Presentation by Sophia Huyer, CCAFS Gender and Social Inclusion leader at COP23.

1. Sophia Huyer, Gender and Social Inclusion Leader
Gender and climate data

2. • 79% of women in least
developed countries report
agriculture as their primary
economic activity
• Lower access to resources, land
and inputs
• Productivity gap: smaller and
less profitable farms, in less
profitable sectors
• Closing the gender gap will
increase yields by 20-30% and
raise agricultural outputs by 2.5
– 4 %, reducing hungry by 100-
150 million
The gender gap in agriculture

3. • Gender differences exist in vulnerabilities and capacities to deal
with climate change
• Women manage childcare, fuelwood and water collection
• Increased agricultural work when men out-migrate
• Women less able to adapt:
§ Less access to information and extension services
§ Less access to common property resources and land
§ Sociocultural norms
Huyer et al, 2015

4. Gender differences in agricultural
adaptation
• Women and men tend to have different adaptation strategies and
practices
• Different preferences in crops and uses for crops
• These depend on GDOL, differing access to and control over resources
participation in decision making and sociocultural norms
Five most common changes made by men and women to adapt to climate change

5. The digital gender gap
ITU, 2016

6. The big data gender gap

8. Agriculture-Gender-Climate Change Hotspots in Nepal
Chettry et al, forthcoming

9. The climate information gender gap
Male Female
Limited training Little or no formal education and thus inability to
read and understand the text messages sent by the
Esoko platform
The forecast information is sometimes different
from the actual weather condition
Periodically, educated community members unable
to correctly interpret text messages
Bad network connection Expensive call charges noted by farmers on Airtel
telecommunication lines when calls to the Esoko
call centre are made.
Long waiting times on calls placed to the call
center
Lack of access to mobile phones as the service is
phone based
Periodically, the translators at the Esoko call
centre are not available and they do not call back
either
Lack of means of transportation on reported market
days in various communities prevents farmers from
moving to sell farm produce
Gender differences in access to climate information in Ghana
Partey et al, forthcoming

10. It’s not all bad news: women use climate
information when they have access to it
Ghana:
• 85.2% (representing 767) farmers
were aware of climate change and
its implications for their agriculture
and other livelihood activities, with
little difference in perception
between men and women
• Gender a determinant of uptake
and use of climate information:
men were 39.4% less likely to use
climate information than women.

11. Access to. .
.
Information
on droughts
Forecast of
the start of
the rains
Seasonal
weather
forecasts
Short-term
forecast
Use of. . .
for making
agricultura
l changes
Informati
on on
droughts
Forecast
of the
start of
the rains
Seasonal
weather
forecasts
Short-
term
forecast
W M W M W M W M W M W M W M W M
Nyando,
Kenya*
70 85 91 91 40 80 45 75 73 66 96 91 83 92 47 10
Wote,
Kenya**
43 92 98 97 92 88 36 41 96 94 100 100 99 94 81 4
Rakai,
Uganda***
64 78 73 83 80 81 37 91 77 45 94 94 93 75 39 57
Kaffrine,
Senegal****
20 23 65 83 64 67 55 61 43 63 92 95 68 74 81 74
No statistically significant difference
More women than men access/use
information
More men than women access/use
information
Twyman et al, 2014

12. Mittal, 2017

13. Concluding thoughts
• More climate (and other) information is needed that women find
valuable and worthwhile
• Big data is not generally sex-disaggregated, skewing analysis and as
a result policy and programming towards a homogeneous model
• Women’s access and contributions to data development and content
are lower, and hence the tendency will be towards male-oriented
data, reflecting male interests and preferences
• We need to focus on sex-disaggregation of data, and not just in
“women’s” or “social” areas
• We need to target women to be users, owners and developers of ICT
and information

14. Thank you
s.huyer@cgiar.org
ccafs.cgiar.org