By Emma Jones-Phillipson
The fifth blog in our Overcoming Resistance blog series explores how Emma Jones-Phillipson, GEDSI Expert for South Africa-UK PACT, maintains energy to focus on inclusive climate action despite facing resistance to both working on equalities and inclusion, and responding to the climate crisis.
I am a feminist, and staunchly committed to social justice in my personal and professional life.
A few years ago, this would not have felt like a bold declaration to make, but recently, we have seen global regimes increasingly gaining traction to roll back the rights of women and other groups, the dismantling of institutions designed to uphold and deliver justice and equity, blatant and public discrimination against vulnerable groups in a way that would previously been covert, and culture and media shifting towards messaging last seen in the post-War era.
Such a trend has not been incidental or a “natural” swing, but rather the intentional, malicious and incredibly strategic mission of a cohort of well-resourced and mission-driven groups, who effectively use politics, culture and shock tactics to belie more insidious aims. I’m sure we’re all familiar with how we’ve seen hard-fought arguments we had thought “won” creep back onto the table as “debates” that threaten the gains made over decades. We’re seeing these dark forces coming too for the irrefutability of anthropogenic climate change, for clean energy, for global climate governance.
Meanwhile, in South Africa, invoking gender and social inclusion invokes a bleak picture: globally significant inequality, endemic gender based violence, youth unemployment, persistent mental and physical public health challenges, all amidst climate disasters that continue to demonstrate the unfair socioeconomic stratification of our cities and communities. Many of these issues obviously stem from our colonial and apartheid dispensations, where a past “tolerance” for discrimination and exclusion was perpetuated by national institutions as “policy”.
Surprisingly, despite this all, I am insufferably optimistic, if not even encouraged, about the future of fair, inclusive and sustainable climate action. Of climate action that enables and contributes towards gender equality, disability and social inclusion. This optimism is not without outrage and concern, but it is also not without cause.
I am bolstered in this faith on several fronts; first, I know in my heart for this to be the work of my life here on Earth (and I stand on the shoulders of those who have come before me in this mission). Second, I continue to see projects like UK PACT who choose at this time to reaffirm their commitments to social and climate justice, who double-down in the face of these global trends in the contrary. Third, I live in a country with a generous, progressive institutional dispensation, and a leadership that remains staunch in the face of intimidation, bullying and attempted interference. I am so gratified to live under a regime and president that likely would have been a target of the CIA and Chicago school in the previous century. Fourth and finally, I am privileged to witness and work with implementing partners and counterparts who meet gender equality, disability, and social inclusion (GEDSI) expectations and obligations with interest, enthusiasm and curiosity.
Despite the resistance that we might incur, we continue this work because we are prepared to stand for climate action, for the hope, faith and imagination of a better future. You may know the Martin Luther King quote “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice” - It highlights that progress might be slow and even imperceptible, but to have faith that justice will prevail. We must remember however, the active interpretation of that invocation, namely that we need to bend or pull that arc through persistent, active effort.
My role as part of UK PACT and working with implementing partners is how to operationalise GEDSI into this implementation, of moving beyond principles and preambles to meaningful and tangible outcomes. This often means engaging with GEDSI entry-points in 3 domains, namely:
- Project design, particularly co-creating GEDSI Action Plans with each project;
- Institutionalisation of GEDSI awareness, sensitisation and norm-building amongst project teams and consortia;
- Relationships with partners, communities and counterparts, either aligning with and leveraging their own GEDSI and development mandates or possibly needing to conduct their own sensitisation to help induce shifts in policy and attitude.
We are on the right path. We cannot flinch. My purpose and call to action (today, and everyday), is to empower people as allies, advocates and activists for GEDSI in your lives and work, and that you join me in continuing to press that moral arc towards justice.
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Read more about our work on UK PACT here: https://sddirect.org.uk/project/uk-partnering-accelerated-climate-transitions-uk-pact
This blog was developed from Emma’s keynote speech at a South Africa – UK PACT learning event, read more about the event here: https://www.ukpact.co.uk/news/integrating-gender-equality-disability-and-social-inclusion-towards-south-africas-development-goals