Towards a gender sensitive vulnerability assessment for climate change: Lambani, Limpopo Province, South Africa

Abstract

Women’s limited access to resources and decisionmaking processes increases their vulnerability to impacts of climate change. Despite their own vulnerability, women are often responsible for caring for close relatives, extended families and friends during hazardous and traumatic events (whether its famine, foods, drought or forced displacements). Based on experience and knowledge it is believed that women are more vulnerable to the efects of climate change than men, primarily as they constitute the majority of the world’s poor and are more dependent for their livelihood on natural resources that are threatened by climate change. Te paper proposes a gender sensitive vulnerable assessment framework that is scafolded by three key concepts: exposure, temporality and resource base. Because the study is grounded in the Capability Approach Framework it captures multi-dimensionality and intangible goods which are emotions such as fear, anger, shock or shame.