Reflections and a reminder for International Women’s Day 2022

Danish writer, Karen Blixen wrote in a letter to her mother in 1923 “I believe that good times for women are approaching, and the next hundred years will bring many wonderful opportunities. It will be so great that women are considered equal and the world will open up for them.”

Blixen highlighted the time needed to transfer to an inclusive and equal society. It has been a hundred years, and looking at this last century we can reflect that while many opportunities for women have opened up and great achievements made, we have a long way to go.

It takes time and efforts to break biases, stereotypes, and discrimination, and it involves everyone. At GRID-Arendal, we work with many types of decision-makers, and today we wish to share with you a story about transformative efforts towards gender equality in the waste management field from three countries in Asia.

In 2019, GRID-Arendal with the United Nations Environment Programme´s, International Environmental Technology Centre (UNEP-IETC) and partner organizations in Bhutan, Nepal and Mongolia carried out a study on gender mainstreaming in waste sector in these countries.

The study was part of a bigger project that aimed to reduce greenhouse gases and short-lived climate pollutants. An overall project target was to advance practices in environmentally sound waste management.

The results, published in a report from GRID-Arendal (https://www.grida.no/publications/533) mapped out the gendered patterns in each segment of the waste sector and pointed out underlying challenges. It demonstrated that waste management is predominantly the responsibility of women at the household level while men take charge over the commercial sphere, dominating institutional positions and in the profitable part of the informal sector.

The success of this report was later visible in different aspects of the national integrated waste management strategies of Nepal and Bhutan which look to address the gender biases present.

Nepal´s National Integrated Waste Management Strategy and Action Plan issued in 2020 designed objective and activities for almost three decades to come. The Strategy sets six main objectives at national level. One out of six specifically focused on gender mainstreaming. It promotes social justice and equity in waste management.

The Strategy objectives are substantiated with an action plan including points such as “ensure gender and social groups are mainstreamed in all waste management activities”. These are very important references which provide a mandate for follow up projects to further build and take action for equality in the waste management sector.

This year, International Women´s Day takes place at time when our efforts to build a world free of bias and discrimination are undergoing great challenges. However, today is a moment where we look to celebrate our achievements towards breaking biases and working towards gender equality – no matter if they are big or small, and no matter where we are geographically located.