Gendering the Nexus: A Theoretical Framework for Women's Political Participation and Environmental Governance in South Sudan's Political Economy

This article proposes a theoretical framework for analysing the intersection of women’s political participation and environmental governance within South Sudan’s political economy from 2021 to 2022. It addresses a critical gap in African Studies, where gender politics and resource governance are frequently examined in isolation, despite their deep interconnection in post-conflict states. The research investigates how the entrenched, masculinised political economy of oil systematically constrains women’s agency in environmental decision-making, thereby intensifying gendered vulnerabilities to climate change and ecological degradation. Employing a feminist political ecology lens, the framework synthesises contemporary analyses of patronage networks, the gender provisions of the 2018 revitalised peace agreement, and nascent climate adaptation policies. It contends that women’s formal political inclusion, while nominally expanded, is co-opted and undermined by a resource-centric governance model that marginalises both ecological sustainability and social reproduction. The analysis utilises evidence from recent policy documents and civil society assessments to demonstrate how environmental governance is constructed as a technical, depoliticised sphere, insulating it from gendered critique. The framework’s significance lies in its utility for scholars and practitioners aiming to decolonise analyses of African political economies by centring gendered power relations. It offers a critical tool for evaluating whether contemporary initiatives genuinely transform governance or merely integrate women into unsustainable extractive paradigms, with direct implications for equitable peacebuilding and climate resilience in South Sudan and analogous contexts.