A qualitative comparative analysis of women’s agency and adaptive capacity in climate change hotspots in Asia and Africa

Abstract

There is growing concern about sustainable and equitable adaptation in climate change hotspots, commonly understood as locations that concentrate high climatic variability, societal vulnerability, and negative impacts on livelihood systems. Emphasizing gender within these debates highlights how demographic, socio-economic and agro-ecological contexts mediate the experiences and outcomes of climate change. Drawing on data from 25 qualitative case studies across three hotspots in Africa and Asia, analysed using Qualitative Comparative Analysis, we show how and in what ways women's agency, or the ability to make meaningful choices and strategic decisions, contributes to adaptation responses. We find that environmental stress is a key depressor of women's agency even when household structures and social norms are supportive, or legal entitlements available. These findings have implications for the effective implementation of multilateral agreements such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction, and the Sustainable Development Goals.Sustainable, equitable, and effective adaptation is critical in climate change hotspots, locations where climatic shifts, social structures, and livelihood sensitivity converge to exacerbate vulnerability 1,2 . Entrenched social structures create power relations that shape women's and men's experiences of vulnerability through access to resources, divisions of work, and cultural norms around mobility and decision-making, all of which determine adaptive capacity 6,10-21 . Involving trade-offs at every level 12,[22][23][24] , these contextual factors not only shape vulnerabilities but also create possibilities for adaptation 25 .When examining gendered vulnerability and the way in which it is manifest in unequal patriarchal systems, women's agency has emerged as key to realising adaptive capacity, but remains understudied 11 . Drawing on feminist arguments to move beyond simplistic framings of actors in terms of active or passive, victims or perpetrators 7,26,27 , we conceptualise agency as the ability to make meaningful choices and strategic decisions 28 . It can take multiple forms, from bargaining and negotiation to subversion and resistance 29 , varying across institutional sites and scales, and drawing differentially on available material or social resources 28 . Institutions, ranging from the micro (household) and meso (community) level, to the more macro-levels of markets and states 30 , interact and intersect with each other, often intensifying or reproducing inequalities. The rules and norms they establish, can be formal or informal, complementary or competing 31 , giving specific meaning to particular activities, resources and relationships. In the context of climate action, while some research explores the role of social capital, especially women's groups, for instance, in supporting women's agency 32,33 , a nuanced institutional analysis, linking women's agency and its implications for adaptive capacity remains miss...

Mountain futures: pursuing innovative adaptations in coupled social–ecological systems

“…However, smallholders (farmers who work less than 2 ha) would greatly benefit from more site-specific, targeted government support to improve market access, and to develop agricultural extension services and water use infrastructure, among other needs. Rao et al (2019), working at six montane sites in Asia and Africa, explored gender-associated vulnerabilities and factors that may reduce women's decision making in adapting to climate change. These workers learned that environmental stressors could reduce the ability of women to make climateadaptive decisions, even when general social conditions and household norms are supportive.…”

Vulnerability mapping: A conceptual framework towards a context-based approach to women’s empowerment

“…Fundamentally, it is impossible to attain WE without attaining sustainability alongside it, and vice versa, as the two are inextricably interlinked. Likewise, women are also the most vulnerable to the consequences of poor sustainability, with studies clearly demonstrating how gender is a primary mediator for how demographic, socioeconomic and agro-ecological contexts are experienced—with women bearing the brunt of devastation due to climate change ( Arora-Jonsson, 2011 , Rao et al, 2019 ).…”

“…There are two considerations for the central role of WE in sustainable development: 1) It has been documented that WE leads to the realization of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals ( Quisumbing, 2013 , Taukobong et al, 2016 ). 2) A large percentage of the world’s female population are caretakers of society: especially the natural environment, in addition to playing the role of mother, role-model, primary caregiver to the elderly and infirm, and teacher to future generations ( Rao et al, 2019 ). In these two roles, empowered women are able to steward sustainable practices as well as ensure the values of sustainability are passed onto future generations.…”

Managing collaborative research: insights from a multi-consortium programme on climate adaptation across Africa and South Asia

“…Specific efforts that were supported included stakeholder engagement platforms to reach national policy audiences in five countries where more than one consortium was present; communities of practice related to economics, research uptake, and systematic review; and collaborative subprojects that brought together consortia results on migration, gender, and adaptation pathways. This adaptive budgeting was also used to convene additional activity and research synthesis in response to the call for contributions to the IPCC special report on + 1.5°C warming (Conway et al 2019) and to compare changes in women's agency associated with environmental stress across hotspots (Rao et al 2019).…”