Environment and

Gender Equality
This key sheet is part of a series of awareness raising tools
developed by Irish Aid to accompany its Environment Policy
for Sustainable Development.

IRISH AID Key Sheet // 13

Irish Aid recognises that ‘sustainable development is only attainable when the needs and interests of both men
and women are fully recognised’.

Gender inequality primarily affects women: they experience poverty differently from men because they are
denied equal rights and opportunities, lack access to resources and services and are excluded from important
decisions that affect their lives and development.’ (IA Gender Equality Policy, pp. 7)

Gender inequality remains pervasive worldwide and is a key factor in the persistence of poverty. Gender inequality
negatively affects women more than men, and due to their resulting unequal status in society, women are
disproportionately affected by poverty. There are huge inequalities between men and women’s control of, access
to and benefit from natural resources. These disparities between men and women adversely affect the quality of
life for society as a whole, hinder development and impede poverty reduction.

A full understanding of the gender dimensions of poverty and of the inequalities which determine women’s
disadvantaged position in society is necessary if the rights and needs of women and men are to be met equally
and sustainable development is to be achieved. Approaches, which address these inequalities by empowering
women and achieving gender equality, should be central to strategies to reduce poverty.

Gender Equality matters to Environment because:

> Women perform two thirds of the world’s working hours, produce half of the world’s food, earn only
10% of the world’s income and own less than 1% of the world’s property.
> Women are more reliant on natural resources for their livelihoods than men as they do not have
equitable access to alternatives such as wage labour and the security and benefits these provide.
> Degraded environments mean that women have to walk further to collect water and fuel wood. As a
result their access to education and other productive activities may be curtailed and they will be exposed
to the risk of gender based violence in isolated areas
> Women have less control of and access to land and natural resources than men – in many cases women
are excluded from formal ownership of land.
> Due to their socially constructed roles and existing inequalities, women are more vulnerable to the
impacts of environmental and natural disasters such as drought, floods and cyclones than men.
> Women are disproportionately vulnerable to sexual exploitation and abuse and other forms of violence in
times of vulnerability and need. This risk increases at times of disaster.

This key sheet is part of a series of awareness raising tools developed by Irish Aid to accompany its
Environment Policy for Sustainable Development. Key strategies for implementing the policy are i)
mainstreaming, where the environment is recognised as a critical part of sustainable development and is
taken into account in all policies, programmes, activities and funding decisions; and ii) partnership, where
Irish Aid works with national governments, multilateral organisations, international agencies and civil society
organisations to contribute to sustainable development.

The first step in environment mainstreaming is to have an understanding of how the environment is linked
to the development challenge or sector YOU are responsible for. The aim of this Key Sheet is to provide
preliminary information on why consideration of the environment is critical to gender equality, and vice versa,
and to indicate where to go to find additional information. As environmental sustainability and gender equality
are both cross-cutting issues and development objectives in their own right, mainstreaming strategies provide
opportunities to enhance synergies between them and to find common approaches to ensuring both issues are
addressed in poverty reduction policies and plans.

 Report of the Ireland Aid Review Committee, pg 41, February 2002, quoted in the Irish Aid Policy for Gender Equality, 2004.
Firewood distribution in a camp for Rwandan
refugees. Photo: Chris Sattlberger/Panos
2. Women, Environment wood are vital natural resources and their collection and use in
the household is largely the responsibility of women and girls.

