"Why Women Will Save the Planet" is the title of Friends of the Earth's the new publication, unveiled at a book launch in Brussels this week together with the European Women's Lobby. The collection of articles and interviews sheds light on how intersectionality between environmentalism and feminism can help save our planet.
Forget COP21 with all the men in suits: it's women that will save the world from climate change. This is the argument put forward by Friends of the Earth in their book that was published in November last year as part of a Friends of the Earth project called ‘Big Ideas Change the World’. This project is exploring some of the key issues that can help to transform our society and make faster progress towards the goals of environmental sustainability.
Women's empowerment is critical to environmental sustainability, isn't it? When Friends of the Earth asked this question on Facebook half of respondents said yes and half said no, with women as likely to say no as men.
“Our economic & social system is based on patriarchal control of nature and women. Feminism and environmentalism are interlinked. We need to think again about how we make decisions, how we engage the public and the media, the language and tactics that we use. We need to understand how these might impact women and men differently and how we can change the way that we work to take account of this gender analysis. This has been a blind spot for us for too long, and the book has helped us to recognise this and to take action”, says Jenny Hawley, editor of ‘Why Women Will Save the Planet’.