Today was Gender Day @cop26, as well as Science and Innovation Day, and what a good combination of themes!
The plenary session in the morning was impressive, and hugely inspiring, with a session chaired by UK Government minister Anne Marie Trevelyan which included US Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. We heard from a range of international panellists, as well as video content from around the world, on the need for incorporating the gender perspective into all decisions, and the commitments needed to mainstream gender in the National Adaptation Plans for climate change.
Particularly inspiring were some of the indigenous speakers, for example the Bolivian representative (whose name, sadly, I did not catch since I was waiting in the queue for a COP26 shuttle bus in Glasgow at the time) who spoke about women being the keepers of seeds, and the creators of life, nurturing our offspring and our dependents, including the planet. The incorporation of these views, thoughts and philosophies is totally refreshing to hear in such an otherwise corporate environment. On a similar note, the session on dreams for the future was equally inspiring, with delegates being invited to dream of their best scenarios for a sustainable and happy future.
But after a great start to the day I finished the afternoon with a feeling of slight frustration that the aspirations, dreams and hopes for a gender inclusive future were not easily able to be turned into reality, as there was very little visibility outside of the sessions of any gender based organisation.
As part of World Federation of Engineering Organisations I have worked on behalf of our Women in Engineering Committee to sign WFEO up to one of the Action Coalitions that are being led by UN Women and the Generation Equality campaign. We have signed up to the Action Coalition on Technology and Innovation for Gender Equality, since this was the one that seemed to fit our agenda of technology solutions to address gender inequality most closely. Today we heard more about the Action Coalition on Feminist Action for Climate Justice, and I was left wondering whether this would have been a better coalition to sign up to. But without the ability to find out more about it here at COP26, where UN Women are not represented, I feel it is difficult to turn thoughts into actions.
The commitment that we have made as part of the Action Coalition relates to the (global) gender disaggregation of Professional Engineering Institution (PEI) membership statistics, and this is something that I have been seeking support with from our UK Engineering PEIs, but so far without much success. I would really love to work with other allies to progress this initiative, so please do get in touch if you are able to support this work.
But for now, Happy #GenderDay, and thanks for reading.
The plenary session in the morning was impressive, and hugely inspiring, with a session chaired by UK Government minister Anne Marie Trevelyan which included US Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. We heard from a range of international panellists, as well as video content from around the world, on the need for incorporating the gender perspective into all decisions, and the commitments needed to mainstream gender in the National Adaptation Plans for climate change.
Particularly inspiring were some of the indigenous speakers, for example the Bolivian representative (whose name, sadly, I did not catch since I was waiting in the queue for a COP26 shuttle bus in Glasgow at the time) who spoke about women being the keepers of seeds, and the creators of life, nurturing our offspring and our dependents, including the planet. The incorporation of these views, thoughts and philosophies is totally refreshing to hear in such an otherwise corporate environment. On a similar note, the session on dreams for the future was equally inspiring, with delegates being invited to dream of their best scenarios for a sustainable and happy future.
But after a great start to the day I finished the afternoon with a feeling of slight frustration that the aspirations, dreams and hopes for a gender inclusive future were not easily able to be turned into reality, as there was very little visibility outside of the sessions of any gender based organisation.
As part of World Federation of Engineering Organisations I have worked on behalf of our Women in Engineering Committee to sign WFEO up to one of the Action Coalitions that are being led by UN Women and the Generation Equality campaign. We have signed up to the Action Coalition on Technology and Innovation for Gender Equality, since this was the one that seemed to fit our agenda of technology solutions to address gender inequality most closely. Today we heard more about the Action Coalition on Feminist Action for Climate Justice, and I was left wondering whether this would have been a better coalition to sign up to. But without the ability to find out more about it here at COP26, where UN Women are not represented, I feel it is difficult to turn thoughts into actions.
The commitment that we have made as part of the Action Coalition relates to the (global) gender disaggregation of Professional Engineering Institution (PEI) membership statistics, and this is something that I have been seeking support with from our UK Engineering PEIs, but so far without much success. I would really love to work with other allies to progress this initiative, so please do get in touch if you are able to support this work.
But for now, Happy #GenderDay, and thanks for reading.