Das junge Magazin für alle
Climate change, consumption
and gender
ein Text von
Miriam Werny | 05.04.23
Disclaimer: This article refers to "men" and "women". This is because the studies referenced make this division, however the language does not reflect BUUH!'s stance on gender-sensitive language or notions of gender and we very much regret reproducing gender binary with it.
Since the 1850’s, global warming has been recorded, and it has since become an increasing crisis. Climate change has become the world’s most complex challenge to solve. There has been an increasing number of natural disasters, e.g. heat waves, rising sea level or floods, which affects the poor and the most vulnerable of the world's population the most – and it is estimated that 70 % of the world’s poor are women (IUCN 2015). Thus, the increase of climate change is a danger especially for many women.
It is an established fact that climate change is not gender neutral. Men and women will experience climate change differently and it will hurt women more, mainly due to the reasons that they are the poorest and most vulnerable due to their location at the bottom of the social hierarchy. This argument is supported by numbers from the World Health Organization (WHO), which are saying that women are up to 14 times more likely to die because of natural disasters than men (MacGregor 2010, 226). Women have less access to education and resources, are at a higher risk of poverty, food insecurity and are often excluded from policy and decision-making, making them more vulnerable to the consequences of climate change. Already the impacts of climate change have led to a worsening of the already existing inequalities.
But climate change affecting people differently is not the only area where it is not gender neutral. There is also a difference in how women and men perceive the effect of climate change and their level of concern about it. A survey conducted in the U.S. showed that women perceive climate change as a very serious problem and that they are more concerned about being personally harmed by climate change (Stokes, Wike and Carle 2015). The same study also revealed that women are more willing to change their consumption and lifestyles to battle climate change.
This perfectly leads over to the next point. Consumption plays a huge role when it comes to climate change. A study from 2015 found that household consumption contributes to more than 60 % of the global greenhouse gas emissions (Ivanova, et al. 2015).
And, as with climate change, there are also gendered differences in consumption patterns. It is a well-established fact that gender and consumption practices are intertwined (Bögenhold and Naz 2018, 80-83), meaning that gender also has an influence on sustainable consumption. The difference in sustainable consumption is partly due to different consumption patterns. One study showed that in OECD countries women make over 80 % of the consumption decisions in the household. Thus, they play a key role in controlling how much greenhouse gas emissions are produced in the home.
In the last few years it has also become more clear that women display a more sustainable consumerism, e.g. buying eco-labeled food or consuming in a more energy efficient way than men (OECD 2008, 47-48). Also, they are more likely to personally change their lifestyle and take action to fight climate change, whereas men tend to point towards the responsibility of industries and governments (European Commission 2008). The latest Eurobarometer showed that women, in comparison to men, are much more likely to buy and consume less meat (37 % vs. 26 % respectively), buy more organic food (36 % vs. 26 %), and try to cut down their waste (78 % vs. 72 %) and consumption of disposable items like plastic bags (64 % vs.55 %) (European Commission 2021, 38).
Women are also significantly more active in political consumption behaviour than men are, i.e. women are more likely to buycott or boycott products or brands (e.g. Acik 2013; Koos 2012; Sandovici and Davis 2012), which leads back to the point that they have a higher influence on how much emissions are produced through household consumption and the degree of sustainable consumption (OECD 2008).
the younger generation already displays a higher willingness to break up gender stereotypes and fight climate change
But what exactly does all that mean for us now?
Firstly, consumption plays a very important role in the whole framework of climate change. Secondly, no matter if it is about the climate change concern or lifestyle and consumption changes to reduce the effects of climate change, gender plays a role.
So if we want to take successful actions against climate change, gender as well as consumption should be taken into account.
One idea on how to do that is that women need to be more included and represented in different climate change panels, policies and solution finding processes. They have a different view and approach to the topic and they should therefore be included in finding solutions.
A second idea is to start involving men more in household consumption decision making and make them understand the impact consumption has on climate change. But that does relate back to having to break up gender stereotypes, which is not easily doable in a short amount of time. For this it might be a good idea to focus more on kids and young adults, as the younger generation already displays a higher willingness to break up gender stereotypes and fight climate change. One example for that can be found in Australia, where the National Youth Affairs Research Scheme (NYARS) has sponsored a study examining sustainable consumption with the aim of providing techniques and empowering young Australians to change their consumption patterns towards more sustainable ones and encourage a more sustainable consumption in the wider community (Bentley, Fien and Neil 2004).
No matter what, right now it seems like we are still a long way away from successfully tackling climate change. But the more we find out about what factors are important in regard to climate change, like gender and consumption, the more we can use those to find solutions, take action and hopefully create a world in which we can keep on living.
REFERENCES:
Acik, Necla. 2013. “Reducing the participation gap in civic engagement: Political consumerism in Europe.” European Sociological Review 29 (6): 1309-1322.
Bentley, Matthew, John Fien, and Cameron Neil. 2004.
Sustainable Consumption. Young Australians as Agents of Change. Canberra: National Youth Affairs Research Scheme.
Bögenhold, Dieter, and Farah Naz. 2018.
Consumption and Life-Styles: A Short Introduction. Cham: Springer International Publishing.
European Comission. 2008.
Europeans’ attitudes towards climate change: Special Eurobarometer 300. European Union.
European Comission. 2021.
Climate Change: Special Eurobarometer 513. European Union.
IUCN. 2015. “Gender and climate change.” Accessed December 05, 2022.
https://www.iucn.org/resources/issues-briefs/gender-and-climate-change
Ivanova, Diana, Konstantin Stadler, Kjartan Steen-Olsen, Richard Wood, Gibran Vita, Arnold Tukker, and Edgar G. Hertwich. 2015. “Environmental Impact Assessment of Household Consumption.” Journal of Industrial Ecology20 (3): 526-536.
Koos, Sebastian. 2012. “What drives political consumption in Europe? A multi-level analysis on individual characteristics, opportunity structures and globalization.”
Acta Sociologica 55 (1): 37-57.
MacGregor, Sherilyn. 2010. “Gender and Climate Change: From Impacts to Discourses.”
Journal of Indian Ocean Region6 (2): 223-238.
OECD. 2008.
Promoting Sustainable Consumption: Good Practices in OECD Countries. Paris: OECD Publishing.