Happy International Women’s Day!

This year, the official United Nations theme for International Women’s day is "changing climates: gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow". As you can imagine, this is a concept very close to our hearts at Pottery For The Planet. 

Elevating the voices and actions of women in the fight against global warming is absolutely integral to a brighter, greener future for all. Today (and every day) we want to recognise the ongoing contribution of women to sustainability. 

According to a recent study, in the European Journal Of Political Economy - countries with more female representation in parliament protect their environments more. 

Given that 51.1% of the global population are women, it’s also vital we empower every woman, not just those in leadership roles, with education and access to opportunities to forward the efforts of sustainability. 

The effects of climate change also disproportionately affect women and men differently and according to the United Nations:

• Of the 21.5 million people displaced every year due to climate-related events, 80% of them are women.

• Women and children are 14 times more likely than men to die during a  natural disaster.

• Climate hazards like droughts, floods and cyclones have resulted in higher sexual and domestic abuse of women and young girls whose homes/neighbourhoods are made uninhabitable and who have to sek refuge in camps or makeshift shelters.

As our founders, Clare Botfield and Renton Bishopric, explain, the importance of International Women’s Day for us is:

"to celebrate and nurture the continued progress that recent generations have given rise to for women's rights and opportunities.

We believe that humanity's future depends on the creative and compassionate power that comes through the feminine, which is imperative to embrace as we shift out of patriarchal domination and into a more community-minded and caring paradigm.” 

Care for the environment is the bedrock of our values, and today we’re taking this particularly poignant opportunity to reflect on and recognise the sustained efforts of women everywhere for climate justice and efforts towards ecological sustainability. 

With a team comprising so many women, we’re especially aware of how vital and powerful their contributions are as creators, carers and change-makers. Which is why this week, we’re launching a new mini-series on our Instagram. Over the next few days we’ll be introducing you to the women in our team and sharing a little bit about them and their roles! If you want to join in our ongoing Women’s Day celebrations and learn a little more about what we do, be sure to follow us and stay tuned! 

Resources to reference: 

https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2019/09/countries-with-more-female-politicians-pass-more-ambitious-climate-policies-study-suggests/

https://www.greenpeace.org/africa/en/blogs/14219/empowering-women-to-empower-the-world-of-sustainability/

​​https://www.unisdr.org/files/48152_disasterandgenderstatistics.pdf

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/how-climate-change-affects-women/