Introduction.
Prioritizing women in decision-making at all levels to address climate change is essential for creating equitable, effective and sustainable climate solutions (Glazebrook et al., 2020; Allen et al, 2019; Kristjanson et al., 2017). There exist gender gaps in African women’s involvement and participation in climate decision-making at local, national, regional and international level. Very little to no women are considered in climate action and decision-making processes. Disproportionately, women’s voices are usually shunned or never heard at decision making foras. Women often experience the impacts of climate change differently and uniquely, especially in vulnerable sectors such as agriculture, fisheries, water resources, and community health. Women’s’ vulnerability is driven by poverty, inequality, and poor representation in governance (Figure 1; Yadav and Lal, 2018). Yadav and Lal (2018) argue that women are not only passive victims of climate change, but are also proactive and agents of hope. Involving women as decision-makers in climate policy, adaptation strategies and environmental governance brings valuable perspectives that lead to more inclusive and resilient outcomes (Rao et al., 2019).
Figure 1: Graphical Representation of Women’s’ Vulnerabilities to Climate Change in Arid Regions and Their Response Strategies.
Source: Adapted from Yadav and Lal (2018).
Background Context (Nigeria, Zambia and Uganda)
A 2024 global gender gap report places Europe in the first place in achieving gender parity with a 75% score, and sub-Saharan Africa in the sixth place with a score of 68.4% (WEF, 2023). A closer look at three Sub-Saharan African countries that is Nigeria, Zambia and Uganda reveals that Nigeria ranked 54th out of 146 countries, with an economic opportunity and participation score of 0.715; 137th for educational attainment, and 136th for political empowerment, placing it among the bottom 10 performers (WEF, 2023). This is despite some appreciable improvements in women’s representation in ministerial positions, rising from 10.7% in 2023 to 17.6% in 2024.
On the other hand, Zambia’s ranking dropped from 62nd to 85th out of 146 countries (WEF, 2023). In Zambia, gender gaps in women’s leadership are evident across multiple sectors such as politics, business, academia and civil society (National Gender Policy, 2023). While African women have made some strides in promoting gender equality, they continue to face significant barriers that limit their representation and influence in leadership roles. In Zambia, Nigeria and Uganda just like any other African country in the sub-Saharan region, women continue to be sidelined especially in key strategic positions of leadership particularly in the contemporary times, where climate action is cardinal across the global village. Key factors contributing to these gender gaps are cultural expectations, limited access to resources and systemic biases. For example, there is a gap between gender and climate change at national level and the grassroots level. Only 15.6% (26) of women are represented in parliament against 84.4% of men parliamentarians. All of these clearly show the existence of a huge gap within the high decision-making platforms.
On gender parity, the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Gender Gap Report 2023 indicates that Nigeria ranks 125th in the global gender ranking. Despite some positive changes in educational attainment, economic participation and political empowerment, Nigeria still has significant gender gaps in professional and technical workers, and in estimated earned income. Using the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Index, Nigeria ranks 16th worst out of 177 countries in 2021, giving it the highest gender inequality score of around 0.68 in Africa. The result of all of these is that Nigeria has less than 5% representation of women in parliament, which is one of the lowest rates in the world. Although women make up 49% of Nigeria’s population, their representation in politics and governance is low, as statistics show only 6.7% of women hold positions in governance (Eke, 2022). Of the record number of 1.553 women, who contested for positions in the 2023 elections, 72 emerged at the federal and state levels, out of which 7 of them were elected as deputy governors and 20 as members of the National Assembly – 3 out of 109 in the Senate (2.7%) and 17 out of 360 in the House of Representatives (4.7%), and 48 elected to the various State Houses of Assembly, with a combined total of 990 seats (Djoko, 2024). Women’s representation at the local council levels has also played out with a wide gap of men to women local government chairpersons and councillors (Agbalajobi, 2009). Political appointments, at both the federal and state levels, have not been any better for women (Daniel & Faith, 2013; Kolawole, Adeigbe, Adebayo & Abubakar, 2013; Mohammed & Zaid, 2014). Female ministers account for only 8 (15.91%) out of the 45-member ministerial list in the current administration.With current figures for the 10th National Assembly, Nigeria remains at the bottom of the list in the ranking for the number of women in African Parliaments.
