XIX ISA World Congress of Sociology (July 15-21, 2018)

451

Gender and Environment

RC24 Environment and Society (host committee)

Language: English

This session invites both theoretical and empirical works on the process of gender-environment nexus.
Gender is deeply connected in the ways humans relate to the natural environment. The access to and ownership of natural resources and resulting conflict are affected by gender just like they are affected by social class, race, and ethnicity. Gender also mediates and moderates how natural environment affects human society. For example, natural disasters affect men and women differently, even to the extent that result in different death rates in catastrophes, according to the role they assume and the status they hold in particular society.
In such a way, gender has long constituted important agenda in the discourse of environmental justice, climate change, and sustainable development. The processes of gender-environment nexus, however, have more to be investigated. The claims of some of the eco-feminists on the essential nature of women that enables them an innate understanding ecosystem, for example, could be elaborated and enriched by empirical works that assess the gender-environmental processes. Likewise, the theoretical proposals by feminist economists to recognize the value of domestic work could be strengthened by integrating and ecological perspective. The discourse on sustainable development also could be enhanced by mainstreaming the gender perspective and the value of care. The link between these elements and the synergies thereof between gender and the environment will be explored in this session.