A Stranger Silence Still: The Need for Feminist Social Research on Climate Change

Citation:

MacGregor, Sherilyn. 2009. “A Stranger Silence Still: The Need for Feminist Social Research on Climate Change.” The Sociological Review 57 (2): 124–40.

Author: Sherilyn MacGregor

Annotation:

Summary:
“If the scientific consensus is correct, then humanity faces an impending climate crisis of catastrophic proportions. It is no longer a question of whether it is really happening, but what will be the impacts of climate change on societies around the world and how governments and individuals will adapt to the troubles they will bring. In the light of frightening predictions, it might reasonably be asked, what is the point of suggesting that greater attention should be paid to gender? Feminist scholarship on environmental problems must always be ready for such questions, to defend the relevance of gender analysis in the face of dominant tendencies to see humanity as homogeneous, science as apolitical, and social justice as a luxury that cannot be chosen over survival. In this essay, I make the case for feminist social research on climate change with the following argument: shedding light on the gender dimensions of climate change will enable a more accurate diagnosis and a more promising ‘cure’ than is possible with a gender neutral approach. My argument is that any attempt to tackle climate change that excludes a gender analysis will be insufficient, unjust and therefore unsustainable” (MacGregor 2009, 124).

Topics: Environment, Climate Change, Feminisms, Gender, Gender Analysis

Year: 2009