and Development As water supplies and other natural resources become

depleted due to over-exploitation, the amount of time
Poor men and women are increasingly recognised as and energy women and girls spend on household duties
caretakers of the environment. Women are particularly reliant dramatically increases. Women have to travel further to collect
on the environment to meet their basic needs and play an water and fuel, requiring much of their valuable time. Girls
essential role as managers (i.e. use and control) of natural may be taken out of school to assist with these tasks and
resources. Women are responsible for reproduction and because they cannot complete their education their future
production in the household and for water and energy needs, prospects are limited. Venturing into isolated areas in search
placing them in direct contact with the natural environment on of resources may also expose them to the added risk of
a daily basis. Women therefore rely more heavily on natural gender based violence and it’s resulting consequences.
resources than men as they have fewer alternative sources
of livelihood. Men can migrate to urban centres to look for According to the World Health Organisation, the daily
work and diversify into labouring or small business, while energy requirement to carry water may consume one third
women often must remain at home to fulfil responsibilities of a woman’s calorie intake. Environmental degradation
such as caring for the family, sick and elderly. They rely on the entrenches the disadvantaged position of women and girls
resources available to them locally to fulfil these needs. They in relation to men as they have less time and less energy for
tend to grow crops and keep small animals for consumption other productive activities, and gender stereotypical roles and
and rarely engage in cash cropping or market orientated inequality are perpetuated.
production as they are too occupied meeting day to day needs.
Exposure to industrial and agricultural chemicals and organic
‘Throughout Africa, women are the primary pollutants through daily farming has a profound impact on
caretakers, holding significant responsibility women’s health; it affects their reproductive health, leading
for tilling the land and feeding their families. As a to complications in childbirth and pregnancy. This further
result, they are often the first to become aware of incapacitates them, increasing their difficulties in securing their
environmental damage as resources become scarce livelihood and in participating in development processes.
and incapable of sustaining their families’. Urbanisation as a result of environmental degradation also has
Wangari Maathai – Nobel Lecture, Oslo, disproportionately negative effects on women. Due to their
December 10, 2004 caring and domestic roles, they are exposed more readily to
chemicals and pollutants found in water sources in cities. Over-
crowding in slums results in the added risk of air and smoke
Although women are highly reliant on their local environment pollution from fires within small dwellings. Minimal security of
for their livelihoods, they frequently lack ownership and these dwellings means their safety and health is compromised,
decision-making power over the natural resources on which placing them at risk of Gender Based Violence.
they depend. These factors limit women’s potential to climb
out of poverty, makes them very vulnerable to environmental
change or degradation, and increases and perpetuates
inequality. 4. Access to
decision-making and
3. Environmental change representation
and gender equality A related knock-on effect of environmental degradation is that
women have less time for participation in community affairs
Population growth, changing climatic conditions and increasing and are often not consulted on key environmental programmes
pressure on resources leads to environmental degradation. and plans. Women should be equally involved in designing and
The result is scarcity of resources and declining resource managing water and sanitation facilities and other communal
quality with knock-on effects on livelihoods. Water and fuel natural resources.
 World Resources 2005. The wealth of the Poor: Managing ecosystems to
fight poverty. Online at http://population.wri.org/worldresources2005-pub-
4073.html
For example, as the main users of wells and water pumps, Women tend to collect dead wood which burns more easily;
women should have real input into the location of water they only cut green wood if they have no alternative.
points and in their management. Both women and men can
