Climate Action’s Hidden Opportunities for Women | Zineb Sqalli | TED

40,187 views ・ 2022-10-27

TED


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What if our efforts to build a better planet
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benefited half of this room more?
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What if we reduced our emissions
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but increased the gap between men and women?
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What if by 2050 we reach net zero,
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but women had a lower chance than men to find a decent job?
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Disturbing, right?
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And yet, this is exactly what my colleagues and I found
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while studying the links between women and climate
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over the last years.
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Our research has shown that climate action,
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as it is unfolding,
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could set gender equality back by 15 years.
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I'm going to say that again.
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So climate action, not climate change,
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climate action,
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meaning all the efforts that are being made
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to reduce our emissions,
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to adapt our lives to a warmer planet,
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could actually set gender equality back by 15 years.
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I know what you must be thinking.
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This is a total buzzkill.
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(Laughter)
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So the climate challenge is not big enough,
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you’re adding solving gender equality to the equation?
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I get the feeling.
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But the good news is, if we do it right,
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we have a unique chance to advance both the climate agenda
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and gender equality.
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How?
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By being intentional about it.
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But first, let's go back to that 15-year setback risk I mentioned.
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I give it to you, it's counterintuitive to say that climate action
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that aims at building a more viable future to all of us
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could actually have a negative impact on gender equality.
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So let me explain.
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Obviously women, as well as men,
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women even more than men,
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will benefit from living in a more sustainable planet.
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Their health, their education, their livelihoods will improve.
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But what I'm saying is that there is also a risk
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that women might miss out
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on the green economy's massive investments
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and job opportunities.
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And here are two examples of that.
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By 2030,
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65 million green jobs will be created.
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The highest-paid, more stable ones will require what’s called STEM education:
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science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
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Today, women represent 35 percent of STEM students globally.
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So they might be less qualified to access these green jobs.
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Second example:
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by 2030, companies in highly emitting sectors --
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such as energy, building materials, industrial goods --
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will be spending as much as 500 billion dollars
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to train their employees in new green skills.
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Now, these industries are historically male-dominated,
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so mechanically, women are less likely to participate in these retrainings,
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widening the skill gap between men and women
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again in accessing the jobs of the future.
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So, see, the risk is real.
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Women might miss out on these opportunities and investments,
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or at least miss out on part of them,
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even if this wasn't the initial intent.
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So what is it that we need to do
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to have a climate action
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that solves these two major challenges at the same time:
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gender equality and sustainability?
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Well, we need to do something that seems very simple,
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yet very often overlooked.
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When investing in green projects
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and developing green products, crafting green legislations,
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we need to make sure that women as well as men will equally benefit.
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Not more, not less.
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Just equally.
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Might seem obvious.
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You might even think, "Isn't that what we're already doing?"
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But history has showed us that time and time again,
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even though this is what we think we're doing,
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this is not what is actually happening,
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at least not naturally, organically,
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not without an explicit intent.
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So we need to take this intent into climate action.
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We need to naturally, systematically,
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intentionally embed what you could call a gender lens
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in all of the green economy’s investments, projects and legislations.
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And I am not just talking about projects targeting women
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or funds dedicated to women
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or a gender day in climate negotiations.
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I am talking about gender as an intentional forethought
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in every green project, every green investment,
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every green legislation.
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Let's take an example.
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Green cities.
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Green cities are a great illustration
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of how we could integrate this gender lens
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and have climate action boost gender equality
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instead of setting it back.
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From Chicago to Shanghai,
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from Copenhagen to Rio,
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most large cities have ambitious programs to become greener.
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Two trillion dollars will have to be spent every year
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for the next 20 years
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to upgrade urban infrastructure
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and make it more sustainable.
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And this covers housing, energy
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safety, public transportation, green spaces, you name it.
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With the right approach,
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these cities can become greener
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and more inclusive of women.
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Now greener, they sort of know how to do that.
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They have already initiated multiple projects,
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and there is already a lot of research in that field.
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But becoming more inclusive of women,
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we hear less about that.
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This is less documented.
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And yet there is a great story that can serve as an inspiration.
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This story takes place in the beautiful city of Vienna,
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in Austria.
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In the '90s,
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planning officials in Vienna realized
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that women were less satisfied with transportation systems
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than men.
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Because these systems are designed for people going between home and work,
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between suburbs and city centers
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at mostly set times.
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But women,
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although they make up the majority of public transportation users,
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women's trips are nothing like that.
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They are much more fragmented, they are much shorter,
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they require multiple transportation modes,
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and they don't necessarily happen during rush hour.
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All of this because women combine their work trips
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with their domestic and caregiving responsibilities.
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And this, transportation, is a major factor when it comes to women’s labor
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and participation [in] the economy.
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They also noticed something else.
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Before the age of nine,
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boys and girls would equally go to parks.
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But when girls reach the age of nine, something strange happens.
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They almost disappeared from public parks.
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So they did some research and they confirmed that, no,
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it’s not that all of a sudden, when girls turn nine,
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they no longer are interested in public parks.
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It's again, because of the way these parks are designed
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with their single large open space and multiple football cages,
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boys feel welcomed,
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girls feel they need to compete for space.
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So they just stopped going there.
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So bottom line, through these two examples and many more,
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they realized that the gender-neutral approach that the city had
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and that most cities in the world have,
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this gender-neutral approach can actually be a women-blind one.
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So they decided to intentionally design a gender-equal urban planning program.
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So they surveyed men and women
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to better understand the way they live in the city.
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They brought in female architects and urban planners
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to participate alongside their male colleagues,
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to participate [in] the city’s redesign.
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They added gender assessment in social housing
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and infrastructure contracts.
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So see, just like that, every step was made
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with the intention, the explicit intention,
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to make sure that women will benefit as well as men.
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Again, not more, not less, as well as men.
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So in parks they have added foot paths to divide up space.
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They have integrated a wider range of activities
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such as volleyball.
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And just like that,
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teenage girls came back to parks.
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And this has benefited teenage girls, but not only them.
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Every year since 2009,
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except for COVID years,
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Vienna has been named the best city in the world to live in.
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Now, it's not just the gendered approach,
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but it clearly contributed because for the first time,
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the specific needs of the other half of the population
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were taken into account.
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Now, what does Vienna's story tell us?
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It tells us that if we want women to benefit from a green city project,
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from an urbanism project, or from any project,
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it needs intention.
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And intention means at least these three ingredients:
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upfront and ascending women specific needs,
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even if the project is not specifically targeting women;
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involving women in the design of the project;
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and specifically measuring the impact of the project on women
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to be able to adjust if necessary.
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So this way, with this approach,
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we could correct the biases
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that are behind the gender-neutral urban planning programs
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that exist everywhere.
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And we could duplicate Vienna’s intentional experience
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in every green city.
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And I left the best part for the end.
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When involved in urban planning,
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women proved to be active agents of sustainability.
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Statistically, the most sustainable cities
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are also the ones with the highest representation of women
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in policy making and leadership positions.
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So this gendered approach will not only make green cities more inclusive of women,
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it will also make them greener.
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Treating women exactly like men,
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as I have heard multiple times from policymakers and leaders,
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is not what will get us to gender equality
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because it turns a blind eye to the biases that we all have,
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and it tends to perpetuate pre-existing inequalities
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and could even be widening them.
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Urbanism is just one example
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of how the green economy will revolutionize the way we move,
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work, eat.
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If we intentionally embed a gender lens in the way we will sustainably rebuild,
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rethink all of these aspects,
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we can advance gender equality at the same time,
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and this will in turn have a positive impact on the planet.
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See, we can save the world all at once, after all.
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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