Climate Change through a Gendered Lens: Intra-household Perception and Adaptation Strategies in South Kashmir

Abstract

Gender and climate change is emerging as one of most sensitive issues in recent times. Existing studies have demonstrated gender divide in critical dimensions such as climate change perceptions, climate change concern, adaptation and mitigation strategies. This study aims at a more nuanced gender analysis at intra-household level in South Kashmir, India, to examine how males and females within a same household perceive climate change risks and possible adaptation and mitigation options to negotiate such a serious issue. The results revealed significant gender variations in climate change perception in the study area. While males have more or less perceived it as long terms fluctuations in temperature and rainfall component, a higher proportion of females(appx.35%) perceive climate change as specific climatic events such as floods, droughts, hailstorm activity, cloud bursts and crop failure on account of their vulnerability and susceptibility to such natural disasters. The findings were more supplemented by indices used in the study which confirmed that females tend to be more concerned about the negative impacts of climate change and also possess more accurate scientific knowledge than do men. Both quantitative and qualitative analysis revealed that gender differences also exist in adaptation and mitigation strategies. Women are likely to uptake sustainable measures and smart-agricultural practices such as crop diversification, agroforestry, improving irrigational facilities, opting for high value crops, soil conservation and so on. Contrary to it, males strongly prefer diversification of income options and shifting to less climatic sensitive sectors of economy as part of the coping strategy to climate change effects. Besides, the findings also demonstrate the link between gender variations in climate change and social roles that males and females perform in a social set up. The study recommended future research to prioritize more refined measures of gender and understand gender variations of climate change under varying socio-economic and demographic contexts to improve outcomes under accelerating climate change threat.