PhD Thesis
Climate change has differentiated effects between men and women, but there is scarce
information on how men and women are adapting to the effects in Tanzania. The main
objective of this study was to establish gender specific adaptation practices to the effects
of climate change in Bahi and Kondoa districts, Dodoma Region, Tanzania. The study
adopted a cross-sectional research design whereby both quantitative and qualitative data
were collected from a sample of 360 respondents, 12 focus groups and 78 key informants.
Focus group discussions, key informant interviews and a questionnaire survey were used
to collect data. The analysis of quantitative data involved descriptive and inferential
statistics using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS, Version 12.0) computer
software programme. Qualitative data were summarized by using content analysis.
Inferential analysis involved Chi-square test at p < 0.05 level of significance to determine
relationships between study variables; F-test was used to determine the significance of the
trends of anomalies of rainfall, temperature and wind speed; and a multinomial logit
regression model was used to determine factors influencing choice of climate change
adaptation options between men and women, using Nlogit 3.0. The indices of four climate
change indicators (increase in rainfall variation, temperature, strong wind and drought)
were formed to measure perception on climate change. This thesis was developed in
papers format. It presents three published papers by the Journal of African Studies and
Development (JASD), Research on Humanities and Social Science (RHSS) and
Sustainable Development (JSD). The first paper, Swai et al. (2012a) determined the
perception on climate change by sex and investigated the evidence of climate change from
meteorological data. The results in this paper revealed that the majority of men and
women perceived climate change. There was significant association between perception
on climate change and sex of respondents. The trends of anomalies of meteorological data
showed a significant decrease in rainfall amount for Bahi Districts, an increase in meaniii
minimum and maximum temperature and mean wind speed for Dodoma Region, proving
that climate had changed. The second paper, Swai et al. (2012b) examined the effects of
climate change on agricultural production by sex and found that, men and women
perceived and were affected differently by climate change. Women were more likely to
perceive the severity of the effects of climate change during food shortage or hunger,
water and firewood shortages and when they were subjected to bad food debts whereas,
men were more likely to perceive the severely of the effects of climate change when they
wasted resources including productive land, seeds and labour due to floods or drought and
when they out-migrated to search for casual labour or food grains away from home. There
was a significant association between perceived effects of climate change and sex of
respondents. The third paper, Swai et al. (2012c) investigated adaptation practices
undertaken by men and women to adapt to climate change. The results indicated that
women were more devoted to adaptation practices that enabled them to adapt to or reduce
effects of climate change during food shortage or hunger, water and firewood shortages;
and men were more devoted to adaptation practices that enabled them to adapt to or reduce
effects of climate change on crops, livestock and land and/or environment. There was a
significant association between adaptation practices undertaken by respondents and sex of
respondents. The results of a manuscript that evaluated determinants of climate change
adaptation, which was also a gendered analysis revealed that socio-economic, cultural and
demographic factors had significant effects on the choice of climate change adaption
options between men and women. The factors determining the choice of climate change
adaptation options between men and women were not the same. Generally, the study
concludes that men and women perceived climate change differently, were affected
differently, and thus adapted differently to the effects of climate change, emphasizing the
need for gender differentiated interventions to promote climate change adaptation. The
study recommends planners and policy makers in Agriculture, Livestock and Environment
sectors, Tanzania NAPA, NGOs and other development practitioners to use genderiv
sensitive interventions to manage climate change effects; and suggests a study of this kind
(systematic collection of in-depth information at the community level) to be undertaken in
other semi-arid areas and regions of Tanzania in order to gather more information that can
justify generalization of the findings on gender and climate change. This is because
climate change effects are location specific, and adaptive capacities of individuals vary
across the country.