Green Economy impacts will not be sustainable if gender equality is not achieved. To accelerate the goal, gender-sensitive data plays a powerful role.

UNDP commits to continuously mainstreaming gender equality into programs, projects and corporate policy. In line with the International Women’s Day theme this year of #InvestInWomen, UNDP allocates significant efforts to shift into a more gender-responsive green program signatures such as climate financing, circular economy, and green economy. Working with the Indonesian Ministry of Women Empowerment and Children Protection, UNDP conducted a mapping study on Gender-Sensitive Database on prioritized sectors of Green Economy. It aimed to paint the picture of the data management ecosystem to accelerate the development agenda transition towards a Green Economy.

Indonesia is notably vulnerable to climate change impacts with the economic impacts will be seen locally and nationally. According to ADB’s study (2019) on economics of climate change in Southeast Asia, it is estimated that the country will suffer about 6.7% loss of GDP on average by 2100, which is likely above the global average at 2.6%. Furthermore, the climate changes impact disproportionately vulnerable and marginalized groups including women. For instance, women are more vulnerable economically particularly in finding green employment opportunities. Women are underpaid for their work and their access towards resources are more restricted, compared to men.

Gender inequality is recognized as one of the underlying factors contributing to deepen women vulnerability against worsening impacts of climate change. Indonesia itself ranked 87th out of 146 countries for gender equality in 2023 (The Global Gender Gap Index). The Government of Indonesia (GoI) has taken various actions to improve gender equality in the country. This is done by mainstreaming gender equality into the national sustainable development planning. The mid-term national development plan 2020 –2024 (RPJMN 2020 – 2024) incorporated Gender mainstreaming into national development strategy to achieve just and fair development for all including women. Furthermore, the GoI highlighted the importance of mainstreaming Gender Equality and Women Empowerment to the Enhanced Nationally Determined Contribution (ENDC). These measures aim at reducing women climate vulnerability as well as to facilitate women participation in climate actions.

Green economy is viewed as a key contributor to achieve the country’s climate action targets while sustaining its development progress. Consistent with the national development plan mandate, The Principles, Priorities, and Pathways for Inclusive Green Economies (2019) highlighted the importance of women empowerment to aim just green economy transition. UNDP’s study in 2022 revealed that a gender-responsive green policy approach will not only accelerate gender-balanced economic recovery and protect the environment but also establish a sustainable framework by utilizing the potential of Indonesia’s human resources, both men and women. Women increased access to green job opportunity will not only sustaining their livelihood but may also contribute to the country economic growth. According to a World Bank Publication, increasing women labor participation by 25% in 2025, is estimated to increase Indonesia’s GDP by 2.9%.

Gender equality can be mainstreamed in the prioritized sectors of Green Economy such as forestry, energy, and waste management. Women roles may vary depending on their roles in societies. The development of waste management infrastructure, for instance, which is classified as labor-intensive can potentially utilize of human resources, both men and women. In small business sector, for instance, many women are inspired to transform their business becoming greener such as using recycled waste, economizing the energy usage or minimizing final waste. In digital era, gender data offers the potential to accelerate gender equality mainstreaming in green economy transition. Gender-disaggregated data can provide insights for the development actors on the impact of climate change on women and how women can be the agents of change to accelerate the transition. Going deeper, sectoral data on the green economy has the power to shed light on women role in prioritized sectors. The gender-disaggregated data may inform, for example, number of women who has access to green energy or those who have transformed their businesses to be more environmental-friendly. The availability and accessibility of this kind of data will enable policymakers and development actors to formulate green economy policies and programs that address the challenges and empower women to access their rights in green economy driven development.

While the significant role of data is being recognized, the mapping study pointed out some challenges to building gender-sensitive data ecosystem in the green economy sector. Among others, the limited availability of gender-disaggregated data on the prioritized sectors of the green economy remains a significant obstacle to break. The problem is associated with low awareness of relevant actors on the power of gender-disaggregated data and their insufficient capacity to perform data management. In this regard, commitments are required from development actors to invest in gender-sensitive data management if the acceleration of gender mainstreaming in the green economy is aimed.

Gender data is a powerful instrument to accelerate the mainstreaming of gender equality into a green economy transition. When compounded with the capacity strengthening of key actors, the prospect of improving women's access to green development progress will be momentous. Strong commitment and effort from development actors including UNDP to allocate investment on gender-sensitive data management will fast track the progress towards just green economy transition.

By Haryanti Sunarta and Debi Nathalia

Edited by Devi Nugraha