements

45% of the world’s poor are women. – False, 70% of the world’s poor are women. (Women are primarily responsible for gathering/producing food, collecting water etc.) Women and men have the same accessibility to productive resources in agriculture. – False. According to UN Food and Agriculture Organization, if women had the same access to productive resources as men, they could increase yields on their farms by 20-30%. Women have less impact on climate change, because they are not involved in decision-making processes. – Correct. Women often have more knowledge on the inner workings of local communities, yet they do not have the same opportunities to express their opinions and propose solutions. Women cannot contribute any more than what is already being done in order to stop climate change. – False. Women have proven to be leading the way towards more equitable and sustainable solutions to climate change.

Climate change affects people differently based on their gender. – Correct. As seen before, women have less resources and say in climate change activism. Rural women produce 50 % of the world’s food and 60-80% in many countries of the global south (UNESCO) – Correct, women’s centrality in agricultural production makes them especially vulnerable to climate change.