On Earth Day, we are launching our updated Why Women and Climate Change? briefing, which answers a question we are still often asked: why women and climate change?
For Wen, this question has always been at the heart of our work. Since 1988, we have connected gender, health, equity and environmental justice, recognising that environmental harm does not exist in isolation from the systems that shape people’s everyday lives.
This briefing brings that understanding together at a critical moment.
Climate change is not gender neutral.
Climate change and inequality in the UK
Across the UK, climate impacts are already being felt. Heatwaves are becoming more frequent. Living costs are rising. Housing is becoming more precarious. Air pollution and toxic exposure continue to affect health.
But these pressures do not land evenly.
For many women, particularly those who are racialised and marginalised, climate change intensifies inequalities that are already present. It shapes whether a home can stay cool in extreme heat, whether food remains affordable, whether care responsibilities increase during times of crisis, and whether people are able to access safe spaces, services and support.
This is not about vulnerability. It is about systems that have never been equal.
“Climate change is not gender neutral. It exposes and intensifies the inequalities that already shape women’s lives. Without addressing those inequalities, climate solutions will continue to reproduce them.” – Nnenna Onwuka, Feminist Climate Justice Policy Campaigner at Wen
Why Wen focuses on women and climate change
Wen has always worked at the intersection of gender, health, equity and environmental justice. Long before feminist climate justice became widely used, our work recognised that environmental harm cannot be separated from the social and economic conditions that shape people’s lives.
“For nearly four decades, Wen has shown that climate change cannot be separated from gender, health and inequality. This briefing builds on that legacy and makes clear what needs to change.” – Kate Metcalf, Co-Director, Wen
Alongside this, our work is grounded in a decolonial feminist approach. Our updated Wen Briefing: Why Women and Climate? explores how colonial legacies and extractive systems continue to shape both the causes and impacts of the climate crisis, and why centering the knowledge and leadership of those most affected is essential.
Together, these briefings set out what underpins Wen’s work, why it matters, and how change happens.
How climate impacts are interconnected
Climate impacts do not happen in isolation. The effects of extreme heat are shaped by your housing conditions and your access to green space. Food insecurity is shaped by income, care responsibilities and the wider food system. Exposure to air pollution and toxic chemicals is shaped by where you live and work, and by the systems that regulate, or fail to regulate, harmful substances.
These experiences are interconnected, and they are structured by inequality.
The limits of gender neutral climate policy
Yet climate policy is still too often designed as if it operates in a neutral world. Approaches that focus narrowly on emissions or technology, without considering people’s lived realities, risk reinforcing the very inequalities they aim to address.
Neutrality does not create fairness. It can create injustice.
“Climate change is not just an environmental issue. It is a question of justice, power and whose lives are valued. A climate response that ignores inequality will fail both people and the planet.” – Zarina Ahmad, Co-Director, Wen
What is feminist climate justice
At the same time, this is not only a story about unequal impact. Women are already leading responses to the climate crisis in communities, households, food systems and movements.
A feminist climate justice approach starts from a different place. It recognises that the climate crisis is not only environmental, but social, economic and political. It centres those most affected, not as passive recipients of policy, but as leaders shaping solutions. It asks us to rethink how power, resources and responsibility are distributed.
Why this briefing matters now
This briefing sets out what that means in practice. It brings together evidence on how climate change intersects with gender, health and inequality, and outlines the systemic changes needed to build climate solutions that are fair, effective and rooted in justice.
At a time when climate commitments risk being diluted, and when equality language can too easily become rhetorical, this is a call to return to first principles.
If we want climate solutions that truly work, we cannot treat this as a gender neutral crisis.
Read the full briefing
Read the full Why Women and Climate Change? briefing to explore the evidence, the framework and the changes needed to build a more just future.
