Report

on

Women and Sustainable

Development

Submitted by,
Chandan Suthar
(U15CH035)

Submitted to,
Dr. Meghal A. Desai

Department of Chemical Engineering

Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of
Technology,
Surat-395007
2018-19
 CONTENTS

Contents
1 Introduction 1

2 Mapping of Green principles and UN SD goals with Women’s

contribution to sustainable development 4
2.1 Principles of Green Chemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.2 Principles of Green Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.3 UN Goals of Sustainable Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

3 Case Studies 7
3.1 Case 1: Chipko Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.2 Case 2: Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.3 Case 3: Sweden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

4 Conclusion 11

References 12

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1 Introduction
Sustainable development is broadly defined as development which meets the re-
quirements of the present without compromising the ability of future generations
to meet their own needs. Sustainable development should be a key principle of
all policies and actions, which are broadly designed to create a society which
is based on freedom, democracy and respect for fundamental rights, fostering
equality of opportunity and solidarity within and between generations. Sustain-
able development depends on an equitable distribution of resources for today
and for the future. Women’s empowerment is a key factor for achieving sustain-
able economic growth, social development and environmental sustainability.
Viewed in a broad spectrum, women have played a vital role in the global
environmental movement. The World Commission on Environment and Devel-
opment, in its report entitled Our Common Future, published in 1988, linked the
environmental crisis to unsustainable development and financial practices that
were worsening the North-South gap, with women a majority of the world’s poor
and illiterate. Over the years, women have continued to speak out for policies
and practices that do not threaten the health and well-being of future genera-
tions. They continue to fight for improved living standards and protection of
the environment. Women share the primary responsibility for nutrition, child
care and household management in almost all countries. They are also active in
environmental management. In most developing countries, women play a major
role as farmers, animal tenders, and water and fuel collectors. Yet, despite their
roles, women are not adequately represented in the decision-making processes
related to the issues of environment and development at local, national or in-
ternational levels. They recognize that an integrated approach to sustainable
development is necessary since political, economic, social and environmental is-
sues are closely interlinked. Women accrue less income than men over their
lifetime for a variety of reasons. They get paid less for the same work and are
more likely to work less in order to reconcile their careers with child or elder
care. Governments must introduce policies, programmes and quota systems
which correct this imbalance. One report published by the Women’s Environ-
ment and Development Organization (WEDO), ”The imperatives of the global
economy seem to be outrunning the post-Rio agenda five years later. How to
bring them into closer step is the current challenge.” Women are calling for
gender-sensitive research in this area. They are also calling for increased access
to resources - land, credit, education, technology and information–so that they

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can participate equally with men in key decisions that affect their lives and all
life on planet Earth [1].
Women have long played an integral role in environmental management
through use of natural resources and traditional roles in society [2]. Social and
economic inequities are especially hard on women and children as they form
the majority of the world’s poor. The UN estimates that approximately 70%
of the 1.3 billion people living on less than one dollar a day are women, and
these figures are rising with current food, fuel and financial crises [3]. Despite
growing recognition and elevation of the debate - and increasingly high-profile
action groups and proponents - societal gender inequality persists, and in many
countries women’s skills and contributions remain unrecognized and undervalued
[4].
Women’s participation and the wider issue of gender equality are still seen
as discrete, independent aspects of sustainable development, rather than being
fully integrated into policies and programmes. In part this can be attributed
to deeply entrenched discriminatory social structures and attitudes prevalent in
most societies towards gender roles, which the various attempts to raise discus-
sion and implement gender-sensitive policies based on social context have failed
to eradicate38. Both mitigation and adaptation policies prefer technological
and scientific measures rather than “soft” policies that address these kinds of
attitudes and the social differences that cause gendered discrimination [5].
A challenge exists to turn debate around from a focus on women as victims,
to empowering women as part of the solution. To take the example of climate
change, inequalities in crucial areas such as access to basic health services, in-
cluding reproductive health services, intensifies the widely accepted notion that
women’s close connection with the environment and natural resources increases
their vulnerability to the consequences of climate change. The realization of this
is incredibly important in empowering women and ensuring gender equity, and
poses a challenge in itself, but focusing on this vulnerability too much can be det-
rimental. Women often have untapped skills, coping strategies and knowledge
that could be used to minimize the impacts of climate change, land degradation
and environmental mismanagement [6].
Since its creation 70 years ago, the UN has achieved important results
in advancing gender equality, from the establishment of the Commission on the
Status of Women - the main global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated
to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women - through

