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Header photo: staff meeting of our partner WARSI Indonesia © Stephanie Broekarts / IUCN NL
Women’s rights
Due to deeply entrenched power relations, women and other marginalised groups often have less access to decision-making, information and rights to land and water. And although women play an important role in using land for food security, income and household resources, only 13.8% of landowners worldwide, for example, are women. Their experiences, knowledge and solutions are invaluable: they are often at the front line to protect nature, and often have different and equally important knowledge about nature.
IUCN NL commits to gender justice in nature conservation. We do this together with women’s movements and local communities around the world. Because women’s rights are human rights. Gender equality is intrinsically linked to biodiversity, climate change and land degradation. Therefore, women’s rights are a fundamental issue for nature conservation.
© Leopards Beyond Borders
Hearing all voices
Women’s experiences and knowledge are of essential value for the conservation of nature and the fight against climate change. Women and other marginalised groups are particularly vulnerable to threats posed by a changing climate and environmental degradation. Yet, they offer important knowledge and solutions to these crises. Therefore, it is critical for women to have the space to speak out and have their voice valued.
Our priorities for gender equality in nature conservation:
- Inclusive governance of natural resources
- Defending the rights of environmental defenders, with special attention to women environmental defenders
- Working with women’s movements and local communities worldwide.
Inclusive governance
Together with our partners IUCN NL promotes inclusive natural resource governance, through a gender equal and intersectional approach[1]Intersectional feminism is a form of feminism based on the premise that everyone is affected by differences based on, for example, skin colour, age and class, and that the interconnectedness of these … Continue reading, ensuring the participation and leadership of women in decision-making processes around their forests and territories. We also campaign for women’s rights in forest policies.
Women environmental defenders
We strengthen women’s groups and networks who stand up to protect their territories from mining activities, oil developments, dam constructions, and/or deforestation. Because of their commitment to protecting nature and human rights, they often must deal with gender-based violence. We support women environmental defenders by improving their safety through strengthening networks, facilitating training through our local partner organisations and through funds that provide urgent financial assistance. In this way, we work with our partners on gender justice for environmental defenders.
Gender and environment briefs
Articles and stories
- COP16: Empowering women environmental defenders
- Understanding gender dynamics and deforestation in the Colombian Amazone
- Call for collective action for women environmental defenders in Madre de Dios
- Transforming gender norms and reducing gender-based violence in Uganda
- Interview with environmental and human rights activist and journalist Carolina de Moura Campos
- Women human rights defenders find support and inspiration in ReSisters Dialogue
- IUCN: Gender-based violence and environmental linkages
Female leadership in conservation
We published a collection of stories of women who challenged the status quo in their patriarchal societies, and by standing up, have created space for other women. The publication allows you to meet a group of strong women who have stood up for the protection of nature and have shown leadership on conservation issues.
Gender equality and inclusion within IUCN NL
Since 2019, IUCN NL has had an in-house gender and inclusion team, in which different layers of the organisation are represented. Since the gender audit that took place in 2019, IUCN NL has committed to an ambitious annual gender action plan for the organisation. By updating the plan annually, we are continuously learning what it means to be an inclusive organisation. Internally, we look at:
- the organisational policy and strategy;
- our board and staff, in which we strive for gender balance in every layer of the organisation;
- our organisational culture; and
- external communication.
Naturally, we implement gender criteria in all our projects.
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| ↑1 | Intersectional feminism is a form of feminism based on the premise that everyone is affected by differences based on, for example, skin colour, age and class, and that the interconnectedness of these differences creates structural advantages or disadvantages |
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