Several factors have been considered responsible for this trend. These include the socio-cultural problems associated with Nigeria as an essentially patriarchal society, where many industries and sectors are dominated by men (Okoronkwo-Chukwu, 2013); the perceived traditional role of the woman as a homemaker, as well as the late introduction of women’s rights in the world, such as the right to vote and be voted for. Other factors, which contribute to its gender inequality include low labour force participation of 56% compared to 80% for men; gender wage gap that shows that women earn 45% less than men in similar roles; a decline in women’s representation in the National Assembly, as well as a wide digital divide between 92% of men in Nigeria, who own mobile phones, compared to 88%of women; 54% of them, who use mobile internet compared to 34% of women; and the fact that 68% of women do not currently have smartphones. Equally, limited access to resources and education is another factor, where women often have less access to education, financial resources, and information on climate science and policy. This also includes gender biases in governance structures where leadership in climate policy and governance is still male-dominated, making it challenging for women to gain representation and voice their concerns.
Zambia is also ranked low in gender gap reduction and inequalities, placing 146 out of 178 countries in the Gender Inequality Index. Some of the barriers women face in Zambia include stereotyping in traditionally male-dominated jobs, lack of access to and control over land and productive resources, as well as the impact of climate change, which is more severe in rural areas, where most women live and eke out a living. Overall, it has been noted that Global Gender Gap score for 2023 of 68.4% showcases a modest improvement of 0.3% from the previous year’s score. However, at the current rate of progress, it has been noted that it would take 131 years to achieve full gender parity.It is imperative to place this in context against the backdrop of the Gender Action Plan agreed by governments under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which calls for the full, equal and active participation of women in the climate process as equal partners in climate action decision-making and governance.
Correspondingly, participation of Zambian women in decision-making positions remains very low, with the most recent parliament consisting of only 15.1 percent of women in 2021,32 representing a decrease of 3 percent from the previous year (. The number of women in Cabinet declined from 28.6 percent in 2020 to 16 percent in 2022 and at local government level, women comprise a paltry 8 percent (World Bank Zambia Gender Assessment Report, 2023). Although gender parity has been attained at the primary school level (1.03), as children progress through the education system, the percentage of female learners significantly drops. World Bank (2023) argues that there remains a strong gender divide in literacy levels, with 66 percent of women being literate, compared to 82 percent of men. Moreover, the gender disparities are also attributed to poverty, for example, the World Bank (2023) in their Zambia Gender Assessment Report highlights that poverty levels remain high, particularly among women and girls as mainly 56.7 percent are said to be poorer than men (53.8 percent).
Further, the World Bank Gender Assessment Report (2023) argues that in Zambia, women comprise a large percentage of the workforce in the agricultural sector, however, they do not have access and control over land and productive resources. Approximately, 35.5 percent of women and 64.5 percent of men work in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries. As climate extremes such as heat waves, drought, crop failure, pollution or excessive rainfall intensify, the impact is greater in rural areas at 67.8 percent as compared to urban areas at 65.8 percent (World Bank Gender Assessment Report, 2023). Ultimately, this means that more women are negatively affected because the majority of women live in rural areas and heavily rely on natural resource extraction from climate-sensitive sectors such as water, agriculture, forestry, and energy.
In terms of governance, the government of the Republic of Zambia has been promoting gender equity and equality in decision-making at both national and local government levels (National Gender Policy, 2023). Despite these efforts, inequalities have persisted with regards to representation at decision-making levels. For example, the percentage of female Cabinet Ministers stood at 16 percent in 2022 while in 2016 the percentage of female Cabinet Ministers was 25 percent (National Gender Policy, 2023). In 2021, of the total Members of Parliament, 15.2 percent were female and 84.8 percent were male while in 2016 the female Members of Parliament were 16 percent and the males were 84 percent.
