International Women’s Day 2022

Women of energy. © J. Ashley Nixon

Today, 8 March is International Women’s Day (IWD 2022) and the theme is “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow.” We need gender equality and social equity if our actions on climate change are going to work. Today, celebrate all of the ways that women and girls are taking climate action — in adaptation, mitigation, and response — to build a more sustainable future for all.

UN Women

UN Women is the United Nations entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide.

Here is what UN Women says on IWD 2022:

Women and girls experience the greatest impacts of the climate crisis as it amplifies existing gender inequalities and puts women’s lives and livelihoods at risk. Across the world, women depend more on, yet have less access to, natural resources, and often bear a disproportionate responsibility for securing food, water, and fuel.

As women and girls bear the burden of climate impacts, they are also essential to leading and driving change in climate adaption, mitigation and solutions.  Without the inclusion of half of the world’s population, it is unlikely that solutions for a sustainable planet and a gender-equal world tomorrow will be realized.