Presented by Koh Miyaoi, Gender Specialist, Team Leader, at Bratislava Regional Centre at CEU, in Budapest 2nd presentation available from CEU:Global gender action towards sustainable and equitable development by Klelija Balta, Gender Analyst http://prezi.com/oyrvoki6kmhq/global-gender-action-towards-sustainable-and-equitable-development

1. Gender Dimensions of
Environmental Unsustainability
Koh Miyaoi
Gender Practice Leader
UNDP Bratislava Regional Centre
Follow me on Twitter: @kohmiyaoi

2. In this session, we are going to ask ourselves….
• What are ‘gender dimensions’?
• Why do they matter to environmental
sustainability?
• What can we do to make sure ‘gender
dimensions’ are properly addressed in
environmental sustainability discussions?

3. Gender Dimensions
• What is GENDER?
• What does it mean to individual men and
women?
• What does it mean to a family?
• What does it mean to a community?
• What does it mean to policy-making?

4. 49
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ECIS World European Union WB Gender Statistics 1980-2008

5. Armenia Azerbaijan Belarus Chez Republic
Croatia Cyprus Kyrgyzstan
Kazakhstan
Lithuania Moldova Slovakia Serbia
Romania Tajikistan Ukraine
UNECE Gender Statistics

6. Poland Russia Tajikistan
WB; UNECE; Statistics Tajikistan

8. • What does it mean if a woman on average
earn less than a man?
• What impacts can it have on a household
income?

9. Unpaid and Paid Care Work

10. • What can happen to women and men if
climate change or natural disasters cause
additional care burdens on their households?

11. Percentage of single person households
by car ownership, 2009

12. • What can we say about the different
influences women and men are making on
GHG emissions?
• Are there other circumstances you can think
of in which men and women are differently
impacting on climate change?

13. Differences as a result of gender roles
• Resilience
• Vulnerability
• Participation
• Control

14. Gendered Differences: Resilience
• What makes individuals resilient?
• What makes a household resilient?
• What makes a community resilient?
• What makes a nation resilient?

15. Gendered Differences: Vulnerability
• What makes a nation vulnerable?
• What makes a community vulnerable?
• What makes a household vulnerable?
• What makes individuals vulnerable?

16. Gendered Differences: Participation
• How do you know if you are ‘participating’?
• Who are participating in your country’s policy-
making?

17. Gendered Differences: Control
• How do we know who are in control of natural
resources?
• Are men in control of their own life choices?
• Are women in control of their own life
choices?

18. Land ownership & control over land use
• Common barriers to women’s ownership
rights:
– the precedence given to tradition over modern
laws
– women’s own lack of awareness about their
entitlements

19. Examples of useful services
Kyrgyzstan
• 66 % of the population n rural areas and depend on agriculture for a living
• Societal norms and customs often limit women’s opportunities and rights to
land
• Media campaigns and local seminars to raise awareness about women’s land
rights
• Legal advisory centres in districts where local organizations provide legal aid
and assistance on land issues to women, including direct legal representation
• Working with the courts of elders that are authorized by the government to
resolve disputes at the local level and serve as informal justice systems in rural
areas
• Working with reigious leaders, imams, eg. a review of the basic principles of
Islamic Sharia law regulating property rights
• A small grants fund to support women’s cooperatives and small local
government projects to address practical gender needs at the village level to
improve their livelihoods through a variety of agricultural extension services
such as increasing women’s access to irrigation and improved terms for grinding
wheat.

20. Examples of useful services
Tajikistan
• Smaller proportion of farms registered to
women (2% in 2002)
• Provision of legal advice on land rights
• Support rural women to attend classes on
leadership skills, cooperative formation, farm
management and community activism.
• Meetings and consultations in villages

21. Why Gender Balance?
• The aim is diversity, and not a competition between men and
women
• Studies from various countries show that companies with a higher
share of women at top levels deliver strong organisational and
financial performance
• Companies with the most gender-diverse management teams had
17 percentage-point higher stock price growth between 2005 and
2007 compared to the industry average (McKinsey & Co)
• Their average operating profit was almost double the industry
average between 2003 and 2005 (McKinsey & Co)
• Companies with more women on their boards were found to
outperform their rivals with a 42 % higher return in sales, 66 %
higher return on invested capital and 53 % higher return on equity
(Catalyst research )

23. Transformation of gender roles
• At present, gender norms influence the roles men
and women play in their households and wider
communities.
• Gender norms also influence opportunities and
choices.
• While sustainable development interventions
must take into account these gendered
differences, we need to remember what we
ultimately seek is a world where people’s life
choices are not restrained by gender.

24. Come and see what we do at UNDP
http://europeandcis.undp.org/ourwork/gender/
http://europeandcis.undp.org/blog/tag/gender-
equality-2/
Follow: @kohmiyaoi