Climate, Gender and Economics Webinar for the General Public

Mar 29, 2021 | The Green Economics Institute
Online
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The Green Economics Institute Exhibition Stand was one of the few at Paris United Nations COP15 in 2015, which Ban Ki Moon- The General Secretary of the United Nations said had real solutions to address climate change. It has always incorporated gender at its core. The Institute has regular climate delegations. This webinair shares its narratives and findings with The General Public.

The Green Economics Institute which is co hosting this event, has a very active delegation to the United Nations Climate Conferences- COP, most recently COP21, 22, 23, 24, 25 and is preparing for COP26 Glasgow, Scotland in November 2021. It also is participating in the United Nations' Climate Dialogues and Momentum for Change activities.

The rewriting of history and fact is connected- it turns out that it was women that put men on the moon- women who did the calculation, women who worked out the maths for computers, women who have done so much. Women even invented climate science and quite possibly maths itself as well as the technology for computers, nuclear physics and so much more- why are we written out of history?

At the moment, people are noticing that countries with women leaders tend to have a more cautious reaction to the pandemic and their case numbers generally lower. This has prompted renewed interest in women’s leadership and its potential for solving today’s existential crisis including the climate emergency. Their voices are often overshadowed by panels of ‘experts’ who are often men, and panels of all male experts are common in most parts of the world. This can be in spite of the fact that women may have more experience, skills or qualifications, they tend to be overlooked or offered a chairing role instead. Work is now on going to correct this in balance.

Mainstream Economics is predicated on Homo Economicus- that is rational Economic Man and his preferences and the narratives around it. Dame Marilyn Waring former politician and principal founder of feminist economics from New Zealand, described what the economy would look like ‘If Women Counted 1988’ in her seminal work.

Today, it is recognised that who controls the finances, and the money also has the power and decision making. This affects women throughout their life cycle from the lack of access to education affecting up 130 million girls globally - (Malala Yousafzai), right through to lower income, regardless of education levels and to lower resulting pensions, and poverty right into old age.

Further the narratives of who we are, and what we have been has also been dominated in the historical and archaeological disciplines where the leaders and arbiters of truth, experts and also the content and selection of what gets researched is also male in the important book -Women in Prehistory. (Ehrenberg 1989) and Rosalind Miles –(Women’s History of the World or who cooked the last supper 1988). Most recently even medical research and even seat belts, it transpired are tested mainly on male subjects as the ‘default or norm.’ (Caroline Creado -Prerez in Invisible Women 2019).

We need to take back control of these narratives as the earth and nature cannot wait. In the name of domestication, profit, wealth? and greed- we have even had control of child birth removed from us. So called nature based solutions and ecosystems servives are the latest attempt to remove anything natural from the world. Climate feminists need to reclaim these narratives and try and stop runnaway climate change before its too late and take their lead from the most famous climate activist of all -Greta!

Who: The Green Economics Institute 

Where: Online

When: 29 March 2021    Time: 10:00 AM EST