Yes and no. Social networks provide men with more information about changing weather patterns. But there are also opportunities for women to decrease vulnerabilities.
By Timothy Muthee Mburu, CCAFS
Has climate change altered gender roles? A study by Martha Ngugi seeks to find out if climate change has turned around gender roles.
Recent changes in climate have altered the roles that men and women play in their house holds says Martha Ngugi, who was presenting preliminary findings from her PHD thesis titled “Gender, assets and adaptation to climate change in Kenya”.
“Men have been forced to go out and look for water and fodder crops during drought periods, and they are spending a lot of time in the fields, while women are working for long hours in their households” says Ngugi.
Ngugi’s presentation was part of workshop organized by Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) held at the World Agro Forestry Centre (ICRAF) on 14th May 2014.
The study was conducted in three different ecological regions mainly temperate, humid and semi-arid zones. In the temperate zone, data was collected from households in Othaya and Mukurueni districts while in the humid zone, data was collected from households from Gem and Siaya and in the semi-arid zone data was collected from households in Njoro and Mbere regions.
The study reveals that men are adapting to climate change differently as compared to women. This can be attributed to the following factors. “Men have more access to information on climate changes, control over decision making mechanism, control over assets and social capital” says Ngugi. In all areas, men have more access to groups and networks and therefore climate change information, adaptation ideas, and farm inputs says Ngugi.
Building women’s bargaining and decision-making power and scaling up group based approaches such as information sharing, risk management and livelihood diversification are some of the remedies that can help women adapt to the effects of climate change, Ngugi concludes.
