science

Women Engage for a Common Future

Women Engage for a Common Future is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Women Engage for a Common Future rather than just read about it. In short: Women Engage for a Common Future (WECF), formerly known as Women in Europe for a Common Future, is a non-governmental organization created in 1994 following the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. The aim of the organization is to "achieve an equitable and sustainable healthy environment for all".

Key takeaways

Women Engage for a Common Future belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Women Engage for a Common Future to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Women Engage for a Common Future from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Women Engage for a Common Future (WECF), formerly known as Women in Europe for a Common Future, is a non-governmental organization created in 1994 following the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. The aim of the organization is to "achieve an equitable and sustainable healthy environment for all". WECF is a network of more than 150 women's and environmental organizations in 50 countries worldwide. WECF also works on national, European, UN and international political levels with the aim to increase women's influence in political decision-making processes.

History WECF was registered as a foundation in 1994 in the Netherlands as Women in Europe for a Common Future. During the “Earth Summit” in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (1992), women from the European region formed the network WECF. The organization officially changed its name from “Women in Europe for a Common Future” to “Women Engage for a Common Future” in 2016.

Global role and processes WECF has observer status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC) and is an official partner of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). WECF was also a member of the European Environment and Health Committee until it concluded in 2010 (EEHC). WECF's Founding of the Women's Major Group at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 The WECF is a founding member of the Women's Major Group (WMG). This group was created in 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, after governments recognized that women are one of the nine groups for achieving sustainable development. As a result, the WMG is a participant in the United Nations initiatives for Sustainable Development. WECF at The Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing In 1995, more than 30,000 activists from around the world met in Beijing for the Fourth World Conference on Women. One of WECF's first large projects as an organization consisted of sending a delegation of women to attend the civil society forum in Beijing before the conference, where they would highlight the intersections between gender and the environment. Women and Gender Constituency The WECF is also one of the founding members of the Women and Gender Constituency. Founded in 2009, the Women and Gender constituency is one of nine groups that are a part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The role of the 33 women's and environmental civil society organizations that are a part of this group is to ensure that women's voices and rights are central to all processes and results within the UNFCCC Framework. They also formalize the voice of the aforementioned organizations that are active within the UNFCCC, while developing, streamlining and advocating common positions. As a member of the Constituency, the WECF is present at each meeting of the UNFCCC. The WECF works alongside the UNFCCC Secretariat, governments, civil society observers and others. Overall, the WECF contributes to climate negotiations and ensures that grassroots women's organizations from within their networks participate in the policy meetings. WECF at the 2012 UN Rio+20 summit on sustainable development More than 50,000 representatives of social movements and civil society organizations protested in Rio de Janeiro in June of 2012 against what they saw as unfair and unsustainable economic policies. At the same time, 30,000 participants of the United Nations 2012 Rio+20 conference created the document "The Future We Want" which set the path for the Sustainable Development Goals (replacing the Millennium Development Goals). WECF participated in the Rio+20 conference as co-facilitator of the Women's Major Group, one of the nine groups of civil society that have a space in the UN policy process. WECF's role was to facilitate the 300 organizations through virtual and face-to-face meetings, created proposals for the negotiation text, organize meetings with country negotiators, as well as organizing events in which to present the priorities of women's organizations. Beijing+25 and Generation Equality Forums 2020 marked the 25th anniversary of the fourth World Women's Conference, and UN Women has created the Generation Equality Forums in 2021 to build on the Beijing Platform for Action. The forums are convened by UN Women to set concrete actions to achieve progress for Gender Equality. The WEFC's Executive Director Sascha Gabizon is a member of the Civil Society Advisory Group (CSAG), which supports the decision-making of the Core Group at these forums and ensures that civil society priorities are reflected in the outcomes of the Forum.

Organization The organization was founded by Marie Kranendonk in 1994. WECF now has five offices in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Switzerland and Georgia. WECF has a dual governance system. The executive directors and their team are formally supervised by the Board of Trustees (BOT). Their role is to approve the annual plans, budgets and reports, and supervise the work of WECF's directors. WECF's partners also have a say in their governance, through the International Advisory Board (IAB). The IAB's role is to give strategic advice to WECF's BOT and directors. To achieve the organization's goals, WECF works through capacity-building, policy, and outreach. WECF provides training, expertise, and offers grants to organizations working for women and gender equality. WECF also advocates to policymakers locally and globally to ensure that women's perspectives and gender equality are included in both policies and implementing plans, by helping organizations participate in decision-making processes. Lastly, WECF discusses the importance of gender-just climate and environmental solutions using a variety of methods, from social media campaigns to public debates. The WECF's focus areas include sustainable development, climate action, and a toxin-free, healthy environment. The key issues that the organization works for include climate justice, energy solutions, gender equality, inclusive forest governance, international solidarity, menstruation matters, safe water and sanitation, stopping toxic chemicals and waste and women's rights in Agenda2030.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Women Engage for a Common Future

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Women Engage for a Common Future claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Women Engage for a Common Future before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Women Engage for a Common Future ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Women Engage for a Common Future

In research: Women Engage for a Common Future appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Women Engage for a Common Future in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Women Engage for a Common Future is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1994 establishments, Ecofeminism, Environmental justice organizations, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Women Engage for a Common Future outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Women Engage for a Common Future in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Women Engage for a Common Future means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Women Engage for a Common Future out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Women Engage for a Common Future in simple terms?

Why does Women Engage for a Common Future matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Women Engage for a Common Future?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Women Engage for a Common Future.