Thousands of Australian women are planning to use Earth Hour – Saturday 29 th March 2014 – as a key moment to start conversations that lead to positive change.
In some sense, it’s no surprise. From tuckshop ladies feeding hungry schoolchildren to the Country Women's Association and hospital volunteers, women have traditionally dominated community and volunteer roles. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reports that on average, more women volunteer than men. Women also volunteer more hours per year - a median of 60 hours for women compared with 52 for men.
Environment and climate groups are not immune to this trend. Apart from the Climate Council CEO Amanda McKenzie and newly-appointed ACF CEO Kelly O’Shanassy, most of the CEOs of Australian environment groups are men – despite grassroots environmental activism is right up there with nursing and social work as an overwhelmingly female-dominated activity.
But the gender divide extends beyond those actively involved in the climate change fight. Polls consistently show a gender gap in the broader public when it comes to understanding climate change.
A Government-commissioned report into public attitudes on climate change found that ‘beliefs about climate change in Australia divide more clearly along political lines and gender than by other demographic categories'. The report states that ‘women consistently were more likely to believe in human causes of climate change and more likely to be concerned by it.'
This isn’t just the case in Australia . Research from the University of Oregon found that in nations where women’s status is higher, CO 2 emissions are lower. The study also noted that nations with higher proportions of women in Parliament ratify a greater number of environmental treaties, and that women make up between 60-80% of grassroots environmental organisation’s membership globally.
The women (and men) concerned about climate change have valid reasons to be apprehensive. Carbon dioxide levels from burning fossil fuels are at the highest they’ve been in over a million years. This has led global average temperatures to rise 0.8 C over what they were before the Industrial Revolution. It might not sound like much. But in a world where a stable climate is the basis for life, it’s been enough to significantly change the world's air, oceans, and weather.
Scientists warn that climate change, if left unchecked, will cause more damage to infrastructure, health, food security and ecosystems . As the tropics expand, mosquito-borne diseases like malaria and dengue fever spread to places like Australia. Conservative estimates for climate change refugees hover at around 150 million by 2050, many from the Asia-Pacific. And military experts are already conducting planning exercises for anticipated global wars over food and water.
In light of this, I'd be surprised if everyone – women and men- aren't doing all they can to solve climate change. But it’s not the case - not yet, anyway. Women remain significantly more concerned, and more active in trying to solve the problem, than men. So why does this divide exist?
One argument is that it's purely evolutionary. Since women bear children, some argue we’re genetically programmed to take seriously any threat to our children’s wellbeing both now and in 2050. Perhaps scanning the horizon for future threats is hard-wired into our DNA.
Another argument revolves around the relative risk management skills of men and women. There’s ample evidence showing that women are better at managing risks than men, and that this trait is both genetic and socially constructed.
Men - especially young men - are more prone to risky behaviour than women. In a 2010 report, the American Psychological Association states: ‘Numerous studies report differences in risk perception between men and women, with women judging health, safety, and recreational risks and also risks in the financial and ethical domain to be larger and more problematic than men.’
The traditional Aussie male 'she'll be right' attitude to hazards may be evolutionarily suited to risk-taking behaviour designed to impress a woman they've got their eye on. But it’s not helpful when it comes to serious, long-range risks like runaway climate change.
Another more practical reason why women may be paying more attention to the changing climate might be the greater harm that global warming will inflict on us. Surprisingly, there is a gap in the way men and women will be able to practically cope with climate change impacts. The income gap between men and women means that record-breaking heat waves, extreme weather events, rising food prices and flooding due to rising sea-levels will, on average, hit women harder than men.
Australian women earn just 84 per cent of our male counterparts, and retire with less superannuation . This means that, as climate change makes some parts of Australia unliveable, women will have less resources to rebuild houses or to relocate than men.
One final factor to take into account is the gender composition of the industries required to undergo transformation as Australia moves from fossil fuels to renewable energy. It is primarily male jobs – in mining and coal-fired electricity –under threat from switching to clean energy. Yes, the new jobs in manufacturing wind turbines and solar panels are likely to be male-dominated. But the important question to ask is how men cope with major industry changes.
Perhaps because of our stronger support networks, women tend to be more resilient and inclusive than men when dealing with change. Could these personal change management traits be playing out when it comes to dealing with the society-wide change involved in transitioning away from a high-carbon economy?
No-one knows for sure why, on average, women tend to care more about climate change than men. Perhaps the more important question to ask is what us women can do with the knowledge we have. How do we get the message through to the men (and the group of women) who aren’t yet on board?
Earth Hour – Saturday 29th March – is a perfect place to start. Invite your friends and family over (or keep your teenage children at home for the night) to watch our world premiere Lights Out for the Reef documentary in the lead up to Earth Hour. We guarantee it’ll kick-start a conversation! Then, have a candle-lit dinner and turn off your lights at 8.30pm to make a stand for places under threat from climate change, like our Great Barrier Reef.
Register your event at www.earthhour.org.au and you’ll receive everything you need for a great night, including a host pack with kids’ activities and information on how to access the Lights Out for the Reef documentary..
We look forward to celebrating Earth Hour with you!
Anna Rose is the National Manager of Earth Hour with WWF–Australia and author of the book Madlands: A Journey to Change the Mind of a Climate Sceptic. This is an amended version of an article written for Vogue Australia.