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Gender and Socially-Inclusive Approaches to Technology for Climate Action
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Gender and Socially-Inclusive Approaches to Technology for Climate Action

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Air, Climate Change and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (17 February 2023) | Viewed by 11192

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Sophia Huyer

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security Research (CCAFS), 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands
Interests: gender equality; social inclusion in agriculture, gender and technology; gender and climate change
Dr. Arun Khatri-Chhetri

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Agriculture and Climate Change, Global Food Security and Livelihood Program, Save the Children US, Washington, DC 20002, USA
Interests: climate change adaptation and mitigation in agriculture; adaptation/mitigation outcome and impact assessment; scaling adaptation/mitigation options in agriculture and allied sectors

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Although there has been progress in addressing women’s needs and concerns through technology, over recent decades, results have been mixed. For example, progress on clean cooking fuels and technologies has stagnated, affecting the health of billions of women and children, according to the UN. Crises, such as climate change, are revealing the precarious nature of progress in women’s status, decision making power, employment and wellbeing. Crises such as climate change will intensify both social and gender inequalities (Dankelman and Jansen, 2010; IPCC, 2014b).  Development-related climate, such as heat waves, droughts, floods, cyclones, and wildfires, causing ecosystem shifts, disruption of water supply, and damage to infrastructure and settlements, will increase inequalities and environmental impacts. Climate-related hazards will affect poor people’s lives directly through impacts on livelihoods, injuries and mortality, reductions in crop yields, or destruction of homes. Indirect impacts include food prices and food insecurity.

People who are socially, economically, culturally, or otherwise marginalized are especially vulnerable to climate change. This is the product of intersecting social factors that result in inequalities in socioeconomic status and income, as well as in exposure according to gender, class, ethnicity, age, etc. (IPCC, 2014). Climate change has varied gender effects, since they are exposed to different climate shocks and experience different impacts as a result of their differing social and household roles, levels of access to resources, technology, and information, differing ecosystem use and less stable land tenure.

Climate change may pose an opportunity for more sustainable, equitable, and transformative development.  For example, smaller-scale, renewable energy systems, such as wind and solar energy, can provide communities with affordable energy and promote productivity, while creating employment in green energy enterprises. Training and supporting women in developing, managing and deploying green and renewable energy is an opportunity to make green energy systems more equitable, while their knowledge of local conditions and household needs can make them more sustainable.

This Special Issue will assess the potential of technology—including digital, energy, water, and agriculture-related technology—to address gender impacts and present opportunities to promote gender-responsive transformation in the context of sustainable climate adaptation and mitigation.  Topic areas include digital technologies and climate information and warning systems; sustainable agriculture; water management; green energy; sustainable transport; and infrastructure.

This Special Issue will provide a useful counterpoint to and move forward existing research on gender and climate risk; gender and climate-resilient agriculture; promoting women’s participation in the green economy; and understanding the gender dimensions of disasters.

Dr. Sophia Huyer
Dr. Arun Khatri-Chhetri
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • gender
  • climate
  • technology
  • digital
  • risk
  • green
  • adaptation
  • mitigation

