Gendered Vulnerability to Climate Change in Limpopo

1. Gendered vulnerability to climate change in Limpopo Dr Katharine Vincent

2. Vulnerability and gender • the degree to which a system is likely to suffer harm • - biophysical (sensitivity to exposure) • - social (age, ethnicity, class, religion, gender) • gendered access to resources in a patriarchal society • de jure and de facto female-headed households in South Africa – more vulnerable or less vulnerable to climate change than male-headed households?

4. Case study characteristics

6. Methods 1 • Theoretical development • Literature review to ascertain determinants of vulnerability • Development of a theoretical index of vulnerability; composite sub-indices weighted in aggregation to give end score • Not normalised – standardised across range of data for sample • Outcome is ranking from 1 (most vulnerable) to 85 (least vulnerable)

7. Methods 2 • Fieldwork data collection • Participatory Rural Appraisal exercises – exploratory and concluding • Household questionnaire incorporating livelihoods survey (n=85) • In depth interviews, emphasis on change through time with different household headship (n=38) • Participant observation

9. Financial capital (20%) Market value of livestock assets (100%) Dependency ratio (50%) Human capital (20%) Households with a member suffering from a long term/recurrent disease (50%) Household Social Vulnerability Index Social Capital (20%) Range and scope of social capital contacts (50%) Membership of social capital groups (50%) Natural capital (20%) Contribution of farming to household wellbeing (100%) Physical capital (20%) Quality of housing and roofing materials (100%) Structure of Household Social Vulnerability Index

10. Justification for housing quality sub-index

11. Results

12. Sample household profiles

13. Observations • No clear-cut relationship between status of household headship and vulnerability in male- and female-headed households • Understanding how household vulnerability is gendered requires analysis beyond just status of household headship to the causes of that headship: • The average rank of de jure female-headed households is low partly because there are, by definition, less productive adults • Headship is a fluid concept that is related to life stage, and that also determines vulnerability (with young and old more vulnerable)

14. Climate change, agriculture and food security • “feminisation” of agriculture and critical role of women in subsistence-based natural-resource dependent livelihoods • Gendered access to traditional coping strategies: • Changing planting dates • Planting hardier varieties • Planting in alternative locations • …and adaptation strategies • Flexibility to move off the land

15. Vignettes - 1 • Florah* is recently widowed and cares for 4 school-aged children. She used to grow maize, but low rainfall in recent years has forced her to stop as she cannot afford diesel to operate a borehole for irrigation. The combination of that and the loss of income from her husband is placing her family’s livelihoods in a precarious situation, and they rely a lot on her mother’s pension to buy food.

16. Vignettes - 2 • Gary* also used to plant rain-fed crops that he sold as part of a cooperative agreement. He has also stopped planting at the moment due to several poor seasons of rain, but he has managed to find employment in a local tomato canning factory, and thus is able to maintain a livelihood for his family. Such an option would be much more difficult for Florah, partly as she only has primary school education, and partly because she needs to be around the homestead to care for her children.

17. Take home message • Different roles, responsibilities and capabilities lead to differences in the way men and women experience climate change, and that can reinforce gender disparities