Minister of Women, Family and Elderly Affairs of Tunisia, Imen Zahouani Houimel, called for mainstreaming gender in climate change mitigation programmes and developing the green economy.
She was speaking at a workshop on the launch of a national strategy for mainstreaming gender in climate change.
The minister stressed the need to establish concrete policies to improve the participation of women and to give them the opportunity to access innovation in renewable energy.
Women are the group most affected by climate change according to the latest studies in this field, facing problems in learning and employment in unstructured agricultural sectors, in addition to low participation in decision-making, Houimel noted.
Acting Minister of Local Affairs and Environment Kamel Doukh, for his part, emphasised the importance of adopting the gender approach in the implementation of climate policies, to allow the country to further enhance gender equality and achieve climate justice.
Read also: FG Blames Climate Change for Insurgency in Nigeria
Deputy representative of the United Nations Development Programme Alissar Shaker was present at the meeting that also saw the participation of members of the Council of Peers for Equal Opportunities between Women and Men, as well as representatives of the two ministries.
The latter are working on preparing a draft national action plan for mainstreaming gender in climate change that will be later presented to a cabinet meeting.
