Environmental change is a global phenonemon caused by, and increasingly acting as a constraint upon, human activity. Thus analysis of the determinants of human behaviour is necessary to the understanding of global environmental issues. In this respect the salience of gender to global-change issues has frequently been noted. However, attempts to 'put gender on the agenda' of global environmental politics have resulted in, not the incorporation of gender, but the addition of women. This article attempts to explain this apparently unintended outcome through examining ways in which human agency and social structures interact in framing issues and setting agendas.