Bridging gender gaps and inequalities through green jobs

CAPE TOWN (ILO News) – With vulnerable employment and poverty on the rise, green jobs opportunities must be created for women and men, and aim to bridge gender gaps and inequalities, Aeneas Chapinga Chuma, ILO’s Assistant Director-General and Regional Director for Africa, said at the opening of the ILO Global Green Jobs workshop in Cape Town, South Africa.

“There is an important gender dimension to this (green jobs) discussion. (…) Climate change is not gender neutral”, Aeneas Chuma emphasized on International Women’s Day.

“Women are increasingly being seen as more vulnerable than men to the effects of climate change because they represent the majority of the world’s poor and are disproportionally more dependent on threatened natural resources. What is more, women tend to play a greater role than men in natural resource management – farming, planting, protecting and caring for seedlings and small trees – and in ensuring nutrition and as care providers for their families”, Chuma underscored warning of devastating consequences on economies and communities should the world fail to tackle climate change efficiently.


He was addressing more than 50 participants of the ILO Global Green Jobs workshop designed at discussing the latest trends and innovations related to the green economy and how best to link sustainable development, decent work, gender equality and green jobs in the implementation of national policies.

Improving the climate for gender equality

More than half of all new labour market entrants in Africa since 2005 have taken jobs in the informal economy, and one third in agriculture – jobs often characterized by low productivity, low wages and limited technological uptake.

In rural Africa, women’s dependence on natural resources for family needs in the form of water and wood gathering makes them highly vulnerable to the depletion of natural resources and climate change.

“The challenge for African countries, therefore, is to transform their economies in such a way that they generate more and better jobs and inclusive growth”, Aeneas Chuma underlined.

According to ILO experts, the good news is that the emerging green sector in agriculture can open up new opportunities for women entrepreneurship development, skills and green jobs, as new farming methods are promoted, while the demand for sustainable products such as organic foods and drinks grow.

Mainstreaming environmental sustainability

Although Africa only accounts for 3.8 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, the continent is the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Accordingly, the Addis Ababa Declaration, entitled “Transforming Africa through Decent Work for Sustainable Development”, identifies as one of the continent-wide policy priorities the promotion of a just transition towards environmentally-sustainable economies and societies for all.

“In order to reach scale, it is critical that we work towards mainstreaming environmental sustainability in our policies and programs”, ILO’s RD for Africa calling for better strategic partnerships and resource mobilization for environmental funding, including the Green Climate Fund, the primary financing mechanism on climate change.

ILO senior experts will review “green jobs packages” that comprise policy advice, best practices and tools for various applications on enterprise development, the greening of enterprises, skills development, green job assessments, and sectoral interventions such as in waste management.

“We must, therefore, be able to work with countries and constituents to help find coherent responses to these pressing, yet connected challenges that threaten the present and future of the majority of people on the continent”, concluded Aeneas Chuma.

The 5th ILO Global Green Jobs seminar on knowledge sharing, capacity development and joint delivery is held for the first time in the African region from 8 to 11 March 2016 in Cape Town, South Africa.