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.

Glossary of key gender terms

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.

Visit the project webpage.
Download a Summary of Project Findings. [missing document label] 

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.

See related web story.

Publications

Invisible Guardians: Women manage livestock diversity FAO. 2007. People-Centred Climate Change Adaptation:Integrating Gender Issues Invisible Guardians: Women manage livestock diversity FAO. 2007. People-Centred Climate Change Adaptation:Integrating Gender Issues 8 November 2012 This publication presents an analysis of women’s role in the sustainable use, development and conservation of animal genetic resources. The importance of small-scale famers and pastoralists as custodians of these resources is well recognized, but has never previously been disaggregated by gender. The differential roles of men and women have largely been neglected in studies of animal genetic resources management, but by piecing together several strands of argument and indirect evidence it can be concluded that women are the main guardians of livestock diversity. Scientists have determined that human activities since the Industrial Revolution, such as the use of fossil fuels and land use change, have led to an increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, trapping extra heat inside the atmosphere, and offsetting the earth-atmosphere energy balance. This has led to an increase in the Earth’s surface temperature, resulting or expected to result in shifts in the climate system, including sea level rise, changes in precipitation patterns, melting ice, increased frequency of extreme events, and changes in climate variability. [more]

Farmers in a changing climate. Does gender matter? 8 October 2010 This report presents the findings of research undertaken in six villages in two drought-prone districts of Andhra Pradesh, India, Mahbubnagar and Anantapur1. The study, carried out by an international team led by FAO, used gender, institutional, and climate analyses to document the trends in climate variability men and women farmers are facing and their responses to ensure food security in the context of larger socio-economic and political challenges to their livelihoods and well-being. [more]

FAO. 2008. Gender and equity issues in liquid biofuels production. Minimizing the risks to maximize the opportunities 24 March 2010 The production of liquid biofuels is rapidly increasing in developing countries, due mainly to the establishment of large-scale biofuel feedstock plantations1. This results in potential socio-economic benefits, particularly in terms of agricultural employment, as well as risks, which tend to be context-specific. This paper explores the potential gender-differentiated risks associated with the large-scale production of first-generation liquid biofuels. The production of liquid biofuels is rapidly increasing in developing countries, due mainly to the establishment of large-scale biofuel feedstock plantations1. This results in potential socio-economic benefits, particularly in terms of agricultural employment, as well as risks, which tend to be context-specific. This paper explores the potential gender-differentiated risks associated with the large-scale production of first-generation liquid biofuels. [more]

IIED/University of Greenwich/FAO. 2008. Climate change and land tenure. The implications of climate change for land tenure and land policy 24 March 2010 This document analyzes the implications for land tenure and land policy of climate change. It assesses the implications of ongoing anthropogenic climate change resulting from greenhouse gas emissions for land tenure and the role that land policy can play in climate change adaptation planning in the developing world; it also sets out a simple framework for tracing the linkages between climate change, impacts on land use systems, and the land tenure implications, including those which result from adaptation and mitigation responses to global warming. [more]