Mainstreaming Gender in Global Climate Governance : Women and Gender Constituency in the UNFCCC

This book explores the role of feminist activists in The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 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. Filling this lacuna, Joanna Flavell interrogates the political strategies of the Women and Gender Constituency (WGC) in the UNFCCC (The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change). Through a conceptual framework that integrates climate change with intersectional critical inquiry and political practice, Flavell analyses hundreds of historical documents, coupled with interviews and observations from two UNFCCC conferences.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, highlighting 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 climate governance and opens up new avenues for advancing a feminist green politics. This volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of environmental justice, climate politics and governance, environmental activism, and gender studies more broadly. An electronic version of this book, available at [www.taylorfrancis.com](https://www.taylorfrancis.com), has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license, thanks to the support of libraries working with Knowledge Unlatched (KU). KU is a collaborative initiative designed to make high quality books Open Access for the public good. The Open Access ISBN for this book is 9781003306474. More information about the initiativ and links to the Open Access version can be found at [www.knowledgeunlatched.org](https://www.knowledgeunlatched.org). This book explores the role of feminist activists in The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 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. Filling this lacuna, Joanna Flavell interrogates the political strategies of the Women and Gender Constituency (WGC) in the UNFCCC (The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change). Through a conceptual framework that integrates climate change with intersectional critical 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, highlighting 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 climate governance and opens up new avenues for advancing a feminist green politics. This volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of environmental justice, climate politics and governance, environmental activism, and gender studies more broadly. An electronic version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license, thanks to the support of libraries working with Knowledge Unlatched (KU). KU is a collaborative initiative designed to make high quality books Open Access for the public good. The Open Access ISBN for this book is 9781003306474. More information about the initiative and links to the Open Access version can be found at www.knowledgeunlatched.org. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents List of Figures List of Tables Acknowledgements List of Acronyms 1 Introduction Why ‘Gender and Climate Change’? The UNFCCC as a Site of Inquiry Overview of the Book Bibliography 2 Enduring Debates in Feminist Climate Praxis Theorising Feminist Climate Activism Enduring Debates Conclusion Bibliography 3 Ecofeminist Intersectionality: Inquiry and Praxis Ecofeminist Intersectionality as Critical Inquiry Transversal Politics as Ecofeminist Intersectional Praxis Conclusion Bibliography 4 From Zero Gender to GAP: Foregrounding Gender in UNFCCC History Phase 1: Zero Gender – 1992–2007 Phase Two: Mainstreaming Gender into the UNFCCC – 2007–2013 Phase 3: Gender Action Plan – 2014–2021 Conclusion Bibliography 5 Political Strategies Mobilised by the Women and Gender Constituency Rhetorical Strategies Procedural Strategies Conclusion Bibliography 6 Lessons for Ecofeminist Intersectional Praxis Lessons from the WGC for Intersectional Inquiry and Praxis Towards an Ecofeminist Transversal Politics Conclusion Bibliography 7 Conclusion: New Directions for Ecofeminist Intersectional Praxis Original Contributions Coda Bibliography Appendix 1: Methodology Index