Editing IPCC:AR6/WGII/Chapter-12 (section)

==== 12.5.8.3 Gender and Intersectionality ====

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There is ample empirical evidence that the impacts of climate change are not of equal scope for men and women. Women, particularly the poorest, are more vulnerable and are impacted in greater proportion. Often, for several economic and social reasons, women have less capacity to adapt, further widening structural gender gaps ( ''high confidence'' ) (Box 7.4; [[#Arana%20Zegarra--2017|Arana Zegarra, 2017]] ; [[#Casas%20Varez--2017|Casas Varez, 2017]] ; [[#Segnestam--2017|Segnestam, 2017]] ; [[#Acosta--2019|Acosta et al., 2019]] ; [[#Aldunce%20Ide--2020|Aldunce Ide et al., 2020]] ; [[#Olivera--2021|Olivera et al., 2021]] ; [[#Silva%20Rodríguez%20de%20San%20Miguel--2021|Silva Rodríguez de San Miguel et al., 2021]] ). Gender equity is deemed to be central to discussions on climate-change adaptation policies. In issues such as drinking water, energy, disasters, impacts on health and agriculture and capacity to migrate, women (poor women in particular) are affected in greater proportion, further widening structural gender gaps. In a rural community vulnerable to drought, short-term coping was more common among the women, especially among female heads of household, while adaptive actions were more common among the men; there are gendered inequalities in access to and control over different forms of capital that lead to a gender-differentiated capacity to adapt, where men are better able to adapt and women experience a downward spiral in their capacity to adapt and increasing vulnerability to drought ( [[#Segnestam--2017|Segnestam, 2017]] ).

However, women are not always the more vulnerable group. While in a broad sense climate-change impacts women more severely, there are situations where they have reacted, adapted better to or been more resilient. Grassroots women self-help groups can be active agents of change for their communities, designing and delivering gender-responsive adaptation solutions ( [[#Huairou%20Commission--2019|Huairou Commission, 2019]] ). Some studies suggest that women establish friendlier relationships with the environment and towards natural resources; studies on masculinity and environment confirm this tendency ( [[#Brough--2016|Brough et al., 2016]] ). In a multi-country study, some female-headed households tend to be slightly less vulnerable and more resilient than male-headed households, though some exceptions were found among sub-groups ( [[#Andersen--2017|Andersen et al., 2017]] ). In Chile, women are more likely to modernise irrigation and infrastructure, and gender appears to be an important element in drought adaptation ( [[#Roco--2016|Roco et al., 2016]] ). A change to agroecological practices has improved gender equality and adaptive capacity to climate change ( [[#Cáceres-Arteaga--2020|Cáceres-Arteaga et al., 2020]] ).

Recent studies emphasise that a gender approach to social inequalities ought to move beyond just looking at men and women as experiencing impacts in a differentiated manner; rather, an intersectional analysis illuminates how different individuals and groups relate differently to climate change due to their situatedness in power structures based on context-specific and dynamic social categorisations ( ''high confidence'' ) ( [[#Kaijser--2014|Kaijser and Kronsell, 2014]] ; [[#Djoudi--2016|Djoudi et al., 2016]] ; [[#Thompson-Hall--2016|Thompson-Hall et al., 2016]] ; [[#Olivera--2021|Olivera et al., 2021]] ). Thus, the relationship between gender and adaptation demands an analytical framework that connects environmental problems with social inequalities in a complex way ( [[#Godfrey--2012|Godfrey, 2012]] ). An intersectional approach helps to better capture the diversity of adaptive strategies that men and women adopt vis-à-vis climate change. Particular constellations of race, gender, class, age or nationality reveal more complex realities ( ''high confidence'' ).

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