Gender & Environment

Women and men experience many environmental problems differently. They are not involved in the same way in the generation of such problems; they are affected dissimilarly by environmental impacts; and they usually have unequal possibilities to influence change or effect ‘solutions.’ These points have been stressed over the last 30 years by many UN conferences, thereby emphasizing the importance of the issue “Women and Environment.” Thus it was stressed at the World Women’s Conferences that poverty among women in the Southern Hemisphere and East Europe stands in direct relation to negative environmental impacts (e.g., the effects of degraded environments caused by large-scale technical projects on living conditions; degradation and pollution of residential areas).  

For countries in the Northern Hemisphere the issue of “Gender and Environment” was spelled out in terms of different environment policy areas of action – for example, the privileging of car drivers and business train customers over pedestrians and ‘family train customers” in the area of action, mobility; or the non-consideration of children’s needs during urban planning; and the general disregard of everyday life found in environmental strategies and policies was criticized. Based on this deficit analysis the description of environmental and sustainability problems have been reformulated.  

This is the point of departure for the development of gender sensitive and gender equitable action strategies for various actors. An important guideline here, especially for policy measures, is the European Gender Equal Opportunity Policy as part of affirmative action for women, and the strategy of gender mainstreaming.  

“Gender and Environment” has been a research focus at the Institute for Social-Ecological Research since its founding in 1989. With feminist environmental research as its basis an approach to both basic and applied ‘feminist policy research’ has been developed. A problem-oriented integration of various social and nature science perspectives, one which systematically takes into account questions of gender, stands at the heart of social-ecological gender and environment research. Depending on the given social-ecological questions asked or problems raised relevant gender perspectives for both conceptual and methodological issues have been worked out.  

At ISOE gender and environment research is developed in relation to specific action areas, as part of research on nourishment, construction and housing; urban spaces; population development and supply; and sustainable consumption. Results attained by such research projects are then linked together in a further step within the Research Focus Area, Gender and Environment, thereby being made available for transdisciplinary social-ecological research.  

Key activities include:

• implementation and further development of methods for systematically integrating gender specific issues in transdisciplinary social-ecological research;
• theory development: gender relations within the concept of societal relations to nature;
• development and implementation of gender impact assessments in the area of research policies (an approach that is now being further developed into a methods for “Gender Integrated Monitoring”);
• the development, testing and introduction of gender mainstreaming instruments; providing scientific expertise for monitoring and consulting during the introduction and implementation of gender mainstreaming in various areas (environmental protection, conservation and consumer protection;
• agriculture and forestry; health care system);
• gender integrated evaluating and monitoring of environmental and consumer policy programs and measures

Contact Person: Dr. Irmgard Schultz, schultz@isoe.de

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