Gender Dynamics of Climate Change in Ghana: An Intersectional Perspective

The study examines one strand in the debate on climate change, notably climate change and variability will cause calamities that will likely hurt many people, especially those already placed in a disadvantaged position such as women. Calamities are expected to lead to changes in their livelihoods and increase their poverty. Taking the agricultural sector in Ghana as one example, this study challenges the interchangeable use of the concepts 'women' and 'gender' and an exclusive focus on 'gender difference'. It argues that analyses of vulnerabilities and the subsequent design and implementation of adaptation measures in the context of climate change and variability that are based on a simplistic understanding of gender tend to cloud the real effect of the disaster and obscure accurate understanding of the situation, and therefore measures taken to care for all stakeholders will likely omit many aspects of intersecting social inequalities. An analysis that brings into the discussion the intersection of social relation and identities such as ethnicity, religion, descent, age or disability could present a more nuanced understanding of adaptive behaviour in a particular context. Such understanding offers researchers and policy makers the opportunity to capture the realities of diverse people in order respond appropriately to their different needs, expectations and concerns.