This presentation was made by Sigita Strumskyte, at the 3rd Experts Meeting on Gender Budgeting held at the OECD Conference Centre, Paris, on 19-20 September 2019.

1. GENDER EQUALITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL
SUSTAINABIILITY:
FOSTERING AN INTEGRATED POLICY AGENDA
Sigita Strumskyte
Coordinator for Gender and SDGs - Director’s Office
Environment Directorate
OECD
September 2019

2. • Links between environmental
sustainability and gender equality
• OECD on gender equality
• Country initiatives
• Challenges & Next steps
Outline

3. Lack of access to energy and electricity affect women more than men:
Environmental policies and budgets cannot be
gender blind – a look at developing countries
Lack of adequate sanitation affects women and girls more than men:
 40% of girls were found to remain absent from school during their menstruation
due to lack of clean toilets, clean water, privacy, soap and sanitary supplies
(Vashisht et al., 2018).
 Only 45% of schools in least-developed and low-income countries had adequate
sanitation facilities (UNICEF, 2011).
 In 25 sub-Saharan African countries, women
spend 16 million hours daily collecting water,
compared to 6 million hours spent by men
and 4 million hours spent by children (UN
Women, 2016).
 In rural areas in Brazil, girls are 59% more
likely to complete primary education when
they have access to electricity than those
without (O’Dell et al. 2015)

4. • Indoor pollution: over 4 million people – mainly women and
children – die every year from indoor air pollution (WHO, 2016).
• Natural disasters: women and children account for more that 75%
of displaced persons worldwide.
 In 1991, during the cyclone disasters in Bangladesh, of the
140,000 people who died, 90% were women (Ikeda, 1995).
 In the 2004 Tsunami in coastal Indonesia, women and girls
accounted for more than three-quarters of deaths in most of
the surveyed villages (Oxfam 2005).
 In the 2008 cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, 61% of the victims
were women (UNEP 2013).
Environmental impact is not gender-
neutral

5. Gender-environmental-sustainability nexus
in OECD countries
Transport and
urban design
Pollution and
climate change
Attitudes and
consumption
patterns
Decision-
making

6. Gender & infrastructure in OECD countries
– transport and urban design facts
• Urban and transport infrastructure
accounts for more than 60% of
greenhouse gas emissions.
• Women travel shorter trips than
men, use public transport more and
travel more during off-peak hours
(Ng and Acker, 2018)
• An increase of 1 minute in
commuting time in metropolitan
areas is associated with
approximately 0.3 percentage point
decline in the women’s labour force
participation. (Black et al, 2012)

7. Gender & Infrastructure –
transport and urban design facts (cont’d)
Women place more emphasis on their commute time when deciding
whether or not to leave their jobs, while men prioritise pay

8. • In Santiago, Chile, high pollution
days (over 100 μg/m3) are common
and double the gender gap in
working hours as women are more
likely to stay at home with their
children (Montt, 2018).
• Air pollution is as bad for pregnant
women as smoking in terms of
elevating the risk of miscarriage
(Leiser et al, 2019).
• Tweet in March 2019: The Ella
Roberta Family Foundation
(@rosamund_ElsFdn) - "Ella's death
certificate could be the first to
include air pollution as a cause
of death."
OECD countries:
gender-specific pollution and climate change facts

9. • Chemicals affect men and women
differently due to size, physiological,
hormonal, and enzyme differences.
• OECD Test Guidelines prescribe the
measurement of male- or female-specific
effects.
• There are differences in men and
women’s exposure to chemicals due
to occupational differences, different
behavior and consumption patterns.
• Undergoing survey on willingness-to-
pay by gender to avoid chemicals-related
negative health impacts
OECD countries:
gender-specific impact of chemicals

10. • Men use more energy than
women for transport, ranging
from 70% more in Germany to over
350% more in Greece (Räty,
Carlsson-Kanyama, 2009).
• Women city dwellers are less
satisfied with air quality than
men (OECD, 2012).
• Women urban designers value
environmental aspects more,
even though they feel unable to
influence policies (Wallhagen et al.,
2018)
• Women are more likely to recycle,
minimise waste and buy
organic food and eco-labelled
products (OECD, 2008, 2011)
OECD countries:
gender-specific attitudes and consumption patterns

