With this tool I can link two very complicated topics (gender and climate) and make it tangible and real for my students. -- High school teacher, Belgium
Oxfam Belgium’s ‘Educational tool gender and climate – women at the heart of climate justice’, launched in March 2023, intertwines gender equality with environmental education. With a focus on secondary education, it provides educators with online, ready-to-use, pedagogical materials designed to illuminate the interplay between gender inequality and climate justice.
This initiative aligns with Oxfam’s core mission to combat inequality and injustice, emphasising gender equality as a crucial aspect of its global strategy. It aims to engage Belgian young people, particularly high school students, in understanding the unique challenges that women – especially those in the Global South – face owing to climate change.
The core activities include:
- an interactive introduction to climate change and gender inequalities;
- subgroup discussions featuring testimonies from affected women, enhancing understanding through personal narratives;
- journalistic role play, in which students create news items based on the challenges and resilience of these women, supported by diverse resources to deepen their engagement with the subject.
This tool sets a precedent for integrating gender perspectives into environmental education, demonstrating the power that well-designed educational resources have to advance gender equality and climate justice. Oxfam Belgium’s initiative offers a model for similar efforts worldwide, emphasising the importance of accessible teaching materials and the need for comprehensive guidance for educators.