In honor of Women's History Month, the EJ IWG is focusing on the central role women have played in the environmental justice movement along with the challenges still facing them today. Since the inception of the EJ Movement in the US, women have played a critical role in advocating for overburdened and underserved communities. Women have led the way in organizing their communities, churches, and schools to improve public health and revitalize local neighborhoods. Given the essential contributions of women to the EJ movement, it is vital that environmental justice practitioners begin to articulate environmental inequalities that specifically impact women and develop interventions to effectively target women.

In this webinar, we will lift up pioneering women who helped establish environmental justice within the Environmental Protection Agency and provide a framework to begin to understand some of the challenges that are facing women in the context of environmental justice. The webinar will also highlight organizations that are carrying out projects aimed at providing resources, training, capacity building and other assistance to women. Additionally, the webinar will discuss the representation of women in environmental organizations that are making decisions that impact overburdened and underserved communities.