Why gender equality matters in the ongoing ecological transition

Purpose: The article aims to give a first overview of the issue of gender inequalities in the ecological transition, suggesting new perspectives for labour law research. Methodology: Analysis of international scientific and grey literature on the genderenvironment nexus; analysis of scientific national literature on sustainability and ecological transition. Results: The gender-environment nexus is still ignored in most of the normative production that is accompanying the ecological transition in the world. In order to bring out specific risks and inequalities, it is necessary to adopt different interpretative tools of the ongoing processes, shifting attention to the concept of socio-ecological transition and adopting a multidimensional approach to substantial equality. Limits and implications: The contribution documents the outcomes of an interdisciplinary research project conducted between January 2023 and December 2023, and has the limited purpose to bringing the results of the literature review conducted into a system, together with the ideas deriving from the different moments of comparison with international experts, to outline a path for future research. Originality: The contribution introduces the issue of the gender dimension of the ecological transition into the labour law debate for the first time, going beyond the long-standing debate exclusively focused on gender inequalities in access to green jobs, to investigate more thoroughly the multiple dimensions of gender inequalities from a perspective of substantial equality.