11. Three levels of the
Gender-Environmental-Sustainability Nexus
Global:
Environment, Trade,
Investment,
Corporate activity,
Migration,
Development Co-
operation
National:
Legal Frameworks,
Public policies
Asset ownership and
control, Physical and
Social Infrastructure
Individual:
Education and
Employment,
Consumption
attitudes,
Habitat and
Housing
Gender-
Environmental
Sustainability
Nexus
Budget is a tool for policy coherence

12. Women and men in decision-making

13. In the U.S. House of Representatives…
When discussing the government budget – women members devoted more time
to natural disasters, infrastructure and transportation, and the environment, as
well as to sectors heavily impacted by climate change (e.g. health)

14. In the UK House of Commons…
Women MPs focus more of their speeches on welfare reforms, child care, NHS
and social care and refer to development and climate and change
three times more than their male counterparts.

15. • 15 out of 36 OECD members currently have female Ministers of
Environment
But :
• Around 40% of OECD members’ national representatives at UN Conventions
are women, with the exception of biodiversity, where women are
overrepresented (20 out of 36)
• Women make up around 20% of the total workforce in the transport, energy,
mining, and water sectors, and hold even less leadership positions.
• Out of the 60 member countries of the International Transport Forum, only 13
countries have female Ministers of Transport
• Only 7 OECD countries have female Ministers of Finance
Women’s underrepresentation ultimately has an impact on the way
budgets, policies and projects take shape, and by extension, their efficacy
and sustainability.
Beyond women in parliaments…

16. Ecosystems’ management facts
• Over-exploitation of water
resources by agriculture is
damaging ecosystems by reducing
water flows below minimum levels
(OECD, 2010). Only 21.35% of
agricultural land owners are
female on average in OECD
countries (FAO)
• Men mostly involved in fish and
aquaculture harvesting (81% in
2014 in OECD countries), women in
secondary fields (90%), which are
often low paid or unpaid (UN
Women)

17. • The 2013 OECD Recommendation on
Gender Equality in Education,
Employment and Entrepreneurship
• The 2015 OECD Recommendation on
Gender Equality in Public Life
(+Toolkit)
• The OECD Development Centre's Social
Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI)
OECD Gender Policy Platform:
Accelerating Gender Mainstreaming
through the SDGs
OECD guidance supports linkages between the
environment, gender equality, and smart budgeting

18. • New Zealand’s Well-being Budget: a cleaner, greener and
low-carbon approach; a just transition that ensures
environmental sustainability, decent work and social inclusion
Budget initiatives that address
the Gender-Environmental-Sustainability Nexus:
• Sweden’s feminist approach on
marrying climate and budget goals
• Canada’s Gender-Based Analysis
Plus (GBA+) applies a gender lens in
climate change policies
• Costa Rica’s gender approach on
agro-forestry systems
• Gender impact assessments in Austria, Belgium,
Denmark, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Spain
– The city of Vienna’s gender-mainstreaming of
infrastructure development

19. • Iceland found that building a new road tunnel
had different impacts on men and women;
• In Sweden, Stockholm’s “gender equal snow
ploughing strategy” prioritised cleaning bus and
bicycle lanes over roads;
• In Japan, re-designing Kitakyushu city’s
industrial structure with a more sustainable
approach;
• Australia’s National Broadband Network: 2,3%
average increase of self-employed women per year
Budget initiatives for inclusive infrastructure
development

20. Evidence gap
OECD, 2017

21. • Overcoming challenges: lack of gender- disaggregated and
gender-sensitive data – start collecting!
• Find/Build interlinkages between green and gender
budgeting;
• OECD Framework for Better Governance of
Infrastructure – extend or complement to incorporate a
gender perspective.
• Stocktaking exercise - OECD survey on integrating gender
in environmental policy-making – can you help?
Next steps

22. • How is your country already integrating
a gender perspective in budgeting
practices for environmental policies? At
what level?
• How best to interlink green and gender-
responsive budgeting?
• What challenges are you facing?
Questions for discussion

23. THANK YOU
www.oecd.org/env
sigita.strumskyte@oecd.org