Challenging Assumptions about Gender, Sex, and Vulnerability
Gender and sex identity influence how individuals experience environmental and social harms. Wildfires, earthquakes, and other disasters differentially impact vulnerable communities. People of all genders face reproductive challenges due to exposure to environmental toxicants. In our cities, vulnerable populations navigate a built environment, from housing to public spaces, that assumes everyone is financially stable and able-bodied. Panelists will challenge assumptions about gender, sex, and vulnerability from the perspectives of urban and environmental planning, disaster risk reduction, and toxicology. What assumptions about gender, sex, and vulnerability show up in environmental fields? Human bodies and social expectations around sex and gender vary, but are those differences being represented in scholarship and practice in the ways that matter?
About the Speaker
Dr. Laninga is an Associate Professor and Program Director for the Urban Planning and Sustainable Design program. Dr. Laninga studies land use reforms and how communities can adopt policies that will make them more resilient, affordable, and diverse.
Dr. Paci-Green is Associate Professor and Chair of Environmental Studies at Western Washington University. Dr. Paci-Green studies natural hazards and how communities can use environmental policy, planning, and education to reduce their disaster risk.
Dr. Sofield is a Professor of environmental toxicology and chemistry in the Environmental Science Department at WWU. Her research group focuses on the effects of emerging contaminants on aquatic life. Ruth is a member of the Puget Sound Partnership Science Panel and a Board member of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.
Environmental Speaker Series
The Environmental Speaker Series is hosted by the College of the Environment at Western Washington University.
The Series is free and open to the public. Talks are held each Thursday at 4:30 pm in Academic Instructional Center West room 204 - AW-204. Parking is available in lot C.