Gender, climate change, and food security scholarship in Ethiopia

Keywords: gender, climate change, food security, climate resilience, gender-based vulnerability
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Saturday
Session Start / End Time: 2/26/2022 08:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/26/2022 09:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 7

Abstract

Food insecurity is a rising problem, with two billion people experiencing a lack of nutritious and affordable food, resulting in malnutrition and poor health. Research in climate change and food systems has generally emphasized crop production and child anthropometric outcomes, with limited focus on the complex linkages between climate variability, household food security, and gender. Climate change also further contributes to inequality through the negative, imbalanced, distribution of harms experienced by men and women. In this paper, we will examine the impacts of climate on diet diversity and coping mechanisms by drawing on nationally representative longitudinal data from Ethiopia, by using multiple measures of food insecurity alongside high-resolution climate data on rainfall and heat shocks, and by addressing vulnerability and resilience. We aim to measure gender-focused climate effects on the food security of male- versus female-headed households and on the child anthropometric measurements of boys versus girls. This project will build on our previous research that has measured climate exposure of educational achievement, nutritional status, and migration. A regression of food security outcomes as a function of climate anomalies, gender, controls and interactions between climate and gender will be used test our hypotheses on gender-based vulnerability and resilience and will provide insight into whether climate exposures contribute to gendered disparities in food security.