Gender justice is an indispensable prerequisite for successful implementation of environmental policy, measures and mechanisms as well as for sustainable development in general. We know, that

•  women and men are not involved to the same extent and in the same way in the generation of environmental problems,

•  their spheres of responsibility as well as their needs differ related to the traditional gender division of labour

•  the experience, skills and goals of women are different from those of men.

But because women are underrepresented in decision-making position, decisions are mostly taken under a male perspective. By not taking into account the different roles and responsibilitites of women and men in society, the impacts of environmental policy measures may affect women and men differently. Thus, environmental policy is directly linked to gender justice.

Although there is at least some data and research available that validate these statements, u ntil now, such gender-specific intellectual and practical approaches to environmental issues have generally either been disputed or disregarded. Areas of experience specific to women are overlooked and existing scientific studies that examine gender relations continue all too often to be ignored.

In Germany , in 1999 the Federal German Cabinet decided to implement gender mainstreaming. Since then, each ministry has to recognise gender equality as a guiding principle for their policy. The concept of gender mainstreaming is based on the assumption that there is no gender-neutral reality and that therefore the different circumstances and interests of women and men must routinely be taken into account from the outset in all social processes. All subject areas and proposed actions must be examined from the viewpoint of both women and men so that possible disadvantages and opportunities for both sexes can be identified and allowed for.

That's the theory, the practise unfortunately isn't as easy. In the first years, there were a lot of acitvitites carried out to support gender mainstreaming. One of the forerunners was the German Environmental Ministry, who developed a tool, the Gender Impact Assessment, which should aim to enable every collegues to check gender relevance of project (a detailed description can be found at the publication Toward Gender Justice in Environmental Policy. Implementing Gender Mainstreaming in Germany). At the same time projects were funded to support this processes and to implement gender mainstreaming in environmental organisations too. genanet – focal point gender, environment, sustainability is one of these projects. But progress is a snail, and policy is a fast-moving business. If you can't show immediatly measurable and effective results, interest and support is weaking. “We have spent a lot of time with gender issues, now we have to address ‘real policy' again' is how people are arguing today. And ‘real policy' means business as usual.

But organisations like ours don't give up. Tirelessly we try to explain environmental experts why it is important to take gender into account, how it will improve their measures and programmes, why their policy will fail, if they ignore more than half of the society and so on.

Taking climate change, one of the biggest challenges for the future. Up until now, there have been few studies that specifically address gender aspects in climate protection. But there is a certain amount of data which points to differences between the sexes, and leads to the assumption that the priorities of women in climate protection may be different from those of men:

•  Women and men assess risks differently, and that is also true for climatic change. More than half of the women, but only 41 percent of the men, classify climate changes caused by global warming as extremely or very dangerous. Consequently, women are more strongly convinced than men that global warming is unavoidable in the next 20 to 50 years.

•  Trust placed in the role played by environmental policy also varies according to gender: more women than men are sceptical that Germany can cope with problems resulting from climate change. Nonetheless, almost 62.9 percent of the women, but only 53.8 percent of the men, are in favour of a pioneer role for Germany in climate policy.

•  These differing perceptions of climate change, and the political possibilities of reacting to it affect each gender's motivation to protect the climate. Women are more willing to alter environmentally harmful behaviour. They do not rely as much on science and technology to solve environmental problems to the exclusion of lifestyle changes. As a result, they place a higher value on the influence exerted by each and every individual on preventing climate change.

•  Studies show that women have a definite information deficit on climate politics and climate protection. This raises the question of how the subject matter is communicated. Is it slanted toward technically interested people? Do the selection of photographs and the layout suggest that the target group is male? Browsing through pamphlets and informational material, this often seems to be the case.

•  The instruments used to prevent climate change are probably also gender biased. For example, how are economically differing preconditions taken into account in the design of these instruments? In Germany , women generally earn 30 percent less than men, and 27 percent of single mothers live below the poverty line.

•  The activity areas of climate protection (energy policy, transportation planning, urban planning) are definitely male-dominated because of their technical focus. Thus two questions arise: Firstly, who profits when climate protection workplaces are created? And secondly, what is the effect on the planning of measures and policies if they are almost exclusively planned from the viewpoint of one gender, whose background of experience usually excludes the work involved in caring and providing for others?

A gender sensitive climate protection takes consideration of a wider diversity of perceptions, attitudes and courses of action, sets on prevention rather than post-scenario measures, is based on common goals and measures that complement each other, means the active involvement of women and men and leads to a higher acceptance of measures.

For more information regarding gender an climate change see www.climateforchange.net and www.genanet.de/klimaschutz.html?&L=1