State Environmental Protection Efforts, Women's Status, and World Polity: A
Cross-National Analysis
January 13, 2007
Colleen Nugent, Boston College
Introduction
Bretherton (1996) details the ways in which women are often victims of
environmental degradation, uniquely affected by its outcomes due to higher rates of
poverty among women and to their roles as caregivers and domestic responsibilities for
provision of water, food, and fuel. Global political efforts to address the unique needs of
women have increased over past decades, powered by the United Nations and groups like
the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), which advocates
for involving women in environmental decision-making to achieve sustainability and
equality of representation. However, the link between gender equality and its potential
effects on nation-state environmental decision-making has only been empirically
explored in one article, to my knowledge (Norgaard and York 2005).
Exploring the measurable effects of increased women’s status economically,
educationally, politically, and health-wise on state environmental protection behaviors
cross-nationally is the focus of this study. A connection of this nature has important
implications for the validity of ecofeminist theories of inequality, as well as for past
research which has examined gendered differences in proenvironmental attitudes and
behaviors of individuals. Whether these differences are also seen in measurable
outcomes at the level of the nation-state would provide empirical support and rationale
for the important work that organizations like WEDO is doing. This research also
1
Page 1 of 19 
Convention