Paper short abstract:

This study proposes an investigation into the effects of changing climates on child marriage in Zimbabwe. The presentation will outline how the knock-on effects of climate change interact with institutionalised gender norms to provoke child marriage as a coping mechanism for changing climates

Paper long abstract:

This study proposes an investigation into the effects of changing climates on child and early marriage (CEM). Early research has found an increase of CEM in vulnerable communities affected by climate change. Yet, the relationship between extreme weather-events and CEM is under-researched. This study uses an Ecofeminist Political Economy lens to explore how culturally-ingrained understandings of gender inform household coping mechanisms in response to climate change, and their effect on teenage girls. Ultimately, its objective is to examine the extent to which the effects of climate change interact with social norms that underpin CEM, and to investigate whether households adopt these practices as a coping mechanism for climate change. Both an extensive literature review and preliminary field work suggest that CEM is used as a coping mechanism for changing climates by parents and teenage girls, who view that the reproductive labour and sexuality of girls can support the survival of families who are coping with the multi-dimensional losses caused by sudden- and slow-onset climate disasters.

The nature of this study is abductive, relying on a mixed-methods research approach that applies a case study in the Chimanimani and Chipinge districts in the Manicaland province of Zimbabwe. Research methods include a rigorous literature review, focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews. By developing a methodological approach to explore the gendered effects of climate change in communities in crisis, it facilitates novel insights into the factors affecting practices in CEM, and the implications of household coping mechanisms for climate change on teenage girls.