The Women and Gender Constituency (WGC) is one of the nine stakeholder groups of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Established in 2009 and granted full constituency status in 2011, the WGC consists of 27 women’s and environmental civil society organizations, who are working together to ensure that women’s voices are heard and their rights prioritized in the fght against climate change. The Women and Gender Constituency, consisting of a broad variety of national and regional network organizations, represents hundreds and thousands of people across the globe, with advocates from over 60 countries.

Since the Earth Summit in 1992 the United Nations has been working with governments and civil society to tackle one of the greatest challenges the planet has faced: climate change. At the summit the Member States of the UN agreed to a new
convention on climate change; a non-legally binding international treaty. The convention provided a new framework through which nations could work together to agree on limiting emissions of greenhouse gasses, those which cause climate change, principally carbon dioxide.

This UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, or UNFCCC, is an evolving commitment that develops through the ongoing discussions and agreements of governments around the world. There are now around 1,400 such organizations observing the annual conferences and many have grouped themselves into constituencies.

These constituencies provide focal points for easier interaction with the UNFCCC Secretariat, based in Bonn, and individual governments. There are currently nine constituencies and they are broadly grouped by the type of organizations they represent: businesses and industry organizations; environmental organizations; local and municipal governments; trade unions; research and independent organizations; and organizations that work for the rights of indigenous people; young people; agricultural workers; and women and gender equality.