We need to talk about gender in the safe operating space for humanity

Abstract

The planetary boundaries framework highlights critical global environmental processes where society's activities are altering Earth system risks. As businesses increasingly seek to apply the framework, more attention should be given to gender in the knowledge-action interplay of its scientific methodology, the discursive production of the framework's 'safe operating space for humanity', and its institutional operationalization. Here I view the framework through a gender lens, with a focus on four aspects of the knowledge-action system: perceptions and visibility of gender in the scientific underpinnings of the framework; power and control in 'safe operating space' discourses; policies and institutions relevant to governance of Planetary Boundaries processes; and the praxis of sustainability responses to the framework's call to action on global megatrends. In examining how social drivers are described and solutions are presented, we can assess whether a gendered view expands the scope for societies to respond to today's unsustainable megatrends.