Gender mainstreaming from the start in climate initiatives
The Icelandic parliament forms the setting for the 2024 Session of the Nordic Council, at which the members have just voted to recommend that the Nordic Council of Ministers incorporate a gender equality perspective into all climate initiatives from the beginning.
Whether it’s legislation or specific climate initiatives, everybody needs to think about the gender equality perspective from the start. It must never be an afterthought or forgotten about completely
Climate change affects men and women differently
The proposal is based on the recognition by the Nordic Council that the Nordic Region may well be advanced in terms of gender equality in general, but it is still lagging behind in the climate area. Women – especially in the Global South – are hit harder than men by climate change. Conversely, men generally have a larger carbon footprint than women. The proposal aims to address this paradox and imbalance. Specifically, the Social Democratic Group calls on Nordic co-operation to:
- Analyses and develop policy areas and climate initiatives from a gender equality perspective
- Conduct gender-based analyses of statistics on consumption patterns, habits and the effects of political decisions
- Include gender equality perspectives in new climate proposals
- Take into account the differences between men, women, boys and girls in its work on climate adaptation
- Empower women at all stages of work on climate adaptation – from international negotiations to national policy.
The proposal was submitted by the Social Democratic Group and processed by the Committee for Welfare in the Nordic Region (UVN). Kjerstin Wøyen Funderud presented the proposal in the plenary and emphasised:
I see synergies in the Nordic countries joining forces to learn more about the state of gender equality in the climate area. Because as it stands, climate change hits women harder than men – especially in the Global South.
Gender equality high on the Committee for Welfare in the Nordic Region’s agenda
The Committee for Welfare in the Nordic Region incorporates gender mainstreaming into all of its work. As well as the proposal put to the plenary today, it is also considering a new approach to equal pay based on replacing equal pay for equal work with equal pay for work of equal value. The approach stems from an initiative spearheaded by Iceland and a subsequent project run by the Nordic Information Centre for Gender Knowledge (NIKK), which NIKK will present to a meeting of the committee.
Read more below.
