UNEP has a comprehensive Policy and Strategy for Gender Equality and the Environment, which guides the organization’s efforts to promote gender equality and women's empowerment in its operations and programmatic work. All UNEP staff are encouraged to familiarize themselves with it and to refer to it as they carry out their individual tasks.
Waste, unwanted and discarded material is a growing problem worldwide that concerns everyone. Existing gender inequalities, responsibilities and roles largely shape how waste is situated in many social and economic systems.
In both the public and private sectors, men hold most upper-level administration roles, from city managers and planners to landfill operators and managers of waste collection companies. Women are more engaged in informal, household and neighbourhood activities related to waste, which are typically voluntary, unpaid or minimally compensated.
Gender and sound management of chemicals and waste
Women are generally more disproportionally impacted by exposure to chemicals and waste and have less access to participation in decision making. Women and men are impacted differently by hazardous chemicals and waste and gender inequalities exacerbating these differences, they are also impacted throughout the product lifecyle. For instance, in some countries, men conduct the manual labor such as collecting the electronic waste, but the women become exposed to the hazardous chemicals when extracting the valuable metals in the devices.
Men also have distinctive vulnerabilities based on their physiology, epidemiological studies show that environmental exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals especially in industrialized countries is linked to diseases such as cancer and other reproductive disorders.
Gender differences and inequalities can affect various aspects of waste disposal:
Household responsibilities relating to waste and waste disposal
Given women’s primary responsibility for cleaning, food preparation, family health, laundry, and domestic maintenance, women and men may view domestic waste and its disposal differently. Women are often responsible for waste management in households, because of the gender division of labour as well as wealth and poverty, caste, and hereditary and age group status.
Participation in community decision making about waste disposal. Despite women’s relatively high involvement at the local level, men are more likely to have access to institutions that set priorities and make decisions regarding municipal infrastructure. Community consultations processes often fail to take gender inequalities into consideration and thus neglect women’s preferences.
Employment opportunities in waste disposal or sewage treatment
The majority of the informal sector is disproportionately represented by women, young people and migrant workers, where they often work in low-skilled or informal jobs which lack information about their rights, health and safety.
Additionally, women are often employed in the lowest tier of waste management with men dominating higher- income and decision-making roles.
Women and children are particularly vulnerable to the toxicological hazards of chemicals. Women may have different susceptibility to the impacts of toxic chemical exposure, e.g., due to differences in physiology and in connection with their reproductive cycles. Children are generally at greater risk of health damage from toxic exposures because their rapid development and dynamic periods of growth (with which chemical exposure can interfere) increases their physiological sensitivity. ‘Pregnancy, and lactation, are particular windows of susceptibility for women where they can transfer toxic chemicals to their children’ (Secretariat of the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management 2018. Men are also at risk, with research documenting detrimental effects on male fertility resulting from cumulative exposures to hazardous chemicals, many of which are also associated with plastics.
Exposure to polluted air increases the risks of serious health problems, such as heart or cardiovascular disease, strokes, lung cancer and damage to the immune and reproductive systems among others, posing significant cost implications for public health systems.
“In low-income countries, women are to a greater extent exposed to indoor air pollution from solid fuel use such as burning firewood for cooking - according to the world Health Organization this kills 4.3 million people every year (UNEP, 2017). Also, women experience increased harm from poor sanitation and a higher exposure to toxic chemicals at work. Thereby, some toxics, for example from lead, are especially harmful for children and pregnant women (WHO, 2020).
Women’s ability to shape environmental choices is constrained by legal, cultural and social norms, particularly those working in the informal economy, who already experience little income security, access to social protection, health services and social safety nets, are most exposed.
Women as agents of change in chemicals and waste management
Women play critical roles in achieving a pollution-free planet in decision making about pollution prevention, waste management and building safer environments. They have both knowledge and expertise, whose recognition can lead to more efficient, effective, sustainable, and fair waste management operations.
There is a need to provide opportunities for women’s participation in decision-making and policymaking related to chemicals and waste management, as women exist in unique and crucial positions to further advance sustainable chemicals management and waste solutions, whilst their livelihoods and human rights are shaped by the chemicals and waste sectors. Consequently, there is a need for a gender-sensitive approach to understand the impact of environmental factors on human wellbeing.
Mainstreaming gender in the chemicals and waste sectors and strengthening the participation of women can lead to more efficient and effective chemicals and waste management, as well as equal opportunities and recognition for both women and men is needed to move these sectors forward. Gender-based quotas, affirmative action or training opportunities for women in jobs with the biggest inequalities – entrepreneurship, administration, finance, trade, engineering, truck driving – may lead to better representation of women and alleviate the gender imbalance.
As UNEP, our goal is to have a pollution free planet for the health and well-being of people and the environment where the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment for all is ensured.
Resources
- Global Gender and Environment Outlook (2018)
- Gender and Pollution Factsheet: Marine (2017)
- Turning off the Tap: How the world can end plastic pollution and create a circular economy 16 MAY 2023 REPORT
- Chemicals and pollution action
- Minamata Convention on Mercury
- BRS Conventions Gender Overview
- Women and Chemicals
- Chemicals and Gender
- Gender and waste management
- Gender and waste management: E-waste and plastic waste (2022)
- Marine plastic litter in East Asian Seas: Gender, human rights and economic dimensions (2019)
- Environment, health and pollution
- Why gender dynamics matter in waste management
- Gender and waste management: Did you know… (2022)
- The role and experience of women in plastic waste management (fact sheet, 2022)
- The role and experience of women in e-waste management (fact sheet, 2022)
- Recommendations to improve women’s participation and experience in plastic and e-waste management (fact sheet, 2022)
- Gender responsive programs: From inclusion to transformation – Guidance on how to mainstream gender in e-waste and plastic waste (fact sheet, 2022)
Videos
- Gender and waste nexus: Experiences from Bhutan, Mongolia and Nepal – Story Video (2019)
- Gender and waste nexus series
- Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia. Protecting our coastal and marine environment for a sustainable future UN Environment Programme Regional Seas
- Empowering women and plastic waste valorization, Untia, Makassar, Indonesia - Case study video (2022)
