Research Resources

Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching, learning, and research materials in any medium that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others.

The resources listed below are OERs that may be relevant for your ENV 3500 assignments.

OER: Books and Related Journal Articles

Climate Change in Asia and Africa Examining the Biophysical and Social Consequences, and Society's Responses
This volume contains studies of the implications of changing climates in Asia and Africa, two regions containing the majority of Earth’s population and many less developed countries. People of this region often lack the cushion of advanced technologies or economic safety nets that the West has come to expect. The region has significant resource-development challenges, particularly for food production. The consequences of changing climates for the natural and human environments in this region are different in their social and economic contexts. The challenges are often complicated by a lack of data and lack access to relatively common technological systems that enable monitoring, field work, management, and mitigation. This book contains three parts that focus on the biophysical and social consequences of changing climates and progress toward adaptation and mitigation to change. There are studies on evapotranspiration rates in North Africa, precipitation extremes in Asia, coral bleaching in the Indian Ocean, the patterns of humid-region flood risk and hazards in Asia, the implications of climate change for Zimbabwe’s horticultural sector, agricultural vulnerability in Uganda, mitigation and adaptation on palm-oil plantations in Indonesia, the value of farmer’s knowledge for mitigating precipitation variability in eastern and southern Africa, sustainable carbon management in paddy rice-growing regions, adaptation to changing patterns of hazards in India, river flooding and temporary displacement of women and children of Nigerian villages, and management and mitigation of ecological impacts and diversity in Nepal.
Climate-Driven Temporary Displacement of Women and Children in Anambra State, Nigeria: The Causes and Consequences
Chapter from "Climate Change in Asia and Africa - Examining the Biophysical and Social Consequences, and Society's Responses.": This volume contains studies of the implications of changing climates in Asia and Africa, two regions containing the majority of Earth’s population and many less developed countries. People of this region often lack the cushion of advanced technologies or economic safety nets that the West has come to expect. The region has significant resource-development challenges, particularly for food production. The consequences of changing climates for the natural and human environments in this region are different in their social and economic contexts. The challenges are often complicated by a lack of data and lack access to relatively common technological systems that enable monitoring, field work, management, and mitigation. This book contains three parts that focus on the biophysical and social consequences of changing climates and progress toward adaptation and mitigation to change.
Current Issues in Natural Resource and Environmental Economics
The interrelationship between economic growth, efficient use of natural resources, and sustainability has been of great interest to economists, researchers and policy makers. Knowledge of actual causality direction between sustainability, efficiency and growth has important implications for modeling environmental economic policies. Various serious environmental problems demand urgent attention and planning of adequate policies towards sustainability. Development of new economic and environmental policies and use of new econometric, operational research and mathematical and statistical techniques offers scope for further research.
Engendering Climate Change
This book focuses on the gendered experiences of environmental change across different geographies and social contexts in South Asia and on diverse strategies of adapting to climate variability. This book will be of interest to researchers and students of sociology, development, gender, economics, environmental studies and South Asian studies. It will also be useful for policymakers, NGOs and think tanks working in the areas of gender, climate change and development.
‘Environmental Childlessness?’ Reproduction and (Im)possible Futures amidst Environmental Crises
Although voluntary childlessness based on environmental concerns is increasingly in evidence, the relationship between environmental crises and reproductive intentions has not yet significantly entered academic debate. Nonetheless, it articulates concrete ways in which the perception of environmental crises (re)shapes people’s lives in western societies. In an attempt to explore human reproduction as a site of environmental interrogations, this research asks how environmental degradation is (re)shaping reproductive intentions and what the pathway is towards ‘environmental childlessness’. Mobilising different scholarship and ethnographic interviews, I propose that the pathway towards ‘environmental childlessness’ is informed by profound uncertainties about the future, ethical interrogations, and persistent pronatalism. More than an over-simplifying update of neo-Malthusian and apocalyptic thinking, interrogations of parenthood express a broader rejection of current capitalist ways of living.
Feminist Frontiers in Climate Justice
Feminist Frontiers in Climate Justice provides a compelling demonstration of the deeply gendered and unequal effects of the climate emergency, alongside the urgent need for a feminist perspective to expose and address these structural political, social and economic inequalities. Taking a nuanced, multidisciplinary approach, this book explores new ways of thinking about how climate change interacts with gender inequalities and feminist concerns with rights and law, and how the human world is bound up with the non-human, natural world. With contributions from leading scholars in law, feminism, human rights and politics, this book considers how equality is conceptualised, experienced and used in policies, law and practice that are integral to climate justice.
Gender and Sustainability
This is one of the first books to address how gender plays a role in helping to achieve the sustainable use of natural resources. The contributions collected here deal with the struggles of women and men to negotiate such forces as global environmental change, economic development pressures, discrimination and stereotyping about the roles of women and men, and diminishing access to natural resources—not in the abstract but in everyday life. Contributors are concerned with the lived complexities of the relationship between gender and sustainability. Bringing together case studies from Asia and Latin America, this valuable collection adds new knowledge to our understanding of the interplay between local and global processes.
Gender Dynamics in Transboundary Water Governance
his volume assesses the nexus of gender and transboundary water governance, containing empirical case studies, discourse analyses, practitioners’ accounts, and theoretical reflections. Transboundary water governance exists at the intersection of two highly masculinised fields: diplomacy and water resources management. In both fields, positions are mainly held by men, and core ideas, norms, and guiding principles that are presented as neutral, are both shaped by men and based on male experiences. This book sheds light on the often hidden gender dynamics of water conflict and cooperation at the transboundary level and on the implicit assumptions that guide research and policies.
Gender, intersectionality and climate institutions in industrialized states
This book explores how climate institutions in industrialised countries work to further recognition of social differences and integrate this understanding in climate policy making. With contributions from a range of expert scholars in the field, this volume investigates policy making in climate institutions from the perspective of power related to gender. It also considers other intersecting social factors at different levels of governance, from the global to the local level extending into climate relevant sectors. The authors argue that a focus on climate institutions is important since they not only develop strategies and policies, they also (re)produce power relations, promote specific norms and values, and distribute resources.
Global Gender and Environment Outlook 2016
The Global Gender and Environment Outlook (GGEO) provides an overview of critical evaluations and analyses of the interlinkages between gender and the environment, and their importance for gender-sensitive policymaking and actions. The GGEO was first proposed by the Network of Women Ministers and Leaders for the Environment (NWMLE) to UNEP at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20). The 2014 United Nations Environment Assembly subsequently welcomed the development of the GGEO, and the use of social science information and gender relevant indicators to examine the links between gender and the environment. The report describes policy options and concrete opportunities to contribute to the future we want - a future of justice and equality that leaves no one behind. It reflects and builds on the ground-breaking work of hundreds of scientists, policy experts, gender advocates and members of community groups. And it examines a wide range of topics, including food production, water and sanitation, energy, sustainable consumption and production, fisheries and fishing communities, and forests and those who depend on them for their livelihoods.
Global Women's Issues: Women in the World Today, extended version
We cannot solve global challenges unless women participate fully in efforts to find solutions. Female participation in the private sector is a crucial economic driver for societies worldwide. Economic security benefits every facet of a woman’s life, with positive effects on the health, education and vitality of families. Learn about women who are changing their societies for the better. This extended version of Global Women’s Issues: Women in the World Today includes, for each chapter, a summary, key words, multiple choice questions, discussion questions, essay questions, and a list of additional resources.
INTERSECTIONALITY Mapping the Movements of a Theory1
Du Bois Rev. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2014 Oct 1.
Published in final edited form as:
Du Bois Rev. 2013 Fall; 10(2): 303–312.
doi: 10.1017/S1742058X13000349

