By: Yasmine B.
Photo from: Women Watch United Nations
From the most contemporary of cities to the most rural branches of the globe, traditional gender roles dictate that women are more often responsible for various aspects of housekeeping, including providing meals, water, and sources for fuel or heat. At the same time, the impacts of climate change increase the intensity and frequency of natural disasters, which greatly affect the world’s poorest and most vulnerable, 70% of which are women (International Union for Conservation of Nature). Not only are these women tasked with housework of ever-increasing difficulty, as pollution and global warming deplete basic resources, they are also afforded the least amount of opportunities that allow for escaping these cycles of poverty by means of education and family planning.
Climate change is a gendered issue, with various socio-economic degrees playing into the need for representation and understanding on a political and legislative level. Yet as with most political and legislative discussions, women face greater barriers to entry and have a resulting “unequal participation in decision-making processes and labour markets,” which “often prevent[s] women from fully contributing to climate-related planning, policy-making and implementation” (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change). For this reason, international organizations such as the United Nations and Lima Work Programme are including greater emphasis on gender-responsive climate change policies. When these critical issues hit them the hardest, women deserve to have their voices elevated in these critical conversations.
But what about our everyday lives? Most people are familiar with the term “toxic masculinity,” an expansive gender framework based on gender roles that “teaches boys and men to reject anything perceived to be feminine such as emotional depth, physical intimacy, intellectual curiosity, and cooperation” (Global Citizen). However, what most people are unfamiliar with are the effects that toxic masculinity has in prohibiting men from participating in the fight for a greener world. According to various studies ranging in origin from California, Pennsylvania, to Sweden, women are better at recycling, less likely to litter, and leave smaller carbon footprints than male counterparts. Based on this premise, another 2017 study published by the Scientific American asked 2,000 participants from the United States and China to rate various actions as more masculine or feminine. Overall, their research concluded that eco-friendly behaviors, such as bringing reusable canvas bags to the grocery store, were perceived as more feminine than less eco-friendly behaviors, such as using a plastic bag. Another experiment found that men felt themselves to be “more feminine” after doing something good for the environment and felt “more masculine” after engaging in environmental harm. Toxic masculinity’s devaluation of femininity has a negative impact on the planet when the “green-feminine” stereotype is called into play, causing men particularly eager to prove masculinity to create greater environmental harm than good.
Photo from: Bustle
Though the links between growing gender disparity, climate change and its effects, and the strange gendered perceptions of environmentally sound actions are undoubtedly upsetting, they serve as a powerful reminder of the intersectionality that exists within our world. Modern equity movements must keep environmental justice at a forefront when under-resourced women are the first to feel the effects of a changing climate and the first to change their daily behaviors too. Creating a greener world shouldn’t solely fall on the shoulders of 49.6% of the global population— the future of our planet is too precious to not give our 100%.
Discussion Questions:
Why might the green-feminine stereotype exist? What can advertisements, markets and brands do to diminish this association?
What other intersectionalities are critical to discuss in regards to climate change?
Bibliography
Brough, Aaron R., and James E.B. Wilkie. “Men Resist Green Behavior as Unmanly.” Scientific American, 26 December 2017, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/men-resist-green-behavior-as-unmanly/.
IUCN. “Gender and Climate Change.” IUCN, https://www.iucn.org/resources/issues-briefs/gender-and-climate-change. Accessed 2021.
McCarthy, Joe. “Toxic Masculinity Is Killing the Planet, Study Finds.” Global Citizen, 23 May 2018, https://www.globalcitizen.org/es/content/toxic-masculinity-is-killing-the-planet-study-fi-2/.
United Nations. “Introduction to Gender and Climate Change.” United Nations Climate Change, https://unfccc.int/gender. Accessed 2021.