Climate justice approaches and effectiveness of flood response interventions on women in Chikwawa District, Malawi

Abstract

Climate change that is translated to floods has caused enormous impacts on women. With focus on the 2015 floods, the study's  objective was to analyse preand post- flood response interventions from different stakeholders on women where the effectiveness of the use of Climate Justice Approach in interventions to enhance women's resilience during 2015 floods in Malawi was also examined. The study had household interviews, focus group discussions (15 men and 15 women) and key informant interviews (2 experts). Through climate justice approach, the study adopted a qualitative method. However, where necessary some quantitative data was provided. Qualitative data was analysed through Thematic Content Analysis while quantitative through SPSS. The results indicated that women received response, recovery and resilience interventions. Though women received the response interventions (response, recovery and resilience) the study found that they did not fully benefit culture and tradition, rigid gender roles and stereotypes, increased workload and Gender Based Violence. However, the interventions that had climate justice lens proved to enhance women's resilience than the one without climate justice lens.