It's TED Talks Daily. I'm your host, Elise You. I had never considered this before, but parks and other green spaces begin excluding girls as early as age nine just in the way they're designed. In her 2022 talk from TED at BCG, climate and gender researcher Zaneb Scali reveals a new, more intentional and gender-inclusive way to think about urban design.

It can benefit rather than leave out women and girls.

That's after the break.

What if our efforts to build a better planet benefited half of this room more?

What if we reduced our missions but increased the gap between men and women?

What if by 2050 we reached net zero, but women had a lower chance than men to find a decent job?

Disturbing, right?

And yet, this is exactly what my colleagues and I found, while studying the links between women and climate over the last years.

Our research has shown that climate action, as it is unfolding,

could set gender equality back by 15 years.

I'm going to say that again.

So climate action, not climate change, climate action,

meaning all the efforts that are being made to reduce our emissions,

to adapt our lives to a warmer planet, could actually set gender equality back by 15 years.

I know what you must be thinking. This is a total bus kill.

So the climate challenge is not big enough.

You're adding solving gender equality to the equation.

I get the feeling.

But the good news is if we do it right, we have a unique chance to advance both the

climate agenda and gender equality.

How?

By being intentional about it. But first, let's go back to that 15-year setback risk I mentioned.

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