Claim: Gender assumptions harm progress on climate adaption and resilience

ARC CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE FOR CORAL REEF STUDIES

Research News

IMAGE
IMAGE: PURSUING GENDER EQUALITY IN CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY AND PRACTICE IS CRITICAL. view more CREDIT: JACQUI LAU.

Scientists say outdated assumptions around gender continue to hinder effective and fair policymaking and action for climate mitigation and adaptation.

Lead author of a new study, Dr Jacqueline Lau from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University (Coral CoE at JCU) and WorldFish, said gender–alongside other identities like race, class and age–has a powerful influence on people’s experience of, and resilience to, climate change.

She said the four most common and interlinked assumptions found are: women are innately caring and connected to the environment; women are a homogenous and vulnerable group; gender equality is a women’s issue and; gender equality is a numbers game.

“Although there is a global mandate to work towards gender equality in climate change mitigation and adaptation, efforts are hindered by a set of assumptions about gender, long critiqued in development studies,” Dr Lau said.

The study draws on post-2014 gender and climate change literature, to give an overview of how the gender assumptions manifest across recent work in adaptation, mitigation and broader climate change policy, practice and research.

The review of the literature takes a closer look at how these assumptions narrowly diagnose the causes of gender inequality.

“As a result, we see too many strategies that have unintended–and even counterproductive–consequences,” said Dr Pip Cohen, from WorldFish.

“For instance, strategies that target women only may overburden them, cause a backlash, or obscure the vulnerabilities of other groups.”

The study offers lessons for a more informed pursuit of gender equality in climate change research, policy and practice.

The authors said progressing gender equality means breaking down stereotypes and prejudices about gender–creating environments to enable all people to exercise their agency to cope, change and adapt.

Dr Lau said she was surprised to find so many examples of gender assumptions in climate change practice. She explained that a first step in disrupting these assumptions is to lay them bare and explain why development research has found them to be problematic.

“The social and cultural expectations about what it is to be a woman or a man in any given society will shape people’s wellbeing,” Dr Lau said.

She said alongside efforts to dismantle broader barriers to gender equality, better and more coordinated efforts are needed from practitioners and researchers to disrupt and counteract unhelpful assumptions.

“Pursuing gender equality in climate change policy and practice is critical, and decades of experience in development offer lessons for how to do it well,” Dr Lau said.

“Ultimately, we want to see equitable opportunities for all people to realise their full potential. Where no one is left behind.”

###

PAPER

Lau J, Kleiber D, Lawless S, Cohen P. (2021). ‘Gender equality in climate policy and practice hindered by assumptions’. Nature Climate Change. DOI: 10.1038/s41558-021-00999-7

From EurekAlert!

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March 3, 2021 10:09 pm

The good Dr Lau must be bereft of anything useful to say about her environment. Cancel the ARC, drive out the red-necked gender stereotypes. Lordy me, who funds this drivel !?

StephenP
Reply to  Streetcred
March 3, 2021 11:55 pm

How many does coral have?

Greg
Reply to  StephenP
March 4, 2021 5:23 am

Last time I checked Critical Glacier Theory found at least 78 different genders of glaciers in the Alps alone.

More money is needed to explore this important new field of work, soon kids won’t even know what glaciers look like !.

Steve M
Reply to  Greg
March 4, 2021 6:29 am

Actually, glaciers are inherently female. They do “calve” after all.

David A
Reply to  Steve M
March 4, 2021 5:14 pm

Steve, that is a perfect example of gender assumptions. Glaciers can be whatever gender they want.
If I read any more gender nonsense like this I will certainly entertain a bender.

Greg
Reply to  StephenP
March 4, 2021 5:26 am

Anything having to call itself a “center of excellence” clearly is not. Excellence declares itself, it does not come from putting the word on a panel in front of the campus entrance .

This could not be clearer than in the case of James Cook University which is a cesspit of unscientific bigotry, censorship and the antithesis of scientific excellence.

