A gender-responsive lens on climate and agriculture

Often, digital climate services are designed in a way that exclude women. These services do not fit women’s realities. There is a need to look at our climate services through a more gender-responsive lens.
This was exactly what Emma Feenstra from INCLUSA shared with us during a highly insightful workshop, where she also shared her own valuable experiences with smallholder farmers in Africa.

Male and female farmers are exposed to climate risks in different ways, due to their gender roles and responsibilities that affect crop choices, labour division and land tenure. Women face different opportunities and barriers, yet they are often the ones working on the land and experiencing the real impacts of climate change firsthand. That is why their role is so vital, and why their experiences and needs must be taken into account, leading to a gender-responsive design of digital climate services.

Research shows, if women have equal access to climate resources, there is a 30% increase in food productivity!

The first step is understanding the gender dynamics, and involve women ánd men. Making these dynamics visible allows service providers to design services that work better for women. Only then services can be more relevant, accessible and usable, working for all farmers. Only then it can be adopted at scale, leading to a higher agricultural productivity and more climate resilience.

Please read more in this blog that Emma wrote about this workshop.