Factoring gender power relations in the planning and designing of climate change adaptation will go a long way in transforming society in terms of resilience.
The thrust of the matter is not only to communicate gender issues in community-based adaptation (CBA), but to foster and nurture inclusivity. Underlying deeper retrogressive tendencies that always sideline women’s mobility and participation in community-based adaptation need to be laid bare, castigated and shamed.
Issues of inclusivity are quite critical in communicating gender, therefore, information dissemination and collection should promote inclusivity so that the gender sector is not information starved. In this regard, historically and stereotypically entrenched barriers to gender need a Berlin-wall style of falling to pave the way for a broad spectrum of symbiotic policy integration for successful disaster risk management. Although inclusivity is necessary, it must be understood that climate change affects gender differently. As such, different adaptive strategies that would benefit both sets of gender need to be equally harnessed and harmonised. The engendered climate change adaptation policies should continue to narrow existing or the remaining role-gaps in order to strengthen the women’s voices.
Community-based participatory techniques and knowledge-sharing platforms that do not sideline or leave women behind should be inculcated, cultivated and strengthened. If local power relations always go unchecked then inclusion may be suffocated. In this regard, local power relations should be strongly monitored for the success of livelihoods, which are central in fighting vulnerabilities. Communication lenses play a vital role in understanding the local context of CBA, while gender-sensitive complementary roles are there to promote the voices of the less empowered.
Women are gradually becoming agents of change in a climate variable environment, hence some of them should wake up from slumber and embark on confidence-building exercises in order to be counted in this patriarchal society. The success of any community-based adaptation programme rests upon the inclusion of women and men at all levels of the societal ladder. Achieving sustainable transformation in gender roles is an on-going process, that requires continuous nurturing in order to foster compliance and continuity. Therefore, women should not be left behind as what happened with the most poorest and marginalised groups that did not benefit enough from progress on the Millennium Development Goals.
In September 2015, governments from around the globe gathered at the United Nations General Assembly to adopt the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The motto of the SDGs is to Leave No One Behind, women included. Although almost all SDGs are complementary in nature, a closer look would inform us that SDGs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10 and 13 heavily influence women struggles and vulnerabilities, it is SDG 5 that is specifically for gender equality, while number 13 focuses on Climate Action.
Together, they add up to climate change adaptation and resilience. As such, women were discovered to be at the heart of sustainable development, recognising that they are effective communicators of risk and drivers of change in their communities. Therefore, the inclusion of women in climate change adaptation and mitigation would also promote environmental consciousness, appreciation, knowledge and stewardship within them. The right of women to participate in decisions relating to climate change issues is a human right too and in this regard, should be enhanced. Advocating for a greater voice for women in relevant decision-making forms at local, national and international levels is key to ensuring that their needs are met and their capacities recognised and fully utilised.
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It starts from a women rights perspective, to engage women to explore how these rights could be effected or made attainable through disaster risk and climate change adaptation and mitigation. CBA is a sustainable way of empowering women through appropriate gender-friendly participatory methodologies that would ensure the transfer of climate change adaptation knowledge and skills.
To move in the right direction as a country, women need to be roped in as special stakeholders in the fight against climate change and also in other conservation issues. Nature and women are inseparable. This has given them a world view that is complete and natural. The environment is the mother whereas trees, men and animals are the children of nature. Gender-sensitive planning is intertwined with the community plan, together with nature and the local environment. Women’s knowledge of their own environmentis full of community wisdom and information, signifying their close relationship with nature.
Communication channels need to remain wide-open and accessible rather than living much closer, but far away in terms of reaching out to each other. It is not always easy to communicate gender trifling issues, be it at the household or community level, therefore, men should always be sensitive to women’s verbal and non-verbal communication endeavours.
This is done in order to establish sustainable and equitable gender relations. Community-based visuals and images from the gender point of view are also necessary from the multimodal analysis perspective. In complementary to this, gender disaggregated data to establish the scale of gaps and missing links related to climate change impacts between men and women should always be utilised and nurtured.
The women should not be left powerless or caught up in a vicious circle of exploitation bordering on the violation of their rights. Women also need to be tech-savvy and take advantage of the social media, so that they are able to participate in online knowledge sharing platforms in order to communicate resilience. This is also necessary for the narrowing of technological and information gaps.
All in all, women’s voices and participation are critical for the sustainable future that we all want. They are not only the inheritors of the planet, but they actively shape it to its present form. This also means that inclusive and women-specific development plans, investing in their well-being and empowerment, they can become effective guardians of a sustainable world.
●Peter Makwanya is a climate change communicator. He writes in his own capacity and can be contacted on: [email protected]
