Mersha, A. A., & van Laerhoven, F. (2019). Gender and climate policy: a discursive institutional analysis of Ethiopia’s climate resilient strategy. Regional environmental change, 19, 429-440.
Overview: This study examines national-level climate policies and gender engagement in Ethiopia, a country ranked among the top 40 most vulnerable and least prepared to respond to climate change. Ethiopia has issued several climate change adaptation policies and strategies, including a Climate-Resilient Green Economy Strategy, aiming to make it a green economy frontrunner. The study also examines Ethiopia’s Climate Resilience Strategy in Agriculture and Forest.
Methodology: The study conducted 20 semi-structured interviews with policy actors in government ministries, staff members of local civic society groups, and international organizations. The interviews were conducted using purposive and snowball sampling, with key informants from each government actor being asked to recommend individuals who actively engaged in policy making. Qualitative content analysis was used to explore the data, using coding and thematic grouping to identify key statements and phrases on climate change causes, impacts, responses, and the gender nexus.
Finding: The CRS-AF and CRGE texts rarely mention gender and provide no elaboration on addressing climate change problems. Assessment of gender responsiveness requires more than counting frequency of words related to gender, women, or men. The CRS-AF document refers to gender four times, but its meaning remains unclear. Women are treated as vulnerable groups eligible for social protection, while men and women are treated as homogenous groups.
Gendered informal institutions play a significant role in enacting issues related to climate change, and gender prejudices play a role at both local and national levels. Policy and strategy documents should provide an explicit outlook on gender equality, and a gender-sensitive framework can be used by regional and local Women’s Affairs offices to hold implementing bodies accountable. Key insights include considering a gender agenda from the beginning, having a sufficient number of capable actors to represent the gender dimension in coordinative discourses, understanding gender responsive policies, and recognizing gender as a power relation in climate-problem construction, vulnerability analysis, and adaptation options.
Conclusion: In conclusion, the article examines how gender responsiveness in adaptation options is influenced by coordinated discourse and gender representation in climate policy. It examines Ethiopia’s Climate Resilient Strategy for Agriculture and Forestry (CARSAF) and discovers that gender issues are not explicitly addressed in the policy document. The text ignores gender issues and downplays non-climate drivers in favor of the natural science aspects of climate change. Economic considerations without regard to gender or social equity are what drive CRS-AF.