How Gender Equality Can Save the Planet

Photo credit: USAID/Neil Thomas

This episode is a collaboration between A Matter Of Degrees and the Gimlet podcast How To Save A Planet.

Listen on Apple • Spotify • Castbox • Google

Take a look at many of the spaces where climate-related decisions are being made — from government to business to media — and you'll notice a numbers problem. Despite being roughly half the people on the planet, women rarely have equal representation in critical climate decision-making spaces. This isn’t just bad for women. It’s bad for everyone. 

In this episode, Dr. Katharine Wilkinson (our host) and Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson (host of Spotify's How To Save A Planet) take a deep dive into the data behind this idea. They speak with two sociologists about how gender inequality in climate leadership can deepen the harmful impacts of climate change, and also hinder policy changes. 

They also speak with someone who has seen firsthand how women can transform an entire nation when they lead on climate.

This episode features Dr. Christina Ergas, Anne Karpf, and Wanjira Mathai.

Resources:

• We Do’s Gender Climate Tracker

• Emily's List (an organization that helps Democratic women and non-binary people run for office)

• Higher Heights (invests in Black women’s leadership)

• She The People (focused on helping women of color run for office)

• Matriarch (focused on helping progressive women run for office)

• She Should Run (helps women regardless of political affiliation)

• Global Witness (organization that assists environmental defenders)

Follow our co-hosts and production team:

• Leah Stokes

• Katharine Wilkinson

• Stephen Lacey

• Jaime Kaiser

• Dalvin Aboagye

A Matter of Degrees is a production of Post Script Audio.