Week 10

This weeks readings are about women organizing in the environmental arena and how they are a large portion of the grass roots organizations yet the policies and positions surrounding climate change are very masculine. This weeks readings also touched on the characteristics of women organizing and how its usually structured and motivated. In the United Nations Climate Summit article, Terran Giacomini, focused on three movements that women were apart of and that were gaining momentum through their advocacy and community work. Ende Gelande is a German group focused on opposing the expansion of coal power. Idle No More Movement is a movement meant to defend indigenous peoples rights and sovereignty. La Via Campesina is a global movement for food sovereignty and ecological agriculturalists. Giacomini emphasized that the devastation of the commons, which are disproportionately used by women, affects women the most. Irene Dankelman's article focused a lot on the motivations of women to engage in the environmental arena. She found that women prioritize family and children's health, community, and future well being. They tend to bring a feminist agenda back to global and local politics and they challenge existing policies and practices. In Joan Nagels article she questioned where the women are in the international relations field. She is referring to the diplomats and other positions held by mostly men in which decisions about climate change are made. She found it odd that in a field where women are disproportionately affected they people supposedly making efforts to eradicate that are all men. Shouldn't some women be in the room, at the a table, holding those positions? She found that the lack of attention to gender issues is reflected in the climate framing. Climate change is framed as a masculine in the discourse which leaves a lot of affected people out of the policy and decision making. In Nicole Detraz article she emphasized procedural justice. She also emphasized stakeholders in environmental management deserve to have their input in the decision making process. 

My feelings on this weeks readings are pretty similar to how they are for every week. Slightly intrigued but kind of in a duh, women are great kinda way. Almost as if I'm not surprised that women are basically our only hope at saving the planet. If anything this weeks readings solidified more repetition in what we have been learning all semester and that women continue to fight for a seat at the table that we helped build.