Table Of ContentMainstreaming Gender in Global
Climate Governance
This book explores the role of feminist activists in The United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and highlights the
progress they have made in mainstreaming gender as a key issue in global
climate governance.
It is now commonplace for gender to be framed as a political issue in
global climate politics within academic scholarship, but there is typically
a lack of robust empirical analysis of existing advocacy approaches. Fill-
ing this lacuna, Joanna Flavell interrogates the political strategies of the
Women and Gender Constituency (WGC) in the UNFCCC. Through a con-
ceptual framework that integrates climate change with intersectional crit-
ical inquiry and political practice, Flavell analyses hundreds of historical
documents, coupled with interviews and observations from two UNFCCC
conferences. This research uncovers a so-far untold story about the history
of the UNFCCC that foregrounds gender and feminist advocacy, highlight-
ing the importance of the WGC in shaping dominant narratives of global
climate governance through a series of rhetorical and procedural strategies.
Overall, the book draws important conclusions around power in global cli-
mate governance and opens up new avenues for advancing a feminist green
politics.
This volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of environ-
mental justice, climate politics and governance, environmental activism and
gender studies more broadly.
Joanna Flavell is a fellow and ecofeminist scholar researching and teach-
ing in environmental politics, with a special interest in activism in global
climate politics. Joanna’s 2020 paper ‘The embodied politics of climate
change: analysing the gendered division of environmental labour in the UK’
was published in Environmental Politics and was shortlisted for the best
paper award 2020.
Routledge Studies in Gender and Environments
Series Editor: Professor Susan Buckingham, an independent researcher,
consultant and writer on gender and environment related issues.
With the European Union, United Nations, UN Framework Convention
on Climate Change, and national governments and businesses at least os-
tensibly paying more attention to gender, including as it relates to environ-
ments, there is more need than ever for existing and future scholars, policy
makers, and environmental professionals to understand and be able to
apply these concepts to work towards greater gender equality in and for a
sustainable world.
Comprising edited collections, monographs and textbooks, this new Rou-
tledge Studies in Gender and Environments series will incorporate sophisti-
cated critiques and theorisations, including engaging with the full range of
masculinities and femininities, intersectionality, and LBGTIQ perspectives.
The concept of ‘environment’ will also be drawn broadly to recognise how
built, social and natural environments intersect with and influence each
other. Contributions will also be sought from global regions and contexts
which are not yet well represented in gender and environments literature, in
particular Russia, the Middle East, and China, as well as other East Asian
countries such as Japan and Korea.
Gender, Intersectionality and Climate Institutions in Industrialized States
Edited by Gunnhildur Lily Magnusdottir and Annica Kronsell
Gender and the Social Dimensions of Climate Change
Rural and Resource Contexts of the Global North
Edited by Amber J. Fletcher and Maureen G. Reed
Mainstreaming Gender in Global Climate Governance
Women and Gender Constituency in the UNFCCC
Joanna Flavell
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
Routledge-Studies-in-Gender-and-Environments/book-series/RSGE
Mainstreaming Gender in
Global Climate Governance
Women and Gender Constituency in the
UNFCCC
Joanna Flavell
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Joanna Flavell
The right of Joanna Flavell to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-032-30751-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-30752-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-30647-4 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003306474
Typeset in Times New Roman
by codeMantra
For my son, Iggy
Contents
List of Figures ix
List of Tables xi
Acknowledgements xiii
List of Acronyms xv
1 Introduction 1
Why ‘ Gender and Climate Change’? 4
The UNFCCC as a Site of Inquiry 6
Overview of the Book 10
Bibliography 17
2 Enduring Debates in Feminist Climate Praxis 21
Theorising Feminist Climate Activism 21
Enduring Debates 26
Conclusion 40
Bibliography 42
3 Ecofeminist Intersectionality: Inquiry and Praxis 46
Ecofeminist Intersectionality as Critical Inquiry 49
Transversal Politics as Ecofeminist Intersectional Praxis 60
Conclusion 64
Bibliography 64
4 From Zero Gender to GAP: Foregrounding Gender in
UNFCCC History 67
Phase 1: Zero Gender – 1992– 2007 68
Phase 2: Mainstreaming Gender into the
UNFCCC – 2007– 2013 77
Phase 3: Gender Action Plan – 2014– 2021 83
Conclusion 93
Bibliography 95
viii Contents
5 Political Strategies Mobilised by the Women and Gender
Constituency 102
Rhetorical Strategies 105
Procedural Strategies 117
Conclusion 130
Bibliography 131
6 Lessons for Ecofeminist Intersectional Praxis 138
Lessons from the WGC for Intersectional Inquiry
and Praxis 140
Towards an Ecofeminist Transversal Politics 148
Conclusion 154
Bibliography 155
7 Conclusion: New Directions for Ecofeminist
Intersectional Praxis 158
Original Contributions 160
Coda 161
Bibliography 162
Appendix 1: Methodology 163
Index 177
Figures
1.1 Structure of the UNFCCC 8
4.1 Gender in the UNFCCC 1992– 2007 68
4.2 Gender in the UNFCCC 2007– 2013 78
4.3 Gender in the UNFCCC 2014– 2021 83
4.4 Key Moments in the History of the UNFCCC 94
