A new report has found that 4 billion people, nearly half the global population, faced at least 30 days of extreme heat in the past year. Every one of the 67 major heat events during this period was influenced by human-caused climate change, with heat waves now lasting longer and striking harder than ever before.
But as policymakers double down on technical fixes such as tree plantings and wind farms, one foundational solution continues to fly under the radar: transforming masculinity. Social norms that teach men to be tough, dominant, and always in control often prevent men from participating in caregiving, collaboration, and sustainable practices – elements that are vital for building resilient communities.
In order to create space for more inclusive, cooperative action, we must work to reshape what being a man means. Gender-transformative approaches – especially those that challenge harmful masculine norms – are not peripheral to climate resilience; they are essential. A truly sustainable future depends not only on technology and policy but also on shifting how people respond to climate crises.
For decades, climate discourse has framed responses to climate change in terms of physical assets: flood barriers, drought-resistant seeds, renewable grids. But social infrastructure, particularly gender roles and masculine behavior, plays a critical role in how communities absorb shocks, rebuild, and transform during climate change.
According to core insights from the paper “Men, Masculinities and Climate Change,” published by the nonprofit MenEngage Alliance, masculinity norms rooted in domination and control have historically reinforced exploitative relationships with nature, treating it as something to conquer rather than care for. These norms often devalue emotional expression and caregiving – qualities essential for sustainability and cooperation – while glorifying competition and individualism. As a result, they fuel both ecological degradation and social inequality by sidelining the values needed for collective, regenerative climate action.
In Africa, where I work as a public health and gender equality practitioner, the burden of climate adaptation often falls unevenly, with women disproportionately responsible for securing water, food, and caregiving during times of crisis like drought. These challenges are magnified by entrenched gender norms that assign caregiving and domestic labor solely to women. Rigid gender norms often exclude men from caregiving and community support roles, weakening a household’s ability to respond to crisis.
My organization, the Rwanda Men’s Resource Centre, or RWAMREC, addresses this inequality by encouraging men to take on caregiving responsibilities through group education sessions at the village level in Rwanda and elsewhere in the African Great Lakes region. In these sessions, the men learn to challenge rigid social roles and norms – an approach that eases the burden on women and fosters family cooperation. This gives women more time and freedom to engage in sustainable farming and economic activities that strengthen their families and build climate-resilient communities.
A U.N. Women Rwanda study found that rural women spend over three times more time on unpaid care work than men, limiting their ability to engage in climate-resilient activities like sustainable agriculture or water conservation. A study showed that men who participated in the community-driven Bandebereho program run by my organization were more involved at home, leading to reduced violence, improved maternal and child health, and stronger household decision-making. These outcomes – though not framed as climate policy – build the cooperation and resilience that families and communities need to adapt to environmental stress. By reshaping social roles and sharing responsibilities, they create stronger foundations for collective action against climate challenges.
To be sure, engaging men in caregiving and climate resilience is not about sidelining the urgent needs and rights of women and girls, who continue to bear the brunt of both environmental crises and social inequality. It is about complementing women’s leadership by addressing the root causes of gender inequality, especially the rigid norms that keep men from participating in care, cooperation, and sustainability. Without bringing men and boys into this conversation, efforts toward gender justice and climate resilience risk being incomplete and unsustainable.
Initiatives to recast gender norms go beyond awareness-raising; they cultivate long-term behavior change by challenging harmful masculine stereotypes and promoting shared responsibility in the home and beyond. Funding and scaling up such work is not just a gender or development issue – it’s a smart, forward-looking investment in climate justice and sustainable futures. Ultimately, transforming negative masculinity is not just a social goal – it is a foundation upon which inclusive, resilient communities and a sustainable future must be built.
Ishimwe Félicien works at RWAMREC on the Bandebereho Scale-Up project, advancing initiatives to transform harmful masculinities and build resilient, safer families. He is a Public Voices Fellow on the Prevention of Childhood Sexual Abuse at The OpEd Project.
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