Influence of Intra-Household Gender Dynamics on Household Vulnerability to Climate Change: Empirical Evidence from Tripura State of North-East India

Abstract

Aim: The study aims to determine how intra-household gender dynamics affect women’s vulnerability to climate change at the household level in the West Tripura district. Study Design: The study followed an ex-post facto research design, with data collected through a survey and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in the West Tripura district of Tripura which is the most vulnerable district to climate change. Primary data were collected from April to June 2023. Methodology: Through multistage sampling, a total of 60 households were selected for the study of which 49 were male-headed households and 11 female-headed. All male-headed households had both a primary man and a primary woman member; whereas the female-headed households had only a primary woman member. Therefore, a total of 49 primary men and 60 primary women were selected which resulted in a total number of 109 respondents for the present study. For calculating the Household Livelihood Vulnerability Score (HLVS) of the individual, the components of the Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI) approach were adapted with necessary modifications to suit local context.   Results: There was a greater number of households where only the primary men had adequacy in the selected empowerment variables while there was a comparatively lesser incidence of women achieving adequacy. The annual household income of male-headed households was higher than the female-headed households by 30.38 %. The contribution of women in the household income of male-headed households averaged just 9.65 %. Variables such as income of primary women, primary women's contribution to household income, and household head had a positive and significant relationship with the HLVS at a 1 percent level of significance. Women-headed households had significantly higher HLVS than men-headed households across all the selected empowerment variables. Conclusion: The findings revealed a significant impact of intra-household gender dynamics on households’ vulnerability to climate change, implying that any vulnerability reduction approaches such as gender-inclusive climate action should address this dimension in the future.