Women Talking: A Gendered Analysis of Environmentalism in UK Parliamentary Speeches

The empirical literature in the burgeoning field of gender and climate change has indicated that increased participation of women in parliaments has beneficial impacts for climate change policies and outcomes. Some assert that women representatives are more effective at representing women constituents’ preferences, which tend to be more environmental than men’s. Yet, the mechanisms of this relationship are much less understood. How does increased representation of women in parliaments lead to bettered environmental outcomes? I assert that one means by which women may influence environmental outcomes is by championing environmentalism in their speeches before parliament. Women may participate more vigorously than men in debates surrounding environmental legislation, and may also bring environmentalism into debates on other political topics more frequently than men, helping to embed environmentalism into the political process itself. To test this, I conduct quantitative content analysis of the parliamentary speeches given in the UK from 2019 to 2023 to investigate the gendered patterns of environmentalism displayed in these debates. This research will help to determine the mechanisms through which women impact policy, and address the particular implications of this for environmentalism.