Very few theories have generated the kind of interdisciplinary and global engagement that marks the intellectual history of intersectionality. Yet, there has been very little effort to reflect upon precisely how intersectionality has moved across time, disciplines, issues, and geographic and national boundaries. Our failure to attend to intersectionality’s movement has limited our ability to see the theory in places in which it is already doing work and to imagine other places to which the theory might be taken. Addressing these questions, this special issue reflects upon the genesis of intersectionality, engages some of the debates about its scope and theoretical capacity, marks some of its disciplinary and global travels, and explores the future trajectory of the theory. To do so, the volume includes academics from across the disciplines and from outside of the United States. Their respective contributions help us to understand how intersectionality has moved and to broaden our sense of where the theory might still go.
Introduction to Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies
This book unpacks the social construction of knowledge and categories of difference, processes and structures of power and inequality, with a focus on gendered labor in the global economy, and the historical development of feminist social movements. The book emphasizes feminist sociological approaches to analyzing structures of power, drawing heavily from empirical feminist research.
Learning from Resilience Strategies in Tanzania
Tanzania has been considered a model for development, peace, and stability despite the arrival of refugees from neighboring countries and the potential tensions related to climate change. Although it has accessed the rank of middleincome country, Tanzania still faces several challenges, particularly in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. The book aims at analyzing these challenges as well as the country’s successes through a multi-disciplinary approach considering economic perspectives as well as conflict prevention, dialogue integration, climate change adaptation, forests’ protection, and social perspectives – especially relating to women and girls.
Mainstreaming Gender in Global Climate Governance
This book explores the role of feminist activists in The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and highlights the progress they have made in mainstreaming gender as a key issue in global climate governance. This research uncovers a so-far untold story about the history of the UNFCCC that foregrounds gender and feminist advocacy, highlighting the importance of the WGC in shaping dominant narratives of global climate governance through a series of rhetorical and procedural strategies. Overall, the book draws important conclusions around power in global climate governance and opens up new avenues for advancing a feminist green politics.
Negotiating Gender Expertise in Environment and Development
This book casts a light on the daily struggles and achievements of ‘gender experts’ working in environment and development organisations, where they are charged with advancing gender equality and social equity and aligning this with visions of sustainable development. Developed through a series of conversations convened by the book’s editors with leading practitioners from research, advocacy and donor organisations, this text explores the ways gender professionals – specialists and experts, researchers, organizational focal points – deal with personal, power-laden realities associated with navigating gender in everyday practice.
A Scoping Study Interlinkages between Women’s SRHR & Climate Chang Mainstreaming Policy in Central Java, Indonesia
The objectives of this study are to mainstream gender and women’s SRHR into climate change policy in Central Java. These objectives are divided into two major aims. First, to establish linkages between climate change and women’s SRHR within the provincial and national contexts. Second, to disseminate the findings via Advocacy Brief to multi-stakeholders. Third, to build multi-actor alliances in relation to climate change and women’s SRHR with the goal of improving gender mainstreaming and women’s SRHR services in Central Java after the research findings are shared to stakeholders.
UN environment at work. Cutting poverty by fostering environmental sustainability
Author: United Nations Environment Programme
Source: Our Planet, Volume 2017, Issue 2, May 2018, p. 30 - 31
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18356/216adff6-en
Language: English
Published online: 15 May 2018
Forests, lakes, rivers and fertile land provide income and employment for many men and women living in Africa. But unsustainable use of these resources can trap them in poverty. One way to reduce poverty and catalyse change is by producing and using evidence that brings together the environmental, economic and social dimensions of development. This is the so-called integrated approach to sustainable development.
Women and Climate Change: Examining Discourses from the Global North
How ideas of gender and climate change intersect with our path to a livable future.
When you think "climate change," who comes to mind? Who's doing the science, the reporting, the protesting, the suffering? In Women and Climate Change, Nicole Detraz asks where women in the global North figure in the picture, what that means, and why it matters. Her answers fill critical gaps in what we know about the politics of climate change and gender.

