Feminist and community groups join forces in launching climate justice campaign

The climate emergency is a feminist issue with women, girls and other marginalised groups disproportionately affected by it in Ireland and globally, the National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI) has said.

Speaking at the launch on Thursday of a new campaign group including Community Work Ireland (CWI), NWCI director Orla O’Connor said women and marginalised groups must be at the centre of the response to the crisis.

“As frontline caretakers of energy, food, housing, transport and care work, women bear the brunt of the crisis’s immediate consequences in their daily lives,” Ms O’Connor said.

“Existing inequalities mean those who are most vulnerable to climate breakdown, including single-parent families, Traveller women and women in low-paid work, also have the least resources to protect themselves. Feminist climate justice will build a fairer and more sustainable world for everyone.”

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The initiative was launched by Minister for the Climate Eamon Ryan, who said “radical, urgent and innovative changes are needed to avert the worst impacts of climate change”. This means people have to work collectively to ensure communities, families and livelihoods are protected and supported “so we can also benefit from the opportunities that climate action can bring”.

“Too often, however, decisions about how these changes can be made overlook the needs of those most affected. We know globally that women and children are the most impacted, but have the least responsibility, for the climate devastation we are now seeing almost daily,” Mr Ryan said.

This injustice required that the needs and views of women are central to decisions and actions taken in addressing the crisis, he said.

“A feminist community work approach to climate justice means acknowledging and tackling the root causes of inequality and climate injustice – the same systems that oppress marginalised groups also harm the planet,” said Ann Irwin of CWI.

The project would, she said, enable marginalised communities and women to assert their voices “as the people who experience the impact of decisions that fail to consider their lived experiences and concerns”.