In commemoration of the International Day of the Rural Women, the School of Women and Gender Studies held a dialogue which built on the overall 2019 Theme: Rural Women and Girls Building Climate Resilience, which highlights the important role that rural women and girls play in building resilience to climate change. The dialogue reflected on the role of scholars of women and gender studies in understanding women’s roles as actors and or victims in climate change through sharing practical examples and interrogating theories in the area of feminist ecology.

The half day dialogue held on 15th October 2019 gathered students, lecturers and civil society actors, and it was composed of panel presentations and plenary discussions by undergraduate students and graduate students.

The panelists explained that the first international day of rural women was observed on October 15, 2008. The idea of honoring rural women with a special day was put forward at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Bejing, China, in 1995. It was suggested that October 15th be celebrated as World Rural Women’s day to recognize women’s roles in enhancing agricultural and rural development, improving food security and eradicating poverty.

According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), 85% of Ugandan women are estimated to be living in rural areas. A rural woman is considered as one who lives far away from large towns and cities and heavily depends on farming, rearing cattle and domestic work.

Speaking on behalf of the Dean SWGS, Dr. Ebila Florence - Lecturer SWGS welcomed participants and noted that such gazetted days present us with opportunities to take stock of women’s achievements, problems encountered and discuss future prospects. She mentioned that the dialogue had been convened to avail scholars with a platform to understand the position of the rural woman and how we can relate with them in relation to climate change.

In their submissions, students acknowledged that climate change affects everyone regardless of their gender. However, women are the major victims of climate change due to their productive and reproductive roles in society. 

“The impacts of climate change affects people in different ways but gender discrimination makes women vulnerable to its negative effects even more. This is particularly true in cases of rural women whose conditions of life and marginalization put them at a greater risk compared to men,” noted Tumuhaise Phionah, SWGS student leader.

Climate change results from both natural factors and human causes. Capitalism was cited as a major player in destroying the environment and the effects draining slowly down to the rural areas where women and men suffer the brunt of such male centred development approaches. The individualistic and androcentric nature of this system that squeezes profit from poor women and men has severely affected women in rural areas and depleted natural communal resources that women rely on. There is a constant set up of multinational companies, cutting trees, bush burning, air and water pollution, wetland degradation that create climate change.

Given existing inequalities and development gaps, climate change ultimately places a great burden on women, limiting their ability to adapt to the impacts of climate change. All these result into food insecurity, alterations in agricultural activates shortage of water, increased workload especially if they have to move long distances to fetch water and firewood, poverty, lack of access to renewable energy, epidemics and domestic violence among others.

​​​​Despite the load, women have limited rights and access to resources, limited voice in shaping decisions and low adaptive capabilities to climate change. This vulnerability is aggravated by viewing women as victims rather than strategic actors who have critical knowledge of their society, economy and environment as well as practical skills which when recognized and used can be effective in risk reduction and adaptation to climate change.

“The adaptation strategies used by women and men differ significantly as men focus on large scale interventions while women place greater emphasis on concrete and community improvements. Women play an essential role in coming up with prevention adaptation and mitigation strategies in combating climate change since they are closer to nature than men,” noted Fatia Atugonza, MA Gender Studies Student.

In her presentation, Ms. Ngabirano Vivienne Vanesa, an MA Gender Studies student acknowledged recognizing the rural woman. She however questioned the concept “rural women” noting that it is discriminatory and renders women living in rural areas victims. She clarified that rural is a mindset not a geographical placement and anyone anywhere can be in the rural area depending on where they are viewed from.

She further noted that policies and programs geared towards advancing the climate change agenda should be inclusive and should be birthed from women’s needs right from conceptualizing to rolling out of multimillion programs. She noted that it is very crucial to build women’s capacity on how best to respond to the impacts of climate change and called for radicalism in preserving the planet.

"When we talk about women living in rural areas, we often think of helpless, poor, sick and oppressed women that lack that ability to change their situations. We continue to carry this thinking onto climate change suggesting solutions for them but we cannot stop to think the practicability of these solutions. Therefore as we strategize on how to deal with climate change, women can indeed and should be given the opportunity to voice their opinions,” observed Ms. Namata Tendo, MA Gender Studies student.

School of Women and Gender Studies