Gender Imbalance in Climate Talks.

Why in News?

Only 17% of the Indian delegation at the recently concluded COP26 climate summit were women.

Worldwide View:

India’s proportion is lower than 169 other countries of the 195 that attended.
Since the first COP summit in 1995, India has sent four all-male delegations (COP3, COPS, COP6.2 and COP7).
The proportion of women in the Indian delegation, at 33%, was highest during COP23 and COP25.
Overall, women are underrepresented in most country delegations.
At COP26, women constituted more than 50% of country delegations in only 35 of the 195 nations.
Nearly half of the countries had less than 33% female delegates.

Why Women’s Unequal Participation is a matter of great concern?

Women commonly face higher risks and greater burdens from the impacts of climate change in situations of poverty, and the majority of the worlds poor are women.
Women’s unequal participation in decision-making processes and labour markets compound inequalities and often prevent women from fully contributing to climate-related planning, policy-making and implementation.
Women can play a critical role in response to climate change due to their local knowledge of and leadership in e.g. sustainable resource management and/or leading sustainable practises at the household and community level.
Women’s participation at the political level has resulted in greater responsiveness to citizens’ needs, often increasing cooperation across party and ethnic lines and delivering more sustainable peace.
At the local level, women’s inclusion at the leadership level has led to improved outcomes of climate-related projects and policies.
On the contrary, if policies or projects are implemented without women’s meaningful participation it can increase existing inequalities and decrease effectiveness.

What can be done?

It is important to ensure equal space and resources for women and men to participate in climate change decision making and action at all levels.
Climate finance should be accessible to both men and women and designed to generate mutual benefits, not exacerbate patterns of inequity.