What this tells us is that the representation of women in leadership, while still low, it is growing. For women to engage in climate change decision-making outside their homes, they first need to rise to positions of leadership within government, civil society or private sector; and ultimately into political offices. The climate change negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) require both technical and political leaders working hand in hand, but the final decisions are made by the politicians – the Ministers. Although women make up 49% of Nigeria’s population for example, their representation in politics and governance is low, as statistics show only 6.7% of women hold positions in governance (Eke, 2022). Only 2.7%) of the Senators, 4.7% of the House of Representatives (Djoko, 2024) and 15.91% of Ministers are female in Nigeria, keeping it at the bottom of the list in the ranking for the number of women in African Parliaments.
Rationale
While women are close to occupying nearly half of entry-level positions, they fall short of representing just one-quarter of C-suite roles. Hailed in past editions as a promising trend, women’s hiring into leadership began to deteriorate, from 37.5% to 36.9% in 2023, and continued dropping in early 2024 to 36.4%, below 2021 levels ((Djoko, 2024). It is imperative to place this in context against the backdrop of the Gender Action Plan agreed by governments under the UNFCCC, which calls for the full, equal and active participation of women in the climate process as equal partners in climate action decision-making and governance. This Gender Action Plan reiterated the urgent need for governments to commit to mainstreaming gender and empowering women to become active and equal partners in the global climate process, not just as passive beneficiaries, but as prominent key stakeholders in decision making and implementation of agreed climate actions and governance.
Similarly, when it comes to climate negotiations and women representation, African women are outnumbered. However, with the enactment of the National Gender Policy of 2023 for Zambia and other legislations imply that women representation may increase as long as implementation is conducted effectively. The National Gender Policy seeks to accelerate the attainment of gender equity and equality nationwide (MoG, 2023). It is well aligned to the National Development Plans and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as the Vision 2030 which aims at attaining a prosperous middle-income nation. On the other hand, recognising the gaps between policy commitments and action, and the need for a comprehensive, inclusive and equitable approach on climate change (MoG,2023), the Government of the Republic of Zambia through the Ministry of Gender in collaboration with other key stakeholders developed and enacted the Climate Change Gender Action Plan of the Republic of Zambia (ccGAP:ZM),
Some reasons advanced for this clarion call on governments include the fact that climate action requires full participation of everyone, yet half of the world’s population, which comprises of women and girls, has been deliberately and consistently marginalised. This should not be allowed to continue, if the Paris Agreement Goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius is to achieved. Secondly, as the dominate labour force in agriculture in developing countries, empowering women can have a positive impact on climate adaptation that is needed to boost productivity, increase agricultural output by 2.5 – 4 percent, and help reduce world hunger by 12 to 17 percent, according to the UN. Thirdly, building climate resilience in communities requires the critical inputs of women, right from the planning stage, turning their lived experiences into actionable policy solutions. This is in recognition of their critical roles as first responders in community responses to natural disasters, leaders in disaster risk-reduction and major contributors to post-recovery efforts by addressing early recovery needs and contributing to building stronger and more resilient families and communities (Balke & Ostros, 2021). Fourthly, despite extensive data indicating the disproportionate impacts of climate change on women (Djoko, 2024), most national climate policies are essentially “gender blind” (Luna et al., 2021) because they are primarily developed by men. While women are increasingly assuming leadership and decision-making roles at work and often at community level (Pierlli, Murmura & Palazzi, 2022), they have remained under-represented at the national and international policy-making levels. As a result, gender considerations are frequently overlooked in national policies and international negotiations.
Considering the significant gender disparities highlighted, it is evident that there is a pressing need to enhance female participation in climate policy by promoting inclusivity. Despite the strong correlations that have been established between gender equality and positive climate policies, available data suggest that the participation of women at high-level global policy making venues such as in delegations at the Conference of the Parties (COP) has practically remained unchanged for the past 16 years. Last year’s COP28 marked a one percentage point decrease from COP27, and only a three-percentage point increase from COP14 in 2008. Even more appalling is that only 15 out of 133 world leaders, who attended COP28 in 2023 were women. Similarly, in COP27 only five out of 16 constituted bodies reported having achieved the goal of gender parity.
This data underscores a critical shortcoming. We are neglecting the invaluable contributions that women bring to climate change discussions and, as a result, there are insufficient policies to address the specific needs of women in a climate crisis. It has been argued that without women’s voices in the rooms, where policy is written, we are missing their unique perspectives and insights essential for developing inclusive resilience strategies to address the needs of the most affected and vulnerable ones, including impoverished women and their children.
