Climate change shocks and women in farming households: an analysis of women’s responses and changing intra-household dynamics in resettlement farms in Zibagwe District, Zimbabwe

Abstract

This study is about women and their experiences of climate change in rural small farming communities in Zimbabwe. According to the literature, climate change has contributed to uncertainties in agricultural production. If we follow the popular narrative on women and climate change, in a post-2000 context in Zimbabwe, women have experienced climate change shocks. This thesis examined the relationship between climate change and women smallholder farmers using a case of resettlement schemes in Zibagwe Rural District. Resettlement schemes are special settlements, where the practice of agriculture is a major livelihood, and settlers produce under rain-fed conditions. While landholdings are complex and depend on household types, women are found practically in every type of household – as wives or landholders in the case of widows and single women. Using a framework based on the resilience theory and sustainable livelihood framework, the study sought to understand how women in resettlement contexts are impacted by climate change, and how they have responded to climate change shocks. Of particular importance, the study sought to understand the implications of these livelihood responses to the social order and dynamics at the household and societal levels. It set out to understand these issues through a qualitative design, which adopted a multi-layered approach by utilising different methods at different levels. The study found that climate change has impacted agriculture and its practice negatively, forcing women and their households to diversify livelihoods as a coping strategy, adapting and survival. Moreover, it was discovered that the responses were complex, dynamic, and differing by situation, with women with resources and social networks engaging in beneficiary non-farm livelihoods, while the poor adopted strategies that were less rewarding and mostly related to agriculture or local off-farm opportunities. The study showed that agency is key in women’s adaptation, and that non-farm livelihoods were accessible to both men and women, with women more inclined to refocus their energies outside the farm than men, especially if they have resources and social networks to enter the formal and informal sectors of the economy. Through empirical evidence, this study has demonstrated that climate change shocks and their effect on agriculture may be emancipating for women through responses geared towards survival outside the farm. These findings provide a rather unprecedented empirical support to calls to pay more attention to context as each context is specific, and realities are different.