How do gender approaches improve climate compatible development? Lessons from Peru

The brief finds that while women's participation in GRIDES has led to an implicit gender approach in local government plans, gender is often narrowly perceived as a 'women's issue' rather than a transformative process. It identifies political, socioeconomic, and cultural barriers—including a lack of political will and patriarchal beliefs—that hinder the implementation of concrete measures to tackle gender inequality in climate adaptation. The document recommends 'de-womanising' the gender approach, strengthening civil servant capacity, and aligning local initiatives with Peru's National Gender and Climate Change Plan.

• In the urban context of Peru, a 'gender-sensitive' approach is primarily understood as the participation of women in decision-making and equal access to education, rather than a transformative process addressing structural inequality.
• The Risk Management and Climate Change Adaptation Networks (GRIDES) have successfully integrated disaster risk and climate adaptation into local government plans; where women held leadership roles, these plans exhibited an implicit gender approach.
• There is a significant gap in understanding differentiated vulnerabilities; most members view gender as a theoretical 'women's issue' and fail to recognize how specific roles, such as housekeeping, increase women's exposure to climate risks like flooding and solar radiation.
• Political barriers to integrating gender into climate compatible development include a lack of political will, disjointed policy implementation across sectors, low competency among civil servants, and high staff turnover.
• Socioeconomic and cultural constraints, including patriarchal beliefs and violence against women and girls, reinforce the misconception that climate change affects all people equally.

APA

Arana, M. T., Quezada, A., & Clements, R. (2016). How do gender approaches improve climate compatible development? Lessons from Peru. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Peru-gender-brief-FINAL.pdf

Chicago

Arana, María Teresa, Alicia Quezada, and Rebecca Clements. How do gender approaches improve climate compatible development? Lessons from Peru. Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2016. http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Peru-gender-brief-FINAL.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Arana |first1=María Teresa |last2=Quezada |first2=Alicia |last3=Clements |first3=Rebecca |title=How do gender approaches improve climate compatible development? Lessons from Peru |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |date=May 2016 |url=http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Peru-gender-brief-FINAL.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{arana2016how, author = {Arana, María Teresa and Quezada, Alicia and Clements, Rebecca}, title = {{How do gender approaches improve climate compatible development? Lessons from Peru}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2016}, month = may, url = {http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Peru-gender-brief-FINAL.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }