From abandonment to autonomy: Gendered strategies for coping with climate change, Isiolo County, Kenya

Rao, Nitya ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6318-0147 (2019) From abandonment to autonomy: Gendered strategies for coping with climate change, Isiolo County, Kenya. Geoforum, 102. pp. 27-37. ISSN 0016-7185

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Abstract

Access to resources, both material and social, are central elements in responding to social and environmental transition, and adapting to change, yet the ways in which such access is negotiated within and across varying household structures is not well understood. In semi-arid Kenya, persistent drought has made male incomes from pastoralism insecure, and contributed to women’s growing engagement with trade, farming and other independent enterprises, for survival. This has, however, raised questions about women’s dependence on men for household provisioning, and enhanced expectations of reciprocity in both production and reproduction within households. While demographers note the rise in female headship in sub-Saharan Africa, and female headed households are often the target of policy attention, the situation on the ground is much more complex. Polygamy, separation and consensual unions, multi-generational and multi-locational households, point to a growing diversity in gender and generational relationships, in rights, responsibilities and norms. Based on data from household surveys, focus group discussions and life history interviews with differently positioned women and men within pastoralist communities in northern Kenya, the paper explores the implications of changing household structures beyond headship, in particular the loosening of marriage ties, frequent separation and regrouping, on relational vulnerability and the micro-politics of adaptation in the region.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: marital strategies, gender, drought, pastoralism, borana, kenya,sdg 13 - climate action ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/climate_action
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Social Sciences > School of International Development
University of East Anglia Research Groups/Centres > Theme - ClimateUEA
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Literacy and Development Group
Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Gender and Development
Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Health and Disease
Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Life Course, Migration and Wellbeing
University of East Anglia Schools > Faculty of Science > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 27 Mar 2019 09:30
Last Modified: 14 Jun 2023 13:43
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/70352
DOI: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2019.03.017

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