Key Questions

• What are the fundamental connections between gender equality and environmental sustainability? How could one quickly lay out the relationship between the two concepts, for someone who has never viewed the two issues from a similar perspective?

• Why are women more vulnerable than men to climate change? How do gender roles and institutionalized sexism combine with environmental degradation, to complicate the lives of girls and women? What are specific examples of this intersection in various communities around the world? Are women in certain areas, countries, or populations more affected than those in other parts of the world? Why? How do other indicators, such as race or socio-economic status, play into the connection between gender and climate change/sustainability?

• Do women truly play a leading role in the fight against climate change? What are female specialists, across different fields, doing in order to efficiently protect the environment? How is their work different from the achievements of their male colleagues? Overall, are their contributions significant? What is the role of ordinary women, in different communities? How can they contribute to alleviating climate change, devising solutions, and implementing changes?

• How well is the existence of these connections recognized in the international community, across different fields of human activity? What is the official and unofficial standing of major organizations, such as UN agencies? What are governments doing? Do they recognize the existence of these complex connections? What states ignore the problem and which ones effectively engage this perspective in their work?

• What is ecofeminism? When and how did this movement originate? How successful is it nowadays? Does the mainstream feminist movement incorporate the ideas proposed by ecofeminists? Why or why not? More importantly, do specialists focused on alleviating climate change and promoting sustainability know about, welcome, and employ strategies proposed by ecofeminism? What is the critique of ecofeminism? In general, should we pay more attention to this movement? Could it truly enrich our fight against climate change? What are the most successful projects supported or implemented by ecofeminists?

• In reality, what should the international community do with this knowledge? What general strategies should the international community employ, in order to more effectively address climate change? What kind of pro-sustainability projects succeeded, thanks to the consideration given to various gender gaps?  How can this experience be implemented in other areas and communities, such as Lawrenceville’s campus or Ukraine?

• What are examples of projects aimed at protecting the environment or establishing sustainability that has failed because the gender disparities have not been taken into account? How could these initiatives be improved, in order to effectively address both gender inequality and environmental issues?