Gender Differences in Climate Change Perceptions and Adaptation Strategies: An Intra-Household Analysis from Rural Kenya

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in AbstractIt has been widely acknowledged that the effects of climate change are not gender neutral. However, existing studies on adaptation to climate change mainly focus on a comparison of male-headed and female-headed households. Aiming at a more nuanced gender analysis, this study examines how husbands and wives within the same household perceive climate risks and group-based approaches as coping strategies. The data stem from a unique selfcollected and intra-household survey involving 156 couples in rural Kenya, where husbands and wives were interviewed separately. Options for adapting to climate change closely interplay with husbands' and wives' roles and responsibilities, social norms, risk perceptions and access to resources. Consequently, a higher percentage of wives adopt crop-related strategies, whereas husbands employ livestock-and agroforestry-related strategies. Besides, there are gender-specific climate information needs, gendered trust of information and preferred channels of information dissemination. Further, it turned out that group-based approaches benefit husbands and wives differently. Group-based approaches provide avenues for diversifying livelihoods and managing risks for wives, while they are pathways for sharing climate information and adaptation options for husbands. Social groups help husbands and wives to enhance their welfare through accumulating vital types of capital such as livestock, durable assets, human, natural, financial and social capital. The findings suggest that designing gender-sensitive policies and institutionalizing gender in climate change adaptation and mitigation frameworks, are vital. Policy interventions that rely on group-based approaches must reflect gender perspectives on the ground in order to amplify men's and women's specific abilities to manage risks and improve welfare outcomes in the wake of accelerating climate change.

A scoping review of adoption of climate-resilient crops by small-scale producers in low- and middle-income countries

“…For example, young, poor women who were household heads were the least likely to adopt drought-tolerant maize in Uganda, whereas spouses of male household heads influenced adoption decisions on their husbands' fields 9 . Only a few studies paid attention to intra-household dynamics, gender roles and relations, and how these shape adaptation decisions 9,28 . This limited attention on intra-household gender dynamics and decision making around climate-resilient seed adoption skews the conclusions and recommendations, as the literature does not equally represent the challenges and views of women.…”

A holistic sustainability assessment of organic (certified and non-certified) and non-organic smallholder farms in Kenya

“…In addition, other capacity building initiatives have been claimed to be successful in filling these gaps. For instance, demand-driven extension services (Ngigi et al, 2016) and farmer-to-farmer training approaches (Lukuyu et al, 2012). Strengthening human capacity is a precondition for improving the sustainability of rural livelihoods for communities that depend on rainfed agriculture as was found for example in Azerbaijan (Aliloo & Dashti, 2021).…”

“…There is a need to provide sound loan products to finance agriculture by removing barriers to both lenders and borrowers. One way, especially for asset-poor farmers, is through group-based access (Ngigi et al, 2016). Furthermore, collective action has been put forward as a strategy to improve farmers' involvement in agricultural value chains Fig.…”

Income mobility in diversified CSA households of Nyando Basin, South Western Kenya

“…Studies on smallholders' responses to climate stress in Kenya, Uganda, Ghana and Bangladesh, by Jost et al (2016); Ngigi et al (2016;Chamberlin et al (2015) and Ng'ang'a et al (2017) suggested that livelihood diversification as a successful household adaptation strategy can undermine the interest and status of the married women within homesteads. Economic pressure has however forced women to change from their traditional roles as housewives to engagement in off-farm wage earning activities.…”