2
the adoption of various landmark agreements such as the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action [7]. The goal can be seen to be no
longer just incorporating women (who are often involved in work yet continue
to be left out of most of its benefits), but of empowering women to transform
unequal relations [8].

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2 Mapping of Green principles and UN SD goals
with Women’s contribution to sustainable de-
velopment
Woman play an important part in support and action towards causes for a better
tomorrow. Their societal status and importance is what shapes countries and
their policies. Developed countries have sustained towards upbringing of women
on ground level. Here, we try to correlate between various principles of green
chemistry, green engineering and United Nation’s Sustainable development goals
with those of empowerment and participation of women towards a sustainable
future. Only he principles which were mapped have mentioned below.

2.1 Principles of Green Chemistry

Developed by Paul Anastas and John Warner [9], the aim of green chemistry
is to reduce chemical related impact on human health and virtually eliminate
contamination of the environment through dedicated, sustainable prevention
programs. Green chemistry searches for alternative, environmentally friendly
reaction media and at the same time strives to increase reaction rates and lower
reaction temperatures [10]. Listed below are the selected principles which can
be correlated with women and sustainable development most appropriately.

1. Prevention

2. Designing Safer Chemicals

3. Design for Energy Efficiency

4. Use of Renewable Feedstocks

5. Real-time analysis for Pollution Prevention

6. Inherently Safer Chemistry for Accident Prevention

2.2 Principles of Green Engineering

Developed by Paul Anastas and Julie Zimmerman [11], these engineering prin-
ciples outline what would make a greener chemical process or product [12].

4
Listed below are the selected principles which correlate with women and sus-
tainable development.

1. Inherent Rather than Circumstantial

2. Prevention Instead of Treatment

3. Output-Pulled vs Input-Pushed

4. Meet Need, Minimize Excess

5. Design for Commercial ”Afterlife”

6. Renewable rather than Depleting

2.3 UN Goals of Sustainable Development

The Sustainable Development Goals are the blueprint to achieve a better and
more sustainable future for all. They address the global challenges we face, in-
cluding those related to poverty, inequality, climate, environmental degradation,
prosperity, and peace and justice. The Goals interconnect and in order to leave
no one behind, it is important that we achieve each Goal and target by 2030
[13]. Listed below are the selected principles which correlate with women and
sustainable development.

