Gender and Climate Change in Nepal

Author:

Nonoguchi, Atsuko

Graduate Program:

Rural Sociology

Degree:

Doctor of Philosophy

Document Type:

Dissertation

Date of Defense:

December 12, 2011

Committee Members:

Carolyn Elizabeth Sachs, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Carolyn Elizabeth Sachs, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Leif Jensen, Committee Member
Cynthia Clare Hinrichs, Committee Member
Nancy A Tuana, Committee Member

Keywords:

gender. climate change. Nepal. vulnerability. adaptive capacity.

Abstract:

Climate change discourses, including Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, have focused on differential climatic risks and impacts among different social groups of people. From a gender perspective, women in developing countries are considered more vulnerable than men due to their limited access to resources in comparison to men. However, overemphasis on women’s limited resources or lower capacities often leads to the stereotyped view of women as helpless victims and undermines their coping strategies. It is also problematic to view women as a universal group of the vulnerable, ignoring the intersection of gender with other socioeconomic factors of class, caste/ethnicity, and age. Findings from the author’s field research in 2009 in two flood-prone communities in Nepal show some key implications of gender and climate change. In these sites, vulnerability and adaptive capacity were firmly shaped by the structural inequality of gender, caste/ethnicity, and age. People’s experiences and risk perceptions varied by different adaptive capacity, including location, economic status, educational levels, and access to information and technology. Vulnerable people, including poor women and lower caste/minor indigenous groups, struggled with on-going economic crises other than climatic changes. Unlike biased views, some vulnerable people resisted against climatic and economic crises with their indigenous knowledge and networks. In the context of climatic changes, gendered responsibilities, space, and access to resources changed with women’s decision-making power and limited control over resources exacerbated. While many men were free from climatic and economic risks due to their migration or engagement in labor work, women left at home took double responsibilities and were still exposed to both risks. Poor uneducated women particularly suffered from food shortage and financial burdens. These findings indicate that without transforming unequal power relations, vulnerable men and women will fell into further deficit. The climate adaptation policies that fail to challenge unequal power relations in everyday life may exacerbate the existing structural inequality and generate long-term food insecurity problems. This dissertation calls for urgency that policy makers recognize and integrate the actual implications of gender and climate change.