OER: Open Online Courses

Gender Equality and Human Rights in Climate Action and Renewable Energy
This self-paced e-course provides an overview of the interlinkages between gender, human rights, climate change, and renewable energy. It provides participants with the specific knowledge and tools to integrate and implement gender equality in renewable energy access and entrepreneurship, as well as related gender-responsive and human rights-based approaches in climate change mitigation and adaptation measures. Click on the “Enrole me” button to start learning!
Introductory Course to Gender and the Environment
This course provides a general introduction to gender and the environment
including in relation to issues such as access to land, natural resources,
biodiversity, food, energy and sanitation, and the exacerbation of gender
inequalities caused by climate change and biodiversity loss. The course
focuses particularly on the way gender has been addressed under multilateral
environmental agreements (MEAs), including in relation to access to
resources; participation in relevant decisions; mainstreaming; and access to
support.
Open Online Course on Gender and Environment
The course will help you better understand the linkages between gender and the environment. It will provide you with the knowledge and tools to mainstream gender, and to be an effective change-maker for sustainable development. It will also give you facts and figures, and a better understanding of the global international frameworks related to gender and environment. It is a “one-stop-shop” for information and illustrations on gender dimensions linked to biodiversity, climate change, land degradation, international waters, and chemicals and waste. All you need to know about gender and the environment!

