Vulnerability and Agency: Women in the face of environmental change

Abstract

Introduction and objectives: This article explores how the category of gender operates in relation to an increasingly unstable and uncertain environment. The central premise is that patriarchal legal culture legitimises existing gender inequalities in access to natural resources. This limits women’s potential contributions to environmental change. Methodology: After a theoretical reflection on the socially constructed role of women as providers and suppliers of natural resources, the two backbone concepts of vulnerability and agency are confronted. Subsequently, the supposedly universal legal subject in the discipline of law is analysed, starting with gender as a critical category. Following this examination, it is proposed to revisit the law on the basis of a multiplicity of legal subjects and the contributions of ecofeminist movements. Results: Vulnerability and agency are not mutually exclusive. Rethinking a new legal framework with a gender perspective allows the two perspectives to converge. It is essential to review some fundamental legal categories, but above all to integrate the gender perspective in a cross-cutting manner. Discussion: It is pointed out that, to face the coming ecological crises, it is urgent to incorporate women’s voices in decision-making on the management of environmental change. Otherwise, specific environmental needs are overlooked, and society is deprived of its full potential.