Young people are vital agents for a just green transition, but participation varies across social identities and backgrounds. Men and boys tend to be less interested in both sustainability and gender equality. How can organisations strengthen the conscious and committed, while also bringing underrepresented voices to the table? This report analyses experiences of young people in Nordic nonprofit organisations from a gender and climate perspective. It identifies clear patterns and obstacles and considers key approaches to enabling more inclusive youth movements.
Studies have shown that young people tend to worry about climate change to a greater degree than adults and are often more committed to sustainable development (Hickman et al., 2021). However, there seem to be differences in involvement between girls and boys that roughly reflect the patterns between women and men (e.g. Dzialo, 2017; Haugestad et al., 2021). Gender is not a simple explanatory factor, as there are differences within women as a group and men as a group that may be due to other social factors such as education, income, place of residence (urban/rural), race or ethnicity and so on. Gender is formed in a complex and sometimes contradictory process where those different categories interact to create differences in identity, living conditions and influence (Kaijser & Kronsell, 2014).
A recent research overview of gender perspectives on sustainable lifestyles has pointed to a connection between orientation towards caring values and behaviours on the one hand and commitment to reduced environmental and climate impact on the other. While caring is coded as feminine and, through socialisation, tends to characterise girls and women to a greater degree than boys and men, this association can be seen in individuals regardless of their sex. While traditional forms of masculinity can be considered an obstacle to sustainable lifestyles and a green transition, with the preference in food (meat) and means of transport (fossil-powered motoring) being prime examples, more care-oriented boys and men also tend to be more inclined to sustainable lifestyles than other boys and men (Sand, 2022; cf. Hultman & Pulé, 2018).
In the aforementioned research overview (Sand, 2022), studies are lacking overall on gender aspects of young people’s engagement in the field of sustainable development. The overview raises several relevant questions – related to patterns of engagement in the climate and sustainability field among young people – where gender is a relevant aspect alongside factors including regionality (urban/rural), class background, ethnic background and migration background. In connection with that, it is also of interest how environmental organisations for young people relate to issues of gender, equality and inclusion. It is against that background that the present report has been written. In the following section, the mission and the working method are briefly described.