ARE GENDER PERSPECTIVES INCLUDED IN EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION AND WASTE EDUCATION PROGRAMS? A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW

Abstract

Education for sustainable consumption (ESC) has a role in the provision of knowledge, values, and skills to enable individuals and social groups to become actors of change towards more sustainable lifestyles. Also, it must consider the interests, needs, and perspective of critical stakeholders, empower them and enable their full participation in public debates about sustainability. Though unsustainable consumption is substantially shaped by gender-based inequalities, ESC itself tends to be gender-neutral. This study provides a systematic literature review of research on ESC, with a focus on waste education, and an assessment of the inclusion of gender perspectives in those publications. A structured tool Proknown-C was applied and 46 articles were retrieved and analyzed – 28 generally related to ESC and 18 to waste education in particular. The articles were published intermittently between 1990 and 2017, with case studies on 32 countries. From the aggregate number of articles, 22 addressed gender in some form, however, in its majority, it was limited to superficial mentions and to the presentation of the study subjects in a sex-disaggregated manner, with fewer exploring gender and its relationships with ESC and waste education. This study offers a contribution to the scholarly and practical debate on ESC and waste education programs, and the inclusion of gender perspectives, as well as, kindle in-depth research on the subjects. It also aims to provide points for better understanding the role of gender perspectives in promoting sustainable consumption practices and lifestyles.