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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20 pages, 1687 KiB  
Article
Digital Ethnography? Our Experiences in the Use of SenseMaker for Understanding Gendered Climate Vulnerabilities amongst Marginalized Agrarian Communities
by Deepa Joshi, Anna Panagiotou, Meera Bisht, Upandha Udalagama and Alexandra Schindler
Sustainability 2023, 15(9), 7196; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15097196 - 26 Apr 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1968
Abstract
Digital innovations and interventions can potentially revolutionize agri-food systems, especially in coping with climate challenges. On a similar note, digital research tools and methods are increasingly popular for the efficient collection and analysis of real-time, large-scale data. It is claimed that these methods [...] Read more.
Digital innovations and interventions can potentially revolutionize agri-food systems, especially in coping with climate challenges. On a similar note, digital research tools and methods are increasingly popular for the efficient collection and analysis of real-time, large-scale data. It is claimed that these methods can also minimize subjective biases that are prevalent in traditional qualitative research. However, given the digital divide, especially affecting women and marginalized communities, these innovations could potentially introduce further disparities. To assess these contradictions, we piloted SenseMaker, a digital ethnography tool designed to capture individual, embodied experiences, biases, and perceptions to map vulnerabilities and resilience to climate impacts in the Gaya District in Bihar. Our research shows that this digital tool allows for a systematic co-design of the research framework, allows for the collection of large volumes of data in a relatively short time, and a co-analysis of the research data by the researchers and the researched. This process allowed us to map and capture the complexities of intersectional inequalities in relation to climate change vulnerability. However, we also noted that the application of the tool is influenced by the prior exposure to technology (digital devices) of both the enumerators and researched groups and requires significant resources when implemented in contexts where there is a need to translate the data from local dialects and languages to more dominant languages (English). Most importantly, perceptions, positionalities, and biases of researchers can significantly impact the design of the tool’s signification framework, reiterating the fact that researcher bias persists regardless of technological innovations in research methodology. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gender and Socially-Inclusive Approaches to Technology for Climate Action)
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20 pages, 763 KiB  
Article
Framework for Incorporating Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Elements in Climate Information Services (CIS)
by Everisto Mapedza, Sophia Huyer, Nitya Chanana, Alison Rose, Inga Jacobs-Mata, Netsayi Noris Mudege, Sabine Homann-Kee Tui, Sika Gbegbelegbe, Gloriose Nsengiyumva, Munyaradzi Mutenje and Ngowenani Nohayi
Sustainability 2023, 15(1), 190; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15010190 - 22 Dec 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 4208
Abstract
We advance a gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) framework for incorporating climate information services (CIS), which is now becoming central due to the ongoing climate change and climate variability. We understand gender as a social construct of who women and men are [...] Read more.
We advance a gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) framework for incorporating climate information services (CIS), which is now becoming central due to the ongoing climate change and climate variability. We understand gender as a social construct of who women and men are supposed to be. Gender inequalities seem to be enduring such that, despite innovations in agricultural and climate information technologies, unequal gender power dynamics will still emerge. As far back as the 1960s, the gendered inequalities in accessing technologies could be identified. Such a historical analysis clearly shows that the different technological solutions are clearly embedded within the society in which they evolve in. The paper uses a literature review methodological approach whilst informing the implementation of an ongoing Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) Project. The findings reveal that unless women are intentionally included in designing and developing agricultural technologies, specifically climate information systems, there is a danger that women will be excluded from the benefits. Conway’s law clearly stipulates that technological innovations are not neutral as they are a projection of the values of their creators. It is, therefore, central to grasp the values of creators of different technological solutions and innovations. The key findings are built around the espoused conceptual framework, which has five indicators, namely: (1) gender targeting by intentional design, (2) collection of sex-disaggregated data, (3) conduct an analysis of the sex-disaggregated data, (4) dissemination of the technological options and (5) conduct continuous monitoring of gender and ongoing empowerment evaluation. The five indicator domains are further complemented by their respective assumptions. Our GESI recommendations are on the five selected indicator domains. These domains must be used within the three focal development areas: agricultural data hub, climate information services training, and flood and drought indicators, which are all being implemented in Zambia. Other AICCRA Project countries are Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, and Senegal. This paper engages why CIS has not gained significant traction in Africa, as it has not genuinely incorporated the differential gender technological nuances. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gender and Socially-Inclusive Approaches to Technology for Climate Action)
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11 pages, 746 KiB  
Article
Gender Dimensions of Climate Change Adaptation Needs for Smallholder Farmers in the Upper East Region of Ghana
by Mohammed Gali Nuhu and Kenichi Matsui
Sustainability 2022, 14(16), 10432; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141610432 - 22 Aug 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1823
Abstract
Gender-specific perceptions and needs are critical to better understanding climate change adaptation capacities of local smallholder communities in Africa and elsewhere. As many rural agricultural practices are heavily impacted by male-centered traditional customs and mores, gender dimensions can determine the level of success [...] Read more.
Gender-specific perceptions and needs are critical to better understanding climate change adaptation capacities of local smallholder communities in Africa and elsewhere. As many rural agricultural practices are heavily impacted by male-centered traditional customs and mores, gender dimensions can determine the level of success for policy interventions. To better understand how and what gender dimensions can be important factors for farmer’s climate change adaptations, this study attempts to examine smallholder farmers’ adaptation needs and perspectives in Ghana’s Upper East Region. A focus group discussion and a questionnaire survey were conducted among 200 smallholder farmers. We found that the female respondents, who mostly belonged to low/middle-income groups, emphasized their urgent need for financial support to improve their income. They needed more farmland as 94% of them had only less than 5 acres to farm. In addition, 91% of the female respondents expressed the importance of being connected to farmers’ mutual-help groups to share information about common farming needs. We also found gender-specific needs for extension services, farm inputs, climate information, mechanization, and infrastructure. Regarding access to resources, the women respondents had little interest in investing more in farming as the land they borrowed could be taken away by male owners. The study recommends the need for gender-specific support initiatives that prioritize social protection and gender equality. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gender and Socially-Inclusive Approaches to Technology for Climate Action)
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Review

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15 pages, 431 KiB  
Review
Gender Perspectives of ICT Utilization in Agriculture and Climate Response in West Africa: A Review
by Robert B. Zougmoré and Samuel T. Partey
Sustainability 2022, 14(19), 12240; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141912240 - 27 Sep 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1817
Abstract
This paper systematically reviewed the relevant literature to generate evidence and identify knowledge gaps on the gender perspectives of ICT use for agriculture and climate response in West Africa. It was evident from the literature that ICTs continue to form an important part [...] Read more.
This paper systematically reviewed the relevant literature to generate evidence and identify knowledge gaps on the gender perspectives of ICT use for agriculture and climate response in West Africa. It was evident from the literature that ICTs continue to form an important part of agricultural operations, climate response and agribusiness in West Africa. TV, radio and mobile phones were the most frequently used ICT platforms for receiving agricultural and climate information. Mobile phones have an added use for sales and financial transactions. There were no distinct gender differences in the use of ICTs for agriculture and climate response. However, women’s low income and limitations in controlling household financial responses were identified as significant barriers to ICT access. It was evident that ICTs may contribute to achieving gender outcomes in agriculture and climate response if an enabling environment is created for women to have access to the inputs and resources needed to implement agro-advisories. From the results obtained, there are clear indications that the gender perspectives of ICT use in agriculture and climate response has not received much research attention. The analyses identified important knowledge gaps on gender disaggregated information on the linkages among ICT use, agricultural productivity and climate adaptation indicators. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gender and Socially-Inclusive Approaches to Technology for Climate Action)
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