In a throw-away world, it’s hard work being green. Sorting recycling, remembering both the shopping and the produce bags, buying and washing cloth nappies and the endless paraphernalia that comes with infants, composting, and crafting plant based meals. It’s important work, but it’s far more time consuming than the irresponsible ways of old. Who takes on all this work? In most cases, it’s the females of the household. Women are more likely to recycle, more likely to conserve water and more likely to try and live ‘ethically’. Nearly 80% of vegans are women, significant when it is considered that a plant based diet is the single biggest way to reduce an individual’s environmental impact. There is most certainly an eco gender gap.
Our impact as individuals is of course dwarfed by the emissions and pollution from the world’s largest companies. In fact, just 100 companies have been responsible for more than 70% of all emissions since 1988. ExxonMobil, Shell, BP and Chevron are identified as among the highest emitting investor-owned companies. All of them have male CEOs. There are fewer women in the oil and gas industry than in almost any other industry. Only 22% of all employees are female, and only 17% reach executive level roles. It is disproportionately men who are currently benefitting from the continued use of fossil fuels.
So climate change marches on towards impending catastrophe, with action to reduce emissions stalling in many governments, including Australia. Our emissions actually continue to rise. Looking ahead to a warmer future, it would appear that women are and will continue to be disproportionately affected. According to the UN, 80% of people displaced by climate change are women. Women are more likely to be primary care givers and to be responsible for food and fuel, leaving them particularly vulnerable during extreme weather events. They are less likely to be able to swim. Women are more likely than men to live in poverty, and cannot recover easily from disasters which affect housing, jobs and infrastructure. The UN has noted that gender sensitive answers to the impacts of climate change must be proposed, however the representation of women in national and global climate negotiating bodies is below one third.
So while western women are frantically trying to mitigate climate disaster with time sapping changes at a micro level, companies run primarily by men continue to pollute. Our male dominated government, known to receive donations from these companies, has been awarded a concerning 4/100 from the Australian Conservation Foundation for their climate change policy. And in the areas of the world where life can be tougher, women struggle even to survive the increasingly frequent extreme weather events and changing climate. Going green is a feminist issue – the beneficiaries of the fossil fuel industry have predominantly been male, the decision makers on climate policy are more often male; yet it is women who have the most to fear from climate inaction.
