A note from Kate Metcalf, Co-director, Wen
This Clean Air Day, we’re honouring not just the call for cleaner air, but the incredible women leading that call.
From Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah’s powerful campaign in memory of her daughter Ella, to the many grassroots women leaders fighting for clean, safe, breathable air in their neighbourhoods, women’s voices, especially racialised and marginalised women’s voices, have always been central to the environmental movement. And yet, too often, those voices go unheard.
At Wen, we believe that environmental justice can’t exist without gender, racial and social justice. Clean air isn’t just a health issue – it’s a feminist issue, a class issue, and a race issue.
Women, particularly racialised and marginalised women, are disproportionately impacted by air pollution because of the roles they’re expected to take on, the places they live, the work they do, and the systemic inequalities they face.
In many cases, they’re also the ones pushing hardest for change.
The power of lived experience
We know from decades of work that the people most impacted by pollution, climate change, and environmental harm are also those with the least influence on policy. Women’s experiences are not a footnote – they should be the starting point. Because when we centre the voices of those most affected, we find better, fairer solutions.
Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah’s activism is a shining example of this. Her story shows how personal loss, when channelled through community and care, can become a movement. She’s not alone. Across the UK and globally, women are sounding the alarm on polluted air, toxic chemicals, extractive economies, rising inequality and environmental collapse, and building something better in its place.
Why we centre women’s voices
At Wen, we work to elevate and amplify the voices of women, particularly those whose perspectives are often ignored. We do this because we know that women, and especially racialised and marginalised women, are leading the fight for environmental and social justice every day. Their leadership is grounded in lived experience, care for their communities, and a deep understanding of what’s needed.
We run projects like Climate Sisters to create space for women from marginalised backgrounds to shape climate action and share their own narratives. These are not side stories. These are the main story.
We campaign on toxic-free living, particularly in products that affect women , babies and children. We work in communities to build knowledge and power from the ground up. And we champion diverse, intersectional feminist leadership that reflects the realities of everyday life and dares to imagine something better.
What needs to change
There is no excuse for the lack of action on air pollution. Despite clear evidence and mounting public concern, the UK Government continues to delay meaningful change. Women, children and minoritised communities are paying the price with their health.
We need to:
- Recognise clean air as a human right
- Centre intersectional feminist analysis in environmental policy
- Act on both outdoor and indoor air pollution, which disproportionately impacts women
- Fund, support and protect community organising and activism
- Ensure environmental decision-making includes the people most affected
An ecofeminist future
We can’t solve the climate and nature emergency by replicating the same top-down, extractive systems that created it. We need something bolder, more inclusive, and more rooted in care.
Women activists, especially from racialised and underrepresented communities, are already building that future.
As Rosamund says, we need to dream big. At Wen, we are dreaming and building a world where everyone, no matter their background, can breathe clean air. And we know that the only way to get there is to keep women at the heart of every solution. Let’s honour that leadership. Let’s act on what women are telling us. And let’s fight for a future that is just and built by all of us.
Read my article in Air Quality News on why Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah is an example to us all.
Read our blog on Wen’s approach to storytelling.
Kate Metcalf, Co-director, Wen
Kate has over 20 years’ experience developing community and international networks within international development and environmental organisations with a focus on gender and social justice. Kate leads Wen’s Feminist Green New Deal project aiming to ensure that women, racialised and marginalised groups are central to the green economy.
