WUNRN
The Third Global Congress of Women
in Politics and Governance
Focus on Gender and Climate Change
October 19-22, 2008
Dusit Hotel, Makati City
Metro Manila, Philippines
1. Background and Context
Why Gender and Climate Change?
Differential impact on men and women: The Gender and Climate Change website states: "Climate change is not a neutral process; first of all, women are in general more vulnerable to the effects of climate change, not least because they represent the majority of the world's poor and because they are more than proportionally dependent on natural resources that are threatened. The technological change and instruments that are being proposed to mitigate carbon emissions, which are implicity presented as gender-neutral, are in fact quite gender based and may negatively affect women or bypass them.
Gender, like poverty, is a cross cutting issue in climate change and needs to be recognized as such. In fact, gender and poverty are interrelated and create mutually reinforcing barriers to social change. There is a need to be strident to overcome the uninformed view of many involved in climate change that climate change is neutral, and real life examples are needed to make the alternative case clear and convincing". (Gender and Climate Change web site: http://www.gencc.interconnection.org/about.htm)
For example, women comprised the majority of those killed and who were least likely to recover in the 2005 Asian Tsunami. In Aceh, more than 75 percent of those who died were women, resulting in a male-female ratio of 3:1 among the survivors. As so many mothers died there have been major consequences with respect to infant mortality, early marriage of girls, neglect of girls' education, sexual assault, trafficking in women and prostitution. (In Gender aspects of climate change, Gender and Disaster Network, 2005/REF).
If action on climate change is partly about reducing vulnerability and building resilience, then is it important that vulnerable groups do not suffer disproportionately from its adverse effects. Women figure among such vulnerable groups. (Point de vue, Bulletin African Bioressources, October 2001).
Lack of Women's participation: Women and environment experts have raised concern over the absence of women in the discourse and debate on climate change, a global mainstream issue that is currently impacting the entire world.
A document from the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development states: "An overall assessment of the climate change debate to date shows women are patently absent in the decision-making process. Their contributions in environmental policies are largely ignored. Decision-making and policy formulation at environmental levels such as conservation, protection and rehabilitation, and environmental management are predominantly male agenda. The climate change debate is an indicator of how gender issues tend to be omitted, leaving room for complex market-driven notions equated in terms of emission reductions, fungibility and flexible mechanisms. Nevertheless, in the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development reflected in Agenda 21, one notes the key role ascribed to women as principle actors in the management of natural resources and the development of sustainable and ecologically sound policies. Perhaps the fact that there are few trained women environmental specialists tends to accentuate this gender deficit in environmental policy. Institutional weakness in women's organizations and under-representation informal decision-making are factors that lend to swing the pendulum away from their oft-valuable input."
Women can contribute to the solution: The involvement of women in areas of environmental management and governance should not be perceived as an afterthought. Women's roles are of considerable importance in the promotion of environmental ethics. Their efforts in waste management through recycling and re-use of resources are an indication of the extent of their significant input to community development. Women in rural areas, due to their daily contact with the natural habitat for the provision of food, fodder and wood, tend to have sound ecological knowledge that could be useful in environmental planning and governance.
Women must understand and engage in mainstream issues. Gender must therefore be taken up as part and parcel of these issues. Women must understand these mainstream issues and how women are affected by it as well as how women can become part of the solution. In this spirit, the Third Global Congress of Women in Politics and Governance will be organized in October 19-22, 2008 and its focus will be on gender and climate change.
"Discussions on action to alleviate the impacts of climate change is not simply a scientific debate. It is about questioning the ability of countries and their people's to anticipate and respond effectively to the adverse human and physical effects of climate change. >From a livelihood perspective, poor communities are potentially the big losers in the scramble for markets within the overall emissions trading and climate policy debates. Thus, efforts must be devoted to creating a situation in which all stakeholders – women included - can derive some benefit. Measures should include the demystification of the climate change issues in order to generate popular consensus… It is about creating opportunities that the poor could benefit from; giving them greater responsibility in environmental management, creating environmentally friendly technologies that would generate revenue and jobs. “(Fatma Denton, Point de Vue, p. 2)
The current imperative is for women to understand the phenomenon of climate change and its impacts and implications at individual, household, community and national levels. “Studies show that women have a definite information deficit on climate politics and climate protection.” (Gender and Climate Change - a forgotten issue? In Tiempo Climate Newswatch)
Also, there is an urgent need for political leaders and legislators to commit to creating an enabling environment for responding to climate change and to address disaster risk reduction at a national and international level. More and more politicians and legislators have shown growing interest in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, but much of this has been concentrated in Europe. It is vitally important to extend the dialogue and to involve legislators from different regions, especially those most vulnerable to the impact of disasters and climate change. (The First Consultative Meeting of Parliamentarians for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation, 21-23, April 2008, Manila, Philippines, Concept Note)
2. Objectives of the Congress
Specifically, the Congress will have the following objectives:
Overall Purpose: To provide a forum for women legislators at all levels in formulating gender-responsive legislation.