Relevant E-book Collections/Databases

The following e-book collections/databases contain many e-books relevant to this class!

ACLS Humanities Ebook Collection (HEB) This link opens in a new window
The ACLS Humanities Ebook Collection (ACLS HEB) presents thousands of foundational books in the humanities and social sciences from hundreds of publishers, with 150-200 new titles added annually. ACLS HEB is a collection curated by scholars for scholars; members of ACLS learned societies nominate books for inclusion.
Cambridge Core e-Book Collection This link opens in a new window
ebook collection of over 27,000 titles from Cambridge University Press; available in html format or downloadable PDFs.
Ebook Central (ProQuest Ebook Central) This link opens in a new window
200,000+ full text books on many topics: Business & Economics, Computers, Technology & Engineering, Humanities, Life & Physical Sciences, Social & Behavioral Sciences. For help using Ebook Central: https://proquest.libguides.com/ebookcentral

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Coverage: Current
Full Text: Yes
For most titles users can download chapters or sections by page range to PDF. Whole book downloads available for up to 3 weeks via Adobe Digital Editions. Access the site from your tablet or phone, and download eBooks for offline reading.
eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
Search and browse 12,000 full text eBooks.
Full Text: Yes
Elgar Online Ebooks This link opens in a new window
Two ebook collections from Elgar Publishing: Sustainable Development Goals Essentials and Climate Change Essentials, plus 111 open access titles from Elgar.
JSTOR e-Book Collection This link opens in a new window
Browsable collection of e-books from JSTOR. Downloadable PDFs available at the chapter level.
JSTOR Sustainability Collection This link opens in a new window
The JSTOR Sustainability Collection features a wide range of journals, ebooks, and more than 5,400 Open Access research reports in the field of sustainability. The subjects of resilience and sustainability are explored broadly, covering research on environmental stresses and their impact on society. Includes more than 100 journals from over 20 disciplines, including environmental studies, environmental science, business, economics, law, aquatic & atmospheric sciences, ecology, urban studies and the built environment.
MIT Press Direct Ebooks Collection This link opens in a new window
Access to 3000+ ebook titles from MIT Press. Key subject areas covered in the complete collection include art and architecture, biomedical sciences, business and finance, computer science, cognitive science, design, education, environment, game studies, humanities, information science, linguistics, neuroscience, new media, philosophy, and social sciences.
SpringerLink e-Books This link opens in a new window
e-Book collection of over 75,000 titles from Springer; most books can be downloaded in PDF format by chapter or book. **Full text access is available ONLY for WPI subscribed titles, not the full Springer collection.

Sustainability Ebook Collection
Mapped to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this curated collection from ProQuest enables students and researchers to explore global issues from multiple avenues to prepare the next generation of leaders for the sustainability challenges and opportunities of tomorrow.

Taylor & Francis E-book Collection This link opens in a new window
Over 3000 e-books from Taylor and Francis; items can be read online and downloaded in PDF format by chapter or full e-book.

How to Find Books

Books are a vital sources of historical scholarship. To find books at the Gordon Library:

Type your keywords into the WPI Library Search.
Use the drop-down menu to the right of the search box to select "Books & Media."
To limit your search to online books, go to the Availability filter on the left and select Available online.
To limit your search to print books, go to the Availability filter on the left and select Available on shelf.

Recommended Databases for ENV 3500-E1-01 - Women and the Environment

Use the databases listed below to find journal articles and other resources related to your research topic.

