Online

Spencer, Phoebe

Natural Resources

2017

PhD

Environmental pressures such as natural disasters, resource scarcity, and conflict related to climate change have emphasized the importance of considering social justice within its ecological context. Gender inequality is one type of injustice that has traditionally been addressed as a social matter, yet gendered divisions in bargaining power, mobility, and access to resources are exacerbated by environmental instability. One barrier to gender equity in the face of a changing climate is the mainstream economic paradigm, which promotes growth and individualism, often at the cost of environmental and social wellbeing. The issue of gender inequality in the Anthropocene, the proposed geological epoch highlighting human impact of earth systems, is explored here in three parts. The first section identifies opportunities for feminist and ecological economics to assimilate notions of justice in mainstream economic thought. The second considers dynamics of gender equality through an econometric analysis of macroeconomic effects of traditionally female-dominated unpaid care work. Finally, the third part investigates national progress toward the maternal mortality reduction target set in the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals and proposes a gendered perspective for the newly implemented Sustainable Development Goals. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of policy implications for national and international development institutions as they seek to improve gender equity in diverse social and ecological contexts.