Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Gendering Climate Change: A Feminist Criminological Perspective

  • Published:
Critical Criminology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Drawing on insights from feminist scholars and activists, this article examines the dialectical relationship between climate change and the social construction of gender. We examine in detail how gender inequalities associated with capitalism, particularly in its latest Neoliberal incarnation, help to produce global warming, as well as to produce gendered vulnerabilities and unequal impacts. After a brief review of past successes and failures to integrate gender concerns into climate change debates and policies, we suggest several criminological interventions that are compatible with a feminist perspective on climate change. We argue that a stronger criminological focus on the global political economy, particularly on the gendered inequalities it produces, is analytically essential for understanding both the etiology and harmful consequences of climate change. Simultaneously, we urge critical criminologists to employ the tools of our trade to take a more proactive role in the social construction of a just and sustainable society.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aas, K. F. (2013). Globalization & crime. Los Angeles: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Agostino, A., & Lizarde, R. (2012). Gender and climate justice. Development, 55(1), 90–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alexander, M. (2012). The new Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of color-blindness. New York: The New Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • All India Disaster Mitigation Institute. (2005). Tsunami, gender, and recovery. Special issue for international day for disaster risk reduction. South Asia disasters. India: All India Disaster Mitigation Institute.

  • Asian Development Bank. (2013). Gender equality and food security: Women’s empowerment as a tool against hunger. Mandaluyong City: Asian Development Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barberet, R. (2014). Women, crime and criminal justice: A global enquiry. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bierne, P., & South, N. (2007). Issues in green criminology. Cullompton: Willan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carrington, K. (2015). Feminism and global justice. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Caulfield, S., & Wonders, N. (1993). Gender and justice: Feminist contributions to criminology. In G. Barak (Ed.), Varieties of criminology: Readings from a dynamic discipline (pp. 213–229). Westport, CT: Praeger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, B., & Jorgenson, A. K. (2012). The treadmill of destruction and the environmental impacts of militaries. Sociology Compass, 6(7), 557–569.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Connell, R. W. 1998. Masculinities and Globalization. Men and Masculinities, 1(3), 3–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cuomo, C. J. (2011). Climate change, vulnerability, and responsibility. Hyaptia, 26(4), 690–714.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dankelman, I. (2010). Gender and climate change: An introduction. London: Earthscan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Danner, M. J. E. (2006). Borders, belonging and homeland (in)security: Globalization and justice in the U.S. since 9/11. In S. Pickering and L. Weber (Eds.), Borders, mobility and technologies of control (pp. 111–122). The Netherlands: Springer Publishing.

  • Detraz, N. (2013). Gender and environmental security. In R. Floyd & R. A. Matthew (Eds.), Environmental security: Approaches and issues (pp. 154–168). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Detraz, N. (Ed.). (2014). Gender and climate change. Environmental security and gender (pp. 145–171). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Detraz, N., & Windsor, L. (2013). Evaluating climate migration. International Feminist Journal of Politics, 16(1), 127–146.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). (2009). Bridging the gap: FAO’s programme for gender equality in agriculture and rural development. Rome: Italy.

    Google Scholar 

  • Federici, S. (2004). Caliban and the witch: Women, the body, and primitive accumulation. New York: Autonomedia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fleming, J. (2007). The climate engineers. The Wilson Quarterly, 3(2), 46–60.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibson-Graham, J. K. (2006). A postcapitalist politics. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heckenberg, D., & Johnston, I. (2012). Social differences and environment-related victimisation. In R. White (Ed.), Climate change from a criminological perspective (pp. 149–171). New York: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Hemmaki, M., & Röhr, U. (2009). Engendering the climate-change negotiations: Experiences, challenges and steps forward. Gender and Development, 17(1), 19–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2015). Fifth assessment report: Summary for policy makers. http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/wg1/WG1AR5_SPM_FINAL.pdf. Accessed 8 February 2015.

  • Ken, I. (2007). Race-class-gender theory: An image(ry) problem. Gender Issues, 24(1), 1–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klein, N. (2014). This changes everything: Capitalism vs. the climate. London: Allen Lane/Penguin.

  • Kramer, R. C. (2013). Carbon in the atmosphere and power in America: Climate change as state-corporate crime. Journal of Crime and Justice, 36(2), 153–170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kramer, R. C., & Michalowski, R. J. (2012). Is global warming a state-corporate crime? In R. White (Ed.), Climate change from a criminological perspective (pp. 71–88). New York: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Lorber, J. (2011). Gender inequality: Feminist theories and politics. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lynch, M. J., Burns, R. G., & Stretesky, P. B. (2010). Global warming as a state-corporate crime: The politicalization of global warming during the Bush administration. Crime, Law and Social Change, 54(3), 213–239.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lynch, M. J., & Stretesky, P. B. (2003). The meaning of green: Contrasting criminological perspectives. Theoretical Criminology, 7(2), 217–238.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Macgregor, S. (2014). Only resist: Feminist ecological citizenship and the post-politics of climate change. Hypatia, 29(3), 617–633.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCulloch, J., & Wilson, D. (2015). Pre-Crime: Pre-emption, precaution and the future. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • McKibbon, B. (2011). Eaarth: Making life on a tough new planet. New York: St. Martin’s Griffen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Messerschmidt, J. (2013). Crime as structured action: Doing masculinities, race, class, sexualities, and crime. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mezzadra, S., & Neilson, B. (2013). Border as method, or, the multiplication of labor. Durham: Duke University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Michalowski, R., & Kramer, R. C. (2006). State-corporate crime: Wrongdoing at the intersection of business and government. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Michalowski, R., & McDowell, M. (2011). International environmental issues. In M. Clifford & T. D. Edwards (Eds.), Environmental crime (pp. 329–353). New York: Jones and Bartlett.