be trained in the maintenance of pumps and given equal By drawing women and men into environmental management
responsibility for collecting and managing water use fees. and understanding their different needs and perspectives,
While household hygiene tends to be the responsibility of policies can be developed that meet the needs of entire
women, training men as well as women in this role ensures communities without compromising the sustainability of the
that both women and men understand and take responsibility resource base.
for the links between sanitation and safe drinking water and
the protection of their own and their families’ health. Women particularly need specific and official channels of
support to ensure that they can access and participate in
Care should always be taken to ensure that gender decision-making related to the environment and must be
stereotypical roles are not reinforced, that women’s involved in management on a burden-sharing basis with men.
work burden is not increased and that the benefits of and
responsibility for water management is enjoyed equally by Environmental Sound Technologies (ESTs) are
men and women. being introduced to reduce energy demands and
safeguard health. Improved stoves burn fuel more
The importance of adequate sanitation facilities in increasing efficiently and require less fuel. This has benefits for
girls’ attendance at school is well documented (see below). women as it reduces the amount of fuel wood they need
to collect and it reduces the amount of smoke released,
Ethiopian teenage girls hardest hit by lack thereby reducing indoor pollution and respiratory disease.
of latrines Women’s voices must be taken into account when
designing stoves, as in the past stoves were designed
A study in Benishangul Gumuz, a remote region of Ethiopia, which did not take traditional foods and cooking practices
has shown that teenage girls were hit the hardest by a into account and as a result were not adopted by women
lack of decent school sanitation. In these areas only 4% of despite their energy saving potential.
the population has access to sanitation. Many schools had
no toilets and in others, students had to share one latrine
between 325 other pupils. Some girls interviewed said that
they could not be seen to go to a latrine in their school,
5. Control over and access
especially on menstruation days. Many go home and do
not return, and many more drop out of school completely.
to resources
Many pupils said they were unable to be clean and hygienic
Access to resources is a critical factor affecting poverty
as they didn’t have water in their schools either.
reduction and income generation. Poor men and women tend
to have very insecure access to natural resources despite
Source: WaterAid, Ethiopia 30 Aug 2005
their reliance on them for their livelihoods. Redistribution of
land by government, resettlement and the sale of traditionally
Failure to take into account women’s perspectives and held lands to commercial enterprises can leave poor men and
their interaction with the environment can lead to policies women landless or reliant on more marginal lands. Tenure
that further marginalise women and even criminalise their security encourages farmers to invest in their land through soil
behaviour. Policies to protect against deforestation are conservation, fertilisation and irrigation and it can help them to
an example of this, where local communities are refused access credit using the land as collateral. However, women
permission to use forests to produce charcoal, which is often a traditionally do not have access to technical inputs and advise
vital component of income generating and livelihood strategies that increase productivity and some actors may erroneously
for women during lean periods. not consider them to be ‘farmers’ or to be economically active.
The World Bank estimates that if women in sub-Saharan Africa
In poor communities wood or dung is collected as fuel by had equal access to agricultural inputs, the total agricultural
women and and burned for cooking, warming water and as a output for the region could increase by up to 20 percent.
source of heat. Women are frequently blamed for deforestation
due to their fuel wood collecting activities while more often
than not it is the cutting of wood for construction materials
and for sale (primarily male activities) that is the primary cause.  Gender Equality and the Millennium Development Goals, Gender and
Development Group, World Bank, April 2003.
The issues of access to and control over resources affects men
Defending women’s land rights in Kenya
and women differently. In most societies, land is traditionally
