exploring gender, climate change vulnerability and adaptive capacity through an intersectionality...

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Exploring Gender and Climate variability/change through intersectionality lens

Presentation made during the 4TH Climate Change and Population Conference on Africa [CCPOP-GHANA 2015]

29th- 31st July, 2015

Derkyi, M., Adiku, S., Akwen N., Dovie D., Codjoe, S., Nelson, V. & E. Awuah


Outline • Introduction • Intersectionality what is it and why

needed?• Principles governing it • Gender as intersectionality &

empirical evidence• Intersectionality in climate issues • Steps to integrate intersectionality

in academic research• Conclusions


Introduction Climate change and variability (CCV) reported to

have significant implications on food security and sustainable forest management esp. in developing countries’ where most people depend on agriculture and forest resources for their livelihoods (Sunderlin,2005; World Bank, 2001; Acharya,2006)

However, the effects/impacts are felt differently Rationale being that roles and responsibilities of

gender are socially and culturally ascribed Thus determine how each category experiences and

responds to CCV (Swai et al, 2012, FAO, 2012)


Cont. Appreciating gender from such approach

often leads to interventions targeting diverse social identities or intersecting categories .

However, disaggregated data by gender and more specifically its intersection with other social groups such as class, age and wealth in the context of climate change in Ghana are scarce (exmpt. Dzah, 2011)

Most studies tend to focus on single variable such as gender thus projecting it as binary

Such perspective obscures the fact that gender takes meaning from its intersection with other identities (Hankivsky,2014).


Cont. & Methodology

Against this gap in knowledge.. Study explores how intersectionality

framework had been used to interrogate and understand differences in gender and social problem like CCV.

Methodology Systematic analysis of secondary data of

intersectionality, gender and climate change literature

Content analysis done focusing on themes like definitional clarity, intersectional models &approaches, principles governing intersectionality, gender, CCV & intersectionality etc


Intersectionality what is it and why needed? A concept which original idea made

visible the marginalisation and power struggles among black and minorities women

Grew out of feminist and womanist scholars portraying the complex factors in processes that shape human lives (Collins, 1990; Smith & Andrew 2011)

Coined in 1989 by an American critical legal race scholar Kimberle Williams Crenshaw (1989) bringing to fore gender with other dimensions of social identities.

Many definitions but simply put:

‘inequalities are never the result of single, distant factors. Rather , they are the outcomes of intersections of different social locations (i.e. race/ethnicity, gender, class, age , socio-economic status , religion etc) power relations and experiences’ (Hankivsky, 2014)


Thus, goes beyond differences between men and women to understanding How intersections of the social identities that are not physically observed between and among women and men produce differential results (Dzah, 2011)

Cont.


Intersectionality and other approaches Hancook (2013 p.268) summarises three approaches

1. Unitary Approach= focuses on one primary marker or differences as sufficient for explaining social problem

2. Multiple approach= considers more than one explanatory factor , but does so in additive way , paying little attention to relationships and interactions between such factors.

3. Intersectionality approach = focuses on the relationships between factors and mutually constructed processes that create differences.


Cont.Similarly, Hankivsky (2014) compared four conceptual approaches to conceptualising categories of differences as follows:

SGBA GBA+ HIAs IBPA

Sex &gender based analysis

Gender based analysis plus

Health impact assessments

Intersectionality based policy analysis

Priortizes sex & gender; does not question the importance or supremacy of sex and or gender diff.

Emphasises factors beyond gender in an interactive way: does not challenge importance of gender

Grounded in social determinants of health: lack voice and participation of those affected by policy process

Emphasises that people belong to more than one social category at the same time; interactions of diff social locations, syst & process; investigate rather than assumes…


Governing principles of intersectionality

Reflexivity

Power

Intersecting categories

Multi-level analysis

Social justices & equity

Diversity of knowledge

Time and Space

Resistance &Resilience

Intersectionality –based policy

analysis framework (IBPA)

Source : Hankivsky, 2014


Gender as intersectionality & Empirical evidence

Is one of the social locations /identities under intersecting categories Different studies have revealed that appreciating gender from

intersectional lens have resulted in the following:o Advance the understanding of how gender expressions and meanings are

co-constituted by other social location (e.g. age, geography etc) and can differ across men. [evd. Mutua, 2013]

o Debunk false assumptions of gender-based differences by showing how women sometimes share similar experiences of advantage and disadvantage with men across social categories [evd. Circle field data in Sunyani west]


Contd. o Reveal within-group differences

among young men & adult men/ adult women & young women and how these can be more significant than those between men and women [evd. CIRCLE data from 3 villages in offinso north]

o Demonstrate the existence of diverse expressions of masculinities that are shaped by culture and subcultures [evd. Evans et al, 2011]


Most CCV studies tend to focus on single variable (Stern, 2007, Lambrou and Paina, 2006 etc)

Thus construct concept like gender as binary –overlooking significant differences regarding knowledge, resources and power within the gender groups(Carr and Thompson, 2014)

Hence concealing the fact that gender takes meaning from its intersection with other identities, roles and responsibilities.

