Climate change and sustainable technology: re-linking poverty, gender, and governance

Abstract

This article examines the role of sustainable technology in tackling climate change in developing countries. Drawing on solar home systems in Bangladesh as an example, it argues that increasing women's visibility in technology committees is not necessarily effective in challenging gender stereotypes. Crafting new rules may fail to confront power inequalities. Sustainable technology can exert additional workloads on women. This article proposes a gender-sensitive framework for technological interventions, suggesting that extra resources are needed to strengthen institutions at the postproject stage, and that developing alternative livelihood strategies with poor people is crucial to reduce their reliance on local elites for survival.

Understanding gender dimensions of agriculture and climate change in smallholder farming communities

“…They may, in fact, be promoting the predominant framing in much of the climate change discourse of women as a homogenously vulnerable yet nature-protecting group (Arora-Jonsson, 2011). This oversimplification is hindering progress towards the deeper understanding of gender dynamics that members of the climate change research community need (Carr, 2008;Okali, 2011;Wong, 2009).…”

The sociology of global climate change

“…Favored technological solutions, such as carbon capture and storage, are often masculine based focused on command‐and‐control procedures and industries dominated by men . Even when women participate or are represented in decision making, benefits may not accrue if underlying structures of gender inequality go unchanged …”

“…Men, on the other hand, used the additional evening hours for leisure activities. The improved lighting also supported and enhanced the broader structure of inequality in villages by making lighting a visible symbol of status and wealth, while kindling blaming‐the‐victim ideologies when some could not pay their bills . How might this case have turned out differently if the project actively engaged sociologists and anthropologists in collaboration with solar system designers?…”

Gender-Based Experiences and Perceptions after the 2010 Winter Storms in Atlantic Canada

“…At the community level, women’s participation has been challenged due to their daily domestic activities and often lack of education. Their limited education also constrains their ability to adapt to climate change, as evident with sustainable technology (solar home systems) [4]. In several countries (mainly developing), gender inequality, which is often rooted in social practice and cultural norms, leads to major road blocks in terms of effectively communicating with authority and enabling women to adapt [4].…”

“…Their limited education also constrains their ability to adapt to climate change, as evident with sustainable technology (solar home systems) [4]. In several countries (mainly developing), gender inequality, which is often rooted in social practice and cultural norms, leads to major road blocks in terms of effectively communicating with authority and enabling women to adapt [4]. Milne [5] argues that in wealthier developed countries, there should be less gender differentiation in regards to disaster responses and preparedness than in developing countries.…”