GENDER-TRANSFORMATIVE CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION: ADVANCING SOCIAL EQUITY

The paper argues that ignoring gender and power inequalities in climate change adaptation is maladaptive and leads to further exclusion. It advocates for 'gender-transformative adaptation'—which seeks to change the fundamental attributes of a system and address the root causes of vulnerability—across the natural environment, food security, sustainable cities, infrastructure, industry, and finance. The authors highlight how intersecting inequalities (income, ethnicity, age, etc.) compound vulnerability and recommend rigorous, participatory gender analyses to inform policy and project design. Key findings include the risk of 'elite capture' in the green economy and the critical need for women's land and resource rights to enable nature-based solutions.

• Broader political and economic structures often compromise local livelihoods through the extraction of resources by powerful actors, which disregards the interests of small producers and poor households, particularly women.
• Intersecting inequalities, including gender, low income, migrant status, sexuality, ethnic background, age, and disability, collectively undermine the assets, opportunities, and adaptive capacities of individuals.
• Patriarchal practices and inequitable access to resources restrict women's autonomy and voices, which increases their vulnerability as climate hazards intensify.
• Climate change programs under the 'green economy'—such as industrial agriculture and carbon markets—risk 'elite capture' and the re-masculinization of opportunities, which can sanction existing gender, class, and ethnic exclusions.
• Efforts to 'climate-proof' industry supply chains frequently ignore unequal power relations, which can lead to exploitative labor practices and social injustice.
• Women's rights to access and control natural resources are essential for the success of nature-based adaptation solutions, yet these rights are often limited by customary or religious laws.
• In agricultural contexts, women often lack the capital for irrigation and face 'time poverty' due to disproportionate care burdens, both of which inhibit their adaptive capacities.
• Urban planning often fails to account for gendered needs; for example, public cooling centers during heat waves may be inaccessible to low-income women who spend more time in the home due to care activities.
• Infrastructure deficits in water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) disproportionately affect women and girls, and these services are less likely to receive private or public-private partnership financing compared to energy or transport.
• Climate finance remains gender-blind or sub-optimized; for instance, OECD data from 2014 showed that only 3% of climate overseas development assistance had gender equality as a primary objective.

APA

Resurrección, B. P., Bee, B. A., Dankelman, I., Park, C. M. Y., Haldar, M., & McMullen, C. P. (2019). GENDER-TRANSFORMATIVE CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION: ADVANCING SOCIAL EQUITY. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/gender-transformative-climate-change-adaptation.pdf

Chicago

Resurrección, Bernadette P., Beth A. Bee, Irene Dankelman, Clara Mi Young Park, Mousumi Haldar, and Catherine P. McMullen. GENDER-TRANSFORMATIVE CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION: ADVANCING SOCIAL EQUITY. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2019. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/gender-transformative-climate-change-adaptation.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Resurrección |first1=Bernadette P. |last2=Bee |first2=Beth A. |last3=Dankelman |first3=Irene |last4=Park |first4=Clara Mi Young |last5=Haldar |first5=Mousumi |last6=McMullen |first6=Catherine P. |title=GENDER-TRANSFORMATIVE CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION: ADVANCING SOCIAL EQUITY |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=2 October 2019 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/gender-transformative-climate-change-adaptation.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{resurreccin2019gendertransformative, author = {Resurrección, Bernadette P. and Bee, Beth A. and Dankelman, Irene and Park, Clara Mi Young and Haldar, Mousumi and McMullen, Catherine P.}, title = {{GENDER-TRANSFORMATIVE CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION: ADVANCING SOCIAL EQUITY}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2019}, month = oct, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/gender-transformative-climate-change-adaptation.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }