Women as key players in climate adaptation

Gender often dictates who gains and who loses in environmental disasters: where women lack basic rights, more will die from natural disasters than men; where they enjoy equal rights, the death rate is the same. Global debates therefore identify the need to mainstream gender into climate change analysis, particularly as Women provide up to 90 percent of rural poor people’s food and produce 60-80 percent of the food in most developing countries but are insufficiently represented in decision-making processes on climate change.

Drawing on case studies and local action in countries across Africa (South Africa, Togo, Cameroon, Namibia, Kenya and Tanzania), this sixth edition of the briefing series Joto Afrika highlights ways to improve gender analysis and increase representation in climate adaptation. The articles emphasise the need to:

• work with, and build the capacities of, existing women’s organisations
• invest in communicating both research and policy
• improve gender analysis to develop and deliver relevant and responsive adaptation programmes, taking local contexts into account
• prioritise democratic and participatory approaches which ensure women’s involvement, while making sure to avoid overburdening women.

Joto Afrika, Swahili for ‘Africa is feeling the heat', is a series of briefings and online resources about adapting to climate change in Africa. It is produced by the Arid Lands Information Network (ALIN) in Kenya in partnership with IDS Knowledge Services and AfricaAdapt.