Gender & Development

Global emissions crossed 57.1 gigatonnes of CO₂ in 2023, which constituted a 1.3 per cent rise from the previous year (UN Women Asia and the Pacific 2024). Given that the fossil fuel sector is responsible for almost 70 per cent of these emissions, its transformation has become urgent (ibid).

Ideological and political backlash against democratic principles and social justice goals, in particular gender equality has a long history, as do the feminist movements that have actively challenged these reactionary forces.

The effects of the climate crisis and ecological degradation such as rising ocean levels, extreme weather events, unusual shifts in seasons, and depletion of vital resources are felt most by women, Indigenous people, rural communities and the urban poor that inhabit ecologically sensitive areas that are disaster prone, and/or marked by violence, conflict and war.

Anandita Ghosh and Shivani Satija present G&D’s special issue on transforming land and water rights amidst climate crises. Discussions on just and sustainable development are incomplete without a focus on gender, land and water rights, climate change and governance. Women, and Black, Indigenous, and Dalit women in particular, have long been excluded from decision-making spaces related to land tenure and climate policies despite their contributions.

This special issue seeks to explore and critically examine the various strategies feminist advocacy deploys to advocate for gender justice, present the interests of the historically oppressed, and also challenge and question the workings and operations of mainstream advocacy led, funded, and determined by the politics of the global North.

The intersection of gender, land rights, climate change, and governance remains a focal point of contemporary discussions on justice, sustainability, and development. In this special issue, scholars and practitioners collectively examine the intersection of gender, land rights, water rights, climate change, and governance.

Anandita Ghosh and Shivani Satija are pleased to introduce G&D’s special issue on disaster and resilience. People around the world are living amidst one type of disaster or another, be it war, extreme weather events, or industrial accidents, and their damaging implications.

In July 2020, Gender & Development Journal published a special issue to mark the 25th anniversary of the UN Fourth World Conference on Women. The special issue offered a critical appraisal of the work done to achieve the goals of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA) and took stock of how much more needed to be done to realise a feminist future.

Anandita Ghosh and Shivani Satija are pleased to share G&D’s special issue on Gender and Public Space. Gender and Development Journal’s March-July 2024 Issue on ‘Gender and Public Space’ is an effort towards engaging with the expanding body of work on the subject– as a theoretical field as well as a site of methodological experiments, collective politics, and creative labour.

Women’s leadership in politics as well as in social movements and grassroots collectives have played a historic role in transforming the landscape of women’s social, legal, and political rights across the globe. Their participation in political and public spheres is integral to the achievement of social justice and has been a key demand and commitment in multiple international conventions.