David Young
Reply to  Streetcred
March 4, 2021 1:16 am

You’ve not read “Glaciers, gender, and science: A feminist glaciology framework for global environmental change research”?

Abstract:
“Glaciers are key icons of climate change and global environmental change. However, the relationships among gender, science, and glaciers – particularly related to epistemological questions about the production of glaciological knowledge – remain understudied. This paper thus proposes a feminist glaciology framework with four key components: 1) knowledge producers; (2) gendered science and knowledge; (3) systems of scientific domination; and (4) alternative representations of glaciers. Merging feminist postcolonial science studies and feminist political ecology, the feminist glaciology framework generates robust analysis of gender, power, and epistemologies in dynamic social-ecological systems, thereby leading to more just and equitable science and human-ice interactions.”

Scissor
Reply to  David Young
March 4, 2021 5:06 am

Sadly, it wasn’t published on April 1.

Krishna Gans
Reply to  David Young
March 4, 2021 5:12 am

comment image comment image

A glacier is a glacier is a glacier, and in research I see no differnce if a man or a woman is drilling a glacier. The genderquestion is absolute nonsense and publishing a paper about, better hide behind somewhat.

Lrp
Reply to  Krishna Gans
March 4, 2021 8:37 am

Glacier drilling is a man’s sport

Krishna Gans
Reply to  Lrp
March 4, 2021 8:47 am

Now you know why such papers are written and published 😀

Anon
Reply to  David Young
March 4, 2021 5:26 am

David,

When I read that, I really thought you were a an absolutely brilliant satirist! The way you weaved that all together, in a single paragraph, was mind-boggling. So, I was about to suggest you try your hand at the Faux Faulkner Contest (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faux_Faulkner_contest) when a unsettling feeling overcame me:

Glaciers, gender, and science: A feminist glaciology framework for global environmental change research

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0309132515623368

(facepalm)

Derge
Reply to  Anon
March 4, 2021 8:12 pm

You missed out on some fun a while back Anon

https://phys.org/news/2018-10-real-fake-hoodwinks-journals.html

Jon Salmi
Reply to  David Young
March 4, 2021 1:36 pm

Good God! Such blather could only come from a blithering idiot.

Fraizer
Reply to  Streetcred
March 4, 2021 4:53 am

I feel like I am living in “The Onion”

MarkW
Reply to  Streetcred
March 4, 2021 7:48 am

Lordy me, who funds this drivel !?

Unfortunately, we do. Through our taxes.

Neo
Reply to  Streetcred
March 4, 2021 7:56 am

Clearly, somebody needs to check their “Glacier Privilege” at the door

John the Econ
Reply to  Streetcred
March 4, 2021 8:56 am

Who funds this drivel? We do.

March 3, 2021 10:10 pm

This just shows you can get a doctorate in naseau inducement. It also irritates the temples and just above the brow ridges.

Tim
Reply to  Zoe Phin
March 3, 2021 10:28 pm

Agree completely with your assessment.
I was thinking something simple like “Oh FFS… what next?”

Mr.
Reply to  Tim
March 4, 2021 8:52 am

Yes it’s way over the top.
And only inspired because a fellow researcher said “show us yer t1ts” to Dr. Lau

fred250
Reply to  Zoe Phin
March 3, 2021 10:48 pm

…… and the back of the throat !

David A
Reply to  fred250
March 4, 2021 7:04 pm

I blame it all on fossil fuels. They have enabled way to many people with way to much time with no real crisis or life threatening demands, so they create imaginary demons to battle for and imaginary victims to fight for.

Mr.
Reply to  Zoe Phin
March 4, 2021 8:35 am

Yes increasingly we are forced to conclude that there IS a crisis with climate(s).
But it’s all in the hysterical reportage, not the climate(s) per se.

Garland
March 3, 2021 10:13 pm

“Scientists” my ass.

BallBounces
Reply to  Garland
March 4, 2021 5:14 am

No, that’s a Chinese airport study.

