Why women’s leadership is key to climate action

Why women’s leadership is key to climate action

Due to unequal societal factors, women are underrepresented in all levels of environmental decision-making.

However, women and girls are crucial in the work to achieve more effective and equitable climate outcomes.

A 2019 study found that national parliaments with more women pass more stringent climate policies.

Access to quality education, gender-responsive policy measures, and laws against gender discrimination, will set a pathway to gender parity in climate leadership.



At the COP26 climate summit, the leaders of Estonia, Tanzania and Bangladesh were the first to sign the Glasgow Women’s Leadership statement, calling for countries to support the leadership of women and girls on climate action at all levels of society and politics. Yet these three women comprised nearly a third of all female leaders at the conference, out of 140 heads of delegation.

On Gender Day at the COP, countries including the UK, Canada and the US pledged to further integrate gender into their climate finance arrangements. While the pledges reflect a growing awareness of “gender-responsive” finance, which promotes gender equality, the amount of money so far mobilised falls well short of what is needed around the world. Attention to gender in climate finance negotiations remains negligible. Making the Glasgow