“You can’t have climate justice without gender equality.” These words, spoken by Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate, echo a truth we can no longer afford to ignore. In Africa, where the impacts of climate change are felt most acutely, women stand at the heart of the struggle—not just as victims but as agents of change. The question is no longer if women belong at the table. The truth is, they’ve always been there, holding up the table itself.
The African Group of Negotiators Experts Support (AGNES) recognizes this undeniable reality and is on a mission to give women their rightful seat in climate governance. Together with the African Development Bank Group, the African Development Fund (ADF), and the Climate Investment Funds (CIF), AGNES has launched the Empowering Women in Climate Governance Programme—a groundbreaking initiative that brought together 10 influential women leaders from across Africa.
These women—Helene Uzayisenga (Rwanda), Beverly Mishili (Zambia), Susan Nanduddu (Uganda), Namo Lawson (Togo), Eman Abdelazam (Egypt), Anne Omwoyo (Kenya), Nour Mansour (Tunisia), Karishma Ansaram (Mauritius), Dr. Joyce Ogwezi (Nigeria), and Afia Agyapomaa Ofosu (Ghana)—came together in Nairobi, Kenya, not just to learn, but to lead. The gathering was a powerful moment of knowledge-sharing, peer networking, and mutual empowerment. It sent a clear message: women are not just contributing to the fight against climate change; they are the fight.
Climate change is a gendered crisis
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Africa has become the front line of the climate crisis, and the blows are relentless. The 2023 State of Climate in Africa report paints a dire picture: extreme weather events—floods, droughts, rising temperatures, and shifting rainfall patterns—are ravaging economies, devastating ecosystems, and deepening inequalities. The storms aren’t just hitting our shores; they are uprooting lives, particularly those of women.
When the floods recede and the droughts settle into dust, it is women who are left picking up the pieces. But here’s the kicker: despite shouldering the greatest burdens of climate change, women continue to be marginalized in decision-making. They are shut out of the rooms where policies are written, budgets are allocated, and strategies are designed—rooms where their insights are desperately needed.
Think about this: by 2030, it’s projected that 118 million people in Africa will face heightened risks due to extreme climate conditions. The majority of them will be women. Can we, in good conscience, continue to exclude the very people who will suffer the most from this crisis?
The inequalities run deep. Women, who make up more than half of Africa’s population, are systematically denied the power to influence the very systems that perpetuate their vulnerabilities. They are barred from political and economic power, forced to operate with limited access to financial resources, education, and basic services. The gap between those who suffer the impacts of climate change and those who have the power to act is growing wider by the day.
Is it fair that while Africa’s women toil to adapt to a changing climate, they are excluded from the very governance processes that could improve their lives? Absolutely not.
A call for African women to lead
At the Nairobi Induction Workshop, AGNES Team Leader Dr. George Wamukoya issued a call to action that reverberated throughout the room: “Gender is very important in climate governance because it is core. The Gender Action Plan has come to an end, and Africa requires a new one. This is the time for African women to make their contributions.”
For me, his words hit home like sledgehammers. They forced me to reflect on the situation in my own country, Ghana, where illegal mining (Galamsey) is wreaking havoc on local communities. The rivers run dark with pollution, the soil is stripped of life, and yet the silence from our leaders is deafening. Women and children are paying the highest price, and no one is being held accountable.
What will it take for our leaders to wake up and see the cost of their inaction? The time for waiting is over. We must demand better. We must demand a future where women’s voices are not just heard but prioritized. Women like those in the AGNES program are proving that they have the knowledge, resilience, and passion to lead the charge. They are lighting the way for a future where climate justice and gender equality go hand in hand.
We can’t keep kicking the can down the road, hoping someone else will take care of it. Every delay in action is a death sentence for someone’s livelihood, someone’s community, someone’s future. It is high time we realize that empowering women is not just a step toward achieving climate justice—it is the only way to achieve it.
The time to act is now
So, what happens next? Will we continue to shut out the very people who can offer real solutions, or will we finally take the bold step of placing women at the center of climate governance? The women who gathered in Nairobi are ready to lead; the question is, are we ready to follow?
Because one thing is certain: you cannot solve the climate crisis without addressing the deep-rooted inequalities that fuel it. Women are not an afterthought in this fight; they are the heartbeat. And if we are to have any hope of winning, we must empower them—not tomorrow, not in the next climate action plan, but now.
The clock Is ticking. The storms are coming. But with women leading the way, we stand a chance to weather them together.
The writer is a journalist
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