March 3, 2021 10:18 pm

This garbage paper is Exhibit # 46,532 that the UN’s Climate Change push has nothing to do with Climate and everything to do with Change.

March 3, 2021 10:22 pm

Where is the round filing cabinet when you need it?

fred250
Reply to  Phillip Bratby
March 3, 2021 10:43 pm

shredding machine first, and something to drill holes through their hard disc drives so this UTTER DRIVEL can never be resurrected !

littlepeaks
March 3, 2021 10:26 pm

If you heard a strange noise, it was me rolling my eyes. I can see the ER personnel now, saying that they never saw anyone with their eyeballs stuck that far back in their head.

Reply to  littlepeaks
March 3, 2021 11:08 pm

ROFL!

Reply to  littlepeaks
March 4, 2021 12:19 am

I got the wrong idea from the headline.
I thought she was going to talk about men who imagine themselves as a woman, or trans people and climate, or eunuchs and climate, or queers and climate, or bisexuals and climate. But it was much tamer than I imagined.

– JPP

fred250
March 3, 2021 10:39 pm

WOW, just when you think JCU can’t possibly sink any deeper into the mindless-sewer !!

fretslider
Reply to  fred250
March 4, 2021 7:28 am

Never say never.

That’s something they tend to do

Neil Jordan
March 3, 2021 10:44 pm

Five years ago, a related topic was covered by WUWT:
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/03/05/climate-craziness-of-the-week-feminist-glaciology-in-the-climate-change-context/
Content alert – manly glaciers.

fred250
March 3, 2021 10:45 pm

“Although there is a global mandate to work towards gender equality in climate change mitigation and adaptation

.

Would someone please explain WT* that means ??

And what does “gender equity” have to do with coral reef studies ??

Clarky of Oz
Reply to  fred250
March 4, 2021 12:50 am

You must have in the boat, 1x L, 1xG, 1xB, 1xT, 1xQ, 1xI and so on down the line. By the time you have all the spots filled there is no room for the boat crew, or anyone who can actually dive on to the reef or do any useful work. But the quotas are filled and that is the main thing. Thus the reef is saved as all the Government money is dissipated before any actual work is done.

Reply to  fred250
March 4, 2021 3:08 am

Fred, when you decipher that little gem, please let me know. I don’t have a friggin clue.

MarkW
Reply to  fred250
March 4, 2021 7:51 am

Reminds of the allegedly fake NYT headline

“World to end tomorrow, Women and children hit the hardest.”

Lrp
Reply to  fred250
March 4, 2021 8:42 am

Funding

Reply to  fred250
March 4, 2021 10:23 am

“When I use a (phrase),’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’
’The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make (phrases) mean so many different things.’
’The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that’s all.”

None of this is new. It is meant to confuse.

And it works too. They don’t want ‘equality’ (as they stated), they want their version of ‘equity’ (as you stated).

Reply to  fred250
March 4, 2021 10:39 am

“Symbolic of our struggle against reality”

See JeffC video below.

David A
Reply to  fred250
March 4, 2021 7:37 pm

Well, as gender has been turned into a meaningless variegated concept, subject to the passing fancy of licentious thought, then “gender equity” is therefore an equally vaporous concept with zero practical cogency to real life.

Alan Robertson
March 3, 2021 10:46 pm

With hospitals in the UK allegedly adopting the term “chestfeeding” instead of breastfeeding, to be more inclusive of transgender individuals, how can we be sure that gender assumptions aren’t harmful to just about everything?
Think of the poor roosters, locked into their roles.
Who are we to assume that they wouldn’t rather be laying eggs, instead of the hens?

https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=16833

tonyb
Editor
Reply to  Alan Robertson
March 3, 2021 11:44 pm

Alan

I am disturbed about the second part pf your surname flaunting your masculinity. Please tone it down to something more gender neutral and in tune with the times.

