Women’s Participation in Climate and Environmental Decision-Making Processes

This paper examines the issue of public participation in climate and environmental matters from a gender perspective. The paper opens with some reflections on the distinctive features of the model of participatory State, and then delves into the issue of the recognition of participation in the international context and its link with environmental education. Another link that emerges clearly from the international community concerns the intertwining of gender and climate-environmental issues. The research then illustrates the constitutional references to women’s participation and environmental issues in order to assess their degree of relevance in the constitutions in force. These data are preliminary to an analysis of the national climate framework laws and the integrated national energy and climate plans in EU member States to assess whether and how they ensure gender equality and women’s participation in decision-making processes. The main purpose of this paper is to deal with a subject that has not yet been sufficiently developed in academic research. In addition, the results will allow reflections on the model of the participatory State that characterises the member States of the European Union.