Gendered vulnerability to
climate change in Limpopo
Dr Katharine Vincent
Vulnerability and gender
-the degree to which a system is likely to suffer harm
- biophysical (sensitivity to exposure)
- social (age, ethnicity, class, religion, gender)
gendered access to resources in a patriarchal society
de jure and de facto female-headed households in South
Africa – more vulnerable or less vulnerable to climate
change than male-headed households?
Case study characteristics
Human Environment
Physical environment
Small rural village, approx 700 people
in 180 households
Situated in the northern foothills of the
Soutpansberg mountains, alongside
Nzhelele River (part of transboundary
Limpopo river basin)
Legacy of natural resource-dependent
livelihoods, now more diversified
opportunities but high unemployment
(46%)
Orographic forcing of south-easterly
winds gives rise to semi-arid climate
with summer rainfall season (October to
March)
Large number of female- headed
households reflecting tradition of
economic labour migration and growth
of HIV/AIDS
High levels of inter-annual variability of
rainfall punctuated by regular droughts
and occasional floods (1956, 1958,
2000)
Methods 1
Theoretical development
•Literature review to ascertain determinants of
vulnerability
•Development of a theoretical index of vulnerability;
composite sub-indices weighted in aggregation to give
end score
•Not normalised – standardised across range of data for
sample
•Outcome is ranking from 1 (most vulnerable) to 85 (least
vulnerable)
Methods 2
Fieldwork data collection
•Participatory Rural Appraisal exercises – exploratory
and concluding
•Household questionnaire incorporating livelihoods
survey (n=85)
•In depth interviews, emphasis on change through time
with different household headship (n=38)
•Participant observation
Structure of Household Social Vulnerability
Index
Financial capital
(20%)
Market value of livestock assets (100%)
Dependency ratio (50%)
Human capital
(20%)
Household
Social
Vulnerability
Index
Social Capital
(20%)
Households with a member suffering from a
long term/recurrent disease (50%)
Range and scope of social capital contacts
(50%)
Membership of social capital groups (50%)
Natural capital
(20%)
Contribution of farming to household
wellbeing (100%)
Physical capital
(20%)
Quality of housing and roofing materials
(100%)
Justification for housing quality subindex
Results
Household type
No in
sample
5
Average
vulnerability
rank
78.3
Range of
vulnerability
ranks
67.5-85
Child-headed
Male-headed
28
40.5
1-81
De facto femaleheaded
De jure femaleheaded
17
42.35
7-77
35
40.27
2-84
Sample household profiles
Household
Characteristics
Profile 1
Profile 2
Household headship
De facto female-headed
De jure female-headed
Age of head
23
47
Length of time as
head (and reason)
Less than 1 year (economic
labour migration)
7 years (death of husband)
Other household
members
2 young children and husband
working in Johannesburg
Elderly mother, son working in
Johannesburg as a policeman
Economic assets
4 pigs and savings account
Savings and cheque accounts
Income sources
Remittances from husband
and 2 child grants
Formal employment as a sales
lady, mother’s pension,
remittances from son
Farming
Maize for subsistence
None
Membership of clubs
(social capital)
None
One burial society and one cashrotating society
Risk to livelihood of
climatic variability
Medium – partial dependence
on natural resources
Low – no dependence on natural
resources
Vulnerability rank
10 (more vulnerable)
75 (less vulnerable)
Observations
•No clear-cut relationship between status of household
headship and vulnerability in male- and female-headed
households
•Understanding how household vulnerability is gendered
requires analysis beyond just status of household headship to
the causes of that headship:
•The average rank of de jure female-headed households is
low partly because there are, by definition, less productive
adults
•Headship is a fluid concept that is related to life stage, and
that also determines vulnerability (with young and old more
vulnerable)
Climate change, agriculture and food
security
•“feminisation” of agriculture and critical role of
women in subsistence-based natural-resource
dependent livelihoods
•Gendered access to traditional coping strategies:
•Changing planting dates
•Planting hardier varieties
•Planting in alternative locations
•…and adaptation strategies
•Flexibility to move off the land
Vignettes - 1
•Florah* is recently widowed and cares for 4 schoolaged children. She used to grow maize, but low
rainfall in recent years has forced her to stop as she
cannot afford diesel to operate a borehole for
irrigation. The combination of that and the loss of
income from her husband is placing her family’s
livelihoods in a precarious situation, and they rely a lot
on her mother’s pension to buy food.
Vignettes - 2
•Gary* also used to plant rain-fed crops that he sold as
part of a cooperative agreement. He has also stopped
planting at the moment due to several poor seasons of
rain, but he has managed to find employment in a local
tomato canning factory, and thus is able to maintain a
livelihood for his family. Such an option would be
much more difficult for Florah, partly as she only has
primary school education, and partly because she
needs to be around the homestead to care for her
children.
Take home message
•Different roles, responsibilities and capabilities
lead to differences in the way men and women
experience climate change, and that can reinforce
gender disparities