    Google Scholar 

  • Middleton, N. (2013). The global casino: An introduction to environmental issues (5th ed.). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nagel, J. (2014). Intersecting identities and global climate change. Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, 19(4), 467–476.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nayar, A. (2014). Climate non-negotiables. In G. Sen & M. Durano (Eds.), The remaking of social contracts: Feminists in a fierce new world (pp. 105–123). London: Zed Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neumayer, E., & Plümper, T. (2007). The gendered nature of natural disasters: The impact of catastrophic events on the gender gap in life expectancy, 1981–2002. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 97, 551–566.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oxfam. (2005). The tsunami’s impact on women. Oxfam briefing note. http://www.oxfam.org.nz/sites/default/files/reports/The_tsunami_impact_on_women.pdf. Accessed 14 November 2014.

  • Oxfam, G. B. (2010). Gender, disaster risk reduction, and climate change adaptation: A learning companion. Oxfam disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation resources. https://www.gdnonline.org/resources/OxfamGender&ARR.pdf. Accessed 14 November 2014.

  • Parenti, C. (2011). Tropic of chaos: Climate change and the new geography of violence. New York: Nation Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, V. S., & Runyan, A. (2013). Global gender issues in the new millennium. Boulder: Westview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pickering, S., & McCulloch, J. (2012). Borders and crime: Pre-crime, mobility, and serious harm in an age of globalization. London: Palgrave-Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Preet, R., Nilsson, N., Schumann, B., & Evengård, B. (2010). The gender perspective in climate change and global health. Global Health Action, 3, 5720–5726.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richie, B. (2012). Arrested justice: Black women, violence, and America’s prison nation. New York: New York University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, F. (2011). The ethics of care: A feminist approach to human security. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roseland, M. (2012). Toward sustainable communities. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Terry, G. (2009). No climate justice without gender justice: An overview of the issues. Gender and Development, 17(1), 5–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tomaševski, K. (1993). Women and human rights. London: Zed.

    Google Scholar 

  • True, J. (2012). The political economy of violence against women. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • UN Women and the Mary Robinson Foundation—Climate Justice. (2013). The full view: Advancing the goal of gender balance in multilateral and intergovernmental processes. New York: UN Women.

  • Wachholz, S. (2007). “At risk”: Climate change and its bearing on women’s vulnerability to violence. In P. Beirne & N. South (Eds.), Issues in green criminology (pp. 161–185). Cullompton: Willan.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, R. (2007). Green criminology and the pursuit of social and ecological justice. In P. Beirne & N. South (Eds.), Issues in green criminology (pp. 32–54). Cullompton: Willan.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, R. (2012). Climate change from a criminological perspective. New York: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • White, R. (2014). Environmental insecurity and fortress mentality. International Affairs, 90(4), 835–851.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • WMO (World Meteorological Organization) (2014). Conference on the gender dimension of weather and climate services universal access—Empowering women. http://www.wmo.int/genderconference/about. Accessed 11 November 2014.

  • Wonders, N. A. (2008). Conceptualizing difference. The Criminal Justice Collective of Northern Arizona University. In Investigating difference: Human and cultural relations in criminal justice, 2nd edition (pp. 10–22). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

  • Wonders, N. A. (2015). Transforming borders from below. In L. Weber (Ed.), Rethinking border control for a globalising world: A preferred future (pp. 190–198). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wonders, N. A., & Danner, M. (2002). Globalization, state-corporate crime, and women: The strategic role of women’s NGOs in the new world order. In G. W. Potter (Ed.), Controversies in white collar crime (pp. 165–184). Cincinnati: Anderson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Young, G., Fort, L., & Danner, M. (1994). Moving from “the status of women” to “gender inequality”: Conceptualization, social indicators, & an empirical application. International Sociology, 9, 55–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, 86011-5005, USA

    Nancy A. Wonders

  2. Queensland University of Technology, Crime and Justice Research Centre, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Nancy A. Wonders & Mona J. E. Danner

  3. Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, 23529, USA

    Mona J. E. Danner

Authors
  1. Nancy A. Wonders
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mona J. E. Danner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nancy A. Wonders.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wonders, N.A., Danner, M.J.E. Gendering Climate Change: A Feminist Criminological Perspective. Crit Crim 23, 401–416 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-015-9290-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-015-9290-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation