Contestation and Perseverance in a time of Competing Crises: An Intersectional Analysis of Young Women and Girls’ Climate Activism During COVID-19

Abstract

Risks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately impact young people already occupying challenging circumstances, including young women and girls experiencing gender discrimination, exploitation and economic exclusion. Nevertheless, young women and girls are among the most active in shaping local/global responses. Through an intersectional approach that critically explores child and youth civil and political rights, this paper analyzes climate change activism led by young women and girls during COVID-19, as well as the intersectional complexities that impact the activism that they engage in and carry out. We argue that despite the negative impacts of the pandemic, young women and girls have opened new participatory spaces to positively shape our environment, while also navigating and defying gendered barriers, both in the present and for future generations.