Vol. 1 No. 1 (2024)
Gendered Resource Governance: Women, Oil, and Climate Politics in South Sudan
Abstract
This perspective piece critically examines the intersection of gender, oil governance, and emerging climate politics in South Sudan from 2021 to 2024. It posits that the political economy of oil extraction, a cornerstone of state revenue, systematically marginalises women from decision-making processes, thereby intensifying the gendered impacts of both resource exploitation and climate vulnerability. Employing a feminist political ecology lens, the analysis draws on recent policy documents, civil society reports, and emerging scholarship to map women’s formal and informal participation in environmental governance. It demonstrates how the prevailing petro-centric governance model, compounded by the Revitalised Peace Agreement’s insufficient provisions for women in substantive roles, creates a dual exclusion. Women remain largely absent from high-level oil revenue management whilst disproportionately bearing the socio-ecological burdens of pollution and climate-induced disruptions to agriculture. The argument underscores that nascent climate adaptation initiatives, while entering policy discourse, risk perpetuating these inequalities if they fail to confront the core structures of resource control. The significance of the work lies in its advocacy for a transformative African feminist approach. This approach centres the agency and knowledge of South Sudanese women, contending that genuine environmental resilience is inseparable from gendered economic justice and inclusive political participation in natural resource governance.
Read the Full Article
The HTML galley is loaded below for inline reading and better discovery.
How to Cite
Keywords
Research Snapshot
Desktop reading viewReferences
- Berglund, O., & Bailey, D.J. (2022). Whose system, what change? A critical political economy approach to the UK climate movement. Environmental Politics. https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2022.2156179
- Deshayes, C. (2023). Sudan. Africa Yearbook Volume 19. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004538115_041
- Dut Chol Riak, J. (2024). The Political Economy of Energy Resources: Local Content in Petroleum Industry of South Sudan. International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR). https://doi.org/10.21275/sr241023033733
- Helen, A.A. (2021). Gender, Politics and Governance: Assessment of Women’s Attitude towards Political Participation in Ekiti South Senatorial District of Southwestern Nigeria. The International Journal of Humanities & Social Studies. https://doi.org/10.24940/theijhss/2021/v9/i1/hs2101-010
- Kariuki, P., & Msuya, N. (2022). Gender, Race and Politics in South Africa: Towards Diverse, Inclusive and Transformed Political Leadership. https://doi.org/10.36615/9780639726823
- Kenyi, E.E. (2024). Climate change, oil pollution, and birth defects in South Sudan: A growing crisis. South Sudan Medical Journal. https://doi.org/10.4314/ssmj.v17i4.1
- Kibe, E., Nzomo, M., & Jonyo, F. (2023). Citizen Participation in Natural Resource Governance: A Case of Oil in South Sudan. European Journal of Development Studies. https://doi.org/10.24018/ejdevelop.2023.3.5.293
- Kindersley, N. (2022). Military livelihoods and the political economy in South Sudan. Routledge Handbook of the Horn of Africa. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429426957-19
- Large, D. (2024). South Sudan. Africa Yearbook Volume 20. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004696976_040
- Muiu, M.W. (2023). Political Institutions. Politics and Government in South Africa. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003377962-2
- Olaitan, Z.M. (2024). Women’s Political Representation in South Africa and Botswana. African Histories and Modernities. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-76051-8_6
- Patel, N. (2021). Political parties, alliance politics and the crisis of governance in Malawi. Marriages of Inconvenience. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2z6qdx6.15
- Plessing, J. (2023). Chapter 3. Leandra: the diverse repertoires of political participation. Popular Politics, Participation and the Elite Gaze in South Africa. https://doi.org/10.5771/9783748937562-65
- Smooth, W.G. (2021). Elevating African American Women’s Political Leadership amid Pandemic Politics. Gender and Elections. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009052818.008
- Stadler, A. (2022). Movement and organisation in the politics of the underclasses. The Political Economy of Modern South Africa. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003312840-9
- Thiong, D.A. (2021). The Politics of Fear in South Sudan. https://doi.org/10.5040/9780755640317
- Ubink, J., & Almeida, B. (2023). Local Self‐Governance and the State in South Sudan: Studying Gendered Tenure Relations in Times of Uncertainty. Politics and Governance. https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v11i2.6488
- VAN ZYL SLABBERT, F. (2023). Afrikaner Nationalism, White Politics, and Political Change in South Africa. Change in Contemporary South Africa. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.7968099.6
- Yadav, P. (2023). Do political quotas work? Gender quotas and women’s political participation in Nepal. European Journal of Politics and Gender. https://doi.org/10.1332/251510821x16746560835644