Not Just Leading, But Transforming: How Women Are Reshaping Climate Justice in Asia

While policymakers debate emission targets and corporations polish their brands, another story in climate justice is unfolding across Asia: women are rising. But they are not asking for a seat at the old table of power—they are building a new one entirely.

A recent review by the regional organization AktivAsia highlights a striking truth: women in Asia’s climate justice movements  are transforming leadership itself. And they are doing so with a power that looks radically different from the status quo—rooted in community, care, political clarity, and collective action.

This is not the kind of leadership celebrated on conference stages or in glossy corporate sustainability reports. It is grounded in lived experience: farmers who know their soil better than any satellite map; women who organize flood responses with no budget; activists who are also mothers, caretakers, and survivors. Their power comes not from hierarchy or charisma, but from collaboration, resilience, and an unshakable commitment to their communities.

Call for Change Beyond Barriers

Yet, this leadership carries scars. In much of Asia, women who step into leadership or challenge traditional gender roles are still branded as rebellious. Despite their central roles, women and other marginalized groups continue to confront systemic barriers, limited resources, and social scrutiny that constrain their decision-making power and visibility. Stepping into leadership can be an act likely of risk rather than reward.

Furthermore, women speak of burnout, impostor syndrome, and the double burden of activism alongside unpaid domestic labor. Many face scepticism—or outright hostility—when they bring feminist perspectives along with climate justice into their organizations and communities.

Still, they persist. They teach, organize, mobilize, and dream—reshaping the future of climate leadership in the process.

When asked what would truly support them, the answers are practical and powerful. Women call for political education on feminism and climate justice, access to mentors and elders, and grants to sustain grassroots organizing. They emphasize the importance of in-person learning and peer exchanges over digital-only programs.

Furthermore, gone are the days where women expect themselves to break their own backs for the collective. Their ideal environment for their climate justice activism includes safe spaces for reflection and solidarity and overall mental health support. Above all, they call for leadership development rooted in Asia’s own traditions and struggles—not imported frameworks that flatten cultural nuance.

Invisible, Yet Inevitable

Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, a climate justice advocate from the Marshall Islands, offers a powerful reflection on how gender and climate diplomacy intersect in often invisible ways. Though she did not set out to identify as a feminist, her advocacy inevitably confronted questions of gender justice, particularly in international arenas like the UN climate talks.

For women from the Global South, entering these spaces is not only costly and exclusionary but also unsafe—many are present only as observers rather than negotiators. Meanwhile, younger, rural, and grassroots voices remain sidelined.

Kathy underscores the lifeline provided by mentorship, women’s networks such as the Lionesses, and solidarity across the Global South. At the same time, she also points to enduring obstacles: safety risks, lack of resources, and the persistence of patriarchal blind spots even within their own communities. Her reflections remind us that women’s presence in climate justice and diplomacy must move beyond representation toward real transformation.

Feminist Leadership in Climate Justice

What emerges is a vision of leadership that goes beyond the corporate boardroom or government office. It is leadership that builds movements and transforms communities. It centers lived experience, challenges intersecting systems of oppression, and creates alternatives that regenerate rather than exploit.

These women are not preparing merely to occupy positions of power. They are preparing for structural transformation. Their vision of climate justice is not about tweaking a broken system—it is about replacing it with something more humane, inclusive, and effective.

Dr. Louise Duxbury reminds us that if the climate movement is to be truly transformative, it must also transform how we think about leadership. She critiques the hierarchical, competitive, often male-dominated models prevalent in both politics and activism. Instead, she argues for values-based, relational leadership rooted in care, collaboration, and community connection. This vision is not about “replacing men with women”. It’s  about all genders stepping sideways to share power and create space for diverse leadership.

For Duxbury, feminism offers a radical reimagining of social and environmental structures: one that integrates ecological sustainability, gender justice, and care-based economics. Yet, too often, the climate movement reproduces the very patriarchal and neoliberal systems it seeks to dismantle—celebrating charismatic figures while erasing the collective, often invisible labor of women. She points out that while women are central to caregiving in climate crises and recovery, their contributions are rarely reflected in data, funding, or recognition.

Her challenge is clear: if climate justice is the goal, then we must build organizational cultures that embody feminist, decolonial, and ecological ethics. We must ensure leadership that values not only who is seen, but also how power is shared.

Asia’s Feminist Climate Justice

This is Asia’s feminist climate justice moment. It is not told through graphs or summit declarations, but through relationships, soil, history, and memory. It is a story of women once silenced who now speak up not just for themselves but for futures yet to be imagined.

As Asia hosts and shapes a suite of climate dialogues, strategic forums, and bilateral energy dialogues—from the Indonesia Net-Zero Summit to Bangkok Climate Week—it is signalling more than readiness. It is demonstrating leadership grounded in action, nuance, and equity.

The question is no longer whether women can lead. They already are. The real question is: will we listen?

Editor: Nazalea Kusuma

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Cut Nurul Aidha

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Nurul is the Regional Program Manager at AktivAsia. She holds a Master’s degree in Economic Development and has extensive experience leading research and projects across Southeast Asia. Her work spans academia, international development organization, private sector, and NGOs. She specializes in program/research design, capacity building, and multi-stakeholder partnerships promoting social inclusion and sustainable development.

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Aimee Santos-Lyons

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Aimee is a Principal Consultant at Tipolo Consulting. She works with diverse communities and organizations to strengthen leadership, amplify voices, and advance collective solutions. She has co-led campaigns for racial, gender, and economic justice, combining impactful facilitation, strategic thinking, and powerful communications to drive meaningful change grounded in equity, shared values, and community vision.

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