Environmental Studies and Policy (Gale OneFile: Environmental Studies and Policy) This link opens in a new window
A collection of over 300 journals and 6 reference books provide robust coverage of environmental issues and policies, including diverse perspectives from the scientific community, governmental policy makers, as well as corporate interests. This resource is provided by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) in partnership with the Massachusetts Library System (MLS). The purchase is supported by funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
GreenFILE This link opens in a new window
Information on all aspects of human impact to the environment. Includes content on global warming, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, and more. The database provides indexing and abstracts for more than 384,000 records, as well as Open Access full text for more than 4,700 records.
Coverage: Varies
Full Text: Some
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Online archive of eBooks and complete backruns of scholarly journals in a variety of academic fields.
Coverage: 1800s-
Full Text: Yes
Titles Included | Search Tips
JSTOR Sustainability Collection This link opens in a new window
The JSTOR Sustainability Collection features a wide range of journals, ebooks, and more than 5,400 Open Access research reports in the field of sustainability. The subjects of resilience and sustainability are explored broadly, covering research on environmental stresses and their impact on society. Includes more than 100 journals from over 20 disciplines, including environmental studies, environmental science, business, economics, law, aquatic & atmospheric sciences, ecology, urban studies and the built environment.
Project MUSE This link opens in a new window
Full text access to scholarly humanities, social sciences, and mathematics journals.
Coverage: Varies
Full Text: Yes
Titles Included
ScienceDirect This link opens in a new window
Full text access to more than 2000 Elsevier science, social science, engineering and management scholarly journals.
Coverage: Varies
Full Text: Yes
SciTech Premium Collection This link opens in a new window
The SciTech Premium Collection provides full-text titles from around the world, including scholarly journals, trade and industry journals, magazines, technical reports, conference proceedings, government publications, and more. For those researchers who need to conduct comprehensive literature reviews, this database includes specialized, editorial-controlled A&I resources for discovery of relevant scholarly research and technical literature critical to the discipline. Subject areas include: • Advanced technologies • Aerospace • Agricultural science • Aquatic science • Atmospheric science • Biological science • Computer science • Earth science • Environmental science • Engineering • Materials science • Polymer science. See https://proquest.libguides.com/scitechpremium/about for more information and searching guidance.
Scopus This link opens in a new window
Scopus, the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature, features smart tools to track, analyze and visualize research. Scopus delivers the most comprehensive overview of the world’s research output in the fields of Science, Technology, Medicine, Social Sciences, and Arts & Humanities. As research becomes increasingly global, interdisciplinary and collaborative, Scopus helps ensure that crucial research from around the world is not missed.

General Research Databases

WPI Library Search This link opens in a new window
A powerful search tool to streamline your library research. Entering terms into a single search box yields results that include: books and e-books, research and news articles, project reports, electronic theses and dissertations, archival materials, patents, open access collections and more.
Full text: Yes
Proquest One Academic This link opens in a new window
With ProQuest One Academic, four core multi-disciplinary products – ProQuest Central, Academic Complete, Academic Video Online and ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global– are available and cross-searchable.
Google Scholar This link opens in a new window
Google search for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports on all topic areas. Use to find articles from academic publishers, professional societies, prepublication repositories and universities.
Coverage: Varies
Full Text: Yes

Examples of Peer-Reviewed Journals of Interest for: ENV 3500-E1-01 - Women and the Environment

*Use BROWZINE to locate additional journals of interest on the Environment or Gender Studies. Or, search within WPI LIBRARY SEARCH (the catalog) for other journals.

Ecofeminism and Climate Change
- Scope includes Public policy & environmental management, Environmental issues, and Climate change.
Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development
- Peer reviewed journal that analyzes the problems, places, and people where environment and development come together, illuminating concerns from the local to the global.
Ethics, policy & environment
- Publishes articles on environmental ethics and policy, exploring environmental justice, sustainability, energy technology and policy, animal welfare and more.
Gender & Society
Gender and Society promotes feminist scholarship and the social scientific study of gender. Gender and Society publishes theoretically engaged and methodologically rigorous articles that make original contributions to gender theory. The journal takes a multidisciplinary, intersectional, and global approach to gender analyses.
Global Challenges
- A peer-reviewed multidisciplinary open access journal that publishes original research articles, reviews, and commentaries aimed at providing practical solutions to a broad spectrum of current global challenges.
Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power
- Peer reviewed journal that explores the formation and transformation of racial, ethnic, national, transnational and postcolonial identities in the contemporary world.
Journal of Climate Change and Health
-The journal seeks to publish articles related to best practices and solutions for climate change and health, e.g. telemedicine, development of reusable supplies, development of environmentally friendly treatments for illnesses and issues related to sustainability in health care.
NPJ Climate Action
- research from all areas related to global climate change, with a special focus on the mitigation of effects; analyses of existing action plans and climate governance; their feasibility (but also limitations) in the different regions of the world; hypothetical scenarios.

What are Peer-Reviewed Journals?

A peer-reviewed journal is a respected publication. Before articles are published within these types of journals, they are sent by the editors of the journal to other scholars in the field ("peers"), often anonymously, to get feedback on the quality of the scholarship, review research methods, as well as relevance or importance to the field. The article may be accepted, often with revisions suggested, or rejected for publication. Many peer-reviewed journals have low acceptance rates.

