Gender Issues in Climate Change Adaptation: Farmers’ Food Security in Andhra Pradesh

Abstract

This work contributes to a growing body of literature on gender and climate change (e.g. Lambrou and Piana, Gender: the missing component in the response to climate change. Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, Rome, 2005; Ray-Bennett, Environ Hazards, 8(1): 5, 2009). Gender is one of numerous important socio-cultural dimensions typically included in climate change vulnerability assessments but it is rarely incorporated in adaptation research and planning. An innovative methodological model for studying gender and climate variability for use in the context of climate change was developed. Gender-sensitive qualitative and quantitative methods and gender analysis techniques were used to capture the voices of both men and women and quantify the degree to which men’s and women’s responses to climate variability differ. This research tests the hypothesis that due to gender roles men and women deal and cope with climate variability differently. The findings confirm that there is a strong gender dimension to the way in which climate variability is experienced and expressed by farmers in their coping strategies to ensure their livelihoods and food security. Women’s and men’s perceptions of and responses to impacts of changed climatic conditions differ in important ways as they pursue food security. Such findings are essential for informing policy decisions by ensuring that the experiences of both women and men are embedded into policy design.