Gender and Environmental Policy

Abstract

'Gender' gained ground in the 1970s in environmental policy and practice when scholars first brought up questions of women's unequal positions vis-a-vis development interventions and focused on the critical roles that women play in environmental management. Scholars working on gender and environment in the 1980s showed how women and men often fare differently due to their socially ascribed roles, status, types of work, and their different relationships to their environments. Gender and environment researchers have demonstrated that gender asymmetries in property rights affect the efficiency, environmental sustainability, equity, and empowerment outcomes of natural resource use. In environmental policy, 'gender' has most often been used as shorthand for 'women'. Gender has become relatively institutionalized in environmental policy, at least in policy rhetoric. Significant about environmental policy initiatives and programs, especially those associated with income generation and micro-credit, are their focus on the individual, especially individual women.