The concept of gender mainstreaming and its economic impact

Gender Mainstreaming in the context of climate change postulates inclusivity and reduction of vulnerability of women using involving them in decision-making that drives policies related to climate change. Alongside mitigating the gender gap, it focuses on weather patterns, disaster management measures, and climate change. This integration helps reap benefits in the long run.

Owing to the gendered division of labor and the higher share of women in the agricultural sector, the impact of climate change significantly prevents women from pursuing income-generating activities.

The impact of disasters (disaster mortality) is much higher on women than men, particularly in poorer communities. For instance, following the 2004 Asian tsunami, it was found that, in parts of India, females accounted for over 70 percent of the dead.

Programs and initiatives

Bhungroo Irrigation technology

The Bhungroo irrigation technology was developed in Gujarat, India, by Naireeta Services in response to the 2001 earthquake. This technology advanced to become a sustainable solution to steady farming in both dry and wet seasons, assisting the harvests and water storage for improved irrigation, serving the need to improve the livelihoods of the poor, and educating semi-literate rural women on environmental protection.

Women Climate Leaders Program

WCL trains women smallholder farmers to provide fee-based services to other smallholder farmers in their villages. WCLs undertake Bhungroo feasibility and preliminary geohydro studies, supervision of Bhungroo erection, and distribution of irrigation water. WCLs are paid by farmers for providing these services. Additionally, poor women smallholder farmers who own a Bhungroo earn income from the sale of crops and from helping other smallholders in their villages gain access to water.

Several tools and approaches can be used to promote gender mainstreaming in each gender-responsive content, gender representation, and enabling environment. most of these employ participatory methods to gather information on the roles of women and men affected by climate change and disaster risk reduction processes

Tools commonly used to generate gender-sensitive policies and programs are primarily applied during the planning and design of actions. The most dominant approaches are those employed in the initial steps of gender mainstreaming for the collection and analysis of data.

Sex, age, and diversity in disaggregated data

Collecting SADDD is to provide a complete understanding of people’s lives to develop better policies and programs. This typically involves asking the “who” questions in a census or household survey: who provides labor, who accesses services, who purchases what, who is affected by diseases, etc.

Development of gender-specific indicators and associated tools to collect data

UN Women has developed a set of 39 example indicators that could be used to measure and track gender outcomes in climate change and disaster risk reduction. The indicators address such issues as exposure, vulnerability, coping capacity, and indirect and direct impacts of disasters and climate change on women. Additionally, the set includes indicators corresponding to tracking the means of implementation for gender-responsive climate action. A broader work on developing indicators to measure the nexus of gender and environment has identified 46 indicators.

Gender analysis framework

It provides a step-by-step methodology for learning about:

(i)                 the tasks and responsibilities carried out by women and men according to their gender, age, ethnicity, and marital status;

(ii)              women’s and men’s access to and control over resources; and

(iii)            women’s and men’s participation in decision-making processes.

Gender analysis is a valuable tool to uncover data and identify the following issues

1) Differences in the lives of poor women and men in the target community;

 2) The status of women and their ability to exercise their human rights;

3) The different skills, capacities, and aspirations of women and men; ) The division of labor between women and men;

4) The different access to and control over resources enjoyed by women and men;

5) The different levels of participation and leadership enjoyed by women and men;

6) Indications of the number of women experiencing gender-based violence; and

7) the barriers that unequal gender relations present to women’s development in this community.

Written by Tharuni Mudumby | Proofread by Yasmin Uzykanova