Toward gender transformative change in agri-food systems faced with climate change

Introduction

Climate change affects men and women in different ways. Structural inequalities (formal and informal) limit women’s access to resources, services and agency, which means women are more negatively affected by climate change or have more limited resilience capacities. If climate-smart and climate-resilient interventions do not adequately take gender differences into account, they might exacerbate gender inequalities in food systems.

At the IAFFE annual conference, the CGIAR GENDER Impact Platform has organized a symposium  to answer the question of how we can enable gender and social transformative change in agri-food systems so they become more just, sustainable and climate resilient. 

Key Presentations

Fostering an enabling environment for equality and empowerment in agri-food systems: An assessment at multiple scales

In the first presentation, the speaker will show how addressing key structural constraints to equality and empowerment in agri-food systems -- that are rooted in policy and discriminatory (formal and informal) social and economic institutions, including norms -- can contribute to establishing more equal access to resources, exercise of agency and desirable outcomes in a sustainable way. 

Addressing gender inequalities and strengthening women’s agency to create more climate resilient and sustainable food systems

In the second presentation, the speaker will define the relationship between gender inequalities and climate change, and discuss what strategies have proved effective for reducing gender inequality through climate action. The first two presentations draw on background papers by the CGIAR GENDER Impact Platform the the Report on the Status of Rural Women in Agri-food Systems by FAO. 

Policy and negotiations for climate action

A follow-up discussion will focus on how researchers and policy-makers can strengthen and support the voice, agency and negotiations of women that are working toward reducing gender inequality through climate action. 

Building climate resilience: Using a gendered intersectionality lens for increased uptake of climate-smart agricultural (CSA) practices

The next presentation will focus on how intersectionality factors shape people's relative vulnerability and how they build resilience by adapting to various socioecological changes.  The speaker will show how using an intersectionality lens can contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the uptake of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices in agri-food systems.  The presentation will further share a case study of community leaders with a mix of socio-cultural-economic indicators from two Indigenous groups in Baringo County located in the Rift Valley region of Kenya, the Ogiek and Endorois people, who are predominantly forest dwellers and pastoralists, respectively.