the property of men and is handed down from father to son.
The Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya (FIDA) is
In many cases women cannot own or inherit land, even if
supported by Irish AId to provide free advice to women on
they are responsible for tilling the land and growing crops.
their land rights. Individual women can bring their cases
This can mean that women do not have rights to the income
to FIDA and receive legal support to fight their case. In
derived from the crops they have grown and it poses serious
addition, FIDA is working closely with the government to
problems if a woman’s husband dies and his family inherits the
ensure that gender issues are mainstreamed into the new
land, leaving her and her children destitute. Women may also
land policy which is being developed through a consultative
not have a say in how the land is used and what use is made
and collaborative process.
of crops despite their role in producing these crops. Many
African countries are engaged in land certification schemes
where governments are giving farmers use rights to their land. Poor men and women are highly dependant on Common
Donor agencies are working with governments to ensure that Property Resources (CPRs) such as forests, pastureland,
husbands and wives co-sign land use certificates and that the fishing grounds and wetlands for their livelihoods. These
use rights can be inherited by and assigned to women.  commonly owned resources provide poor men and women
with wild foods (particularly important as a coping strategy
Changing land use rights in Ethiopia4 during food shortages) medicinal plants and construction
materials. CPRs are managed by traditional, socially accepted
Regional governments in Ethiopia, including Tigray where rules, which may or may not ensure equity of access and
Irish Aid is active, are currently writing and implementing sustainable use (matriarchal versus patriarchal systems). When
new land laws which aim to increase tenure security for these rules break down due to pressures from population
farmers. Land certificates assign use rights to farmers growth and development, resources can become scarce and
for the land they have traditionally cultivated but which is degraded. Women are especially dependent on CPRs as they
officially state land. In most cases the legislation requires often don’t have access to formally recognised farming lands.
that both the husband and wife sign the land use certificate As CPRs become degraded or are converted to other uses
to signify their joint rights. In addition, women headed (e.g. wetlands reclaimed for intensive farming, forests cleared
households can receive a certificate in the woman’s name for roads) women lose a valuable source of food and income.
and women can inherit certificates on the death of their
husband. Careful monitoring will be needed to ensure that
the certificates work as planned and protect the rights of
poor men and women to their land. 6. Vulnerability and
As land and resource use laws change, women need to be environmental security
informed of their new rights. Agencies need to remember
that women may be unable to attend public meetings on these Poor households are vulnerable to environmental shocks,
issues for social reasons or be unable to travel due to family including drought, floods, cyclones and outbreaks of disease.
responsibilities. This lack of exposure to information and the Women headed households tend to be the most vulnerable in
high levels of illiteracy among women mean that they tend a community, and are at a greater disadvantage when disaster
to be less well informed about their rights than men. There strikes. Women tend to have less diversified opportunities
is also a tendency among aid agencies to assume that men for income generation than men and are wholly reliant on the
will pass on the information to their wives, which may not natural resource base pre and post disaster. In situations of
always be the case. Initiatives to educate women and men mass population movement, such as displaced and refugee
about their rights must be tailored around the daily roles and settings, women are often wrongly blamed for destruction of
responsibilities of men and women, and where necessary, their new surroundings as they continue to collect wood and
tailored to facilitate women’s participation. other resources for their family’s survival. Aid organisations
must be encouraged to address the gendered responsibilities
of members of these populations by assisting men and women
to find environmentally sound ways to meet their requirements

