The theme of the 2021 edition of International Women’s Day celebrates efforts by women and girls around the world in shaping a more equal future and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn more on the global observance of IWD 2021.
Gender mainstreaming as defined by the 1997 agreed conclusions of ECOSOC refers to integrating a gender perspective in national and international public and private organizations, in central and local policies, and in services and sectoral programmes.
Gender equality is the overarching and long-term goal, while gender mainstreaming is a set of specific, strategic approaches as well as technical and institutional processes adopted to achieve that goal.
Gender is woven into the UNEP/MAP mandate
UNEP/MAP and the Contracting Parties to the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean (Barcelona Convention) have made clear commitments to the advancement of gender equality and women’s empowerment. There is a recognition of women’s key role in promoting a healthy, clean, sustainable and climate resilient Mediterranean Sea and Coast, contributing to sustainable livelihoods and enhancing benefits for all, men and women, boys and girls.
In line with the UNEP Policy and Strategy on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment, gender equality has been recognized as a driver of sustainable development for populations around the Mediterranean and a key element of the required transition to sustainability and resilience in the region.
Promoting sustainable development through the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals is at the heart of the UNEP Mediterranean Action Plan’s vision under the Barcelona Convention.
UNEP/MAP supports the implementation of the SDGs in Mediterranean countries in many forms, but the pro-SDGs endeavor is concentrated in the Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development (MSSD) devised within the framework of the Mediterranean Commission for Sustainable Development (MCSD) and adopted by the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention. (MCSD is an inclusive advisory body that brings together representatives of governments, local authorities, the private sector, non-governmental organizations, intergovernmental organizations, the scientific community and parliamentarians.)
The SDG framework has a total of 17 goals, 169 targets and 244 indicators— 93 of which are environment related. The environmental dimension is provided by SDGs 6, 8, 12, 14, 15 and 17, which cover natural resource management, climate change, water-related issues, marine issues, biodiversity and ecosystems, circular economy, environmentally sound management of chemicals and waste as well as other themes addressed by the Barcelona Convention, its Protocols and the regional action plans and strategies adopted by the Contracting Parties for their implementation. SDG 5 focuses specifically on achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls.
Achieving women’s full, equal and meaningful participation is critical for the achievement of Agenda 2030 as an indivisible whole. This seminal notion underpins the delivery of the UNEP/MAP mandate in the Mediterranean region.
Gender equality for a green renaissance in the Mediterranean
The meaningful engagement of women, girls and women’s groups for the effective implementation of the Barcelona Convention and its Protocols can leverage the required transformation in the Mediterranean region and pave the way for the pro-sustainability recovery from COVID-19 that the UNEP/MAP-Barcelona Convention Secretariat has been advocating since spring 2020.
According to the State of the Environment and Development in the Mediterranean (SoED) report, released by UNEP/MAP and its Regional Activity Centre Plan Bleu in October 2020, the “Mediterranean region is not on track to achieve the SDGs”. The report, which constitutes the most comprehensive assessment of its kind in a decade, provides important insights into gender equality in the region.
Gender equality allows women to fully play their role in the green economy, through green jobs and entrepreneurship and a sustainable brand of economic development that does not come at the expense of nature.
As managers of household budgets, women can play an important role in promoting sustainable household consumption and investment. Their lifestyle and purchasing decisions on behalf of the household can have sweeping implications for lifestyle, food, agriculture and energy.
But, as the report notes, obstacles still lie on the road to achieving full gender equality in the Mediterranean region.
Close gender gaps to fulfil women’s potential in the Mediterranean
The Global Gender Gap Index (World Economic Forum, 2020) has been conceived to capture the magnitude of gender- based disparities. It benchmarks national gender gaps on economic, education, health and political criteria to create global awareness of the challenges posed by gender gaps and the opportunities created by reducing them.
According to SoED, the gender gap that needs to be closed in Mediterranean countries ranges from 20 to 43 per cent, compared to 31 per cent at the global level.
At the global level, the gender gap is by far the highest when it comes to political empowerment of women: 75 per cent. The situation is particularly difficult for women in Mediterranean countries, where the gap is between 47 and 91 per cent. A chasm of this magnitude hinders women’s participation in decision-making processes that are inherent to sustainable resource management and environmental protection.
Socially constructed gender roles result in different attitudes in relation to the environment and different possibilities for women and men to act as agents of environmental change.
As illustrated in the UNEP Global Gender and Environment Outlook (2016), “[…] if many men drive to work in a private car and most women use public transportation, they will inevitably have different sets of environmental knowledge and experience. This different environmental positioning may mean women and men have exposure to very different environmental problems and risks, along with different perspectives on the degree of seriousness of environmental problems and on appropriate interventions, adaptations and solutions. Further, because of the social construction of gender roles, women and men may have different - usually unequal - capacities and approaches for acting as agents of environmental interpretation and change”.
Achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls as agents of change, as reflected in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, is critical for the transformative change needed for a green renaissance--a recovery from COVID-19 that would divert the Mediterranean region’s collision course with nature towards a path of sustainability and resilience.
Women agents of change in coastal management: the gender approach of the GEF/UNEP MedProgramme
The MedProgramme is a 905 million USD endeavor led by UNEP and supported by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) with the aim of reducing major environmental stresses, strengthening climate resilience and water security, and improving the health and livelihoods of coastal populations in the Mediterranean region. The MedProgramme is comprised of eight child projects implemented across ten countries: Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, Montenegro, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey. More than 100 coordinated actions will be deployed at regional and national levels in ten beneficiary countries over the 5-year duration of the project (2020-2024).
In the implementation of the MedProgramme, UNEP/MAP recognizes that environmental degradation and climate change have a gender-differentiated impact and tend to disproportionately affect women as a result of persistent gender inequalities.
Gender-based inequalities have been identified and analyzed in the context of the MedProgramme. Gender barriers threatening to jeopardize equitable outcomes of sustainable environment development have been documented. The list includes women’s limited access to land, information, markets and technologies; limited access to natural resource assets; lack of participation in decision-making; and the double burden of responsibilities inside and outside the household. Remedial actions have been devised to help address those barriers.
The MedProgramme was built in a manner that casts women and girls as agents of change moving beyond a strict notion of vulnerability and capitalizing on their knowledge, experience and skills in coastal settings.
One of the most innovative elements of the MedProgramme is the adoption and implementation of its Gender Mainstreaming Strategy (GMS). The GMS, a key pillar of the programme, outlines specific gender activities to be undertaken in a set timeframe, with targets, budget and responsibilities assigned to the relevant executing and national partners.
The MedProgramme gender-related activities aim to address gender inequalities in the participating countries, build capacity of implementing agencies and national partners to implement project activities that benefit both women and men.
Promoting gender-responsive and gender-aware policy-making lies at the core of the MedProgramme. This is crucial to induce change, leverage opportunities for environmental and social co-benefits (including gender co-benefits).
Capacity-building will be rolled out in partner countries with the aim to enhance women’s key role and livelihood opportunities in coastal areas, promoting their participation in Marine Protected Areas governance and decision-making structures, identifying and addressing gender aspects occurring in the wastewater sector, and undertaking gender-sensitive climate risk assessments to bolster the resilience of women and men in equal measure. The update of the 2005 baseline regarding transboundary issues will, for the first time, include a gender assessment.
