Almost Entire Social History Is A History Of Opression Against Women

To begin with, let us return to ancient Athens, the cradle of democracy, philosophy, as well as the development of knowledge. Yet it is often kept silent that all these activities were exclusively reserved for men, while women and slaves were completely excluded from all decision-making mechanisms. The Middle Ages did not bring any progress on the issue of women's rights either, but put some in an even worse position. During that period, the Inquisition sent many women to the bonfire under the pretext that they were witches, and those who did not suffer such a terrible fate were constantly preached that they must fully obey the will of men.

In Serbia, after the restoration of statehood more than 200 years ago, Turks are expelled, but women remain at home outside of political and public life. This practice remained until August 11, 1945, when women in socialist Yugoslavia fought for the right to vote for the first time. Switzerland, for example, adopted universal suffrage in a referendum in 1971, and some cantons did not give women the right to vote until 1990.

Despite the fact that some rights have been won throughout history, it is still more than obvious that we live in a society of gender inequality. Men, and especially white men, are still in a privileged position and occupy most of the most powerful positions, men still have higher salaries compared to women when they perform the same jobs, and there are far fewer women among decision makers. In contrast, women are mostly victims of domestic violence, are at higher risk of poverty and are at first affected by environmental degradation and climate change.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND GENDER EQUALITY

Achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls is one of the UN's goals of sustainable development. This goal, under number 5, is additionally processed through nine targets  for which there are measurable indicators of success.

According to the report of the UN Secretary General, the good things and the progress for the last fifteen years stand out: the fact that the number of child marriages has decreased, the number of women in the education system has continued to grow, as well as the number of women in political positions.

When it comes to women's representation, in 2020 there were only 20% women in national parliaments around the world, while the situation is somewhat better with local parliaments where 36% of women work. In Serbia, the number of women MPs increased from 10.8% in 2002 to 38.8% in 2020. However, when it comes to Serbia, it remains questionable how much the numerical growth of women's participation was accompanied by the redistribution of real power.

Despite some successes, the UN Secretary-General's report also indicates that men continue to dominate positions of power, with women holding only 28% of managerial positions. And gender inequality is noticeable in everyday life, so the share of men who own a mobile phone as one of the basic means of communication and information is still 6.8% higher than women. It is worrying that in some countries, genital mutilation of women is still allowed, so today we have over 200 million women in the world who have undergone genital mutilation, and the eradication of this practice is quite slow.

The global COVID - 19 pandemic further pointed to the poor position of women, which in the words of the pandemic went backwards. According to the UN report, domestic violence has increased by 30% in some countries, while additional unpaid domestic work has fallen on the backs of women who still do three times more unpaid work than men. As we all know, the first to be hit by the pandemic were health workers, who make up as much as 70% of the total staff employed in health care, and women dominate in other care jobs as well.

GENDER EQUALITY AND CLIMATE FINANCING

The causal links between climate change and gender equality are increasingly in focus. Much (by no means enough) has already been said about the disproportionate effects of climate change on the quality of life of women and girls, which make up the majority of the population already affected by climate change or under direct threat. Around the world, women face a number of obstacles when it comes to accessing opportunities such as job changes, travel, property ownership, active participation in legal, political and social decision-making processes, and so on. All of this directly affects women's ability to participate equally in local and global processes to combat climate change.

When it comes to financing the fight against climate change, the gender perspective was not an integral part at the beginning. On the contrary, its existence is a great success of the feminist current within the climate movement. The two basic settings are:

• Sustainability cannot be achieved without a gender perspective and
• Gender equality cannot be achieved unless it is integrated into the very beginning and every aspect of the process of combating climate change.

Speaking of concrete examples, already in 2011 certain guidelines were adopted related to the gender perspective of the funds, such as the Kyoto Protocol, the Kyoto Protocol Adaptation Fund and the Global Environment Facility (GEF). However, during 2014, only 18% of GEF projects had a gender equality component within social climate adaptation projects.

The Green Climate Fund is the first multilateral fund to include gender equality in all aspects of its work. First of all, the Fund has a strict employment policy, as well as complementary policies of work, organization and cooperation, which ensure nominal quantitative equal distribution and application of the Fund's structural resources. 

The next step refers to the implementation of projects in cooperation with external associates. All associates of the Fund who implement projects at the local level must have a gender portfolio, which proves that gender equality is respected in the project application, but also in the life of the organization, consulting company or some other actor. This measure, of course, leaves "consequences" and reduces the chances of financing companies such as multinational banks, development funds, consulting agencies and other institutions that are generally not the biggest fans of gender-sensitive structures and initiatives. Needless to say, when it comes to end users, project applications must demonstrate a sustainable contribution to gender equality and the improvement of the socio-economic position of women within the relevant territory.

Climate funds are thus becoming a significant contribution to gender equality. In this example, we can see how gender regulations in multisectoral cooperation with other processes give positive results at the local level, economic balancing and increasing the democracy of political processes, and therefore should become part of all development funds. Civil society, feminist organizations, etc. continue to play a key role in the process of monitoring and evaluating climate action and ensure that the results of the fight against climate change complement and strengthen the fight for gender equality and the advancement of women in all other areas.

Predrag Momcilovic

Photo source: Belgrad Open School