Essay by Eric Worrall
To demand men give them money?
Why thousands of feminist leaders will soon arrive in Melbourne
When over 6,500 feminist leaders, activists, and changemakers gather in Naarm (Melbourne) from April 27-30 for the Women Deliver 2026 Conference, they will be confronting an uncomfortable truth: climate change is not just an environmental crisis; it’s also a gendered catastrophe unfolding in slow motion.
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The gendered dimensions of climate crisis reveal themselves in stark ways. …
Yet despite bearing the heaviest impacts, women remain largely excluded from climate decision-making. Globally, women hold only around one quarter of parliamentary seats. While women’s participation in national delegations to UN climate conferences rose slightly to 35 per cent between 2012 and 2022, the proportion of delegations headed by women actually declined. Women occupy just 15 per cent of positions in climate-related ministries, 18 per ent in forestry, and 11 per cent in water and irrigation ministries.
…The path forward requires what UN Women calls “feminist climate justice”, an approach that recognises women’s rights, labor, and knowledge, ensures just transitions that don’t deepen inequality and repairs historical injustices. This means wealthy nations must meet their climate finance commitments and ensure funds reach grassroots women’s organisations. It means polluting corporations must be taxed and regulated. It means women must have equal power in climate policy-making.
Read more: https://womensagenda.com.au/climate/why-thousands-of-feminist-leaders-will-soon-arrive-in-melbourne/
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How is this a demand that men fix everything?
- The claim is women remain excluded from decision making.
- They demand wealthy nations must meet their climate finance commitments.
In other words, this group of progressive climate activists are demanding nations they say are controlled by men give them money.
Have these people got no self respect?
I’m not anti-women, I work with strong, capable career women every day, who wouldn’t dream of setting out a begging bowl and demanding men fill it with cash.
My wife is an active part of our business.
Australia has strong, inspirational female leaders who didn’t get there by begging men for help.
Consider Pauline Hanson, whose climate skeptic One Nation party is riding high in the polls, endured years of abuse from male politicians, but is on the brink of prevailing anyway, through guts and determination, and commitment to a message Australia is ready to hear.
How about Aussie Trump supporter and mining tycoon Gina Rinehart, who has been rated the richest person in Australia for the last six years. Gina didn’t get there by begging for a handout, she inherited a near bankrupt company and through her own guts, determination and brains built it into a titan of the Aussie business world.
Or take plastic surgeon and burns specialist Fiona Wood, born in Britain but lives in Australia, who revolutionised treatment of severe burns with her 1993 invention of spray on skin. Maybe not quite a household name as Gina or Pauline, but her work has touched thousands of lives, saved lots of people from misery, disfigurement and death. Anyone who has studied medicine or plastic surgery in Australia would have heard her name.
If the Woman Deliver Conference 2026 want money for climate projects, they shouldn’t run begging to men for a handout, by demanding countries which they claim are mostly run by men provide climate finance. They should go out and make their own money like Gina Rinehart, or win the nation’s support like Pauline Hanson, or become a scientific leader like Fiona. They should become the inspiration for women which they claim to be.