However, Intersectionality analysis illuminates how different individuals and groups

relate differently to or are vulnerable to and adapt to CCV due to their situatedness in power structures based on context-specific and dynamic social categorisation

Intersectionality in Climate issues & Empirical Evidence


Cont.• In USA and in line with Katrina, Tuana (2008) observed various intersecting

forms of marginality thus bring to fore how CC impacts can intersect with social structures

• In Ghana, Dzah (2011) indicated that the simplistic comparisons of men vs. women are not adequate for understanding who is impacted by CC and how. Instead, gender, age, ethnicity, marital status and life stage affect levels of vulnerability and adaptive capacity.

Besides multi-level analysis of intersecting factors, processes and structures impacting CC experiences, the principles also lead to questions regarding how climate change problems are framed and understood (Hankivsky, 2014).

Intersectionality-informed analysis can bring to fore alternative knowledge on CC and in turn, improved climate change strategies (Kaijser &Kronsell, 2013:6)


Steps to integrate intersectionality in academic research

Kaijser & Kronsell (2014) proposed 3 possible questions as sensitizers to help maintain awareness of intersecting structures in order to identify the intersections that are relevant in a particular case.Social categories Which social categories , if any , are represented in the empirical

material? Which social categories are absent? Are there any observable explicit or implicit assumptions about social

categories and about relations between social categories? What identities are produced and considered to serve as grounds for

political actions? Are any other aspects of identity neglected or deemed insignificant?


Cont.Synergy between humans & the environment How are relations between humans and between humans and the

environment portrayed? How is nature represented? What type of environmental knowledge is recognised and privileged?

Governing norms implications Are any norms for behaviour visible in the material? Are there norms about

the relation to other humans, resources and nature? What are the norms that set the standards for a ‘’good life’? How are these norms reproduced , reinforced or challenged? How are they reflected in institutional practices?


Conclusion Intersectionality portrays that : Human lives cannot be explained by single categories such

as gender, race etc People’s lives are multi-dimensional and complex thus

shaped by different factors and social dynamics operating together

In analysing social problem /issue like climate change or livelihoods, the importance of any category or structure cannot be predetermined thus must be discovered through process of investigation.

Relationships and power dynamics between social locations and process are linked and can change overtime and be different depending on geographical settings


Cont.

People experience privileges and oppressions simultaneously depending on situation and context.

Intersectionality is not a ‘’cure for all’’ but is explicitly oriented towards transformation, building coalitions among different groups and working towards social justice especially among gender and intersecting categories in the era of climate issues .


References • Swai, W.O., Mbwambo, S.J., and Magayane, T.F. 2012. Gender and Adaptation Practices to the Effects of Climate

Change in Bahi and Kondoa Districts Dodoma Region, Tanzania. Journal of Sustainable Development; Vol. 5, No. 12; 2012

• FAO (2012) Training Guide: Gender and Climate change Research in Agriculture and Food security for rural development. http://www.fao.org/docrep/015/md280e/md280e00.htm (Accessed 20th July, 2014)

• Hankivsky, O (2014) Intersectionality 101.• Dzah, E.D. E (2001) Gender Dynamics of Climate Change in Ghana: An Intersectional Perspective. Dissertation.

International Institute of social studies , Erasmus University.• Hyde, J.S. (2004) Gender similarities and differences. Annual review of psychology , 65, 373-398

http://www.fao.org/docrep/015/md280e/md280e00.htm


Acknowledgements

CIRCLE UENR

LEGON, RIPS/ORID SUPERVISORS

MENTOREXTERNAL ADVISOR

ALL PRESENT TODAY


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exploring gender, climate change vulnerability and adaptive capacity through an intersectionality...

Environment

ccv intersectionality

fore gender

responsibilities of

appreciating gender

intersectionality framework

introduction climate

context of climate change

diverse social identities