Women’s Climate Leadership is Democracy in Action
How investing in grassroots women’s leadership strengthens democracy, communities and lasting climate solutions.
Power, like water, is meant to flow.
Yet across much of the world, it has been dammed— diverted away from the communities that sustain it, held back by systems that concentrate control in the hands of the few.
Nowhere is this clearer than in climate and democracy, where those most impacted— grassroots women— are often shut out of decision-making.
Recent global studies confirm what many of us already feel: democracy is in decline. According to the 2024 Varieties of Democracy report, more countries are seeing democratic erosion than progress worldwide. From collapses in electoral integrity to shrinking civil liberties and executive accountability, nations around the world are facing looming threats to their democratic systems.
This trend is alarming on its own. But combined with systematic rollbacks of women’s rights and a year already marked by escalating climate emergencies— such as the recent Southern California wildfires— a fuller, sobering picture of our times has drawn into focus.
Democracy isn’t just about elections or government institutions. It’s about who holds power in communities, who has a voice in shaping solutions, and how people organize for change. And in the face of climate crises, this kind of democracy matters more than ever. When grassroots women lead climate solutions, they’re not just addressing environmental challenges— they’re strengthening civic engagement, expanding decision-making power, and ensuring policies reflect real community needs.
Gender equity, democracy, and climate stability are deeply connected: when one weakens, the others follow. Strengthening one means strengthening them all. Just as ecosystems flourish through balanced, diverse networks, resilient societies are built from inclusive leadership. This connection demands a shift in how decision-making happens— toward holistic, community-driven solutions that put power in the hands of those most impacted.
At the heart of this connection are grassroots women leaders— expanding democratic participation, driving climate solutions, and building the collective power needed to hold systems accountable. When women lead, democracies don’t just function better— they become stronger, more just, and more responsive to the communities they serve.
A thriving democracy and a livable planet share the same foundation: grassroots women’s leadership. Investing in their solutions today means securing a just, sustainable future for generations to come.
Women-Led Solutions: The Missing Piece in Democracy and Climate Action
When women lead, governments tend to have better transparency, communities are more engaged, and policies reflect the realities of the people they serve.
This might seem obvious— after all, women make up half of the world’s population. But their leadership is about more than just representation; it drives real change. Research reveals that women’s participation in decision-making spaces drives meaningful, transformative change:
- A global study of 91 countries found that nations with more women in leadership tend to have lower carbon emissions and stronger environmental policies.
- Women leaders are more likely to support pro-environment policies, leading to stronger, more lasting climate solutions.
- Governments with more women’s representation experience more public trust and lower rates of corruption.
Women’s leadership strengthens both democracy and environmental resilience— but leadership doesn’t just happen in government offices or conference rooms. The most transformative leadership is happening at the grassroots level, where women are not just participating in democracy but expanding and reshaping it. When women lead at the local level, they aren’t just advocating for change— they are governing. They are shaping policies, holding leaders accountable, and building structures of decision-making that reflect the needs of their communities. This isn’t just participation in democracy— it’s democracy in action.
Yet despite the growing evidence to say so, this simple solution is still largely overlooked by organizations, institutions and governments alike. While the number of women in political office has quadrupled over the last fifty years, women’s voices remain vastly underrepresented in halls of power. They hold far fewer seats than their proportion of the population suggests, leaving them well below the numbers necessary to shape legislative outcomes.
Even within climate justice movements, this disparity holds true. Women and girls have long been at the forefront of environmental advocacy and stewardship, yet they remain dramatically underrepresented in leadership positions and climate change negotiations— both in the United States and across the globe. Although numbers have improved, women still make up just one-third of employees in environmental ministries. Climate discussions continue to be dominated by men— UNFCCC research found that men spoke 74% of the time in plenary meetings between May and June of 2021.
In the United States this imbalance is all the more stark. Women’s institutional leadership in the U.S. lags behind much of the world, and barriers are even greater for women of color. There are currently zero Black women in the U.S. Senate, and a Black woman has never served as a state governor.
