The Women and Gender Constituency (WGC) is one of the nine stakeholder groups of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Established in 2009, the WGC now consists of 16 women’s and environmental civil society organizations, who are working to ensure that women’s voices and their rights are embedded in all processes and results of the UNFCCC framework, for a sustainable and just future, so that gender equality and women’s human rights are central to the ongoing discussions. As the WGC represents the voices of hundreds and thousands of people across the globe, members of the Constituency are present at each UNFCCC meeting and intersessional to work alongside the UNFCCC Secretariat, governments, civil society observers and other stakeholders to ensure that women’s rights and gender justice are core elements of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Our Goals

The goal of the Women’s and Gender Constituency (WGC) is to formalize the voice of the women’s and gender civil society organizations present and regularly active in UNFCCC processes, and to develop, streamline and advocate common positions. The Constituency aims to bring together as many NGO observers accredited to the UNFCCC as possible to work democratically towards achieving its goals. Individuals and organizations who are not accredited to the UNFCCC are encouraged to work through those accredited members and participate in the WGC-hosted advocacy groups.

The Constituency draws upon global commitments to gender equality and women’s rights, especially as they relate to climate change, and toward the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and related commitments and Rio-Conventions. The Constituency works to ensure that human rights and gender equality are firmly anchored in all climate actions under the UNFCCC and to challenge the extractive, exploitative and patriarchal economic model which has resulted in the climate crisis.

Our Principles

The principles of the Women and Gender Constituency are based on:

• Democratic and participatory governance;
• Respectful and supportive participation;
• Wide and inclusive membership of accredited CSO observers, encouraging regional balance;
• Transparent procedures and clear, timely and flexible communication;
• Participation processes that allow for effective participation of members from all regions and backgrounds;
• Building on history (collectively and individually);
• Mentoring (of younger generations and other newcomers);
• A goal-oriented approach;
• Providing a platform for women’s leadership with broad and participatory access.

Our Responsibilities

The main objectives of the Women and Gender Constituency include:

• Ensuring the representation of women’s voices, experiences, needs and capacities in the UNFCCC process and to provide gender perspectives in all related discussions
• Developing and advocating for common positions based on climate justice principles and work together towards achieving shared goals
• Contributing women and gender-sensitive perspectives and a wider critical analysis of current developments within and around the official negotiations to help foster communication between women and gender organizations and groups, and national- or international fora
• Facilitating and engaging in the daily women and gender caucus during the negotiations
• Liaising with other caucuses and constituencies, especially to identify and build upon common ground
• Collaborating on funding opportunities in a transparent manner and according to agreed guidelines, in order to support the collective work and diverse representation of the Constituency in the UNFCCC process and allow for enhanced capacity building and knowledge sharing.