Women: The Unsung Heroes Of The Environment

- Bianca Jagger

Recently I delivered the keynote speech at the exhibition, "Women Pioneers for the Environment and Nature Conservation - 1899 to the Present" in Berlin, Germany, organised by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment to celebrate International Women's Day.

When I was first asked to give the speech, I was aware that women have played an important role in conservation, environmental protection, and in addressing the threat of climate change. But I didn’t know how much they have contributed, often invisibly, to preserving and caring for our planet’s precious natural resources. In the course of researching and preparing the speech, I learned a great deal. Women are the unsung heroes of the environment.

What is clear is that, as we waver on the cusp of various global crises, the services women provide to environmental protection become more indispensable every day. More than ever, as we face the challenges of combating climate change, deforestation, the melting of the Arctic sea ice, we will need these women: their skills, their wisdom and their knowledge.

The Great Tradition of Women and the Environment

When the English dissident preacher John Ball asked, in the early 14th century, ‘When Adam delved and Eve span/ Who was then the gentleman?’ he described an idealised divide between traditional gender roles: between the domestic and the agricultural. Eve stays at home and spins - Adam tends the land.

But a short examination of almost any culture across the world, throughout history, will demonstrate how far removed from reality this idea is. Women have always worked and tended the land. Farming, husbandry, gardening, hunting and fishing, forestry... As often as not, Eve is out in the fields with the plough, as well as inside caring for the children.