Intra-household gender differences in perception of climate change and eventual impacts: Empirical evidence from groundwater depleted zones of Bangladesh

Abstract

Given the importance of gender in household and agricultural decision-making including climate change adaptation and mitigation decisions, understanding “within” household gender differences in perception of climate change and eventual impacts is crucial to formulate and design relevant policies and programs. However, studies on climate change, particularly perception studies, overlooked gender aspects. Therefore, aiming at a more nuanced gender analysis, this study attempted to measure “within” household gender differences in perception of climate change, its impact and explored the factors affecting such perceptions. We drew on empirical data obtained from farm household surveys conducted on 360 co-dwelling couples from three dissimilar drought-prone areas of northwest Bangladesh. Findings reveal that the significant difference in spouses' perceptions of unexpected rainfall and thunderstorms was perceived more by wives than husbands, nevertheless, increasing temperature was perceived more by husbands than wives. Similarly, spouses perceived that climate change has negative effects on agriculture and livelihoods. There were significant spatial differences in the responses across husbands and wives. The discrete choice modelling approaches employed to explore the determinants of perceptions by husbands and wives illustrated that wives inhabited in high water scarce areas (HSA) and medium water scarce areas (MSA), with higher education and age were more likely to perceive climate change and eventual impacts, whereas husbands' age and education were negatively allied with their perceptions. Intra-household gender differentiated perceptions suggest that policy interventions should provide gender disaggregated targeted human capital development and extend institutional facilities and support appropriate farm-level spatial program design and policy formulation.