Understanding the Gender Dimension of Climate Change Vulnerability in Small-Scale Fisheries

Abstract

Understanding the gender dimensions of climate vulnerability within small-scale fishing (SSF) communities requires gender-disaggregated data that are often not available to researchers and practitioners. Although women comprise almost half of the workforce in SSF sectors globally, there is often a lack of data about their activities and their labor is often uncounted. As communities around the world face escalating climate change impacts, it is crucial to understand the role that gender plays in climate change vulnerability in SSF communities. The objective of this report is to gather information on the key gender-disaggregated climate change vulnerability indicators and to provide recommendations for improving our client’s climate change vulnerability assessments. This project’s client is Rare Inc, a non-profit organization based in the United States. Rare utilizes a household survey method for their Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment (CCVA) instrument, which they use to understand the vulnerabilities of the communities in their program areas. Our client has requested that we provide them research that will inform and enhance their CCVA and to contribute to their Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) initiatives. Rare’s GESI team is interested in learning how to better measure the gender-dimension of climate change vulnerability in small-scale fisheries in order to help Rare improve climate vulnerability outcomes for women and for their communities. The project’s goal is to generate evidence-based recommendations for additional CCVA variables for measuring gender impacts, propose preferred data sources, and identify risk thresholds. To achieve this goal, the team conducted a literature review focused on gender and climate change vulnerability in small-scale fisheries and other small holders, such as agriculture and agroforestry. The literature review focused on peer-reviewed literature from 2007 to 2024. Information from the reviewed literature was encoded and analyzed using NVivo 14 software which allowed the team to identify the key vulnerability indicators that emerged from their review. The literature review highlights the following factors as key gender-disaggregated climate change vulnerability indicators: Gender of the household head, education, technology, decision making, household duties, financial resources, extension services, income diversification, land tenure, migration, poverty level, cultural norms and beliefs. Two kinds of recommendations are provided in this document: (1) Data analysis methods that can be used on Rare’s existing gender-disaggregated data, such as for addressing research questions concerning decision-making and non-fisheries roles. These suggestions include the use of regression analysis on existing survey data. Some explanatory variables proposed are proxies for intra-household financial decision-making to better utilize the current household surveys. (2) Recommendations for collecting new gender-disaggregated data concerning land tenure, perceptions of climate change, and migration. These recommendations include sample questions about community members’ perceptions of climate change, land tenure arrangements, internal and international migration, and the duration of a person’s absence. Modifications to the current household survey are also suggested to better measure gender in small-scale fishing communities.