The good news? A majority of people from the United States believe women should be in top political roles, according to a 2023 Pew Research Center survey.
The reality is, when women’s voices are silenced, so are their solutions. Today, we are confronted by the cost of this exclusion— from policies that fail to meet the needs of real communities to climate strategies that lack intersectional perspective. There is clear hope in the work of grassroots women leaders who are stepping in to fill this void, advocating for climate action and just democracy at a local level.
Through it all, we return again and again to the same question: why, when the benefits are so clear, are women still shut out of leadership opportunities?
Barriers to Women’s Leadership
The same systems that exclude women from leadership are eroding democracy itself. When women are shut out of decision-making— whether through restrictive policies, systemic underfunding, or deep-rooted cultural norms— entire communities are silenced. Governance becomes less representative, policies fail to meet real needs, and solutions lack the insight of those most affected. The exclusion of women isn’t just an equality issue— it’s a structural failure that weakens the foundation of democratic society. A system that limits women’s leadership is a system that limits democracy itself.
WEA Leader Rubama, a community advocate from Aceh, Indonesia, faces these barriers head-on in her work. Since 2006, she has worked with grassroots programs that empower women’s environmental leadership in her region, whether through disaster relief, forest restoration, or waste management projects. By mobilizing local women, Rubama isn’t just supporting regional climate efforts— she’s ensuring local governance reflects the voices of those most impacted by climate change.
At WEA’s 2019 Indonesia Accelerator, Rubama spoke candidly about the deep-rooted patriarchal norms that limit women’s voices in her community.
“We cannot speak a lot in front of the other men, because women [traditionally] stay at home,” she shared. “We need to create confidence for women to talk, through capacity building like public speaking training.”
Building a more inclusive democracy starts with investing in women’s leadership at a local level. From there, the impact ripples outward— reshaping policies, strengthening civic participation, and driving climate action. By building power within communities, grassroots women can start to advocate for other issues that touch their local and global landscapes.
The challenges are vast, but so are the solutions. When grassroots women lead, they don’t just respond to crises— they transform decision-making itself. Their leadership ensures that policies reflect the needs of those most impacted, that resources reach communities equitably, and that democracy extends beyond institutions to daily life. Across the world, we see that when women organize, mobilize, and advocate for change, entire systems shift.
This isn’t just theory— it’s happening in communities worldwide. When women lead movements for clean water, sustainable food systems, and land rights, they are not just protecting resources— they are reshaping governance. Countries with greater gender equity tend to have more democratic governance and better governance outcomes, and that’s because inclusive leadership creates more just and effective decision-making at every level.
That’s why doing the collective work to dismantle these barriers today is as radical and critically important a task as ever. It’s also why, as democratic systems falter around the world, community, bottom-up efforts are taking center stage.
Interwoven Crises, Interwoven Solutions
Women aren’t waiting for permission. WEA Leaders and grassroots women worldwide are leading transformative movements that strengthen both their communities and democratic participation. Even as injustices deepen, these women are rising to meet the urgent challenges of their communities with courage and persistence.
Across 31 countries, WEA Leaders have proven that inclusive, effective leadership begins at a grassroots level. From protecting forests and water sources to securing Indigenous land rights and restoring local food systems, these women are planting the seeds for a future that prioritizes both people and the planet.
And they are uniquely positioned to do so. As the caretakers and stewards of their communities, women have long been on the frontlines of resource management.
Fatuma Erima is one such leader. Growing up in Kakamega, a town in western Kenya, she always identified as a changemaker and entrepreneur in her community. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit Kenya, the world as Fatuma knew it began to unravel— a feeling many of us remember all too well. Friends and family lost their jobs, children missed school, and families around her struggled to meet their basic needs. She joined WEA’s COVID and Climate Resilience program in 2020 with the hopes of leveraging her skills and experience to support her surrounding community through the crisis.
