Norgaard and York’s main point is that if more women were involved in the policies of the government that there would be greater environmental enforcement in place. Research suggests that women “have different values than men” and are more likely to be more concerned about the environment than men are.1
- Women have been socialized to be caregivers
- Women have been socialized to be nurturing
- Women have different views on what is considered hazardous
- Women are involved in more environmental movements
However, they also maintain that even though the research might prove that women are more concerned with the environment – the above is not a complete list of factors.
Furthermore, states/governments with less environmental protection policy also have a connection with gender discrimination and oppression of women. Likewise there is a correlation with increased representation of women within government and increased environmental protection policies.
The two Countries this article looks further into for examples are Sweden and Indonesia which are both modernized countries with high standards of living. Indonesia has limited women representation in government whereas in Sweden there is gender equality,and higher women representation. One result of this correlation is that Sweden is ranked highest and Singapoor has one of the poorest environmental scores.
In 1999 the percentage of gender equality in government was 42.7% and ranked top 1 in the world with Denmark, Norway and The Netherlands close behind.
Interestingly enough – the article points out that modernization lead to more environmental policies but also that modernization leads to environmental degradation which they label as an “ironic situation”. They advise that although there might be a country/state/government with environmental protections in place that it is also environmentally responsible.
Website #1
https://www.eli.org/vibrant-environment-blog/leadership-women-environmental-movement
The first website that further illustrates the connection between women and environmental policies is an article from the Environmental Law Institute.
- Women in major environmental policies in history
- Environmentalism began during the early 1800s, as a result of the industrial revolution which due to the factories the air and water were becoming extremely polluted. (This is an interesting observation in relation to Norgaard and York’s point about how this is an ironic situation. Where more industrialization, globalization leads to more pollution and more pollution while globalization and industrialization also create more environmental policies.)
- Groups were formed in response most notably with women in the forefront although denied political positions of power.
- A few women of the environmental movement include:
- Lady Bird Johnson who helped advocate for the Highway Beautification Act of 1965, The Wilderness Act of 1964, and The Land and Water Conservation Fund.
- Mollie Beattie who added wildlife refuges.
- Carol Martha Browner who was the second female Administrator of the EPA from 1993 -2001. She was also the director of the White House’s Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy from 2009-2011.
- Rachel Carson’s book “Silent Spring” led to the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970.
- Christine Todd Whitman was the third female Administrator of the EPA from 2001 to 2003.
- Hilda Lucia Solis promoting environmental justice in regard to health care, economic development, and education within communities.
- History shows there is a clear connection between women and the progress of environmental policies, protections, and groups.
Website #2
https://truthout.org/articles/why-we-need-more-women-involved-in-creating-environmental-policy/
The second website that further illustrates the connection of women in environmental policies is an article on Truthout.org titled, “Why We Need More Women Involved in Creating Environmental Policy”.
This article also coincides with Norgaard and York statement that women are more prone to support environmental policies than men. “In 2014, researchers from the University of Melbourne found a significant link between gender and environmental identity, showing that women are more likely to strive for environmental protection.”
They also bring up another interesting perspective on gender. Since gender is not as cut and dry as just male/female because most studies have been conducted on the two most dominant male/female genders it would be interesting to see what the results of transgender or genderqueer people would entail. “Perhaps future studies will give us a deeper understanding of the full impact of gender and sexual orientation on policy development.”
This article mentions some statistics of women in politics with Europe ranking at 29-37% representation while in the US a mere 20% of women representation, a notable clear lag in the gender gap.
On a more hopeful note: “The direction of change is slow, but there is a movement toward democratization and including women in the policy process. There clearly needs to be more awareness and emphasis on the importance of including women and other disenfranchised groups in the policy process, and even the research aspect of it”.
Statistic: The US is rated 75/193 countries worldwide for female representation in government as of March 5th, 2019.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/04/the-us-ranks-75th-in-womens-representation-in-government.html