Peer-reviewed articles are typically substantial in length (often 10 pages or more) and typically have many citations.

To find peer reviewed articles in WPI Library Search, enter your keywords and then choose the Peer-Reviewed Journals filter on the left.

screenshot of the Peer-reviewed Journals filter in the WPI Library Search

Kimberle Williams Crenshaw: What is Intersectional Feminism?

In this video, Kimberle Crenshaw, professor of law at UCLA and Columbia and an authority on Critical Race Theory and Civil Rights, walks us through a brief history of feminism, race, and class in the United States. Women & Power 2007: Women, Power & Peace. Explore more: https://www.eomega.org/omega-in-actio...

"Indigenous Women and Other Forms of Wisdom" (requires WPI log-in)

In this video, produced by community-based organization Wayuu Women's Strength, a group of women share their knowledge about international legislation regarding indigenous peoples (ILO 169 Convention) with members of their community. This in the context of an ongoing struggle to protect Wayuu territory from environmental destruction by Cerrejon, one of the largest open-pit coal mining operations in the world. [2010]

Ariramba
Feminine Nature is a series about the traditional ecological knowledge, gender and sustainability, through the lives of Afrodescendant and Indigenous women that live in different Brazilian ecosystems. Deals with issues increasingly relevant nowadays in world – the place woman occupy in society; the interaction of humans and nature; the connection between public policies and sustainable development. Ariramba (Para – Amazon region) – Josélia is a quilombola (descendent of slaved Africans) of the Amazon region - the animals, the fishes and the forest are her livelihood. The culture of the riverside population is the core of this episode. [2021] [29 minutes]
Guaranis Maquiné
Feminine Nature is a series about the traditional ecological knowledge, gender and sustainability, through the lives of Afrodescendant and Indigenous women that live in different Brazilian ecosystems. Deals with issues increasingly relevant nowadays in world – the place woman occupy in society; the interaction of humans and nature; the connection between public policies and sustainable development. Maquiné (Rio Grande do Sul – South region) – the indigenous people Mbyá-Guarani live and preserve what is left of the Atlantic forest. [2021] [26 minutes]
L’Eau Est La Vie (Water Is Life): From Standing Rock To The Swamp
On the banks of Louisiana, fierce Indigenous women are ready to fight—to stop the corporate blacksnake and preserve their way of life. They are risking everything to protect Mother Earth from the predatory fossil fuel companies that seek to poison it. [2019] [24 minutes]

Select reports from government agencies, international agencies and NGOs that may be of interest for your research in ENV 3500:

