On Monday 8th November, the day before the Gender Day at COP26 I am joining the Women’s Engineering Society and the Institute of Asset Management to discuss How to use the SDGs to Address the Climate Crisis.
At this event I am representing the World Federation of Engineering Organisations’ Women in Engineering Committee, where I am Deputy Chair, and I will be talking about our perspectives of the gender, climate change and engineering nexus at this discussion.
The gist of my presentation is based around the four areas where we need to consider climate change from the gender perspective, namely women’s increased vulnerability to climate change; women’s role as effective actors with respect to climate change; the need for technology to be inclusive of the needs of women and all other stakeholders; and the role of women as engineers in addressing the climate emergency.
Firstly, as engineers, we must be aware of the various areas in which our engineering and technical solutions are needed, and how different stakeholders often need different solutions. Women, and particularly in the global south, have a vulnerability to climate change that is different to men, and that is largely due to the different societal and cultural roles that they perform. For example, women will be more vulnerable to food security because their ability to grow food will be impacted by global warming and other climate weather events, making growing seasons shorter and harvests more vulnerable. Food will also, consequently, be more expensive, and food preparation will be impacted because of fuel and water shortages caused by changes to biodiversity supply as a result of climate change. Women will need different solutions to climate migration, where they are often more at risk physically than men, less able to move around independently, less able to claim compensation because they are not land owners, and often have children with them – making relocation more difficult. And women – as primary carers - are likely to be impacted by any health problems that affect their family members due to poor sanitation or water pollution caused by climate events, thus preventing them from undertaking paid work. All of these differences affect the ability of women to adapt to climate change, and so will need solutions that are relevant and appropriate to their situations.
Secondly, women – and other indigenous populations – have a vast amount of knowledge to bring to the table to address climate change events, to adapt, and to build resilience. They are responsible for many decisions in their daily lives – such as purchasing products, food choice and preparation, waste, and home heating behaviours that will impact climate change, and they need to be engaged as effective actors, and as gatekeepers and influencers of their family’s behaviours. Listening to their voices not only validates their input, but engages and empowers them in the debate, giving agency and permission to act.
Thirdly, any technology that is being developed to address climate change directly, or to help people to create solutions in the multitude of others areas that will lead to behaviour change, to more sustainable living, to more ethical investing, or to any number of the others ways that we will need to change, must to be created inclusively in order to ensure that it is accessible and appropriate for all. We have learned from past experience that unless we are deliberate in creating technology that takes all stakeholders into account, and that has equity and accessibility built in, then we will end up with biased and discriminatory technology that perpetuates inequality. See my website here for further examples related to inclusive engineering outcomes www.inceng.org.
And finally, we must increase the number of women who have access to careers as engineers and technologists. In the UK, 13% of the engineering profession are women, and only 6% of professionally registered engineers are women. There are many well documented barriers to the entry, progress and retention of women in engineering, but we must take more positive action to improve the situation and work together as a profession to find real and lasting solutions. The World Federation of Engineering Organisations is addressing these issues in a number of ways, and I will write more on this in a subsequent blog. But for now, I have outlined the gist of my position at the panel session of 8th November, and I will report on how it went after the event.
At this event I am representing the World Federation of Engineering Organisations’ Women in Engineering Committee, where I am Deputy Chair, and I will be talking about our perspectives of the gender, climate change and engineering nexus at this discussion.
The gist of my presentation is based around the four areas where we need to consider climate change from the gender perspective, namely women’s increased vulnerability to climate change; women’s role as effective actors with respect to climate change; the need for technology to be inclusive of the needs of women and all other stakeholders; and the role of women as engineers in addressing the climate emergency.
Firstly, as engineers, we must be aware of the various areas in which our engineering and technical solutions are needed, and how different stakeholders often need different solutions. Women, and particularly in the global south, have a vulnerability to climate change that is different to men, and that is largely due to the different societal and cultural roles that they perform. For example, women will be more vulnerable to food security because their ability to grow food will be impacted by global warming and other climate weather events, making growing seasons shorter and harvests more vulnerable. Food will also, consequently, be more expensive, and food preparation will be impacted because of fuel and water shortages caused by changes to biodiversity supply as a result of climate change. Women will need different solutions to climate migration, where they are often more at risk physically than men, less able to move around independently, less able to claim compensation because they are not land owners, and often have children with them – making relocation more difficult. And women – as primary carers - are likely to be impacted by any health problems that affect their family members due to poor sanitation or water pollution caused by climate events, thus preventing them from undertaking paid work. All of these differences affect the ability of women to adapt to climate change, and so will need solutions that are relevant and appropriate to their situations.
Secondly, women – and other indigenous populations – have a vast amount of knowledge to bring to the table to address climate change events, to adapt, and to build resilience. They are responsible for many decisions in their daily lives – such as purchasing products, food choice and preparation, waste, and home heating behaviours that will impact climate change, and they need to be engaged as effective actors, and as gatekeepers and influencers of their family’s behaviours. Listening to their voices not only validates their input, but engages and empowers them in the debate, giving agency and permission to act.
Thirdly, any technology that is being developed to address climate change directly, or to help people to create solutions in the multitude of others areas that will lead to behaviour change, to more sustainable living, to more ethical investing, or to any number of the others ways that we will need to change, must to be created inclusively in order to ensure that it is accessible and appropriate for all. We have learned from past experience that unless we are deliberate in creating technology that takes all stakeholders into account, and that has equity and accessibility built in, then we will end up with biased and discriminatory technology that perpetuates inequality. See my website here for further examples related to inclusive engineering outcomes www.inceng.org.
And finally, we must increase the number of women who have access to careers as engineers and technologists. In the UK, 13% of the engineering profession are women, and only 6% of professionally registered engineers are women. There are many well documented barriers to the entry, progress and retention of women in engineering, but we must take more positive action to improve the situation and work together as a profession to find real and lasting solutions. The World Federation of Engineering Organisations is addressing these issues in a number of ways, and I will write more on this in a subsequent blog. But for now, I have outlined the gist of my position at the panel session of 8th November, and I will report on how it went after the event.
RSS Feed