GLOW: Gender Equality in a Low-Carbon World
There is an important gender dimension to the net zero transition. Today, more women than men are in informal, insecure paid work. Women – particularly those in developing, rural economies – bear a greater burden of unpaid work in the care economy worldwide, and they disproportionately shoulder the effects of shocks such as extreme weather events or rising food prices.
Despite this, work on the net zero transition is often disjointed and gender blind. Much of it fails to address the specific needs of low-income women, or present workable solutions to help women gain environmentally sustainable and secure work.
In response to this pressing knowledge gap, Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) initiated the three-year programme, Gender Equality in a Low-Carbon World (GLOW) 2022–2025. GLOW supports 12 projects in 17 low- and middle-income countries to investigate how women’s economic empowerment can be integrated into low-carbon, climate-resilient transitions.
A further initiative, the GLOW Knowledge Hub, seeks to synthesise knowledge from across the programme, support peer learning among the projects, and engage relevant international audiences with the findings.
Making clean energy transitions more inclusive: Evidence, knowledge gaps and policy options in low-income economies
This policy brief summarises evidence that supports, and knowledge gaps that hinder, clean and inclusive energy transitions. It concludes that alongside addressing finance gaps and implementation barriers, tackling systemic socioeconomic inequalities is critical for inclusive clean energy transitions.
From low-carbon consumers to climate leaders
Women’s economic empowerment: the missing piece in low-carbon plans and actions
Published before COP27, research for GLOW scratches below the surface of pronouncements about ‘inclusive green economies’ to see how the most disadvantaged groups in society are included in literature, policy and practice of low-carbon development. This ODI Insight was published alongside the report.
