Gender and climate change ‘through other eyes’ : Grassroots women’s responses to changing environments in southern Africa

abstract In this article we draw on the first-hand experience and close walk that the first author (Dorah Marema) has had implementing various projects over a 10-year period with GenderCC Southern Africa – Women for Climate Justice (GenderCCSA), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) working on the intersection between climate change and gender in South Africa. In particular, we examine how issues of vulnerability, agency and gender are used/misused and understood in the contexts of the period of the first author’s work with GenderCCSA. We first trace the shifts in the climate change narratives and discourse, examining how terms such as gender and vulnerability are used or misused, before presenting some of the initial assessments of how ‘transformational’ and ‘empowering’ the projects that were implemented have or have not been for the participants who were engaged in the projects. The article draws from three cases, illuminating the diverse roles, many of them related to leadership and agency, and actions that women are taking when faced with current and past climate risks. We interrogate the ‘northern gaze’ of climate issues and pay particular attention to what a ‘southern view’ may offer – is this different to ours, similar and why and what can we learn and gain from the perspectives and views on enhanced agency in the face of climate stresses and challenges? The role of funders in shaping the work that GenderCCSA has been involved in over the years and how has this support either enhanced or weakened women’s agency in climate change, is also interrogated. By illuminating the valuable experiences derived from the three climate action projects over a decade of effort and actions viewed through a gendered lens, we hope to enhance and add to the critical work that points to the need for a more nuanced appreciation of grassroots women’s experience and learnings in the Southern climate change experience.