Empowering Female Climate Change Activists in the Global South

Inspiring citizens to act to solve the global climate crisis in every situation of their lives is certainly one of the most crucial missions of humanity today. Dr. Peg Spitzer’s wonderful book Empowering Female Climate Change Activists in the Global South: The Path Toward Environmental Social Justice, provides such a galvanizing inspiration, with a wide variety of diverse and stunning true stories. But most importantly, this book reveals the untapped potential of tackling structural gender norms and empowering women to speak up for their rights, to create and to implement relevant and just climate solutions that serve people and the planet. As a university professor, mentor and jury member of the Gender Just Climate Solutions Awards, granted each year during the climate COPs, Dr. Peg Spitzer has had the opportunity to collect numerous oral stories of impressive female and feminist grassroots climate activists from all regions of the world. She offers these life jewels to the reader in a fascinating literary piece.

-- Anne Barre, Gender & Climate Policy Coordinator, Women Engage for a Common Future

It is well known that women are uniquely and disproportionately impacted by climate change in the Global South. Alarmingly, many scholars ignore what these women have to say about their lived experiences and the solutions that follow from them. In Empowering Female Climate Change Activists in the Global South: The Path Toward Environmental Social Justice, Dr. Peg Spitzer draws on oral history interviews to give a voice to women affected by climate change and, in the process, describes solutions that not only empower women but also improve the environment. This book is a must read. It leaves the reader with a sense of hope that if women, who find themselves in difficult circumstances across the planet ,can leave the world better off for all of us than we surely can do the same.

-- John M. Shandra, Professor of Sociology, State University of New York at Stony Brook

Professor Spitzer is committed to expanding access to scholarship on historically underrepresented communities. Her work offers a critical look at the effects of climate change on rural populations around the world. Through oral histories, field studies, and interviews, she examines the effects of patriarchal social structures and cultural practices on rural women’s abilities to pursue social justice related to climate change and the environment in Africa, Central America, and South/Southeast Asia.

-- Dana Haugh, Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library, Yale University

Dr. Spitzer is answering the question of our time: how do we address climate change while building a more equitable, diverse, and beautiful society? This book tells the stories of the women who are leading the charge to protect and regenerate their environment, their communities, and the women and girls around them. Dr. Spitzer shares with us the struggles, desires, and successes of those who have been without a voice in their words. We need these stories. Dr. Spitzer reminds us why justice matters for climate solutions. She helps us to see past technocratic solutions to climate change to the heart and soul of our path forward, place-based solutions through stories, community, and the women who hold the world together. This book is a must-read for anyone who is interested in the power of narratives, the power of women, and the power of hope in the face of adversity. This book connects us to each other and to women all around the world transforming their communities and each other. Dr. Spitzer introduces us to solutions that put justice, equity, and survival right in the center of how we talk about our changing climate. Dr. Spitzer writes with kindness, beauty, and heart that draws you in and introduces you to women in India, Guatemala, Tunisia, Colombia, Uganda, Vietnam, and more like they were old friends. You will laugh, you will cry, you will get angry at injustice, but mostly you will be empowered, and you will gain the insight that empathy is one of the strongest tools we have for creating a more just, more vibrant, and more sustainable future.

-- Andrew Hargrove, PhD, University of South Florida

Dr. Spitzer’s book serves as an inspirational handbook guide to empowering woman from the Global South. She combines oral histories with scholarly research and provides deep insights into the challenges and opportunities that rural woman from the Global South face with climate change and power dynamics. Spitzer gives voice to underrepresented women in the discussion and navigation of finding translational knowledge and employing new perspectives on gender theory. Her book provides an insightful and thorough examination of the necessary policies that must include women in the decision-making and carry through of climate action initiatives and pathways for sustainable empowerment of rural communities. Dr. Spitzer’s book incorporates inspirational stories of women and the ways in which they have bridged the rural and transnational networks to create innovative and empowering opportunities to tackle climate change at the local level. Weaving women’s oral histories, scholarly research on gender and power, and an examination of international institutions, Spitzer provides numerous insightful and uplifting reflections on justful and woman empowering movements across the Global South. Any researchers of climate change and practitioners working on the forefront of climate change adaptation planning, and especially relevant to women, will find enlightening and beneficial information in this book on how to realize climate actions that benefit rural to global society.

-- Karina Yager, School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences and Sustainability Studies, Stony Brook University

This year, with its fires and heatwaves, 1,000-year droughts and 100-year floods, is still the coolest year of the rest of our lives. Yet, the urgency for action on climate does not yet translate into palpable transformation of our human systems, and instead features technological 'moonshots' that literally drop from the sky. This contrasts with the hard work of upending hierarchies of power to build a more resilient, inclusive, and fair world for all. With endless curiosity, and a keen ear for the oral history of women in the Global South, Spitzer takes on an overlooked dimension of climate change, gender, and reaches an unequivocal conclusion: climate justice requires gender justice. Globally, women are leaders in climate adaptation and transformation, but poor or nonexistent access to land, credit, and education — all expressions of a deep-seated patriarchy — stand in the way. Obstacles notwithstanding, women leaders in the Global South are showing the way forward on climate, international networking, and preparing the next generation of environmental leaders. Far from the elegy that characterizes the climate genre, Spitzer’s Empowering Female Climate Change Activists in the Global South leaves us invigorated and energized, ready to roll up our sleeves as have so many women leaders from Ghana to Guatemala.

-- Liliana M. Dávalos, Professor of Conservation Biology, Stony Brook University,