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Women and girls around the world are demanding and creating systemic change and a sustainable future for all. We need collective power to attain a just future – we need you.
Women’s Environment & Development Organization
A global women’s advocacy organization for a just world that promotes and protects human rights, gender equality, and the integrity of the environment.
From climate justice to sustainable development, we promote human rights and gender equality.
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Since 1991, we have worked to build women’s movements and advance gender equality.
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SPEAK OUT
Women’s work, leadership, and contributions positively impact social, economic, and environmental progress. But we live in an unjust world where gender inequality remains pervasive and human rights, especially women’s human rights, are violated with impunity and effectively hold back women around the world. Despite a growing focus on gender at all levels, stark gender disparities remain, including unequal access to land, resources, opportunities, and decision-making power.
As a global community, we continue to use more ecological resources and services than nature can regenerate through overfishing, overharvesting forests, and emitting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than forests can sequester. People already living in poverty, those least responsible for climate change with the fewest resources to cope with climatic shocks, are bearing the brunt of its impacts, including women and girls. It is more clear than ever that climate change is both a symptom and driver of growing global inequality, greed, and unsustainable development.
The world’s population is projected to reach 8.5 billion by 2030, with the highest concentration in the poorest countries, resulting in acute depletion of resources and conflict over scarce goods, exacerbated by the overconsumption in developed countries. How do we meet the development needs of the present, without compromising the needs of the future? To achieve sustainable development, we need action on three fronts: social, economic, and environmental. Women are central to progress in each area because of their particular experiences and perspectives.
At the heart of sustainable development is a respect for all rights as well as responsibilities to the earth and future generations. Climate change and environmental degradation are obstacles to sustainable development, magnifying existing and overlapping inequalities. In many countries, women are among the most vulnerable to climate change and environmental impacts, partly because they make up the larger share of the agricultural work force and tend to have access to fewer income-earning opportunities. However, women are not only on the frontlines of crisis, they are on the frontlines of change. They are central actors, with unique knowledge and solutions in moving towards sustainability.
Women’s organizing is key – Women’s capacity to speak, innovate, and lead is a driver for sustainable change and is the reason why WEDO acts as a bridge builder. Through advocacy and action, WEDO connects and facilitates spaces for women’s organizations; governments; and intergovernmental organizations, including the United Nations, to ensure that women’s human rights are at the heart of global and national policies. As trainers and movement builders, we deliver leadership development and technical advocacy skills to ensure that women are empowered as decision-makers. Together, our actions will amplify the voices of women, tackle unjust systems, and propel the change we embody.
Women’s Environment
& Development Organization