Unmasking difference: intersectionality and smallholder farmers’ vulnerability to climate extremes in Northern Ghana

Abstract

This paper examines intersectionality and climate vulnerability in Ghana’s Upper West Region. Located within the southern fringe of the West African Sahel, and inhabited largely by smallholder farmers, the Upper West faces recurring climate extremes. This paper asks, how do the intersections between different inequalities and power relations shape vulnerability to climate extremes? Evidence for the paper comes from intensive qualitative fieldwork. Focusing especially on lived experiences from four case studies, the paper demonstrates the textured ways in which masculinity ideals, health status, religion, gender, age, marital status, and poverty intersect to deepen farmers’ vulnerability to dry spells, flash floods, and after-storm recovery. Overall, the paper advances two interrelated arguments. Firstly, it argues that vulnerability analysis that focuses independently on gender, class, religion, and other characteristics, is insufficient because it risks homogenizing entire groups. Secondly, the paper argues that climate extremes do not always affect women more adversely than men. Indeed, dominant ideals of threatened masculinity can make men highly vulnerable during extreme climatic events. In the end, the paper concludes that if vulnerability analysis fails to unmask difference or move beyond binary gender categories, ensuing interventions may miss the real needs of countless individuals.