Mainstreaming Gender in Global Climate Governance

<p>This book explores the role of feminist activists in The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and highlights the progress they have made in mainstreaming gender as a key issue in global climate governance. </p><p>It is now commonplace for gender to be framed as a political issue in global climate politics within academic scholarship, but there is typically a lack of robust empirical analysis of existing advocacy approaches. Filling this lacuna, Joanna Flavell interrogates the political strategies of the Women and Gender Constituency (WGC) in the UNFCCC (The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change). Through a conceptual framework that integrates climate change with intersectional critical inquiry and political practice, Flavell analyses hundreds of historical documents, coupled with interviews and observations from two UNFCCC conferences. This research uncovers a so-far untold story about the history of the UNFCCC that foregrounds gender and feminist advocacy, highlighting the importance of the WGC in shaping dominant narratives of global climate governance through a series of rhetorical and procedural strategies. Overall, the book draws important conclusions around power in global climate governance and opens up new avenues for advancing a feminist green politics. </p><p>This volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of environmental justice, climate politics and governance, environmental activism, and gender studies more broadly.</p><p>An electronic version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license, thanks to the support of libraries working with Knowledge Unlatched (KU). KU is a collaborative initiative designed to make high quality books Open Access for the public good. The Open Access ISBN for this book is 9781003306474. More information about the initiative <br>and links to the Open Access version can be found at www.knowledgeunlatched.org.</p> <p><strong>Table of Contents</strong> </p><p>List of Acronyms</p><p>List of Tables</p><p>List of Figures</p><p>Acknowledgements</p><p>1 - Introduction</p><p>Why ‘Gender and Climate Change’? </p><p>The UNFCCC as a Site of Inquiry</p><p>Overview of the Book</p><p>2 - Enduring Debates in Feminist Climate Praxis</p><p>Theorising Feminist Climate Activism</p><p>Enduring Debates</p><p>Dilemmas of Rhetorical Strategy</p><p>Radical Outsiders versus Pragmatic Insiders</p><p>Questions of Power Dynamics and Hierarchies</p><p>The Activist - Academic Divide</p><p>Conclusion</p><p>3 - Ecofeminist Intersectionality: Inquiry and Praxis</p><p>Ecofeminist Intersectionality as Critical Inquiry</p><p>Social Inequalities</p><p>Intersecting power relations</p><p>Contextuality</p><p>Relationality</p><p>Complexity</p><p>Ecological Justice</p><p>Transversal Politics as Ecofeminist Intersectional Praxis</p><p>Solidarity Politics</p><p>Epistemic Communities</p><p>Flexible Dialogue</p><p>Conclusion</p><p>4 - From Zero Gender to GAP: Foregrounding gender in UNFCCC history</p><p>Phase 1: Zero Gender -1992 – 2007</p><p>Early Days: 1992 – 2002</p><p>Getting Organised: 2003 – 2005</p><p>Gaining Momentum: 2006 – 2007</p><p>Phase two: Mainstreaming Gender into the UNFCCC - 2007 - 2013</p><p>Getting Noticed: 2007 – 2009</p><p>Feminist Leadership: 2010 – 2013</p><p>Phase 3: Gender Action Plan - 2014 – 2021</p><p>Towards Implementation: 2014 – 2015</p><p>Extending the Lima Work Programme on Gender: 2016</p><p>The Gender Action Plan: 2017 - 2021</p><p>Conclusion</p><p>5 – Political Strategies Mobilised by the Women and Gender Constituency</p><p>Rhetorical Strategies</p><p>Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women</p><p>Universalising lived experience</p><p>Equating Gender with Women</p><p>Intersectionality in Baby Steps</p><p>Procedural Strategies</p><p>Identifying entry points for gender aspects into the climate change debate</p><p>Raising awareness and disseminating information</p><p>Building women’s capacity and joint strategizing</p><p>Developing a future research agenda</p><p>Conclusion</p><p>6 – Lessons for Ecofeminist Intersectional Praxis</p><p>Lessons from the WGC for Intersectional Inquiry and Praxis</p><p>Lesson One: There are No Easy Solutions</p><p>Lesson Two: Prevalent domains of power have hindered intersectional praxis in the UNFCCC</p><p>Lesson Three: Intersectional inquiry and practice cannot be separated</p><p>Towards an Ecofeminist Transversal Politics</p><p>Option One: Fold and Withdraw</p><p>Option Two: ‘Business as Usual’</p><p>Option Three: Ecofeminist Transversal Politics</p><p>Conclusion</p><p>7 - Conclusion: New Directions for Ecofeminist Intersectional Praxis</p><p>Original Contributions</p><p>Coda</p><p>Appendix 1 - Methodology</p><p>Introduction</p><p>Collecting Data: Gathering Data, Conducting Interviews and Observation</p><p>Gathering Data</p><p>Elite Interviews</p><p>Direct Observation</p><p>Interpretation and Analysis of Documents</p><p>Internal Validity and Limitations of the Research</p><p>Bibliography</p><p>Index</p>