Gender and Climate Change: Is

there a Value Proposition?

Claudia Ringler (c.ringler@cgiar.org) based on the contributions of numerous IFPRI and partner researchers and practitioners

Beijing +20 & Beyond: How Gender Research is Changing the Landscape of Food Policy / October 14, 2015

Is there a link between gender and CC?

Gender and climatic shocks

The role of information

Gender and climate change adaptation (or CSA)

Sharing risks is gendered

Climate change and gender in practice

Some concluding thoughts

Resources

Outline

Climate change [CC] affects water in all its uses, including water for agriculture, changing its availability, demand, uses, and generally rendering everything related to climate and water a riskier business

CC raises temperature and likely will increase both floods and droughts; particularly large impacts in tropical countries

Women and men perceive climatic shocks and climate change differently

Women and men have differential needs that are affected by CC and own different types and amounts of assets and have different coping and adaptation mechanisms (f.ex. men own most agricultural assets; women are often responsible for securing domestic water supply but also firewood; care for sick HH members

Why think about CC & gender?

CC perceptions differ (Ex. Rakai, Uganda)

0 20 40 60 80 100

Any change

Increase in temperature

Decrease in overall rainfall

More droughts

Increase in variability of rainfall

Men (n=152)

Women (n=180)

Source: IFPRI-CCAFS Uganda household survey.

There is a gender gap in what men and women own, and women’s assets are often sold to cope with climatic shocks

Generally men hold most agricultural assets, including land.

Thus, most direct adverse impacts from climate change on

agriculture affect men. Women’s assets are smaller in value

(f.ex. Jewelry and small livestock) and generally have higher

liquidity – and are thus might be more readily and easily sold

potentially increasing intra-household inequity.

Social protection programs should be geared toward

protecting women’s assets during climatic shocks.(Quisumbing, Kumar & Behrman 2014; Rakib and Matz 2014).

Gender and climatic shocks

Climate information, which is essential for adaptation, is not equally available to men and women

Access to climate information shapes climate change

perceptions and responses. Men are more likely to report

having access to climate information, particularly from formal

sources, such as agricultural extension agents, radio

broadcasts and community meetings.

To promote equal participation across women and men,

information has to reach both women and men. (Beaman & Dillon 2014; Kristjanson et al. 2015).

The role of information

Information sources (%, Rakai, Uganda)

Source: IFPRI-CCAFS Uganda household survey.

Sources of Information Women MenSignificant

differenceNeighbors 91 96 *

Radio 86 98 *

Traditional forecasters/indigenous knowledge 74 76

Family members 52 72 *

Religious groups 36 31

Government extension workers 31 67 *

NGOs 31 68 *

Community meetings 24 44 *

Farmer organizations or cooperatives 12 36 *

Agri-service providers 12 40 *

Cell phones 6 12 *

Farmer field schools 6 12 *

Schools/teachers 4 14 *

TV 2 14 *

Newspaper/bulletin 1 33 *

Agricultural shows 1 20 *

Internet 0 0

Women have less awareness of and less access to agricultural technologies that support adaptation

Men are generally more aware of CSA practices than women. If women are aware they can be at least as likely to adopt these practices (Twyman 2014; Bernier et al. 2015; Quisumbing et al. 2015)

In Mali, irrigation allowed men to increase their value of production almost enough to offset the negative impact of climatic shocks. Women, on the other hand, had limited access to irrigation or other farm technology, such as motorized tillers that would increase productivity (Beaman & Dillon 2014; Dillon & Gill 2014).

Spousal awareness can improve main decision-maker awareness of CSA practices (agroforestry, terracing, manure management, destocking, HYV, rainwater harvesting)(Quisumbing et al. 2014).