Reasons Women’s Participation is Crucial at COP29 and Other Climate Decision Fora
- Unique Insights and Local Knowledge: Women, particularly in rural and community settings of Zambia, Uganda and Nigeria often manage natural resources and have unique knowledge of local ecosystems. Their insights often inform practical and sustainable climate adaptation measures that protect these resources in spite of them not being considered in most.
- Enhanced Community Resilience: Much scholarship argues that when women are involved in resource management, communities experience better outcomes such as increased resilience to environmental changes and inclusive resource management (Yadav and Lal, 2018; Rao et al., 2019). For example, women in many African countries both in rural and urban areas prioritize family and community well-being leading to climate strategies that protect vulnerable populations.
- Economic Empowerment and Sustainable Development: When women participate in decision-making, they promote policies that support sustainable livelihoods and economic security for families. This reduces poverty and strengthens the community’s capacity to adapt to climate impacts.
- Social Equity and Justice: Climate change disproportionately affects women and marginalized communities, intensifying issues such as food insecurity, water scarcity, and health risks. Including women in climate governance promotes equity and justice, ensuring that solutions address the needs of those most affected.
Strategies for Prioritizing Women in Climate Leadership.
Domestically, governments in Sub Saharan Africa should:
- Promote Gender Quotas and Inclusive Policies: Governments and organizations can implement quotas or guidelines to ensure women’s representation in climate governance structures, from local councils to international organizations.
- Invest in Women’s Education and Capacity-Building: Providing women with training in climate science, environmental management, and policy advocacy equips them to lead and contribute meaningfully to climate solutions.
- Support Women-Led Climate Initiatives: Funding women-led projects and initiatives focused on sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, and water management strengthens community resilience and empowers women as leaders.
- Create Safe Spaces for Dialogue and Advocacy: Establishing platforms where women can freely express their views on climate issues without fear of backlash helps foster inclusive decision-making.
- Support Women’s Networks and Organizations: Strengthen women-led networks that promote climate resilience, giving them a platform to share knowledge, collaborate, and advocate at national and international levels.
- Encourage Male Allies: Engage men in gender equality training and support their role as allies in promoting women’s participation in climate decision-making, helping to shift cultural norms that limit women’s involvement.
Recommendations and Way Forward
To promote inclusivity and gender responsive, climate leaders and development partners should:
- Narrow the gap between aspirations and reality in women´s participation, by prioritising gender and adopting “gender-responsive”
- Incorporate gender mainstreaming into governance structures and appointing and empowering Gender Focal Points (GFPs) to operate at all levels of governance, both in formal and informal arenas.
- Establish a gender responsive monitoring, reporting and verification system to track how Nationally-Determined Contributions (NDC) programming is supporting gender equality and women’s empowerment
- Build capacity to enhance women’s participation in policy making and climate negotiations. For example, African Development Bank (AfDB), whichadministered the Africa Climate Change Fund’s (ACCF) grant to build the capacities of female climate change negotiators in the region. The project’s objectives include ensuring increased and more effective participation of women in climate change decision-making at the international level and promoting understanding and consideration of gender issues by all negotiators. The project covers close to 20 African countries. The women’s unique perspectives, collaborative leadership styles, and inclusive approaches are essential for developing effective climate policies and strategies that truly address the needs of all, particularly the most vulnerable, and largely invisible segment of society.
Conclusion
The global village depending on the COP29n negotiators to demonstrate a commitment to gender equity at this level of decision making, and to drive the influence back home to nurture a pipeline of women in climate governance. The Gender Action Plan should be concluded with its deserved extension. The researchers, policy-makers and development actors need to realise that to achieve climate resilience and sustainable development, there is need to increasingly acknowledge the importance of gender-inclusive decisions in their work as they aim to address climate variability and change. Prioritizing women in climate decision-making is not only a matter of equity but also a strategic necessity for effective climate action. Women’s perspectives lead to well-rounded and resilient solutions that benefit entire communities and ensure a just transition to a sustainable future.
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