5th ISA Forum of Sociology (6-11 July 2025)

The threat posed by climate change to the ongoing well-being of Earth’s natural systems and the social systems that depend on them has attracted increasing attention from sociologists. Within the broader area of environmental sociology, there has been increasing attention to the gendered dimensions of this global crisis Much of this scholarly attention has dealt with the gendered distribution of environmental impacts, particularly how intersectional factors such as class and caste, race, and able-bodiness exacerbate the effects experienced by women and genderqueer individuals. However, gender relations also shape the structures of power that contribute to environmental destruction to begin with. In an effort to outline these relations, this session invites contributions that focus on gendering and engendering power dynamics around and about the environmental crises.

The organizers welcome papers from a wide range of methodological and theoretical approaches, with a particular interest in ecofeminism(s), ecomasculinities, and/or queering ecology, defined broadly. Examples of topics include: explorations of how gendering power relations can inform possible versus probable futures; the feminization of climate change activists versus the masculinization of fossil fuel-related work; climate-induced migration and gendered vulnerabilities, intersectional analysis of different masculinities and their relationship with resource extraction, gender dimensions of natural disasters, disaster response and recovery, and risk reduction in patriarchal societies and communities, reinforced gendered inequalities and access to climate knowledge, finance, politics and decision-making; and the influence of gender hierarchies on norms and behaviours which contribute to or prevent action on climate change.