Mainstream gender in climate change

Gender is susceptible to climate risks, and a key factor to consider in developing effective policy responses to climate change mitigation.

In recent years, there have been several efforts to support gender equality as part of responses to climate change. However, there has been a challenge in understanding how gender relations affect people’s ability to adapt and mitigate climate change.

Given the adverse impact of climate change such as extreme weather conditions — drought, floods and hurricanes — there is a clear need to promote climate change interventions.

In Africa, extreme climatic events such as droughts, floods, and hurricanes have resulted in closer scrutiny of how people often endure these impacts.

Research suggests that the threats of climate change are not equally distributed and are likely to impact the poor and marginalised individuals within the society. The fact that women in developing countries experience low  economic, social, and political status mean they are more vulnerable to crises compared to men.

It is, therefore, necessary to include women in climate change negotiations to achieve greater gender equality and women’s voice in decision-making.

In some African countries, such as Uganda and Tanzania, there have been efforts to harmonize climate change policies and actions with national gender policies. In Uganda, for instance, many of the agriculture and climate change policies and strategies have integrated gender considerations, although to different degrees.

In Kenya, the inclusion of gender into climate change adaptation and mitigation actions is gaining momentum. However, it’s recognizant that significant gaps  remain in integrating gender equality into the fight against climate change.

According to the African Union gender strategy, African states have not adequately empowered and meaningfully engaged women in climate justice initiatives. 

Due to patriarchal social norms (values, beliefs, attitudes, and practices), there have been unequal power relations between women and men, which deny them the opportunity to contribute equally to climate change solutions.

For instance, in Kenya women experience numerous challenges including negative socialisation, lack of sufficient education, restrictive property ownerships rules, limited decision making, and control of gender stereotyping and discrimination. Therefore, this social construction of defined gender roles and responsibilities assigned to men and women within society manifests the obstacles to effective national gender mainstreaming.

Women play a crucial role in performing household chores and income generation activities such as agricultural productivity, distributing produce to the local market and engage in small businesses.

Regarding this, it is evident that climate change and climate variability, including heavy rainfalls and extended periods of drought, disrupt agricultural activity and hamper the distribution of goods and services to the local markets.

We, therefore, need to have strategic interventions such as nature-based climate solutions. These include crop diversification; promotion of alternative water sourcing practices, including water harvesting techniques that are suitable for different agro-climatic areas and water recycling and reuse and promotion of appropriate irrigation technologies suitable for sensitive to ecological systems.

There is also need to improve soil and land management practices such as conservation agriculture and agroforestry, protection and conservation of water catchment areas through afforestation and reforestation (including on farm woodlots, etc.).

Exploitation of alternative renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, biomass (including, biomass waste) and biogas,  promotion of increased forest covers through tree planting, agroforestry, forest management, rehabilitation of degraded area and reducing emissions through deforestation and forest degradation(REDD)+ are also key interventions. 

The national government needs to create opportunities for education and training, provide capacity-building and technology-transfer measures in climate change and work closely with the Ministry of Gender to identify indicators that address gender and climate change.

Further, the national and county governments should develop strategies to improve and guarantee women, youth, and the marginalised's access to and control over natural resources;

In addition, the government should ensure the involvement and participation of women and gender experts in policy processes at international and national climate change meetings.

Representation of women in the established climate change structures and institutions is vital. For instance, advocate for a designated gender focal person to represent at UN Framework for Climate Change Convention.

Adequate funding should be put in place to support gender mainstreaming in national policies. For example, provide access to the Green Climate Fund, which takes a gender-sensitive approach while funding climate change adaptation and mitigation initiatives.

Finally, invest in research areas such as gender specific effects of climate change, gender aspects of mitigation and adaptation, women and men’s capacities to cope with climate change; and gender-related patterns of vulnerability.

Dr John Chumo is secretary, National Environmental Complaints Committee, while Naomi Kemei is a development communications practitioner