Alan Robertson
Reply to  tonyb
March 4, 2021 12:21 am

tonyb you are sooo on it.
How’s about I just dispense with my whole name and borrow a new first and surname from a couple of my ancestors?
I’ll go with Conan the Ravenfeeder.

Alba gu bràth

tonyb
Editor
Reply to  Alan Robertson
March 4, 2021 1:22 am

Conan the Raven feeder

Yes,. great name but a bit birdist.

tonyb

David A
Reply to  tonyb
March 4, 2021 7:45 pm

Definitely avifauna appropriation, try again.
( Although it’s likely hopeless, you will offend)

fretslider
Reply to  Alan Robertson
March 4, 2021 7:37 am

An islamic friendly name would be…

Al Rob

Reply to  tonyb
March 4, 2021 4:25 am

Alan Robertloinfruit?

Reply to  Alan Robertson
March 4, 2021 1:12 am
tonyb
Editor
Reply to  JeffC
March 4, 2021 1:24 am

jeff

They were WAY ahead of their time!

tonyb

Reply to  JeffC
March 4, 2021 7:28 am

FYI; Sue Jones-Davies the actress playing Judith Iscariot, ended up as Mayor of Aberystwyth 2008-2009

From the comments
Graham Black 2 years ago
” It’s interesting reading back over the comments on this video. The first comments 10 to 11 years ago are mostly about how funny it is. Then about 4 to 5 years ago people start making comments about how this reflects transgender behaviour. Now all the comments are about how horrific that this is actually the way things are now. It’s ironic that at the time this was probably the least controversial scene in the whole movie. Now it could potentially get the film banned for hate speech. How the fuck did we get here? “

Reply to  JeffC
March 4, 2021 10:38 am

“Symbolic of our struggle against reality”

Covers it all.

Alba
Reply to  JeffC
March 5, 2021 8:40 am

I looked that one up and, as a result, came across this one. Didn’t Greta do well!

fretslider
Reply to  Alan Robertson
March 4, 2021 7:35 am

With almost 25% of ‘frontline’ NHS staff refusing a/the vaccine, what you call a woman’s tit (get over it blokes in frocks) is, er, largely academic.

No doubt that refusal rate is entirely down to structural racism – whatever that really is. Not their refusal. Nor the fact that they are supposed to be about medical/scientific progress.

The vaccines are white supremacy – in a vial. BLM endorses that message.

Reply to  Alan Robertson
March 4, 2021 10:34 am

Are the hospitals in the UK going to change the term ‘breast cancer’ to ‘chest cancer’?

Or are they going to continue with their sexist practice of indicating BREAST cancer is a disease that men don’t need to worry about?

Please, somebody over there, ask them….

March 3, 2021 10:47 pm

Riiiiight.

2A99A21A-3E3C-4B14-8A46-0FBC096B5377.jpeg
March 3, 2021 10:49 pm

Well, whaddya expect; if you are too stupid to know if you got a totty or twatty, the weather must be a terrible and frightening thing…
“…strategies that target women only may overburden them, cause a backlash, or obscure the vulnerabilities of other groups.”
Now they turn on women too? First it was ‘toxic masculinity’, now it’s ‘noxious femininity’? Or is that ovarian overburdensomeness?
Next up: Testosterone in men is a greenhouse gas, but men with lots of oestrogen act as carbon sinks.

Independent George
March 3, 2021 11:16 pm

The worse the infection of leftism, the more extreme are the symptoms.

A chronic left wing sufferer, can find oppression and a way to virtue signal from anywhere.

Joe
March 3, 2021 11:22 pm

When others assume that I’m Canadian, it makes me want to destroy the entire planet, one CO2 atom at a time.

JK, I find it funny that people are afraid of the violent, bloodthirsty wrath of a socially slighted Canadian who is accidentally mis-cultured as an American. I hear-tell that entire cities have been wiped off the map for doing this.

