- More women and diverse representation in the decision-making process is critical for the fight against climate change.
- Fewer than one in three senior ministers responsible for the policy areas of the European Green Deal are women.
- EIGE launches a Climate Inspiration section as part of its campaign #3StepsForward – which will include voices and perspectives from leaders promoting closing the gender gap in climate leadership.
Carlien Scheele, EIGE Director says:
“Existing gender imbalances in leadership roles expose Europe to the risk of policies that overlook issues disproportionately affecting women. We are missing out on much-needed perspectives and expertise. In the quest for ambitious solutions to the climate crisis, every voice matters.”
Achieving a minimum 40:60 gender balance is essential. Yet EIGE’s statistical note Gender Balance in the European Green Deal shows women account for less than one-third of senior ministers across all Green Deal portfolios.
The areas with the lowest proportion of women in senior minister roles are transport and agriculture. Only two out of the eight areas of the European Green Deal reached gender balance: energy and climate.
Most of the European Parliament committees responsible for the Green Deal are gender-balanced. However, women account for two out of the ten chairs: Transport and Tourism Committee (TRAN), Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (CON).
With women under-represented in key decision-making roles, the Green Deal risks failing to deliver on its core promise to leave no one behind. More women in charge of budgets and climate action will consider existing gender gaps and help address many of the gendered impacts of climate change.
Achieving gender balance in representation is a step in the right direction, towards targeted solutions. To be meaningful, we must go beyond that to ensure there is space for women and men in all their diversity to lead and share their expertise.
Only then can we develop policies that recognise and respond to the fact some groups are more affected than others. And, as a result, improve resilience as we adapt to the impacts of climate change.
So, today, we start sharing Climate Inspiration as part of our Campaign: #3StepForward for green and gender-equal Europe.
Listen to these three powerful voices on how to bring forward concrete perspectives for a successful green transition: Paloma Aba Garrote, the Director of the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency, Member of the European Parliament Alice Kuhnke and Sheena Anderson, Project Manager at the Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy as they share their #3StepsForward for a green and gender-equal Europe.
We will continue to invite professionals, activists, policymakers and decision-makers to take a stand and name their three commitments towards gender-equal climate action.
Join us and share your #3StepsForward. All you need to do is film yourselves and send us a 60-second video with your three steps forward.
After EIGE receives the clip (via file sharing services), we will develop it into a campaign-branded video, add subtitles, and send it back for confirmation before uploading it on the #3StepsForward YouTube playlist and campaign website.