[Sustain-dev] Gender Balance for Solidarity and Sustainability

[Luis Gutierrez]

Greetings ... may I offer the following for discussion:

Mother Pelican: A Journal of Sustainable Human Development
Volume 7, Number 10, October 2011
http://www.pelicanweb.org/solisustv07n10page1.html

Summary

It is proposed that gender balance - deeply internalized, not merely a 
matter of numbers - will be a source of "new energy" to overcome the 
masculinist culture of violence and domination. Gender balance can help 
individuals and nations to start considering both self-interest and the 
common good. "We have a special responsibility to the ecosystem of this 
planet. In making sure that other species survive we will be ensuring 
the survival of our own." Wangari Maathai, Kenya (+ 26 September 2011)

Gender balance at all levels of responsibility and authority can pave 
the way for a sensible transition from consumerism to sustainability. It 
can make possible the exploration of new initiatives such as 
transferring tax burdens from earned income to financial speculation, 
natural resource usage, and environmental degradation; declaring some 
form of debt jubilee and/or creating debt-free money by central and 
regional banks; enhancing distributive justice via a democratically set 
level of universal guaranteed personal income; balancing globalization 
with financial and monetary localization via local currencies and/or 
exchange trading systems; adopting business practices such as the triple 
bottom line; working out the economic and technological issues that must 
be resolved in order to migrate from fossil fuels to clean energy; 
consolidating democracy by firm adherence to the wise principles of 
solidarity, subsidiarity, and sustainability; and giving top priority to 
sustainable human development rather than unsustainable resource 
exploitation and wealth accumulation.

So there is no lack of reasonable ideas about ways to manage the 
transition, but political will is utterly lacking; and political will 
cannot possibly emerge as long as masculinist patriarchy remains 
normative. The transition from consumerism to sustainability has already 
started, even though it remains invisible for many. But attaining gender 
balance in human affairs, and the process toward energy balance and 
ecological sustainability, will reinforce each other in many significant 
and mutually beneficial ways. Gender balance is the catalyst that will 
brake the current impasse and get the process going. Since the 
"patriarchs" will seldom pour the catalyst down from the top, it must 
gently percolate upwards from the grassroots: individual citizens, 
families, groups, and local communities.

You may also want to take a look at the outline with links to articles 
and supplements: http://www.pelicanweb.org/solisustv07n10page1.html

Luis T. Gutiérrez
Editor, Mother Pelican Journal
The Pelican Web of Solidarity and Sustainability
http://pelicanweb.org
the.pelican.web at gmail.com