Gender-specific strains on household relations in drought-affected villages : the case of Doti District, Nepal | |
| Author | Thapa, Nanu |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.GD-11-07 |
| Subject(s) | Droughts--Nepal Women--Nepal |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requ irements for the Degree of Master of Science in Gender and Development Studies, School of Environment, Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Thesis ; no. GD-11-07 |
| Abstract | Many studies on impact of extreme environmental change, such as droughts, have looked into mostly physical and economic impacts with little or no analysis of social impacts from the gender perspective, in particular at the intra-household level. With the aim of understanding the resultant intra-household impacts in the time of resource stress created by droughts, this study was conducted in Daud, Baglek and Gairagau village development committees (VDCs) in the remote hilly region of Doti di strict in Far-western region of Nepal. The livelihood of communities in this region is highly dependent on natural resources and subs istence agriculture with minimal or no influence of market and other external interventions. It is found that when the recent droughts, especially 2008/09 winter drought which adversely impacted the natural resources and agriculture productivity, created resource scarcity at the household level, due to the existing gender constructions (division of labor, distinctive interest, knowledge, roles and responsibilities, access to and control over the resources, division of benefits of resource use and power relation the impacts on women and men were disproportionate. The selection of the coping strategies adopted by women and men to deal with the resource stress was also gender mediated. It was also discovered that migration, which is a common coping strategy taken by men, has different impacts in nuclear and extended households. The study has argued that the gender power conflict gets provoked in the situation of intense competition for scarce resources. Men with the gendered expectations from the society are more vulnerable for the psychological impacts of drought because the resource scarcity created by droughts challenged their masculinity role as breadwinner. This became the reason of strain on gender relations. While responding to drought impacts, women got over burdened by produc ti ve, reproductive and community roles, and that caused strain on household gender relations. A key finding of the study is that climatic calamities such as drought which develop gradually might provide the platform for the traditional gender roles to be provoked and existing gender inequalities due to other factors such as financial, cultural and religious continue with implication on straining gender relations at the time of resource scarcity - between women and men as well as between women. |
| Year | 2011 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Thesis ; no. GD-11-07 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Gender and Development Studies (GD) |
| Chairperson(s) | Resurreccion, Bernadette P..; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Doneys, Philippe;Shrestha, Rajendra; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Asian Institute of Technology Fellowship; |
| Degree | Thesis (M. Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2011 |