Opening of the first organic stall in Banishanta market, Bangladesh

Years of my professional life were dedicated to amplifying the voices of climate-vulnerable women in the Global South by opening ethical markets for their produce. The exhibition Women, Power and Entrepreneurship in the Climate Change Age during Gender Day at #COP26 celebrates a series of transformational partnerships between creative sellers and responsive buyers. Recognising and celebrating gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in climate policy and action, Gender Day at #COP26 will be held on Tuesday 9 November 2021.

The day-long exhibition aims to amplify the voices, celebrate the agency and showcase the produce of women facing a convergence of climate impacts manifested through recurrent droughts, salinated soil, erratic monsoons, ecosystem degeneration, global pandemic and loss of livelihood.

Power to gain control over their lives to effect change

Our partners in the Global South represent those who tragically have contributed the least to green-house gas emissions and yet at the same time are suffering the most acute effects of climate change.

They also represent empowerment, not as power over others but power to act with other members of their communities to effect change. In this perspective power is a form of social activism that promotes the participation of women in gaining control over their lives in their community.

Our partners embody high levels of resilience in their constant dialogue and adaptation to climate uncertainty and adversity. These women are also pioneers of a regenerative movement, increasing their food security and livelihoods, repositioning themselves in their communities and transforming their local ecosystems.

Regenerative approaches by women in climate action

Adopting a nested system approach the most successful initiatives led by our partners tend to harmonise ecological, social and economic systems with natural processes, reducing negative impacts of climate change through intuitively practical local-based solutions.

This can be translated in three interdependent flows of design:

Flow 1: From vulnerability to participatory leadership

It is a real awakening when women realise that being equal does not mean utilising the same leadership approaches as men. Developing rights-and-land-based leadership skills can see a whole constellation of attitudes emerging amongst women. Solidarity, participatory decision-making, collaborative communication and the recognition of the immense power for social change that lies in building a common vision of a desirable future are some of them.

Flow 2: From dominance to intimacy with nature

These days ecological design skills emerge and respond as climate change unfolds. As a daily practice women reaffirm the existential relationship between healthy soils and wholesome communities. They embody the key insight that we can change from dominance to intimacy with the entity of place. They are in the business of continuously adapting, restoring and caring for the soil, land, biodiversity and water towards abundant crops for community and produce for ethical markets.

Flow 3: From scarcity into pioneering ethical entrepreneurship

Livelihood action is about women’s participation in natural resource management with income generation projects such as organic gardens, aromatic herbs cultivation, horticulture sites, food preservation, beekeeping where they emerge as household income earners and active contributors to the communities’ prosperity.

“There comes a time when humanity is called to shift to a new level of consciousness . . . that time is now.”

— Wangari Maathai

The gift of partnership

Women, Power and Entrepreneurship in the Climate Change Age exhibition is curated by four innovative organisations working from UK in partnership with women from the Federation of Tribal Women of Orissa, THREAD, Bangladesh Association for Sustainable Development, L’Arcolaio Cooperative, Satere Mawe Craftswomen Association and many other communities.

With over 50 years of accumulated climate action through the arts, music, education, enterprise and community-led design for carbon-constrained lifestyle Gaia Education, Artists Project Earth - APE-UK, Global Ecovillage Network and LUSH UK have been supporting women to assert themselves as eco-socio entrepreneurs.

These empowered women all have a story to tell through their produce. Honey from the Miombo Woodlands of the Zambian Central Province; spices from the Federation of Tribal Women of Orissa; Amazon forest jewellery crafted by the Satere Mawe Association; liquid soaps from Kibera neighbourhood in Kenya; Courage Chocolate made by Nigerian girls arriving in Sicily are some of the products that carry their voices.

Visit the exhibition Women, Power and Entrepreneurship in the Climate Change Age at the Green Zone, Gender Day at #COP26 on Tuesday 9 November 2021. Experience first-hand the achievements of these growers, artisans, mothers, daughters and entrepreneurs. And be inspired by products handmade, ‘slow-made’ and well-made by climate action women.