1. No Poverty

2. Zero Hunger

3. Good Health and Well-being

4. Quality Education

5. Gender Equality

6. Clean Water and Sanitation

7. Affordable and Clean Energy

8. Decent Work and Economic Growth

9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

10. Reduced Inequalities

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11. Climate Action

12. Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

13. Partnerships for the Goals

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3 Case Studies

3.1 Case 1: Chipko Movement

The lives of women and the protection of the natural environment are closely
interconnected throughout the world, especially in low-income communities and
among indigenous peoples. One central aspect of this connection is the variety
of ways in which women’s roles in their communities brings them into contact
with the natural environments around them. In many areas, women play major
roles in gathering and preparing food from natural sources, as well as cultivating
crops and raising domestic animals. They are the main providers of water for
many households and often are tasked with collecting wood fuels for cooking and
heating. Women in many societies are responsible for maintaining the safety and
sanitation of households themselves, a task greatly affected by the surrounding
environment [14].
Because of these levels of contact with and reliance on the natural envir-
onment in many women’s daily experiences, they are often both particularly
knowledgeable about maintaining sustainable relationships with it, and espe-
cially affected by unsustainable ones. In this way, social issues and environ-
mental issues, as well as the solutions to them, are closely intertwined and must
be approached with this clearly in mind [14].
In the 1970s, an organized resistance to the destruction of forests spread
throughout India and came to be known as the Chipko movement. The name
of the movement comes from the word ’embrace’, as the villagers hugged the
trees, and prevented the contractors’ from felling them. This movement “was
started by women in the Himalayan region in North India in an effort to stop
deforestation by timber contractors” [15]. It began in April 1973 in Reni village
of Chamoli district Uttrakhand and went on to become a rallying point for
many future environmental movements all over the world. Today, beyond the
eco-socialism hue, it is being seen increasingly as an ecofeminism movement.
Although many of its leaders were men, women were not only its backbone,
but also its mainstay, because they were the ones most affected by the rampant
deforestation [16], which led to a lack of firewood and fodder as well as water for
drinking and irrigation. One of Chipko’s most salient features was the mass par-
ticipation of female villagers [17]. As the backbone of Uttarakhand’s Agrarian
economy, women were most directly affected by environmental degradation and

7
deforestation, and thus related to the issues most easily.
The Chipko movement provides a number of extremely important lessons
for sustainable development and for the ways we interact with the world. First,
it makes clear the close connections between women and the environment and
between women’s rights and environmental protection. Thus, it is critical that
sustainable development champion women’s rights and environmental protec-
tion in an interlinked way, paying close attention to the complex relationships
between the two. A second important lesson that can be learned from this move-
ment is the great importance and power of local and indigenous knowledge. It
is clear that the knowledge of the people, and particularly the women, living
in this area, was by far the most suited to understanding their own needs, the
needs of the natural environment, and the connections between them.

3.2 Case 2: Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojna

Nearly half of India’s households don’t have access to clean cooking fuel. The
spread of LPG cylinders has been predominantly in the urban and semi-urban
areas with the coverage mostly in middle class and affluent households. Instead,
they rely on firewood, coal, dung, and other unclean fuel sources for cooking.
Cooking with these fuels is incredibly dangerous — according to WHO estim-
ates, unclean cooking fuels are equivalent to smoking 400 cigarettes an hour.
There are serious health hazards associated with cooking based on fossil fuels.
According to WHO estimates, about 5 lakh deaths in India alone due to unclean
cooking fuels. Most of these premature deaths were due to non-communicable
diseases such as heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and
lung cancer. Indoor air pollution is also responsible for a significant number of
acute respiratory illnesses in young children. This hazard disproportionately
affects women, since they spend more time at home cooking. Bringing clean
cooking fuel to 50 million women below the poverty line.
To combat this problem, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas launched
its flagship scheme, the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, on May 1, 2016.
Ujjwala Yojana aims to provide free LPG (liquified petroleum gas) connections
to 50 million women under the poverty line by 2019. The aim is to replace
unclean cooking fuels used in the most underprivileged households with clean
and more efficient LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) along with families below
the poverty line are to be provided with LPG connections with a support of

8
Rs. 1,600 per connection. Oil Marketing Companies would provide an option
for the new consumer to opt for loan to cover the cost of a cooking stove and
first refill. The LPG connections will be issued in the name of the women of the
households. Initially the target was installation of 5 crore new LPG connections
by 2019 Target revised to 8 crore to be achieved by 2019-20.
Number of LPG connections across India has increased by 16.26% since May
2016. More than 70% of the target of five crore connections has been achieved.
60% of the new LPG domestic connections given across India in 2016-17 were
PMUY connections. Uttar Pradesh reported highest number of connections
under PMUY (7.3 million-18% of all connections), followed by West Bengal (5.3
million) and Bihar (5.2 million).
For women, who are the chief beneficiaries of the scheme, the assessments
revealed that cooking on gas stoves helped save at least 1-2 hours daily, which
they used for leisure activities or other household pursuits. This was partly
because cooking on gas was faster, and because it saved them the time and
effort needed to go out to collect firewood. (A survey undertaken by financial
consulting firm MicroSave in 12 districts of eastern, central and western Uttar
Pradesh [18]) The survey also revealed that women found their houses to be
cleaner now, in the absence of smoke emissions that would earlier come with
using biomass and firewood, staining their utensils and roofs with soot. The lack
of smoke had also reduced health problems in women, such as burning sensation
in the eyes, coughing and even headaches. Providing LPG connections to BPL
households will ensure universal coverage of cooking gas in the country. This
measure will empower women and protect their health. It will reduce drudgery
and the time spent on cooking. It will also provide employment for rural youth
in the supply chain of cooking gas.

