Feminist Foreign Policy & Climate Change
Speakers: Hilda Nakabuye, Sofiia Shevchuk
Special guest: Rahmina Paullete
In the second episode of “Hear Her Roar” our host and feminist foreign policy fellow Sabrine Dao continues the conversation around feminist foreign policy, this time with a focus on climate change. She is joined by two co-fellows, the Ugandan climate activist Hilda Nakabuye and the gender & security expert Sofiia Shevchuk, a Ukrainian currently based in Brussels. The special guest for this episode is Rahmina Paullete, a seventeen year old climate activist and environmentalist from Kenya.
Climate change has especially dire consequences for women around the world. Our speakers discuss how structural discrimination, such as restricted access to education for women, leads to a lack of knowledge and understanding of the science and impacts of climate change. Hilda, for instance, highlights the situation in Uganda, one of the most affected countries of climate change: her local community has had to deal with floods, droughts, high temperatures, heavy rains and strong winds. But overwhelmingly, these extreme weather events are seen as a punishment from God. Almost 80% of those affected by climate change are women, however, they are also the drivers for climate action at a grassroots level.
To learn more about the effects of climate change on women in particular, and why feminist foreign policy enables a more holistic view of environmental and climate change issues, listen to this episode out now.
About a year ago, the Heinrich Boell Foundation, Washington D.C. gathered a group of feminist fellows from around the world in the United States to explore the concept of a feminist foreign policy in more depth. The conversations back then never stopped and continued throughout 2024, culminating in our mini-podcast series "Her Her Roar" - Talking Feminist Foreign Policy.
If you are unsure what a feminist foreign policy means in practice, how it can positively change our societies and shape a more holistic understanding of foreign policy, this podcast is for you.