- Download this study as a PDF file (7,9 MB, 72 pages).
This study investigates the different ways in which women and men are affected by the impacts from climate change, and possible differences in the resulting migration strategies. An empirical study was conducted in the southern part of the Mexican state of Chiapas, an area severely affected by phenomena associated with climate change, primarily increased hurricanes and tropical storms, and changes in rainfall patterns, causing landslides, flooding and changes in the dry and rainy seasons.
The results of this case study point to important gender differences both in terms of vulnerabilities and impacts from climate change and in the migration strategies used by women and by men.
With regard to impacts from climate change affecting women and men, the results of this study indicate that these impacts are associated with the traditional gender roles socially assigned to women and to men. Since males are assigned the role of maintaining the family and thus, generating income, they are affected by climate change primarily in economic terms, particularly in agriculture, on which the regional economy is based. The majority of males lost harvests and/or land plots due to the Mitch (1998) and Stan (2005) hurricanes, and due to severe rains and flooding in recent years, causing severe losses in their income. At the same time, climate change also severely affects males dedicated to non-agricultural activities, since the crisis in agriculture has repercussions in essentially the entire regional economy.
This loss of income also causes severe problems for women, given their role as those responsible for the home and for feeding their families. The lack of resources to buy food, medicine and other items necessary in household reproduction generates severe difficulties and serious psychological stress. And women who must also generate income are directly affected by the difficult economic situation, just as males are. They also report diminished income primarily in commercial activities, the area in which most women tend to work. Nevertheless, in addition to the economic difficulties suffered by women, they are also directly affected by the impacts from climate change in their homes, with a considerable increase in their daily work load. Some particularly significant examples are: the constant flooding of their homes; the lack of clean water and firewood for cooking, associated with obstructed pipes, flooded wells and constant rain; an increase in illnesses due to the wet conditions and mosquitoes; and difficulties in access to stores and clinics in other communities, due to roads blocked by landslides and flooding.
With respect to the relationship between climate change and migration, it was found that - consistent with the fact that the most significant reasons for migration processes are generally economic in nature - migration in this case is a reaction to the economic impacts from climate change, primarily in agriculture. This implies an important difference in migration by women and by men in response to climate change. While migration is a strategy for adapting to climate change for both sexes, migration by women is less directly associated with its impacts. Most of the men in the case study whose migration is associated with climate change have migrated due to the direct impacts from climate change on agriculture - because they lost their land plots and/or harvests. Meanwhile, most women migrate in response to indirect impacts on the overall economy. Because agriculture is considered to be a man’s activity, and few women work in this area, women migrate primarily in response to the overall depressed economy, which provokes critical losses in their income, mostly in commercial activities. Less participation by women in agriculture is also the reason that, in general, impacts from climate change play a lesser role in decisions made by women to migrate than those made by men.
Another important difference between migration by women and by men in response to climate change is that in the case of married couples, women do not migrate. This is a case of household, not individual, strategies, in which, due to traditional gender roles, men are the ones who must respond to adverse economic impacts from climate change by migrating.
Single mothers are the women most likely to migrate in response to climate change, since they must generate income to maintain their families. The loss of income from economic depression forces them to migrate in search of work, and the same is true for many young women who provide economic support to their parents.
Other interesting differences between migration by women and by men, in addition to those already mentioned - but not necessarily associated with climate change - are the following:
Our study of migration by girls and boys aged 12 to 18 found gender-related differences in relation to the concrete reasons for migration and plans to return to their communities of origin. While most young people of both sexes have plans to migrate after finishing school, the objective of continuing to study is much more important for girls than for boys. For the latter, objectives other than studying, like working to save money and building their own home are also important. This difference is because young women do not believe they can obtain work, as women, without an education and a profession. Since agriculture, the region’s primary activity, is considered men’s territory, there are few economic activities "appropriate" for women. This also leads to differences in the planned duration of migration. Most girls are not interested in returning to their places of origin, and instead view migration as something definitive. In contrast, most boys, after having studied or worked to save money, want to return to live in their communities of origin. This difference is obviously associated with what has just been described. For women, there are few options in their places of origin other than marrying young and becoming housewives, something most of them are not willing to do.
Still another interesting finding is that many women, unlike men, have a favorable view of their places of destination, which they associate with possibilities for them, as women, to work. In their places of destination there are not only more work opportunities for them, but as well, and unlike in their communities of origin, women’s employment is, in general, socially accepted. Associated with possibilities to work is also another important difference between women and men, in this case related to the destinations of migration. While the United States is almost the only destination for men, many women also migrate to destinations within Mexican territory. A likely explanation is that, for women, the primary reason for migration is to be able to work, something difficult in their places of origin. To achieve this goal it is not necessary, however, to migrate to the United States. Urban centers and the maquiladora industry at the country’s northern border also offer many work opportunities for women.