Female Empowerment

COP27 is the 27th year the conference of the parties has taken place but one thing it has always lacked is female participation. Research shows that empowered women have stricter climate policies, so this is one solution to addressing the climate emergency. This solution was presented in The Award Ceremony.

Overpopulation is driven more by lack of consistent access to family planning in developing countries, rather than by active choice to have more children. Whereas most developed countries’ populations have risen by about 20% over the last 50 years, in many South Asian and African countries, populations have quadrupled in the same time period. Research shows that educated women and women with access to birth control have half as many children as those who do not.

Our experts have rated this solution as…

How does this solution rate on:

Climate impact: tonnes of carbon saved/removed	very high
Climate adaptation-resilience	high
Social justice i.e. addresses inequalities, diversity, inclusion	high due to empowered women
Cost of action needed to progress goal	medium to low
Which location is the solution most needed/applicable	developing countries
Risk	low
Feasibility	high

Do your own research on the solution

We’ve compiled a selection of research-based articles that aim to give more insight into the topic.

Interested in progressing this solution further?

Actions for policymakers (e.g. central/local government)	Provide access to family planning for women where this is lacking (e.g. developing countries). Fund and promote girl’s education and challenge beliefs in some communities that hold female education to be undesirable/unnecessary. Poverty alleviation strategies. Address barriers to women taking up positions of power in government and business (details to follow)
Actions for funding bodies	Fund charities, sexual health/family planning agencies and projects such as Action Aid, Camfed and similar.
Actions for businesses	Have more diverse boards of directors and CEOs and greater female representation.
Actions for public	Donate to relevant charities (see above) campaign by emailing businesses to government to request greater female representation in leadership