Gender and climate change adaptation

Awareness and adoption of CSA practices with

long-term benefits (Bangladesh)

Whether respondentis aware of practice

Whether respondent adopted practice in past year

if they were aware of it

Male Female Sig level Male Female p-value

Agroforestry 0.56 0.43 *** 0.08 0.05

Terracing 0.31 0.30 0.20 0.22

Water harvesting 0.27 0.17 *** 0.26 0.11 ***

Irrigation 0.97 0.97 0.63 0.53 ***

Planting pits 0.06 0.01 *** 0.08 0.20

Minimum tillage 0.30 0.27 0.07 0.03

Improved feed management 0.29 0.26 0.58 0.72 **Grazing or rangeland management 0.08 0.02 *** 0.08 0.11

Patterns of adoption, conditional on awareness, are consistent with spheres of responsibility (men—agriculture and water control, women—livestock)

Quisumbing et al. (2015)

Risk aversion can negatively affect adaptation by rural women

Men and women who are concerned about risk are less likely to take up

new technologies. We found that women are not more risk averse

overall but more risk averse when taking decisions on agriculture.

It will be important to understand women’s tolerance for risk and

improve their capacity to understand risk.

Women value risk sharing, but lower education and financial literacy, as

well as less background in understanding agricultural risk placed

women at a disadvantage when facing insurance purchase decisions.(Clarke and Kumar, 2015)

Female farm managers in Senegal and BFO were less likely to invest in

agricultural insurance and instead preferred savings products, possibly

because they face important health risks that men do not face. This

decision reduced average yields and overall food security. (Delavallade et al. 2015)

Sharing risks (Bangladesh)

Climate change and gender in practice

Perceived importance vs actual practice: gender-disaggregated data

Bangladesh (14)

Ethiopia (26) Kenya (36) Mali (11)

Do not collect, analyze, or report gender-disaggregated data

25 76 72 59

Collect, analyze, or report data on women, men, girls, and boys in household

41 14 19 15

Collect, analyze, or report data on female-headed households and male-headed households

34 11 9 26

(Ragasa et al. 2014)

Knowledge, Attitude and Practitioner Survey on gendered

CC adaptation

• Attention to gender issues is perceived by practitioners as important during the design and planning stage of climate change-related activities

• But gender issues receive much less attention during implementation and even less during M&E.

• Gender-disaggregated data collection, monitoring, and reporting are rarely done as part of their organizations’ climate change–related activities.

Climate change and gender in practice

(Ragasa et al. 2014)

Knowledge, Attitude and Practitioner Survey on gendered

CC adaptation

Constraints to Implementing Gender-Sensitive

Adaptation Programs

(1=not a constraint, 3=average constraint, 5=significant constraint)

Source: Bryan et al. CCAFS KAP survey 2015

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

Availability and/oraccess to relevant

research on genderand climate changed

adaptation

Social or culturalbarriers to women's

participation in DM atthe HH, communirty,

or National level

Availability and/oraccess to gender-

disaggregated data

Willingness of localgov/communities to

involve womenprojects/programs

Availability of financialresources from

donors to incentivizegender sensisite

programming

Capacity of programstaff in areas of

gender

Government Local NGO Int'l NGO average

There is a value proposition of reaching out to women and men farmers on climate change information and appropriate climate smart agricultural practices

If women perceive climate change and are aware of CSA practices, they can be as or more likely to adopt these practices

Women’s roles in agriculture continue to grow due to male rural-urban migration

Continuing investment in CSA practices without considering gendered differences is costly and leads to sub-optimal or non-adoption

Business as usual can leave women and families worse off, as their assets will continue to be disposed off more readily when the next climatic shock hits

