Feedback Session

Gender and Environment

 
 

With sustainable development and environmental protection as the primary areas of focus of the Arctic Council, the chapter and feedback session on Gender and Environment focus on the degree to which gender and gender equality are central to addressing these mandates.

The chapter examines how different genders relate to a broadly defined Arctic environment – how they experience changes in their environment and the gendered effects of development in the region. Selected themes include the gendered effects of climate change in the Arctic; gender and the management of natural resources including fisheries, forestry, reindeer herding, renewable energy; and gender and different dimensions of pollution in the Arctic. In addition to this, we explore additional themes spanning many of these different issue areas including a dearth of sex- and gender-disaggregated data, impacts on physical and mental health, as well as gender equality in science and research.

In this feedback session we will provide a general overview of the chapter on Gender and Environment in an Arctic context with a focus on two different themes included in the chapter: (1) a quantitative analysis of “gender” in official Arctic Council reports, and (2) the nexus of gender and renewable energy in the Arctic.

Opening remarks

  • Hjalti Ómar Ágústsson, Project Manager, Gender Equality in the Arctic Phase III, Icelandic Arctic Cooperation Network

Session Chair

  • Dr. Karla J. Williamson, Assistant Professor, Educational Foundations, University of Saskatchewan

Speakers

  • Dr. Malgorzata (Gosia) Smieszek, Co-Lead Women of the Arctic and Project Coordinator, Arctic University of Norway
  • Tahnee Prior, Co-Lead Women of the Arctic and Ph.D. Candidate, University of Waterloo
  • Torjus Solheim Eckhoff, Research Assistant, Polar and Climate Program, Grid-Arendal
  • Sarah Seabrook Kendall, Research Assistant, Gender Equality in the Arctic

Closing remarks

  • Hjalti Ómar Ágústsson, Project Manager, Gender Equality in the Arctic Phase III, Icelandic Arctic Cooperation Network

Questions for participants to consider

  • Are there critical issues at the gender-environment nexus which we have missed, especially as they relate to the Arctic?
  • Are there issue areas or themes which you think would be worth highlighting more?
  • Is the presented approach valuable?

Helpful materials

We found these materials helpful for the discussion

  • Malgorzata (Gosia) Smieszek. Evaluating institutional effectiveness: the case of the Arctic Council : visit website
  • The GEA Report 2015. Gender Equality in the Arctic Report. Current Realities, Future Challenges : download PDF
  • Kristin Timm, A. Pope, M. Smieszek, G. Fugmann, Y. Zaika. Arctic science: From knowledge to action : visit website