Paper short abstract:

The study addresses gender norms constraining women Agrifood Systems Actors from building economic resilience to climate change impacts. The intersection of gender norms and structural inequalities leads to a lack of resources, services and voice which further constrains women’s economic resilience.

Paper long abstract:

The paper addresses gender norms at different institutional levels that constrain women Agrifood Systems Actors from building economic resilience to climate change impacts and identifies levers and entry points to address gaps and empower women. We used a case study approach targeting three agriculture value chains (catfish, cassava, chicken and fisheries) in Nigeria and Tanzania. One hundred seventy-two people (50% women) participated in qualitative data-gathering activities, including stakeholder workshops, focus group discussions, and individual and key informant interviews. Data collected included background information on climate change impacts in the targeted value chains, gender mapping of the value chains to understand where men and women were located and the differential impacts of climate change, gender norms influencing economic resilience at the different value chain nodes, and the impact of government policy and regulations on resilience. Strong gender and cultural norms that affect women's resilience to climate change impacts exist in both countries. For example, norms such as those barring women from accessing loans or purchasing land without the husband's approval prevented them from adopting technologies and strategies to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Structural barriers such as a lack of supportive physical infrastructure and poor regulatory and policy environments put both men's and women's value chain actors at risk of not being economically resilient to the impacts of climate change. Results show that a holistic approach that addresses gender norms and discriminatory structures and integrates gender-sensitive agricultural policies can achieve economically and socially sustainable impacts that promote women's economic resilience.