Women are also more likely to have fewer assets than men,
especially physical assets that can be sold in times of stress.
 Ongoing work as part of the Irish Aid-Ethiopia Operational Research Limited access to credit and market-based activities mean that
Programme in SNNPR and Tigray regions.
women have limited opportunities to reduce their vulnerability
to natural shocks such as drought, land degradation and 7. Positive actions to
flooding.
maximise links between
environment and gender
Vulnerability to flooding in Mozambique

Poor men and women cultivate land in high risk, fertile

flood plains along the coast in Mozambique. The floodplains There are many opportunities in the Irish Aid programme
are a common property resource and are accessible to to address the linkages between environment and gender
women who do not own their own land. The 2000 and equality. Both issues are addressed through mainstreaming
2001 floods meant many men and women lost their lives training and are further elaborated in the Irish Aid
and their livelihoods as they refused to heed warnings mainstreaming strategy.
to evacuate. Women in particular did not leave, as they
feared they would lose their claim to their land and their To be effective, strategies to decrease poverty and preserve
crops. When the floods receded they returned to cultivate the environment need to take into account the disparities
the same areas even though they had been resettled between men and women’s access to resources and livelihood
elsewhere. This is because they had limited access to land opportunities.
near their new homes and the land in the floodplains was
more fertile. Opportunities to mainstream environment and gender equality
and to enhance synergies between them include the following:
Environmental disasters are not gender neutral. Women
and children are particularly affected by disasters, accounting > Raise awareness of the impact of environmental
for more than seventy five percent of displaced persons. In degradation and environmental risk on women’s livelihoods,
addition to the general effects of natural disasters and lack of health and safety.
health care, women are vulnerable to reproductive and sexual > Ensure women and men are equally involved in decision
health problems, and increased rates of sexual and domestic making for environmental policy and planning.
violence which require specific response interventions. > Identify opportunities to mainstream environment and
Women’s vulnerability increases when they lose their gender equality in Poverty Reduction Papers (PRSPs) and
husbands and are forced to provide for their families on their Country Strategy Papers (CSPs), sector strategies and area-
own and struggle for recognition in patriarchal systems. In based programmes.
addition, women are the primary carers of those affected by > Identify win-win activities for environment and gender
disasters, increasing their emotional and physical workload. equality e.g. natural resources managed equally by men
and women in communities; livelihood diversification to
Women worst affected by cyclones in Bangladesh meet men’s and women’s needs; support strategies to
empower women to engage equally with men in decision
Women suffered most following the cyclone and floods making related to the environment and natural resources.
in Bangladesh in 1991. Among women aged 20-44 the > Promote and support women’s rights to access, use and
death rate was 71 per 1000, compared to 15 per 1000 ownership of land and other natural resources.
for men. Women were left at home by their husbands to > Improve women’s access to credit so that they can
care for children and protect property and needed to have diversify their income generating activities and reduce their
permission from their husbands to evacuate. In addition, dependency on natural resources.
saris restricted their movement and women were weaker > Support research into understanding the coping strategies
than men due to malnutrition. Finally, the lack of facilities of poor women and men and identifying ways to protect the
and privacy in cyclone shelters dissuaded women from natural resources on which they depend in times of stress.
using them.7 > Ensure gender sensitive approaches are used in responding to
natural disasters and in post-conflict and recovery situations.
> Ensure that agricultural extension services take account of
 BRIDGE, Environment Policies and Gender Equality.
gender roles and responsibilities in target communities and
 For more information see ‘Gender Based Violence; a failure to protect. A
Challenge to Action’. Joint Consortium of Irish Human Rights, Humanitarian
tailor appropriate training and inputs at both women and men.
and Development Agencies and Development Cooperation Ireland. 2005. > Identify opportunities to provide specific support to address
Online at http://www.dci.gov.ie/uploads/Gender%20Based%20Violence%20st
inequalities in the way that natural resources are used,
udy.pdf
 See BRIDGE report number 26: Background Paper on Gender Issues in
owned and managed by men and women.
Bangladesh, S. Baden, A.M> Goetz, C. Green and M. Guhathakurta. ODA,
August 2004.  Poverty-Environment Gender Linkages. OECD – DAC, 2001.
References and useful websites
Gender Equality Policy, Development Cooperation Ireland, September 2004.
http://www.dci.gov.ie/Uploads/Gender%20Equality%20Policy.pdf

Gender Based Violence; a failure to protect - A Challenge to Action. Joint Consortium of Irish Human Rights, Humanitarian and
Development Agencies and Development Cooperation Ireland. 2005. http://www.dci.gov.ie/uploads/Gender%20Based%20Violen
ce%20study.pdf

BRIDGE - Development and Gender

http://www.bridge.ids.ac.uk/

Environment Policies and Gender Equality BRIDGE

http://www.bridge.ids.ac.uk/dgb1.html

Global Development Research Centre – Gender and environment resources

http://www.gdrc.org/gender/gender-envi.html

Food and Agriculture Organisation – gender and food security / environment

http://www.fao.org/Gender/en/env-e.htm

International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)

Gender issues are addressed under Sustainable Agriculture, Biodiversity and Livelihoods and Forestry and Land Use. www.iied.org

Gender and Health in Disasters, World Health Organisation, July 2002

http://www.who.int/gender/other_health/en/genderdisasters.pdf

Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID)

http://www.awid.org/index.php

Gender and Disaster Network (GDN)

http://online.northumbria.ac.uk/geography_research/gdn/

Women, Disaster Reduction and Sustainable Development. UNISDR 2002

http://www.unisdr.org/eng/risk-reduction/gender/Women,%20disaster%20reduction%20and%20SD.pdf

Worldwide Fund for Nature. Research and activities in the area of Population, Health and Environment.
http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/policy/people_environment/pop_health_environment/index.cfm

Irish Aid Environment Policy for Sustainable Development

http://www.irishaid.gov.ie/development_environment.asp.htm

Irish Aid mainstreaming Strategy

http://www.irishaid.gov.ie/uploads/mainstreaming%20strategy%20finaql%202007.doc

All photography: Panos