How does climate change adaptation policy in India consider gender? An analysis of 28 state action plans

Abstract

Gender mediates climate vulnerability and adaptation action. Consequently, climate change adaptation policy has seen a push towards 'mainstreaming' gender and prioritising 'genderresponsive' climate action. However, it is unclear to what extent this mainstreaming advances or obscures gender considerations and whether current climate policies reflect developments in the gender and climate change literature. This paper explores how gender is operationalised in adaptation policy in India through a policy review of 28 State Action Plans on Climate Change. We juxtapose normative goals around reducing differential vulnerability with policy approaches to mainstreaming gender to propose entry points that link advances in gender and feminist studies with climate change adaptation policy. Our analysis indicates that most subnational climate policies in India explicitly mention gender as a mediator of vulnerability and adaptive capacity but operationalise it inadequately and unevenly. We also reflect on how the heuristics of mainstreaming get operationalised in policies (gender-blind, gender-sensitive, to gender-transformative approaches) and what that means for addressing gendered vulnerability.

Comparative Analysis of Climate Change Policies: Pakistan VS. Global Approaches

“…It is unclear, however, to what degree this mainstreaming promotes or hides gendered concerns, and if contemporary climate policy reflects advancements within gender equality and climate change research. To be effective, gendered conceptualization needs to move beyond concentrating on differences between men and women and include interconnections like sex, caste, class, and resources (Singh et al, 2021). Therefore, the current study explores different settings of gender in global and national contexts in order to find gender alignment in Pakistan's global and national climate change strategy.…”

Assessing the Sustainability Development Goals on Climate and Energy Financing Policies: A Bibliographic Analysis

“…Hallegatte (2016) 21 11 analyzed the opportunities and difficulties brought by extreme weather events and offered suggestions for controlling the risks associated with them.…”

Gender and Climatic Policies in India- A Review of National and State Action Plans on Climate Change

“…The five states namely Assam, Manipur Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Odisha end up following an extremely gender-blind approach towards their adaptation strategies (Singh et. al.…”

“…Another set of states including the north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, central state of Madhya Pradesh and northern state of Uttar Pradesh follow a gender-neutral approach in their climatic action plans (Singh et. al, 2021) since they include specific plans and policies focusing on gendered improvement of outcomes but at the same time do not challenge the gender norms, gender inequalities and the existing gender relations that shape and determine vulnerabilities.…”

“…Gender, environmental issues and laws in India: Environmental issues are a ubiquitous issue in the world and therefore impact everyone, nevertheless, laws are applicable only within the geographical limits and therefore, to deal with environmental challenges effectively and diminish the impact upon various sections of the population, environmental laws, policies and actions need to be streamlined in such a manner that they benefit all the sections of the society (Mathur, 2022) 6 .…”