Is Australias Climate Policy Gender Literate?
When governments and think tanks deliberate on strategies for combatting climate change, they’ll very likely bypass one highly salient variable. This variable is that global warming’s causes, effects, and solutions, are gendered. Do those who frame Australia’s climate change policy take into account that women’s ecological footprint is negligible in comparison with men’s or that women and children will be the main victims of global warming? Will Australian climate change policy rectify women’s under-representation at every level of climate change negotiations? Sociological factors are rarely considered in the climate change dialogue, although the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change does have potential in this respect. The phrase ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’ acknowledges socio-economic differences and the historical role of the industrialised North in causing unsustainable greenhouse emissions. However, this phrase ‘common but differentiated responsibil
