Pacific women want their voices heard at the centre of global climate discussions, especially as leaders gather in Fiji for Pre-COP31.
A new research report says women are often excluded from decision-making circles and it is contributing to gendered impacts of climate change across the region.
The research centres the expertise of activists, advocates, practitioners, and grassroots leaders working on the frontlines of gender justice, climate, and water in the Pacific, according to the study.
For Fiji Women’s Rights Movement (FWRM) executive director Nalini Singh, issues including water security, menstrual health and women’s leadership need greater attention.
Singh, who is one of the co-authors of the research ‘Rising Tides, Rising Voices: Building a Pacific movement for greater gender justice, climate and water’, said women’s experiences were often overlooked while global climate discussions focused on broader topics like emissions, financing and adaptation.
“In all of those discussions, what we are finding is, in reality, women, women’s experiences, women’s bodies are all being impacted, and there is no space for discussions like those.”
Singh said one of the reasons is that men continue to dominate climate negotiations and delegations, which results in women being excluded from the decision-making tables.
“Well our societies are still very, very patriarchal,” she said.
“We don’t naturally see women as decision makers, and this comes from you know our customary and traditional structures.”
The danger of such decision-making is women’s specific needs are overlooked, she said.
She gave an example of a Fijian community being relocated due to climate impacts.
“When they relocated on the day the the community moved to their new settlement, the women looked around and asked, ‘Where the kitchens?’
“They’d forgotten because they did not consult the women.”
Nalini Singh
RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
She pointed out that kitchens and washrooms had not been properly considered in the planning, which also impacted women’s hygiene needs during their menstrual cycles.
The research also found that those who were the most impacted, were often the most marginalised.
Singh said this needs to change.
“We need to treat Pacific women, and this includes women with disabilities and gender-diverse people, as equal decision makers.
“We need to be on the tables where these decisions are being made in ways in which our voice and our messages are heard in a meaningful way.”
As leaders gather in Fiji for Pre-COP this week, Singh wants them to remember different people have different needs, and the only way to know what those needs are is to give them a seat at the table.