3.3 Case 3: Sweden

Sweden is one of the highest-ranking countries when assessing gender equality.

Women in Sweden have been empowered to protect the environment through
the government and policies. In Sweden, the majority of local government work-
ers are women at 64% and since the 2010 election, 45% of Swedish parliament
is made up of women [19]. The government has recognized that women are the
most affected by climate change and environmental degradation [20]. Through
this recognition they have committed to contribute to increasing the participa-

9
tion for women in decisions and policy debates surrounding climate change and
other environmental issues. They also have committed to increasing resources
for women in civil society who present issues about the environment, hoping to
increase accountability and transparency [21]. Peterson and Merchant draw on
the idea that the women’s environmental movement in Sweden was based on
both symbolic and political perspectives [22]. In the early stages of the environ-
mental movement and women’s movement in Sweden, women were very aware
that changes had to be made both within society and ideologies, then enacted
politically to create a cohesive collective society.
Elin Wagner (1882–1949) presented herself as a radical feminist in early
movements. She was a writer, journalist, environmentalist, ecologist and paci-
fist. She was a large inspiration for the environmental and feminist movements.
She saw a large flaw in the popular ideology after World War II: that men had
the ability to control and conserve nature for the entire global community or all
of mankind. With a place in both politics and writing, she was inspired to write
her novel, Alarm Clock. Her novel was barely noticed when released in 1941,
but during Sweden’s women’s movement in the 1970s, her messages became a
driving force behind the movement. She believed that there should be a large
presence of intellectuals in social movements. Wagner and other key Swedish
feminist scholars and intellectuals of that time shaped the parameters of Swedish
thinking and both the environmental and women’s movements. Throughout her
life, Wagner stressed the importance of nature and the environment, an idea
we see through the identity of Sweden [23]. Sweden has it ingrained in both
their identity and traditions to have a deep sense of nature, which has played a
huge role in shaping the overall consensus of the country to protect the envir-
onment, especially for women [24]. Through the transformation of the opinion
and ideologies of the Swedish people, it became much easier to entrench en-
vironmental policies. Women working within institutions protected the global
environment by pushing for bans on nuclear energy or industry degrading local
environment. In 1980, there was a national referendum on nuclear power in
Sweden. The voting patterns revealed that 43% of women were against nuclear
power, while only 21% of men opposed it. Sweden and the women of the coun-
try have demonstrated that environmental protection can be achieved through
transitioning ideologies followed by institutional change.

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4 Conclusion
To recognize and mainstream women’s role in environmental management and
development, and achieve women’s full participation in society, international sus-
tainable development policy and its associated debate must move beyond solely
women’s issues and towards gender equality. Without such a progression the
local and gendered context will not be fully understood and ineffective policies
will persist. Policy responses should not be simply imposed from above and left
as gestures, but based on the needs, aspirations, knowledge and capabilities of
individuals, empowering them as crucial partners in practical efforts.
Women’s contribution to sustainable development must be recognized. Wo-
men have a strong role in education and socializing their children, including
teaching them care and responsibility with regard to the use and protection
of natural resources. More should be done to increase women’s voice in envir-
onmental decision making and to enable women to seize opportunities in the
“green economy”. More capacity building programmes and training tailored to
the needs of women are needed. In order to build women as catalyst for sustain-
able development, their role in family, community and society at large has to
free from socio-cultural and religious traditions that prevent women participa-
tion. There is need for change of mindset, especially of the males who dominate
the scene [1].

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