WHY IS GENDER, RACIAL AND SOCIAL EQUITY KEY TO ADDRESSING THE CLIMATE CRISIS?

Come and celebrate International Women’s Day 2024, with an evening of good food, stalls and panel discussion.

Gender, racial and social justice issues have largely been invisible in environmental and economic policy debates. At this Wen Forum event, we will explore why these issues must be front and centre to both climate and economic policy, particularly in the lead-up to the next general election.

In the UK, as elsewhere, women face greater barriers to financial security and are more likely to be heads of single-parent households than men - which means they are disproportionately vulnerable to the costs of climate change (e.g. rising fuel bills and food prices, poor insulation, floods, droughts, looking after children who get sick as a result of living in a house without heating or from air pollution). Rates of gender-based violence also increase after extreme weather events like heat waves and floods - all increasing due to climate change.

Women, particularly women of colour and marginalised groups, are still under-represented in climate and environmental decision-making forums at all levels. Their experiences and priorities are overlooked leading to less effective solutions.

Many climate policies and solutions can unintentionally embed structural inequalities and without diverse perspectives and voices included, the systemic and structural changes needed won’t happen. To date, many Green New Deal proposals have paid little attention to gender and intersectional inequality. This risks unintentionally worsening current structural inequalities in a range of areas including employment, housing, transport, access to food, healthcare and education.

Join us for an evening of discussion and debate, with time to ask our panel a question you may have. Come join the conversation and help amplify women’s and marginalised voices to ensure their priorities are included in climate action and policies and the transition to a low-carbon economy.

What to expect

Networking Reception & Stalls

The evening will start with a networking reception with drinks and a delicious plant based hot meal made by Chef Keke Kaur. You can enjoy looking around the stalls from grassroots and national women’s and environmental organisations.

Speaker Panel

This will be followed by a speaker panel. The event will feature short films from the Wen Climate Sisters project in Tower Hamlets and Hackney and others, outlining their priorities for government action to address the multiple crises of climate and biodiversity breakdown, cost of living and inequality. The speaker panel will be followed by a Q&A session.

• Lola Fayokun, Youth Climate Justice Campaigner, member of Advisory Board, Uplift

• Dr. Amiera Sawas, Head Of Research And Policy, Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative

• Dr Mary-Ann Stephenson, Director, Women’s Budget Group

• Nina Jeffs, Academy Associate, Chatham House

• Ndivile Mokoena Project Coordinator for GenderCC Southern Africa – a gender, climate, and social justice activist. 

• Roshini Thamotheram, Climate Sisters Programme Manager

• Monique Johnson, Chair of Trustees, Wen

Thank you to Octopus Renewables for supporting this event