Empowering Women, Building Resilience: Gender, Climate Change, and Diversification in the Eastern Gangetic Plains
The Eastern Gangetic Plains (EGP), a region spanning parts of India, Nepal, and Bangladesh, is a vibrant agricultural hub, home to diverse farming communities. However, the looming threat of climate change is casting a long shadow over these fertile lands, impacting livelihoods, especially those of women farmers. While their contributions to agriculture are immense and often overlooked, women face a unique set of challenges that hinder their ability to adapt and thrive.
The Intersection of Gender and Climate Change: What the Research Tells Us
Recent research underscores the critical intersection of gender, climate change, and livelihood activities in South Asia. Women, particularly in agrarian communities, are disproportionately affected by climate variability due to pre-existing gender inequalities and their reliance on climate-sensitive sectors like agriculture.
Studies highlight that women are often responsible for managing household food security, water, and energy resources – all sectors deeply impacted by climate change. In rural South Asia, gendered labor divisions mean women are more likely to bear the brunt of tasks like water and fuel collection, which become increasingly arduous during droughts and resource scarcity.
Despite their significant contributions to food production, women frequently lack access to crucial resources like land, credit, technology, and extension services. This restricts their ability to adapt to climate change, even though they are pivotal to farm labor and decision-making.
However, research also emphasizes that women's roles in agriculture and natural resource management can be a source of strength. They possess unique coping strategies, from adopting drought-resistant crops to diversifying livelihoods through kitchen gardening, livestock rearing, and small-scale aquaculture.
Ultimately, the literature stresses the need for gender-sensitive policies and interventions that acknowledge the differentiated impacts of climate change. Empowering women through access to information, technology, and financial resources not only enhances their resilience but also strengthens overall community adaptive capacity.
Challenges for Women Farmers in the EGP: A Complex Reality
Women in the EGP are the backbone of agriculture and allied livelihoods, contributing to everything from sowing and harvesting to livestock management. Yet, they face significant hurdles, including limited access to land, credit, technology, and extension services. Patriarchal norms further restrict their decision-making power, hindering their ability to adapt to climate-related risks.
Climate variability, with its erratic rainfall, floods, droughts, and rising temperatures, disproportionately affects women. Their labor is often unpaid or undervalued, and they have limited control over income. Gendered power relations and persistent gender-based violence and discrimination further compound these challenges.
Climate Change and Trade-offs: A Heavy Burden
Climate change forces women farmers in the EGP to make difficult trade-offs. As agricultural productivity declines, their workloads increase, both on the farm and at home. Water scarcity adds to their burdens, forcing them to spend more time fetching water.
Here are some key trade-offs they face:
Increased Workload: Water and energy scarcity increase time spent on resource-intensive tasks.
Decreased Income: Declining agricultural yields and limited access to income-generating opportunities marginalize women.
Health Impacts: The physical toll of climate-induced changes disproportionately affects women, leading to malnutrition and heat-related illnesses.
Limited Decision-Making Power: Patriarchal norms restrict women’s influence in farming decisions.
The Rupantar Project: Addressing Climate Change and Trade-offs
The Rupantar project is committed to addressing these challenges through gender-sensitive pathways that enhance women’s adaptive capacity and promote equitable access to resources.
Plot-Level Diversification:
This strategy focuses on integrating diverse field crops within a single plot to reduce climate-related risks. For women, this means increased resilience, improved nutrition, and income generation. (For Samer- Link this to Plot level pathways in Bangladesh, India and Nepal).
Diversification in Irrigation-Constrained Areas:
Multi-Layer Cultivation in Nepal’s Terai: Optimizes water use by growing crops in layers, benefiting women who manage household gardens and small plots. (For Samer- Link this to Pathways).
Chilli Farming in India: Chilli’s drought tolerance and market value offer income opportunities despite water scarcity, but women need greater access to irrigation technologies and markets. (For Samer- Link this to Pathways).
Brinjal Farming in Bangladesh: Brinjal farming is being supported with climate resilient practices, and training programs to help women farmers manage their crops, and connect to market and government resources. (For Samer- Link this to Pathways).
Non-Plot-Level Diversification:
This includes activities beyond crop cultivation, like livestock and poultry production, providing alternative income sources.
Improved Dairy Farming: Training programs empower women to increase milk production and income. (For Samer- Link this to Pathways).
Improved Goat Rearing: Goats thrive on available fodder, offering an accessible option for women. (For Samer- Link this to Pathways).
Improved Native Poultry Rearing: This empowers women, increases income and food security, through low cost feed and housing, and climate resilient cross breeds. (For Samer- Link this to Pathways).
Climate-resilient livestock systems focus on enhancing productivity through better breeding, feeding, and health management practices.
Gender-Sensitive Approaches to Building Resilience:
Increasing women’s access to resources: Ensuring equitable access to resources, seeds, and extension services.
Strengthening women’s agency: Empowering women to participate in decision-making processes.
Providing gender-sensitive Extension services: Tailoring programs to meet the specific needs of women farmers.
Promoting women’s leadership in agriculture: Encouraging women to take on leadership roles.
Building Knowledge and Networks:
Diversification activities provide women with scientific knowledge and strengthen their networks with project partners and local officials. This fosters an environment where they can continuously learn and grow.
Conclusion: Investing in Women, Securing the Future
Women farmers in the EGP are vital to both climate change adaptation and agricultural resilience. By implementing gender-sensitive pathways that enhance their access to resources, diversify livelihoods, and promote their agency, we can create more sustainable and equitable agricultural systems.
Climate change will continue to shape the future of farming, but by addressing the trade-offs that disproportionately affect women, we can create pathways that support both agricultural productivity and gender equity. The resilience of women farmers is crucial for the region’s food security and long-term sustainability, and their contributions must be recognized and supported at all levels.
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