This technical report — unlike much of the gender and climate change adaptation work that treats gender as a simple either/or binary with men on one side and women on the other — shows that approaching gender analysis through a binary approach alone is out of step with the current state of knowledge on gender and adaptation. The goal of the report is to help the development community implement knowledge about gender and climate into development planning, especially in farming communities.

The report uses empirical evidence drawn from field research in rural agricultural settings in Ghana, Mali, and Malawi to demonstrate the challenges that binary gender analyses have in properly identifying (and therefore addressing) the problems vulnerable populations are facing.

The research in this report suggests that adaptation interventions would benefit from employing a more nuanced approach that examines how gender identity intersects with other social identities, such as age, livelihood/class, and ethnicity to determine vulnerabilities to climate variability and change. USAID is planning to conduct focused pilot efforts over the next few years that put these findings into practice and provide evidence for the tangible benefits of taking a more nuanced approach to gender in climate change adaptation planning and implementation. 

Report Excerpt