Some concluding thoughts

Ringler, C., A. Quisumbing, E. Bryan, and R. Meinzen-Dick. (Eds.) 2014. Enhancing Women’s Assets to Manage Risk under Climate Change: Potentialfor Group-Based Approaches. IFPRI Policy Note Series. http://ebrary.ifpri.org/utils/getfile/collection/p15738coll2/id/128599/filename/128810.pdfBryan, E. and J. Behrman. 2013. Community-based adaptation to climate change: a theoretical framework, overview of key issues and discussion of gender differentiated priorities and participation. CAPRi Working Paper, 109. http://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15738coll2/id/127540Goh, A.H.X. 2012. A literature review of the gender-differentiated impacts of climate change on women’s and men’s assets and well-being in developing countries. CAPRi Working Paper, 106. http://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/127247Ragasa, C., Y. Sun, E. Bryan, C. Abate, A. Alemu and M. Namori Keita. 2013. Organizational and institutional issues in climate change adaptation and risk management. Insights from practitioners’ survey in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Kenya and Mali. IFPRI Discussion Paper 1279. Washington DC: IFPRI. http://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/127758Davis, P, and S. Ali. 2013. Exploring local perceptions of climate-change impact and adaptation in rural Bangladesh. IFPRI Discussion Paper 1322. Washington DC: IFPRI. http://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/128014Aberman, N.L., R. Birner, E. Haglund, M. Ngigi, S. Ali, B. Okoba, D. Koné, and T. Alemu. 2014. Understanding the policy landscape for climate change adaptation: a cross-country comparison using the Net-Map method. IFPRI Discussion Paper, 1408. Washington DC: IFPRI. http://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/128928Aberman, N.L., S. Ali, J. Behrman, E. Bryan, P. Davis, A. Donnelly, V. Gathaara, D. Kone, T. Nganga, J. Ngugi, B. Okoba, and C. Roncoli. 2014. Climate change adaptation, assets and group-based approaches: gendered perceptions from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Mali and Kenya. IFPRI Discussion Paper, 1412. Washington DC: IFPRI. http://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/128950Dillon, A. and J. Gill. 2014. Gender, Farm Assets, and the Role of Climate Variability on Production Possibilities. http://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/128765Quisumbing, A.R. and N. Kumar. 2014. Land rights knowledge and conservation in rural Ethiopia: Mind the gender gap. IFPRI Discussion Paper 1386. Washington DC: IFPRI. http://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/128480Quisumbing, A., N. Kumar, and J. Behrman. 2014. Do Shocks Affect Men’s and Women’s Assets Differently? Evidence from Bangladesh and Uganda. http://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/124940Rakib, M. and J. Matz. 2014. Impact of shocks on gender differentiated asset dynamics in Bangladesh. IFPRI Discussion Paper, 1356. Washington, DC: IFPRI. http://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/128191Beaman, L. and A. Dillon. 2014. Diffusion of Agricultural Technologies within Social Networks: Evidence from Composting in Mali. http://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/128759Twyman et al 2014. Adaptation Actions in Africa: Evidence that Gender Matters. CCAFS Working Paper, 83. https://cgspace.cgiar.org/bitstream/handle/10568/51391/WP83.pdfBernier et al. 2015. Gender and Institutional Aspects of Climate-Smart Agricultural Practices: Evidence from Kenya. CCAFS Working Paper, 79.https://cgspace.cgiar.org/bitstream/handle/10568/65680/Gender%20and%20Institutions%20Working%20Paper%2079.pdfDelavallade et al. 2015. Managing Risk with Insurance and Savings: Experimental Evidence for Male and Female Farm Managers in West Africa. IFPRI Discussion Paper, 1426. http://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/129071

Resources: Publications

Resources: Websites & toolkits

• Project website:http://womenandclimate.ifpri.info/

• Project website: http://climatechange.ifpri.info/womens-resilience-to-climate-change/

• Blog piece on Why rural women are integral in the upcoming climate change negotiations http://www.ifpri.org/blog/un-international-day-rural-women

• Action-oriented research approaches beyond diagnostics from CCAFS--http://ccafs.cgiar.org/research-highlight/new-toolbox-gender-and-inclusion-climate-change-projects#.VH0xnIcg25B.

• Gender CC Toolkit:http://womenandclimate.ifpri.info/files/2015/02/BMZ_Toolkit_Final.pdf