As I write this, we are now in the week that follows COP26 – and coming to terms with the reinforced fact that political leaders have once again chosen not to fight for a 1.5°C livable world, but to continue to actively support fossil fuels and their own business interests.

While the majority of post-COP26 coverage has – and should – focus on this essential issue, there is something equally important that is still being overlooked in the wake of the climate change conference: gender.

A report by UN Climate Change published in August 2021 highlighted the continued gender imbalance in the decision-making process on the Climate Crisis, warning that female government delegates occupied, on average, 33% of all positions at the negotiations in 2021, as was the case in 2020 and 2019.

In fact, at COP25 in 2019, 60% of all government delegates were men, and 73% of all heads and deputy-heads of delegations were men.

This is particularly alarming as the Climate Crisis threatens to impact women more than men worldwide by worsening existing inequalities – with women already more likely to live in poverty than men, have less access to basic human rights like the ability to move freely and acquire land, and a considerably higher likelihood to face systematic violence that escalates during periods of instability.

It is with this in mind that we address the issue of Petro-masculinity.

What Is Petro-masculinity?

The phrase was coined in a 2018 journal article by Cara Daggett entitled Petro-masculinity: Fossil Fuels and Authoritarian Desire – the paper can be found here, and forms both the basis and inspiration of this article. I highly recommend that you read it in full.

“In other words, fossil fuels matter to new authoritarian movements in the West because of profits and consumer lifestyles, but also because privileged subjectivities are oil-soaked and coal-dusted. It is no coincidence that white, conservative men – regardless of class – appear to be among the most vociferous climate deniers, as well as leading fossil fuel proponents in the West”.

“A focus on Petro-masculinity shows them to be mutually constituted, with gender anxiety slithering alongside climate anxiety, and misogynist violence sometimes exploding as fossil violence”

Repeated studies have shown that, while male understanding of the scientific consensus about the Climate Crisis is growing, white conservative men are consistently more likely to espouse climate change denial.

“While misogyny and climate denial are often treated as separate dimensions of new authoritarian movements, a focus on petro-masculinity shows them to be mutually constituted, with gender anxiety slithering alongside climate anxiety, and misogynist violence sometimes exploding as fossil violence”

This gendered framing of the Climate Crisis not only gives us an insight into broader social politics and inequalities, but also impacts the way in which we go about addressing and aiming to overcome the Climate Emergency, with significant consequences – as Daggett spells out:

“Sherilyn MacGregor, for example, argues that environmentalism itself has become masculinised as a result of the dominance of science and security frames for understanding climate change. These ‘hardened’ framings result in a preference for ‘the kinds of solutions that are the traditional domain of men and hegemonic masculinity’, which lead to a ‘downgrading of ethical concerns’ like justice, health, or economic equity.”

Petro-Masculinity In Action

We see Petro-masculinity in action on a daily basis, whether we know it or not.

IrishEVs is dedicated to focusing on the relationship between cars and the Climate Crisis because of personal vehicles’ disproportionate impact on worsening the Climate Emergency. However, they are also a great example of male gatekeeping and gender politics.

The latter being an idea seeded by car companies and fossil fuel conglomerates in the mid-20th Century – see our article The Mythology of the Petrol Car for more on this.

Likely this is why a disproportionate number of car journalists are male.

This is also likely why there is such a disparity in the safety considerations afforded to female drivers and passengers, with most safety tests and designs geared towards male occupants.

Regardless, it is clear that male politicians, male car executives and male car journalists have set the tone of the discussion around cars and their relationship with the Climate Crisis, and that their views have informed those of so-called ‘petrolheads’ around the world.

Quick aside: Even as someone brought up as a lover of cars (and therefore performing the proscribed gender roles given to me), I could never quite understand why anyone who is a fan of personal vehicles would self-identify as a ‘petrolhead’.

Football fans don’t call themselves ‘leatherheads’, admirers of sculpture don’t call themselves ‘clay heads’; why identify with the input that makes the thing work, rather than the object itself that you admire?

This isn’t a one off; we see it repeated time and again in male, dominated car magazines. Even the December 2021 Top Gear magazine proclaims the following on its front cover: “R.I.P. Petrol. The future’s electric, the pumps are running dry… time to enjoy two of the world’s maddest engines while we still can”.

Likely the same can be said for electric vehicles too, as anything car-related is often male-dominated. In the short history of IrishEVs we have certainly seen some male gatekeeping around electric vehicles – even if the intention of battery electric cars is to overcome the stranglehold of fossil fuels, and perhaps offer a way to break free of patriarchal-led inequalities.

Daggett observes that any idea of weakness is inherently tied up with fears of non-masculinity. This is a serious and genuine issue, but also yet another wake-up call to men that they can, they must be better. The majority of men victims of the patriarchy too – it has taught us not to think or feel, to live by rigid structures and to perform what we think a man should be.

As Kele Okereke states: “Being a man made me coarse when I wanted to be delicate”.

It might not seem like it, but Daggett clearly shows that breaking free of gender norms is, in itself, a form of climate action.

We can see this no more clearly, or ironically, than in the number of wildfires started in the US by gender reveal parties – producing devastating climate and public health consequences to ascribe performative ideals to an unborn baby. This is not the way forward.

• 80% of people already displaced by the Climate Crisis are women, according to the UN

• 70% of the 1.3 billion people living in conditions of poverty around the world are women

• Women dominate the world’s food production (50-80%) but they own less than 10% of the land, according to the UN FAO

• In Africa, female illiteracy rates were over 55% in 2000, compared to 41% for men

• 60% of respondents to a survey by the IUCN found that they had observed gender-based violence towards female environmental rights defenders, environmental migrants and refugees, and in areas where environmental crimes and environmental degradation were taking place

• Weather-related disasters have been shown to increase sexual trafficking by 20-30%

All of the above are already true, and all are likely to be worsened by the increasing intensity of the Climate Crisis.

While the Global South is disproportionately affected, we can even see how the Climate Crisis disproportionately impacts women in even the richest nations on Earth. A report by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research found that 83% of low-income, single mothers did not return to their homes in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

I highly recommend Mary Robinson’s book Climate Justice for a more in-depth insight into the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the women of New Orleans, as well as a wider reporting of how the Climate Crisis is affecting women worldwide.

There is also compelling evidence that women in government positions are more likely to sign on to international treaties to tackle the Climate Crisis than their male counterparts. This is why increasing access to education in general – and especially the issue of greenhouse gas emissions, and the Climate Crisis – for women in the developing world is such an urgently needed form of climate action.

Truth be told, I’ve been putting off writing this article for some time – in part due to not wanting to do it a disservice, and in part due to the backlash that it will generate from car-loving, white men.

The fact is, gender inequality in the face of the Climate Crisis is far too important a topic to overlook, and we must all start talking about it more – IrishEVs included.

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