Aussies don’t generally mind being asked if they are Kiwis. They’ll only kill you if you get it wrong twice. 😉

March 3, 2021 11:31 pm

 Dr Lau …. I fart in your general direction…



Montypythonfrench.jpg
Alexy Scherbakoff
March 3, 2021 11:35 pm

I hope she can make a decent sandwich

Jones
March 3, 2021 11:37 pm

Is there nothing, I mean nothing at all, they can’t mash into a climate narrative?

Krishna Gans
Reply to  Jones
March 4, 2021 5:26 am

comment image

(Gender )-Traces of Global Warming in New York 😀 – Horrible !

Krishna Gans
Reply to  Krishna Gans
March 4, 2021 5:32 am

comment image

Genderised Global Warming – a misuse in the view of the author ? 😀

Reply to  Krishna Gans
March 4, 2021 9:48 pm

There is your proof! The models are right!

lee
March 4, 2021 12:03 am

Perhaps she can make a difference. Start by debunking Terry Hughes coral calamity.

To bed B
March 4, 2021 12:09 am

And 97% consensus of people like this means what?

David A
Reply to  To bed B
March 4, 2021 7:56 pm

It means they asked 100,000 people if they agreed, 99,900 said, ” your nuts” and were promptly disqualified, and 97 out of 100 B.S. Crazy folk said “we agree”.

Waza
March 4, 2021 12:10 am

The people who brought you Neo-Marxism now have a new offering.
It’s called Intersectionality.
The aim is to align all victim groups against the one perpetrator group.

Clarky of Oz
Reply to  Waza
March 4, 2021 2:00 am

Don’t tell me. Old White Males

Waza
Reply to  Clarky of Oz
March 4, 2021 3:06 am

Clarky
Nearly there.
Straight old white men.

Mr.
Reply to  Waza
March 4, 2021 8:40 am

Self-funded straight old white men.

Jan de Jong
Reply to  Waza
March 4, 2021 2:47 am

Invented in 1989 already, along with ‘White Privilege’ – Simon Webb: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUfDy9SRfSw (very sensible old geezer saying forbidden things on YT).

Waza
Reply to  Jan de Jong
March 4, 2021 3:05 am

Jan
Thanks for the link.

Rory Forbes
March 4, 2021 12:18 am

There’s that, “scientists say” nonsense. “Scientists” say no such thing. What a load of utter rubbish. Apart from that they keep confusing gender and sex. Man, woman = SEX. Masculine, feminine = gender. The two terms are not synonyms. Climate studies is a science. Gender studies is not.

Poor Dr. Lau is very confused about what science is:

“Ultimately, we want to see equitable opportunities for all people to realise their full potential. Where no one is left behind.”

What on Earth has that got to do with climate or the study of science in general? If a person has what it takes to contribute, there is no question of being left behind.

NIKKI
March 4, 2021 12:31 am

Well thats nuts. The world has slipped a few cogs

Clarky of Oz
March 4, 2021 12:34 am

I am pretty sure ( I have no degree so it only a guess) that the coral polyps could not give a damn about the gender identity of any human being. They will breed, male and female according to nature and care not a rat’s arse about who or what is looking at them or which of the 57+ gender identities the humans studying them care to adopt.

LEAVE THE REEF ALONE.

Jones
Reply to  Clarky of Oz
March 4, 2021 12:51 am

Well I say Clarky, that’s Animal Kindomism if ever I saw it. And I hadn’t until just this minute.

Polyps have rights too you know?….! Even nasal polyps.

Moderately Cross of East Anglia
March 4, 2021 1:39 am

And while we are adding this tripe to issues like feminist glaciology, it occurs to me that we need to examine the issue of volcanology. All those nasty male strato- volcanoes have been getting away with it for far too long spreading their nasty pyroclastic flows all over the place without regard to anyone else. Clearly the terminology of describing volcanoes as being extinct or active is masculine gender enforcement and needs to be described as woke or non-woke was in future.

Josie
March 4, 2021 2:04 am

Stupidity is without borders.

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