Intersectional Perspective of Strengthening Climate Change Adaptation of Agrarian Women in Cameroon

Abstract

AbstractIt is a widely accepted notion that climate change affects men and women within agrarian populations differently; consequently, their adaptation strategies are gendered. Besides climate change, women’s vulnerability and their corresponding adaptation strategies are embedded within a complex web of social identities/status, agroecological location, gender norm/roles and power struggles within the plurality of normative orders governing land (property rights). This chapter focuses on Cameroon and seeks to analyze how the interactions between various normative orders governing access to land, co-dependent upon the multiple gendered identities (intersectionality), impact climate change adaptation strategies of female farmers. The results show that the degree of vulnerability and adaptation strategies of women are context specific and gendered across the five distinct agroecological zones of Cameroon. Furthermore, secured access to and ownership over land is crucial in determining the adaptation choices and options available to female farmers. A complex mix of state and non-state norms govern property rights in Cameroon, within which women have to constantly negotiate their land claims. These negotiations are influenced by marital status, ethnicity, educational level, and community/social relations, such that the outcome translates differently for women within the Muslim, Anglophone, and Francophone communities. The chapter concludes with context-specific recommendations to strengthen the adaptive capacity of agrarian women across Cameroon.