{"id":5815,"date":"2026-04-16T13:00:04","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T13:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.powershiftafrica.org\/blogs\/centring-women-in-climate-actionnbsp"},"modified":"2026-10-12T13:34:31","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T13:34:31","slug":"centring-women-in-climate-actionnbsp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/blogs\/centring-women-in-climate-actionnbsp\/","title":{"rendered":"Centring women in climate action"},"content":{"rendered":"

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African women working in a farm. | STOCK<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BY NDIVILE MOKOENA AND FREDRICK OTIENO<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can we\u00a0center\u00a0women\u00a0in\u00a0climate action? How can we support them to\u00a0nurture\u00a0and\u00a0scale\u00a0nature-based\u00a0adaptation, resource-use\u00a0efficiency,\u00a0clean cooking,\u00a0and\u00a0sustainable agriculture?\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the\u00a0documentary Washed Away<\/a> by Power Shift Africa,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0evident\u00a0that\u00a0women\u00a0are\u00a0not only\u00a0uniquely exposed\u00a0to climate hazards\u00a0but\u00a0are also\u00a0resilient to rebuild life after\u00a0disasters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, the power in climate innovations and solutions such as agroecology, water conservation, ecosystem restoration, and caregiving is\u00a0largely wielded\u00a0by women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For generations, our mothers and sisters have responded to climate hazards such as floods and drought situations, drawing from their gendered roles and socio-economic circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To challenge the climate crisis,\u00a0therefore,\u00a0the role of women cannot be overstated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Including women in climate policy design and implementation corrects both their historical neglect and contributes\u00a0degenderised\u00a0solutions to address context-specific climate needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To do this,\u00a0Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) principle must be\u00a0embedded in the\u00a0implementation of\u00a0NBS\u00a0to\u00a0ensure that climate action is inclusive, intergenerational, and transformative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Already,\u00a0gender\u00a0inequalities\u00a0undermine\u00a0women\u00a0farmers\u00a0who\u00a0often\u00a0lack\u00a0land rights, credit, and access to climate-smart\u00a0technologies. This only pushes them further down the trap\u00a0of hunger, poverty, and dependency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Empowering and deliberately valuing\u00a0their\u00a0ideas and incorporating them in\u00a0policy frameworks contribute to their general well-being and societal prosperity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evidence\u00a0shows that\u00a0women are not\u00a0mere bystanders or\u00a0entirely helpless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\u00a0South Africa,\u00a0women are mustering the power to rewrite their story.\u00a0In\u00a0the\u00a0Soweto\u00a0suburb\u00a0of Cape\u00a0Town,\u00a0South\u00a0Africa, for\u00a0instance,\u00a0most community\u00a0urban\u00a0forestry\u00a0are spearheaded by women. These women\u00a0plant fruit\u00a0trees to combat food insecurity and create green jobs.\u00a0\u00a0In\u00a0Nigeria,\u00a0Women in Nature Conservation (WINCO)\u00a0carries out similar initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Causes\u00a0like\u00a0the Green\u00a0Belt Movement\u00a0in Kenya, founded by Wangari Maathai,\u00a0and others across the continent,\u00a0show how women\u2019s\u00a0leadership can\u00a0restore ecosystems and\u00a0empower communities.\u00a0The\u00a0Shea Empowerment Foundation\u00a0in\u00a0Nigeria,\u00a0Herou Alliance<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0Mali,\u00a0and\u00a0Baobab des\u00a0Saveurs<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0Senegal\u00a0have all been inspired by Maathai\u2019s bold vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Uganda, women\u2019s cooperatives are driving\u00a0wetland restoration\u00a0to secure water and livelihoods, while in Senegal, women farmers are adopting\u00a0agroforestry practices\u00a0to improve soil fertility and nutrition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justice,\u00a0gender,\u00a0and climate\u00a0aren\u2019t\u00a0isolated from\u00a0one another.\u00a0\u00a0Having\u00a0limited access\u00a0to land, low financial inclusion,\u00a0patriarchy\u00a0and limited ability to own\u00a0property\u00a0by women is a justice issue\u00a0that\u00a0reduces\u00a0the resilience of women.\u00a0There\u2019s\u00a0a need to harmonise laws with\u00a0existing\u00a0guidelines such as\u00a0the Maputo Protocol and\u00a0the\u00a0African Union\u00a0Convention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around the world, and especially in\u00a0Africa,\u00a0multiple\u00a0hindrances\u00a0undermine\u00a0women\u2019s\u00a0power,\u00a0notable among\u00a0them\u00a0the\u00a0shrinking\u00a0civic space, anti-rights rhetoric, and weak legal systems. Collectively, these\u00a0threaten progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However,\u00a0these\u00a0challenges\u00a0can be overcome\u00a0by deliberately\u00a0embedding the\u00a0GEDSI principle\u00a0into climate governance\u00a0to\u00a0foster\u00a0inclusive strategies\u00a0that guarantee the resilience\u00a0of women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only certain way to build this resilience and achieve sustainable development is to\u00a0link\u00a0climate action to women\u2019s rights and access to\u00a0justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ndivile\u00a0Mokoena is a co-director for\u00a0GenderCC\u00a0SA\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fredrick is a Project Associate at Power Shift Africa<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For generations, our mothers and sisters have responded to climate hazards such as floods and drought situations, drawing from their gendered roles and socio-economic circumstances. To challenge the climate crisis, therefore, the role of women cannot be overstated. Including women in climate policy design and implementation corrects both their historical neglect and contributes degenderised solutions to address context-specific climate needs.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":5816,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[28,27],"topic":[],"class_list":["post-5815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogs","tag-adaptation","tag-climate-justice"],"acf":{"url":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5815"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5815\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8203,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5815\/revisions\/8203"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5815"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powershiftafrica.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=5815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}