Gender assumptions have harmful impact on climate adaption and resilience

The findings of a recent study suggests that outdated assumptions regarding gender continue to hinder effective and fair policymaking, along with the action for climate mitigation and adaptation. Lead author of a new study, Dr Jacqueline Lau from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University and WorldFish, said gender--alongside other identities like race, class, and age--has a powerful influence on people's experience of, and resilience to, climate change. "Although there is a global mandate to work towards gender equality in climate change mitigation and adaptation, efforts are hindered by a set of assumptions about gender, long critiqued in development studies," Dr Lau said. The study draws on post-2014 gender and climate change literature, to give an overview of how the gender assumptions manifest across recent work in adaptation, mitigation, and broader climate change policy, practice, and research. "Pursuing gender equality in climate change policy and practice is critical, and decades of experience in development offer lessons for how to do it well," Dr Lau said.