Women as guardians of stability

At the grassroots level, Indian women are indispensable agents of climate resilience. They constitute a large part of the agricultural workforce. In many regions, women often bear primary responsibility for managing household water, energy, and food security. In ecologically fragile areas, from the cyclone-prone coasts of Odisha to the drought-hit landscapes of Rajasthan or the salinity-stricken Sundarbans, women-led self-help groups (SHGs) demonstrate remarkable adaptability. These groups experiment with mixed farming, rainwater harvesting, mangrove restoration, agroforestry and seed banks to cope with irregular monsoons, rising sea levels and extreme heat.

His inventions are not theoretical; They emerge from the daily navigation of intersecting vulnerabilities. For example, how delayed rains increase unpaid care work, how heat waves compromise nutrition for children and the elderly, or how disasters disrupt livelihoods in ways that exacerbate existing gender and caste hierarchies. This kind of on-the-ground knowledge provides important nuances to abstract conversations.

Concepts such as adaptation, loss and damage, and simply change become meaningful when informed by those who experience climate impacts most intensely. Historical examples such as the Chipko movement, in which women hugged trees to stop deforestation, reflect a long tradition of women as environmental protectors. Today, thousands of women across different states train as climate champions, restoring ecosystems while building economic resilience through diverse livelihoods. These efforts make climate action inseparable from questions of equity, local governance and sustainable development, principles that are central to India’s diplomatic approach.

India has consistently supported climate justice at UNFCCC fora, emphasizing historical responsibility, per capita equity and differentiated obligations between developed and developing countries. Women have helped shape this framework intellectually and through policy implementation. Prominent voices have advanced rigorous analysis linking northern consumption patterns to southern vulnerabilities and advocating for sustainable development pathways that avoid copying high-carbon models.

At the state and central levels, senior women administrators have led green budgeting, large-scale renewable projects, mangrove plantations and resilience initiatives that translate global commitments into local action. Youth advocate for bridging gender and climate through work on green skills, renewable energy access and community education, highlighting how a low carbon transition can empower rather than marginalize women.

Yet when delegations gather for COP meetings, this richness of experience is under-represented. For example, at COP26, women constituted only 17% of the Indian delegation. This is well below the global average, which has hovered around 34-38% for over a decade. Throughout Asia and many developing regions, the representative gender balance often lags behind Latin America or Europe. The majority of heads of delegations globally remain men, with women rarely exceeding 15–20%. This pattern reflects broader dynamics in Indian bureaucracy and foreign policy, where selection processes prioritize seniority and established networks that remain male-dominated. High travel demands, work-life tensions in a society where caregiving responsibilities fall disproportionately on women, and subtle biases in enrollment further disrupt pipelines. Financial limitations to delegation participation exacerbate these issues, particularly for teams from smaller or developing countries.

The analytical cost of this difference is considerable. Research conducted in a variety of contexts indicates that more gender-balanced teams produce more ambitious and socially favorable outcomes. They are better at weaving in the intersections, such as how climate stress links with land rights, access to finance, health burdens or migration pressures. For India, where climate vulnerabilities vary sharply by region and urban-rural divide, monolithic approaches risk ignoring important nuances. A rural woman farmer from a marginalized community may prioritize resilient agriculture, water security and disaster preparedness differently than an urban expert focused on technology transfer or carbon markets. Broader inclusion could enrich India’s equality advocacy by grounding it in lived realities, strengthening credibility when criticizing inadequate northern ambition or lack of finance.

Barriers are multidimensional and self-reinforcing. Societal expectations limit the visibility of women in high-profile roles. Institutional inertia favors continuity over deliberate diversification. Capacity gaps in specific climate diplomacy training, coupled with limited consultation networks, slow progress. At the same time, India has latent strengths: constitutional reservation for women in panchayats has created a vast pool of local leadership that can reach higher levels. Decentralized governance provides a pathway for bottom-up insights to inform the national situation. The UNFCCC Gender Action Plan and related global frameworks provide external incentives, yet national translation remains uneven, with gender often treated as a complementary rather than integral dimension.

A more transformative strategy would integrate women’s contributions at multiple levels. This includes systematic capacity-building programs for climate negotiators, clear targets for gender-disaggregated data in national and state action plans on climate change, and a delegation structure that avoids tokenism. Mentorship initiatives, Track-II dialogues involving women experts, and stronger connections between grassroots innovations and international presentations can bridge the local-global divide. Critically, such efforts should focus on bridging identities; Inclusion should not flatten diverse experiences into a single woman’s voice. Policies that mainstream gender accountability, such as gender-sensitive climate budgets or targeted finance for women-led adaptation, will increase the credibility of implementation.

Economically, empowering women in the green transition is in line with India’s development goals. Sectors such as renewable energy, electric mobility and sustainable agriculture provide opportunities for employment generation and skill development. When women have secure land rights and access to resources, adaptation outcomes are significantly improved. Neglecting this capability not only promotes inequality but also leads to lost strategic advantages in negotiations. As climate impacts become more intense, with more frequent heat waves, unpredictable monsoons, coastal erosion, frontline practical knowledge becomes a diplomatic asset, strengthening arguments for increased support to vulnerable countries.

In short, Indian women are already driving much of the everyday resilience and intellectual framework for climate action. The challenge lies in translating this into proportionate influence within the negotiating chambers. Doing so is not a peripheral equity concern but a strategic imperative. This will deepen the analytical sophistication of India’s position, enhance legitimacy among domestic and international audiences, and promote agreements that are more implementable and equitable. In a world grappling with persistent development divides as well as existential climate threats, leveraging the full spectrum of available talent and insights strengthens both the national interest and the collective global prospects. Closing the existing gap requires sustained commitment, but the returns to policy effectiveness, social cohesion and environmental outcomes will be substantial and far-reaching.

(Views expressed are personal)

This article is written by Pravesh Kumar Gupta, Associate Fellow (Eurasia), Vivekananda International Foundation, New Delhi.