Towards a gender just transition: Principles and perspectives from the global South

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dc.contributor.authorCerise, Somali
dc.contributor.authorCook, Sarah
dc.contributor.authorLehmann-Grube, Katrina
dc.contributor.authorTaylor, Julia
dc.contributor.authorValodia, Imraan
dc.date.accessioned2024-07-01T13:54:05Z
dc.date.available2024-07-01T13:54:05Z
dc.date.issued2024-06-19
dc.departmentSouthern Centre for Inequality Studies SCIS
dc.description.abstractA ‘just transition’ broadly refers to the principles, processes and practices used to ensure that transitions to a low-carbon economy are socially just. Gender justice, however, frequently remains marginal to mainstream debates and policies – whether about climate finance, technological solutions, corporate management approaches – or indeed most government transition strategies. This paper argues that ensuring a transition that delivers gender justice is both critical and urgent. Without explicit attention to, and clear prioritisation of gender justice across transition policies, climate change ‘solutions’ risk replicating or reinforcing structural gender inequalities. Examples of such risk include women’s continued limited access to economic opportunities, employment and social protection; their over-representation in precarious work; and women’s primary responsibility for social reproduction and care. Communities with few livelihood options and limited access to services rely heavily on natural resources to survive. These resources are vital to the provision of care and may be severely affected by environmental degradation. Care responsibilities expose women disproportionately to climate and environmental impacts. Women are the household members most likely to bear the burden of adapting to climate change. These realities reduce the likelihood that any climate transition can be just without a clear focus on the policies, strategies and implementation processes needed to achieve gender justice. This paper asks what a gender just transition could and should look like, particularly in the global South. Based on an extensive review of conceptual and empirical literatures from a range of disciplinary perspectives, we examine how different approaches address – or ignore – gender dimensions of (in)justice in thinking about low-carbon transitions. We go on to offer a more expansive view of justice informed by perspectives drawn from feminist theory, and combine this with the pillars of distributive, procedural, recognitive and restorative justice.
dc.description.sponsorshipSouthern Centre for Inequality Studies
dc.description.submitterJT2024
dc.facultyFaculty of Commerce, Law and Management
dc.identifierhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-3710-8069
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10539/38804
dc.publisherUniversity of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
dc.relation.ispartofseries68
dc.schoolSchool of Economics and Finance
dc.subjectClimate justice
dc.subjectGender justice
dc.subjectjust transition
dc.subjectfeminist theory
dc.subject.otherSDG-5: Gender equality
dc.titleTowards a gender just transition: Principles and perspectives from the global South
dc.typeWorking Paper
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