Gender and the Global Climate Crisis

There is overwhelming evidence that the impacts of climate change are gender-differentiated and that women are the most negatively affected. Drawing on interviews with nearly 100 female activists and politicians from Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia and Palestine, Lise Storm explores the implications of unequal female political representation for the climate crisis. Storm considers the voices of the women who are, or have been, involved in politics at the highest level. These women have experience with running for election, gender quotas, party politics, portfolio allocation, policy making, agenda setting and other such political dynamics and processes relating to power. This study sheds light on women's agency in climate debates and the impacts of the dynamics surrounding political representation. It adds new perspectives to the backgrounds of female MPs and activists and the drivers of their success – factors which influence how the global climate crisis is tackled locally in the region.