Specific Objectives:
a). To understand the phenomenon of climate change, its impacts and implications;
b). To review and examine the gender aspects of climate change and formulate appropriate actions to address such;
c). To define the roles women can play in addressing the impacts of climate change at global, national and sub-national levels; and
d). To identify and define the action agenda for policy advocates and parliamentarians to support global and national actions to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change.
3. Papers
The discussion on gender and climate change will be organized around identifying the challenges to action, as well as defining the appropriate responses to effectively address the impacts of climate change. Inputs to the discussion will be collected and organized around: 1) geographic location; and 2) types of actions i.e. preparedness; risk reduction; building community resilience; adaptation; and mitigation. Cross-cutting these discussions will be the identification of technologies in aid of responding to climate change.
The focus of the discussions will resolve around defining and elaborating actions (i.e. preparedness, disaster risk reduction, adaptation and mitigation) to cope with climate change and its impacts.
Preparedness and disaster risk reduction is about building individual and community capacities to position themselves and their communities so that the likelihood of climate change-induced disasters is reduced; the intensity or adverse impacts of disasters are cushioned and that inhabitants are able to respond promptly, expeditiously and effectively. Adaptation entails actions to moderate harm or exploit benefits of climate change. Mitigation entails actions that minimizes or cushions the adverse impacts of climate change.
In all these actions, special attention will be given to defining how women and gender could be mainstreamed. In other words, the Congress should define how women can be given the social space to participate, influence and benefit from global and local responses to climate change.
Proposed Plenary Papers
· Global Perspective in Climate Change: Impacts and Implications for Women
· What Can Women Do About Climate Change? A Proposed Action Agenda
· Mainstreaming Gender Perspectives in Disaster Risk Reduction Processes
Environment organizations and all the other participants are welcome to share papers for distribution during the Congress. These papers should be emailed in advance so that they can be included in the CD of resource materials that will be distributed to the participants during the Congress.
4. Knowledge Fair/Exhibition on Gender and Climate Change
A knowledge fair/Exhibition on Gender and Climate Change will be organized at the venue of the Congress: The Dusit Hotel. Participating organizations are invited to exhibit their materials for display or for sale. Those who are interested should contact the Secretariat to make their booth reservations. There will be minimal charges for the rental of the booth. This is aside from the space that will be made available for all organizations to display and distribute materials that you would like to share with the other participants.
5. Expected Output
Expected Outputs:
· Gender Responsive Legislative Agenda on Climate change
6. Who Can Join?
· Women Parliamentarians
· Women in Decision-Making and Governance
· Youth Leaders
· Environment Organizations
· Funding/donor organizations/agencies
· Members of media
7. Venue of the Congress
The Dusit Hotel, Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines (www.dusit.com.ph)
8. About the Organizer
Global Network of Women in Politics
The Global Network of Women in Politics is a project of the Center for Asia Pacific Women in Politics (CAPWIP). It is a loose network of organizations and individuals who are committed to the agenda of transformation in leadership, politics and communities.
This network is committed to be the forum for Women Parliamentarians to meet every two years and learn about relevant gender issues that will enable them to promote gender responsive legislation.
From the beginning, CAPWIP has recognized the need for broad international support to effectively promote women's participation in politics. The Center studied previous efforts to create a global network for WIP. They found that some of the factors that hindered the creation of an effective network were that efforts had been confined either to a small group of elite women or research institutes and/or that it had a narrow focus of interest. Realizing that CAPWIP has no real model for a global network, the group decided to work slowly toward their ultimate objective.
Time and again, CAPWIP took advantage of opportunities to talk about what it was doing. One such break was the 1994 Taipei Global Summit on Women's Leadership in Politics. The summit brought together women interested in WIP and key CAPWIP personalities, among them Supartra Masdit, Kanwaljit Soin, Sylvia Ordonez, Irene Santiago, Sochua Leiper, Annette Lu Hsiu Lien, Leticia Ramos Shahani, Kao Tien Shang, Anne Summers, and Solita Monsod. International luminaries included Bella Abzug, Monica Barnes, Joaquima Alemay, Betty Bigombe and Kazimiera Prunskiene. The group agreed to work towards forming a global network and to meet at the Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) for the Beijing World Conference to be held in New York in March 1995.