Adapt now: a global call for leadership on climate resilience
In its flagship report, Adapt Now, the Global Commission on Adaptation, cochaired by IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, points out that when climate adaptation intervention ignores gender inequalities—including reduced access to education and employment opportunities—it only deepens existing vulnerabilities and encourages new types of exclusion.
Dimensions and examples of the gender-differentiated impacts of climate change, the role of women as agents of change and opportunities for women. Synthesis report by the secretariat
This report, prepared on the basis of submissions from Parties and observer organizations, a review of the contributions of Working Groups II and III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the
intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and a desk review of academic literature, synthesizes information on gender-differentiated impacts of climate change, the role of women as agents of change and opportunities for women in the context of climate change. It highlights the interplay of gender and social norms resulting in women experiencing greater vulnerability to the impacts of climate change than men, while emphasizing the significant role that women and marginalized groups can play in mitigating and adapting to climate change.
Engagement of Women and Gender-related Groups in the Climate Investment Funds: An Assessment
This report—Engagement of Women and Gender-Related Groups in the Climate Investment Funds: An Assessment—was commissioned by the CIF E&L Initiative and undertaken by the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO). It assesses elements of the enabling environment as instruments that contribute to the effective and inclusive engagement of women and gender-related stakeholders in the CIF.
From risks to rewards: overcoming the impacts of climate change on women in agricultural supply chains
This report from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office explores barriers and opportunities for women in agriculture and how businesses can integrate climate change and gender approaches in inclusive ways. The report explores how climate change is increasing barriers to women’s economic empowerment amongst workers and farmers in Kenya, Pakistan and Malawi. It outlines opportunities for women to be economically empowered while addressing climate change issues, including case studies that illustrate how to integrate gender and climate change. It also makes recommendations for how businesses can develop climate-smart and gender-just approaches in their supply chains.
Gender and the Environment Building Evidence and Policies to Achieve the SDGs
From OECD and based on the SDG framework, this report provides an overview of the gender-environment nexus, looking into data and evidence gaps, economic and well-being benefits, and governance and justice aspects. It examines nine environment-related SDGs (2, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12 and 15) through a gender-environment lens, using available data, case studies, surveys and other evidence. It shows that women around the world are disproportionately affected by climate change, deforestation, land degradation, desertification, growing water scarcity and inadequate sanitation, with gender inequalities further exacerbated by COVID-19. The report concludes that gender-responsiveness in areas such as land, water, energy and transport management, amongst others, would allow for more sustainable and inclusive economic development, and increased well-being for all. Recognising the multiple dimensions of and interactions between gender equality and the environment, it proposes an integrated policy framework, taking into account both inclusive growth and environmental considerations at local, national and international levels.
Progress of the World's Women 2015-2016 :Transforming Economies, Realizing Rights
This UN Women’s flagship report shows that, all too often, women’s economic and social rights are held back, because they are forced to fit into a ‘man’s world’. But, it is possible to move beyond the status quo, to picture a world where economies are built with women’s rights at their heart. It is being published as the international community comes together to define a transformative post-2015 development agenda, and coincides with the 20th anniversary commemoration of the landmark Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China which set out a comprehensive agenda to advance gender equality. This publication brings together human rights and economic policymaking, and provides the key elements for a far-reaching new policy agenda that can transform economies and make women’s rights a reality. Through solid in-depth analysis and data, this evidence-based report provides key recommendations on moving towards an economy that truly works for women, for the benefit of all.
PROMOTING GENDER-RESPONSIVE APPROACHES TO NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT FOR PEACE IN NORTH KORDOFAN, SUDAN
The Joint Project “Promoting Gender-Responsive Approaches to Natural Resource Management for Peace” was the first pilot project established by the global Joint Programme on Women, Natural Resources and Peace, which aims to promote natural resource-based interventions as a tool for women’s political and economic empowerment in peacebuilding contexts.
Report on women, gender equality and climate justice
From the European Parliament - REPORT on women, gender equality and climate justice (2017/2086(INI)) Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality Rapporteur: Linnéa Engström.
Toward a Gender-Transformative Agenda for Climate and Environmental Action
From the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW66), this addresses the interlinkages between gender equality and climate change, through substantive discussions and a negotiated outcome on the priority theme: Achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in the context of climate change, environmental and disaster risk reduction policies and programmes.
The World’s Women 2010: Trends and Statistics.
The publication presents statistics and analysis on the status of women and men in the world, highlighting the current situation and changes over time. It was prepared to coincide with and in observance of the first-ever World Statistics Day, 20.10.2010. The report is the fifth in the series which has been published every five years, as called for in the Beijing Platform for Action adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. As in the past editions, the presentation is made in a format and language that non-specialists can readily understand.
The World’s Women 2015: Trends and Statistics
The World’s Women 2015 comprises eight chapters covering critical areas of policy concern: population and families, health, education, work, power and decision-making, violence against women, environment, and poverty. In each area, a life-cycle approach is introduced to reveal the experiences of women and men during different periods of life—from childhood and the formative years, through the working and reproductive stages, to older ages.
Women and Climate Change Impact and Agency in Human Rights, Security, and Economic Development
From The Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace & Security. The report frames climate change as a universal human rights imperative, a global security threat, and a pervasive economic strain. Cataloguing the effects of climate change, the study examines the gen- dered dimensions of sea level rising and flooding; deforestation and ocean acidification; water scarcity; energy production and energy poverty; and climate-related displacement and migration. As part of this analysis, the report not only identifies how women are strained differentially and severely by the effects of climate change, but also how women have, continue to, and could serve as agents of mitigation and adaptation.
WOMEN AT THE FRONTLINE OF CLIMATE CHANGE - GENDER RISKS AND HOPES
From UNEP, this report examines adaptation, vulnerability and resilience of people to climate change depend upon a range of conditions. These vary from their degree of exposure and dependency upon weather patterns for livelihoods and food security, to varying capacities in adaptation, which are influenced by gender, social status, economic poverty, power, access, and control and ownership over resources in the household, community and society. Mountain peoples are especially vulnerable since climate impacts and changes are predominantly acute in mountainous regions. This is particularly true in the Andes, Africa and Asia.
Women, Gender Equality and Climate Change
United Nations factsheet - An analysis of how women are affected by the issues of gender equality and climate change; and how they respond, is provided below together with references to relevant United Nations mandates and information sources.
Women, girls and the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment - Report of the Special Rapporteur on the issue of human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment (A/HRC/52/33)
From the United Nations Human Rights Commission, in the present report, the Special Rapporteur describes State obligations, business responsibilities and the potential benefits of achieving gender equality and ecological sustainability. He makes recommendations related to dismantling systemic discrimination, empowering women and girls as climate and environmental leaders and ensuring that women and girls are able to fully enjoy their right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
WOMEN4CLIMATE REPORT: GENDER INCLUSIVE CLIMATE ACTION IN CITIES
In recent years, a small number of extraordinary women have emerged as key leaders on global action to tackle climate change. However, more generally, women are grossly under-represented in high-level climate negotiations; tend to be disproportionately vulnerable to climate impacts; and climate solutions tend to ignore gender-specific issues, perpetuating a general bias of infrastructure and services designed predominantly for men. This report sets out proposals for how to correct these imbalances and, through focusing on an inclusive climate action approach, to ensure that investment to cut emissions and improve resilience will benefit the full diversity of urban citizens, rich and poor, men and women.

