Editing IPCC:AR6/SRCCL/Chapter-3 (section)

==== 3.4.2.4 Impacts on gender equality ====

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Environmental issues such as desertification and impacts of climate change have been increasingly investigated through a gender lens (Bose (n.d.) <sup>[[#fn:r715|715]]</sup> ; Broeckhoven and Cliquet 2015 <sup>[[#fn:r716|716]]</sup> ; Kaijser and Kronsell 2014 <sup>[[#fn:r717|717]]</sup> ; Kiptot et al. 2014 <sup>[[#fn:r718|718]]</sup> ; Villamor and van Noordwijk 2016 <sup>[[#fn:r719|719]]</sup> ). There is ''medium evidence'' and ''high agreement'' that women will be impacted more than men by environmental degradation (Arora-Jonsson 2011 <sup>[[#fn:r720|720]]</sup> ; Gurung et al. 2006 <sup>[[#fn:r721|721]]</sup> ) (Cross-Chapter Box 11 in Chapter 7). Socially structured gender-specific roles and responsibilities, daily activities, access and control over resources, decision-making and opportunities lead men and women to interact differently with natural resources and landscapes. For example, water scarcity affected women more than men in rural Ghana as they had to spend more time in fetching water, which has implications on time allocations for other activities (Ahmed et al. 2016 <sup>[[#fn:r722|722]]</sup> ). Despite the evidence pointing to differentiated impact of environmental degradation on women and men, gender issues have been marginally addressed in many land restoration and rehabilitation efforts, which often remain gender-blind. Although there is ''robust evidence'' on the location-specific impacts of climate change and desertification on gender equality, there is l ''imited evidence'' on the gender-related impacts of land restoration and rehabilitation activities. Women are usually excluded from local decision-making on actions regarding desertification and climate change. Socially constructed gender-specific roles and responsibilities are not static because they are shaped by other factors such as wealth, age, ethnicity and formal education (Kaijser and Kronsell 2014 <sup>[[#fn:r723|723]]</sup> ; Villamor et al. 2014 <sup>[[#fn:r724|724]]</sup> ). Hence, women’s and men’s environmental knowledge and priorities for restoration often differ (Sijapati Basnett et al. 2017 <sup>[[#fn:r725|725]]</sup> ). In some areas where sustainable land options (e.g., agroforestry) are being promoted, women were not able to participate due to culturally embedded asymmetries in power relations between men and women (Catacutan and Villamor 2016 <sup>[[#fn:r726|726]]</sup> ). Nonetheless women, particularly in the rural areas, remain heavily involved in securing food for their households. Food security for them is associated with land productivity and women’s contribution to address desertification is crucial.

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