At the PrepCom, CAPWIP posted its invitation for a "Planning Workshop for the Preparatory Activities in Beijing for the Organization of the Global Network of Women in Politics." Hosted by the African-American Institute, the 17 March workshop was attended by a large group of women which included: Christine Pintat (Inter Parliamentary Union); Anita Amlen (Swedish Federaton of Liberal Women); Jytee Lindgard (National Council of Women in Denmark); Sdalwa Sharawy Gomaa (Social Research Center, Egypt); Malena de Montis (Centro Para La Participation Democratica y El Desarrollo, Nicaragua); Nadia Raveles (Women's Parliament Forum, Surinam); Dr. Pam Rajput (Punjab University); Slote Wananisan (Fiji Mission to the UN); Dr. Ilina Sen; NandiniAsad (Working Women's Forum, India), and Ayesha Khanam (Bangladesh Mahila Parishad). The African-American Institute, which had planned a WIP meting in Botswana, later hosted the Planning Meeting for the Global Network of WIP held in Beijing.
Several steering committees were formed that would produce Regional WIP Platforms for Action for the Beijing Women's Conference. Focal points were established for the different regions: Nadia Raveles for Africa, Jytee Lindagard for Europe-North America, CAPWIP for Asia-Pacific, Salwa Gomaa for West Asia, and Malena de Montis for Latin America-Caribbean.
It was also agreed that a Global Network of Women in Politics (GLOBALNET) would be organized and incorporated in the Philippines, with CAPWIP serving as the permanent secretariat. In 1995, GLOBALNET was formally incorporated with Ms Remmy Rikken as president.
Center for Asia Pacific Women in Politics (CAPWIP)
The CENTER FOR ASIA-PACIFIC WOMEN IN POLITICS (CAPWIP) is a non-partisan, non-profit and non-governmental regional organization dedicated to promoting equal participation of women in politics, governance and decision-making. CAPWIP was established in 1992 by a group of women from the Asia-Pacific region who have defined their paradigm for change as:
Politics that is both TRANSFORMED and TRANSFORMATIONAL.
TRANSFORMED because...
it uses power to create change, to develop people,
and to build communities;
it is non-hierarchical and participatory in its
structures and processes; and
it accords priority to the disadvantaged sectors,
such as the poor grassroots women in rural and
urban areas and indigenous women;
TRANSFORMATIONAL because...
it is development-oriented, issue-based,
and gender-responsive;
it seeks economic, social, and political equity between sexes
and among sectors; and
it builds a society that is just and humane and
a way of life that is sustainable.
CAPWIP operates through a network of national affiliates clustered into five sub-regional groupings: Central Asia, East Asia, Pacific, South Asia and Southeast Asia. These sub-regional coordinating focal points and national affiliates are autonomous organizations actively involved in women’s political empowerment in their respective countries.
CAPWIP supports its network through technical assistance in organizational and program planning, training, research and information sharing, advocacy and networking. CAPWIP receives administrative and program support through voluntary contributions from its board members and grants from bilateral and multilateral aid agencies such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Asia-Pacific Gender Equality Network (UNDP-APGEN), Regional Programme on Governance in the Asia-Pacific (UNDP-PARAGON), Southeast Asia Gender Equity Programme of the Canadian International Development Agency (SEAGEP-CIDA), United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
CAPWIP’s programs on training include developing modules and training programs for women’s leadership and responsible citizenship based on the framework of transformative leadership and conducts trainer’s training for women’s political empowerment, transformative leadership and gender-responsive governance.
The CAPWIP Institute for Gender, Governance and Leadership (CIGGL) aims to provide trainings to women and men involved in:
· Electoral politics (in all levels: national, provincial, city/municipality)
· The bureaucracy (in all levels: national, provincial, city/municipality)
· Political parties (officials and members)
· Training institutes (government, private sectors and non-government)
· The development of governance policies, programs and projects
· Working with NGOs, civil society groups interested in gender, governance and leadership; or
· Women and men who are simply interested in the question of gender, governance and leadership
9. Secretariat
Center for Asia Pacific Women in Politics (CAPWIP)
4227-4229 Tomas Claudio Street Baclaran, Parañaque City, Metro Manila, Philippines,
Tel: (632) 8516934; Tele Fax:(632) 8522112; mobile phone 632 0918 940 3711
Email: globalcongress2008@gmail.com; globalcongress2008@capwip.org; capwip@capwip.org
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