WPI Library Search (the main search box on the library homepage) searches across most of the library's resources at once and can be used to find books, articles, and more. Enter your keywords to get started. Then use the tips below to refine your search results.

Search Tips for WPI Library Search:

Use these search terms to narrow or broaden your search:

Term	Example	Result
AND	women AND climate change	Narrows the search to entries containing both terms.
OR	policy OR initiative	Broadens the search to entries containing either term.
NOT	climate NOT temperature	Excludes entries containing the second term.
“ ”	"gender identity”	Retrieves results containing the exact phrase in quotes.
?	wom?n	Wildcard: Retrieves both woman and women.
*	feminis*	Truncation: Retrieves feminism, feminist, feminists, etc.

After you search, refine your search results using the filters on the left. Filter by availability, resource type, publication date, and more.

Screenshot of the search filters in the WPI Library Search

Full Text Finder

When searching in the library's databases, you may find an abstract for an article but not the full-text. When this happens, click on the FullTextFinder icon.

The FullTextFinder will either redirect you to another database that has the full-text of the article or it will tell you that we don't have this article in our collections. If we don't have an article that you need, request the article via Interlibrary Loan. Interlibrary Loan (ILL) is a service that allows WPI students and faculty to request items from other libraries free of charge.

Interlibrary Loan

Is there something you need that the WPI library doesn't have? Our Interlibrary Loan service allows WPI students and faculty to request items from other libraries free of charge.

WorldCat

Use WorldCat.org to search for books, articles, and more at libraries around the world. Request materials from other libraries via Interlibrary Loan.

Borrow from Nearby Libraries

The Academic and Research Collaborative (ARC) allows member users to borrow directly from Worcester area libraries. Before you can borrow materials directly from participating libraries, you need to sign up for an ARC card in person at the Gordon Library's Information Desk. Pick up your ARC card today!

As a resident of Massachusetts, you can sign up for a library card at the Worcester Public Library (WPL). WPI students with a college ID can are eligible for WPL cards. You can also sign up for an ecard, which allows you to access the WPL's online resources.

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Sustainability - a comprehensive guide to books, journals, databases, and selected resources by topics within sustainability, from carbon capture to social sustainability. Also includes links to sustainability offices and programs at WPI.Climate Change - targeted guide on this topic links to books, journals, organizations, and resources for advocacy and action

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) - guide to WPI resources as well as research, videos, books, and more on a wide range of issues in diversity and inclusion.

Global Health - books, articles, statistics, web resources

Latin America & Caribbean: Environment and Sustainability - institutions, case studies, scholarly resources

Great Problems Seminar (GPS) guides: Shelter the World

Earth Day 2023 at WPI - events, videos, and other resources for observing Earth Day

ENV 3500-E1-01 - Women and the Environment: Research Resources

Featured Course-related Books from our Subscription E-Book Collections!