ABSTRACT
People’s susceptibility and capacity to respond to climate change impacts are not homogenous. Gendered relations and diversities, for example, shape people’s vulnerability and the options they have to respond. In regions like the Pacific Islands – that are at the frontline of climate change impacts – detailed case studies outlining women’s experiences are lacking. Women’s diverse voices, experiences as well as capacities for adaptation remain largely underutilised and undocumented, and this can undermine recovery and resilience prospects. This chapter draws on a series of in-depth interviews (n = 7) and focus groups (n = 10) conducted in the Cook Islands and Vanuatu between December 2018 and November 2020 to explore Pacific Islander women’s experiences of loss and recovery from climate change.
The women identified several climatic hazards – both rapid and slow-onset events – that have impacted wellbeing, albeit cyclones and drought were discussed most. Experiences of loss were both tangible and intangible, including reduced food, water and income security, threats to health from degraded ecosystems, destruction of critical infrastructure such as homes and marketplaces, a reduced sense of belonging from relocation, and impacts on mental and emotional health. We explore some of the ways that gendered relations, roles and inequalities shape these experiences of loss and priorities for recovery.
Women are also resourceful enablers of recovery and resilience. Women’s social networks and groups have been critical for increasing capacities to exercise voice (i.e. lobby for post-disaster rights) as well as facilitating collective and inclusive recovery through mutual support and the sharing of resources and knowledge. Participants detailed their efforts to improve preparedness and resilience through strengthening household infrastructure, resource accumulation, livelihoods diversification and adapting farming behaviours. Values associated with ‘creation care’ (i.e. living in harmony with nature) also motivate women to persevere and adapt to losses. Gendered challenges in recovery, however, emerged, including the exclusion of women from formal relief, having voices filtered, having finances controlled by husbands and partaking in stereotypical income-generating activities.
Women should, in their diversity, centre alongside men in climate change and disaster recovery conversations. To enhance future prospects, we must implement policy and practice that is conducive to, utilises and supports women’s social capital and their diverse strategies for preparedness, recovery and adaptation. As women continue to operate in an unequal system that imposes burdens and challenges, however, responses to climate change and disaster risk cannot sideline efforts to transform women’s wellbeing, agency and prospects more generally.
