Gender, Equity and Social Issues
© FAO/22953/J. Koelen Climate change poses new challenges to already-vulnerable populations. FAO recognises that it is essential to develop an understanding of how men and women are differently vulnerable to, and able to cope with climate change impacts. FAO works to integrate this knowledge into climate change policy in order to make it more effective and able to reach its goal of helping the poor to adapt. Rural men and women’s ability to protect themselves from climatic changes threatening their food security at household and community levels depends on the resources they have; by addressing the inequality between men and women’s access to resources, FAO’s work in fisheries, forestry and agriculture can contribute to better adaptation practices and more sustainable livelihood coping strategies.
Activities
Talking to Farmers
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and local Indian institutions in Andhra Pradesh are currently addressing the gender aspects of coping with climate variability and longterm change within the project Gender-sensitive Strategies for Adaptation to Climate Change: Drawing on Indian Farmers’ Experiences.
The project captures how men and women farmers in drought-prone and flood-prone districts perceive and respond to inter-annual climatic variability and long term changes in climate through participatory focus group discussions and a quantitative survey. These accounts, combined with institutional analysis and meteorological analysis, are used to characterize the climate risks men and women farmers are facing and their coping strategies for food security.
Policymaking
FAO proposes mainstreaming a gender perspective into the policy design process to achieve the goals of eliminating hunger and poverty. By understanding men’s and women’s activities, responsibilities and resources and by using participatory approaches drawing on local knowledge, policy makers can develop more effective strategies to address the hardships created by climate change.
See related publications below.
Public Awareness
FAO brings together diverse stakeholders to promote awareness of the ways in which men and women are differently affected by a changing climate. FAO also aims to facilitate wider understanding of the different contributions men and women can make to address this global challenge by organising open events such as International Women’s Day or World Food Day.
Key FAO links
FAO Gender and Food Security
FAO Gender Dimensions in Natural Resource Management
FAO LinKS Project – Gender, biodiversity and local knowledge systems for food security
FAO SEAGA Programme – Socio-economic and Gender Analysis Programme
Other links
WOCAN – Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and NRM
Eldis – Resource Guide
WEDO – Women’s Environment and Development Organization
ENERGIA – International Network on Gender and Sustainable Energy
UNEP
Contact
Page content: Yianna.Lambrou@fao.org (ESWD)
Gender, Equity and Rural Employment Division: ESW-Director@fao.org
Publications
Glossary of Key Gender Terms
Sex
Identifies the biological differences between men and women. Sex roles are universal.
Gender
Identifies the social relations between men and women. It refers to the relationship between men and women, boys and girls, and how this is socially constructed, is context and culture-specific. Gender roles are dynamic and change over time.
Gender Mainstreaming
Gender mainstreaming is a methodology for ensuring that women’s and men’s needs are integrated in all development work so that they can have equal access and control over resources, development benefits and decision-making,at all stages of the development process.
Gender equality vs. gender equity
Gender equality is the absence of discrimination on the basis of a person’s sex in access to opportunities and the equal allocation of resources, benefits or services.
Gender equity entails the provision of fairness and justice in the distribution of benefits and responsibilities between women and men. The concept recognises that women and men have different needs and different degrees of access to decision-making and that these differences should be identified and addressed in a manner that seeks to rectify the imbalances between the sexes.
Gender roles
Gender roles are learned behaviours in a given society/community that determine which activities, tasks and responsibilities are perceived as male and/or female. Gender roles are affected by age, class, race, ethnicity, religion, caste and by the geographical, cultural, economic and political environment. Changes in gender roles often occur in response to changing economic, natural or political circumstances, including development interventions.
Both men and women play multiple roles in society and at various times. The gender roles of women can be identified as generally being focused on reproductive, productive and community- managing roles, while men’s are more in the public arena, either productive or in community politics and generally in decision-making.
Resources
Resources can be economic: such as land or equipment; political: such as representation, participation, leadership and legal structures; social: such as child care, family planning, education; and also time—a critical but often scarce resource.
Source: Adapted from UNDP Gender Briefing Kit