Overburdened Women and Disempowered Men: Case Studies on Tanzania and Kenya\u27s Rural Agro-pastoralist Communities

The concept of gender becomes significant when associated with variable and unpredictable effects of climate change. It is important to assess the linkages and outcomes between humans and their environment. I highlight the level of vulnerability and burdens on the different genders and discuss how these environmental influences are shifting what we will considered “traditional” social norms and responsibilities within rural households of Kenya and Tanzania. For agricultural and pastoral communities in eastern Africa, drought triggers many socio-economic alterations that lead to great shifts in traditional roles and daily duties especially for women. The key focus of this study relies on changing gender dynamics as a result of intensified and prolonged episodes of drought, considering male and female interactions and coping strategies. Using my case study of Ayalaliyo, Tanzania as a springboard, I will be analyzing women’s vulnerability, increased workloads, health implications, and alternative incomes as well as male disempowerment in the rural communities of Kenya and Tanzania. I aspire to find the connections between women and the environment and detect whether or not there have been similar changes in gender roles as a result of climatic changes throughout the rest of East Africa’s farming communities. I will be concluding by tying these effects to a more global perspective on the importance of gendering climate change adaptations