Gender and desertification

U N C C D t h e m a t i c f a c t s h e e t s e r i e s
N o . 4
Gender
and desertification
In many of the world’s dry, agricultural
areas, including much of Africa, it is
traditionally women who devote time
and effort to the land 1
.
The range of measures often emphasized in gendered efforts to reverse desertification and land
degradation and mitigate the effects of drought (DLDD) include improving the participation of women in
decision-making, building the capacity of women’s organizations, eliminating illiteracy among women,
minimizing the heavy workload on women and eliminating gender disparities in employment and in the
access to and ownership of resources. This fact sheet draws attention to the complex and evolving nature
of gender issues pertaining to drylands women.
Women’s unequal access to productive
Women are key players in both the agricultural and
assets exacerbates land degradation
pastoral production processes. They are the primary
natural resource managers, providers of food security,

and repositories of knowledge and expertise on
Many people living in the drylands engage in
indigenous plants, medicines, food and water. These
agricultural and pastoral activities. Communities
are crucial roles when dealing with soil fertility and
engaged in these activities however, display different
crop failure in degraded and drought-prone areas.
patterns of asset ownership and access. For example,
Women in areas affected by drought and
among agricultural communities, men own the land and
desertification, however, are generally engaged in
produce cash crops, and thus, obtain credit and other
subsistence and small economies and are therefore
facilities. Women, on the other hand, rarely own land
more vulnerable than men to the negative impacts of
and are often confined to the production of subsistence
global economic, technological and cultural
foods. In Uganda, for example, although 97% of
transformation processes.
women have access to land, 8% have leaseholds, but

only 7% actually own land and have access to credit
For example, the restoration of degraded soils requires
(UN-Habitat: 2002). In such communities, women’s
the supplemental use of new technologies. Such
access to critical resources is mediated by relationships
technologies are usually transferred through
with men. This places female-headed households at an
agricultural extension systems staffed by male officers
even greater disadvantage.
who are more comfortable working with male

producers. In some cases, local cultural norms make it
By contrast, in pastoral communities, assets tend to be
difficult or even impossible for male extension workers
communally owned, thus men and women generally
to interact with female producers. Consequently,
have equal access. Yet, as with the women in
women often do not receive information about new
agricultural communities, pastoral women may face just
technologies, while men also obtain most of the direct
as great challenges in accessing crucial resources. For
benefits during the initial set-up and implementation
example, among many pastoral communities, men, who
stages of the new technology.
are mainly concerned with providing livestock, which is

a source of income and prestige for them, manage the
Without ownership of assets such as land, women
water points. These water points often have no taps for
cannot access credit and extension and technological
women to draw domestic water. Consequently, women
services. This, in turn, affects their ability to sustain their
are forced to fetch water at the cattle troughs used
and contaminated by animals.
1 Koffi Annan, 2005

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United Nations
Convention to combat desertification
families and manage other natural resources that lay
approach that targets gender issues and rights-based
the foundation of sustainable production systems. It
policies. The Convention’s Preamble emphasizes the role
deepens their exclusion from participation in land
played by women in regions affected by desertification
conservation and development projects, agricultural
and/or drought and the importance of ensuring the full
extension work and policy-making processes. participation of both men and women at all levels in
Consequently, the land they depend on for their
programmes to combat desertification and mitigate the
income is easily and continually degraded.
effects of drought. Gender integration is the norm in the

Convention’s national action programmes as evidenced
Asset ownership and access to land also have a
by a recent review of gender mainstreaming in decision-
bearing on people’s vulnerability to disasters and risk.
making at the national level (Knabe and Poulsen: 2004).
Although both the rich and poor are affected when

disasters from desertification, land degradation and
Even so, greater attention to drylands women in the
drought arise, the poor, especially women, are
implementation of the Convention is warranted in light of
hardest hit because their ability to cope with and
the increased vulnerability of women to the effects of
recover from these phenomena depend on access to
drought due to existing resource inequalities and shifting
assets such as land, and the ability to mobilize
gender roles associated with forced migration, and in
resources. For example, when drought strikes, an
the context of the 10-year strategic plan and
individual, group or community can invest its assets in
framework to enhance the implementation of the
another area to meet short-term needs. As the most
Convention (2008-2018). Gender mainstreaming should
disadvantaged in asset access and ownership,
aim to improve the livelihoods of women living in the
drylands women encounter great difficulty in adjusting
drylands, enhance the realization of global benefits and
to extreme effects related to DLDD, such as those
promote partnerships in the attainment of both these
anticipated from climate change.
goals.



Policy attention needs to
Cultural breakdown
a d d r e s s w o m e n ’ s
overburdens women
ownership and access to

productive and other

resources such as advisory
The gender-division of labor is
services and farm inputs
prevalent among many drylands
that are provided to men
communities. In their daily chores, men
in the same communities.
focus on market-oriented activities such
C o n s i d e r i n g t h e i r
as crop or livestock production. Women
knowledge management
carry out household and farm chores
roles, priority needs to be
that include nurturing the land, growing
given to the design of
food crops, col ecting firewood and
technologies and policies
fetching water.
that are relevant to

women and build on their
These role boundaries are breaking down with the
knowledge, and to the involvement of women in
growth of environmental migrants. Although women
decision-making.
make up half the number of international migrants,

men have constituted a majority of the rural to urban
Establishing partnerships and forums, enhancing
seasonal and permanent environmental migrants
capacities, promoting better access to educational
elicited mainly by drought in the drylands. These
opportunities and health care and legalizing women’s
developments have a profound impact on families,
land rights and developing gender-sensitive land
with unequal consequences on men and women.
ownership regimes are part of the solution.

Incorporating gender issues into the entire project life-
When men migrate, women take on the additional
cycle stages of initiatives supported by financial
roles of cash crop and livestock production and
mechanisms and organizations that promote sustainable
marketing, and become providers of security for the
land management in drylands would reinforce these
young and aged. This increases women’s workload
measures. To this end, relevant studies providing insight
and responsibilities, even as it enables them to
into dryland women’s access to and ownership of assets
become key decision-makers at the household level.
and gender roles, including women’s contributions to
By contrast, the men left behind do not necessarily
carbon offsetting, water management, sustainable use
become caregivers or take on new domestic roles.
of biodiversity and payment for environmental services,
Where the migration is seasonal, crises of leadership
are indispensable.
develop upon the return of men.


In conclusion, policies that target women need to pay

attention to the different forms and hierarchies of
Mainstreaming gender in drylands
gender discrimination. The connection between

ecosystem type, cultural practices and primary economic
The United Nations Convention to Combat production all need to be taken into account in
Desertification (UNCCD) advances a bottom-up
addressing gender concerns in the drylands.
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The UNCCD : don’t let our future dry up
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