Women bear brunt of climate change
MELODY CHIKONO
SITTING under a mango tree on a hot day in December, in a pensive mood, Martha Mangwiro (not her real name) is pondering the next move as she watches her maize crop wilt in the arid Dande area in Mt Darwin.
Mangwiro (36), a single mother of four, is lamenting the hot spell that has caused a serious impact on her crop.
Over the past few years, Martha’s family has been battling to stomach the agony of watching their crops destroyed due to high temperatures as climate change becomes a reality in Zimbabwe.
“It’s now close to 10 years and we have been experiencing this every year. Rains used to come early and we used to have bumper harvests. We wonder where the problem lies,” she laments in a recent interview with the Zimbabwe Independent.
The vigilant efforts by the village heads and their faith in the spiritual realm has culminated in rainmaking ceremonies, something that was last done more than 20 years back.
The village is desperate and it looks like there are no immediate answers on the horizon. The dry spells, according to experts, have proven to be the effects of climate change.
Mangwiro’s family has for years relied on subsistence farming. She and her ex-husband used to live a decent life together. But the husband left her to seek employment in urban areas and never returned, leaving Mangwiro to fend for her children on her own. Her two teenage daughters eventually eloped with men, throwing them into early marriages.
In the midst of these challenges, Mangwiro still has to take care of her young son as well as a nephew. Her only wish is the presence of a male figure in the family to assist in handling life’s burden.
Mangwiro’s situation is one that epitomises the ravages of climate change and undesired results of gender-prescribed traditional roles in a patriarchal society.
Climate change has seen most men leaving their rural homes to search for jobs leaving women with the responsibility of looking after families.
Experts say due to the negative effects of high temperatures and low rainfall in recent years, most families have been driven into poverty and hunger. Consequently, child marriages have been on the rise.
This also perpetuates the increase in HIV prevalence in women and reduces literacy levels as most girls leave school due to climate-change-induced poverty.
Environment Africa monitoring and evaluation officer Laura Mlambo told the Independent that this had implications on access to information about climate change adaptation.
“In Zimbabwe, climate change has worsened the prevailing economic hardships. High unemployment, high rates of inflation and the recent Covid-19 pandemic have had multiplier effects on the impacts of climate change.
“On another note, historically women have been disadvantaged with culture playing a role. Religion has had its share. There should be a deliberate effort to make women own land and other assets especially on the part of the government by being gender-sensitive when allocating land,” she said.
“Education and awareness for women and girls on climate change and other cross-cutting issues like asset ownership is crucial. Literacy improvement programmes for young pregnant women and married women are needed.
Climate Change and Energy Governance lead Byron Zamasiya said access to information was important for decision making especially for the women. He urged the government to make deliberate efforts to educate women about climate change.
“Given the increased frequency of climate induced disasters, it is important to promote livelihood diversification. This may require the household to not only rely on crop-based farming, but to blend it with the rearing of small livestock such as traditional chickens and goats,” he said.
He added that educating women was important in promoting effective participation of women in policy making.
“When consultations on laws or policies are made, they can engage in discussions on these matters. This results in the crafting of policies that are gender sensitive and responsive to the needs of the women.” he said.
- This story was produced by Zimbabwe Independent. It was written as part of the WAN_IFRA Women in News Social Impact Reporting Initiative(SIRI). The content is the sole responsibility of the author and the publisher.