Today, Fatuma is the co-founder of Kisembe Women’s Group, where she trains women in Kakamega to start their own small businesses, selling tree saplings, clean cookstoves, and briquettes. She now works with over 520 people, including men who, inspired by local women’s success, asked to join the initiative. Together, they are building regenerative local economies rooted in collaboration and care.
“This project has given us a platform to actively participate in community conservation initiatives,” Fatuma shared. “As women, we have always been left out. Yet our life revolves around forests, because that is where we fetch water, firewood and herbal medicine.”
“My life has been transformed by this project, and I’m also transforming other women in my community,” expressed Judith Waswa, WEA Leader and Kisembe treasurer.
Half-way across the world in New York City, WEA Leader Monica Ibacache, Founder and Executive Director of Beyond Organic Design, echoed a similar truth. “When I think about how community building has happened in my region,” she considered, “A lot of it was spearheaded by women who understood the need to come together.”
Seeding Change for a Just and Renewable Future
So, what can we do to lay a new path forward? How do we pull back from rising tides of autocracy, gender exclusion, and climate inaction?
At Women’s Earth Alliance, we actively invest in:
- Strengthening grassroots, women-led movements. As a global grassroots alliance, WEA ensures that resources reach where they are most impactful— both in times of crisis and for long-term movement-building. These types of networks are the lifeblood of this moment, creating the connections and support systems that allow grassroots women leaders to sustain and scale their solutions. Through seed grants, long-term partnerships, and collaborative strategy design, WEA strengthens the capacity of women-led movements, ensuring they have the resources and infrastructure needed to transform their communities and protect our planet.
- Addressing systemic barriers to women’s leadership. Through capacity-building programs like our Grassroots Accelerators, we provide training, resources, and mentorship opportunities that equip women leaders and eco-entrepreneurs with the tools and funding they need to step into decision-making roles. Equal representation is not a talking point or a token gesture; it is a foundational commitment.
- Centering communities as the long-term architects of their own futures. We prioritize locally-driven alliances, uplifting Indigenous environmental knowledge and supporting decentralized, community-led solutions. Meaningful changes must be rooted in the lived experiences and expertise of the people they impact.
As Crystal Huang acknowledged during WEA’s 2019 Grassroots Accelerator for Women Environmental Leaders, “It’s important to know where we’re coming from.”
“We are living in a world that is designed for and by men,” she continued. “If we want to redesign our society around justice, now is our critical opportunity to do something about it.”
Crystal’s work with People Power Solar Cooperative offers one model of what this shift could look like. In returning agency to local communities through the cooperative ownership of renewable energy, the collective she works with reclaims power in both a literal and figurative sense.
In St. Louis, Missouri, food justice organizer and WEA Leader Tosha Phonix echoes this approach of redirecting power back to community-led initiatives. “Leadership doesn’t believe the community has the answers,” she said, “But [we] do.”
A truly just future depends on the full participation of all people— especially women leading solutions in their communities. Democracy cannot thrive without their leadership, and climate action is inseparable from both. When we invest in grassroots women-led solutions, we’re not just addressing environmental crises— we’re strengthening democracy itself.
While the stakes are high, the answers we need are already within our reach. They live within the strength of our own neighborhoods, communities, and collective action.
The path forward is clear: invest in grassroots women-led movements, fund community-driven solutions, and ensure decision-making includes those most affected. These aren’t abstract ideals— they are proven strategies that strengthen democracy, advance climate action, and drive meaningful change. When women at the frontlines of environmental and social movements have the resources and support they need, they don’t just respond to crises— they build lasting systems of equity and sustainability.
Restoring the natural flow of democracy means redistributing power to the communities that sustain it. When grassroots women lead, entire systems shift— governance becomes more inclusive, policies more reflective, and solutions more durable. By resourcing and amplifying their leadership, we’re not just repairing what’s broken— we’re co-creating new systems that serve people and the planet.
This is more than mending old structures— it’s about transformation. Supporting grassroots leadership ensures that communities not only endure the crises of today but emerge from them stronger, more connected, and equipped to shape the future on their own terms.
