Women in selected rural municipalities: Resilience and agency against vulnerabilities to climate change

abstract

The role of rural women in eradicating poverty and ending hunger has been recognised by both scholars and practitioners. There is an acknowledgement that women serve a critical role in the agricultural labour force, subsistence farming, and rural development in sub-Saharan Africa, yet their central role in food security has been largely ignored, particularly in policy (Govender, 2012). Although much of the labour of rural women is not nationally defined as economically active employment these women still spend long hours in undervalued productive and reproductive work to ensure the well-being of their households. Linked to this role is the challenge of dealing with rapidly changing climatic conditions. Women assume primary responsibility in fetching water and wood for meal preparation, and in tilling the ground. They are among the most vulnerable groups to climate change as a result of their precarious environmental livelihoods. Using data from a workshop with rural women to discuss climate change and qualitative interviews with rural women in selected rural communities in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal we explore the meaning of climate change. We report on the way climate change is understood, its effects on rural livelihoods and some responses to climate change problems experienced by the women in the communities. The women in the rural communities highlight that there are also social problems that have arisen from water scarcity. As a result of the household division of labour, rural girls confront particular challenges as they need to search further from home for water and are exposed to the risk of gender violence.

keywords:

• rural women
• resilience
• vulnerabilities
• policy lessons
• gender and climate change

Notes

1. The research was conducted under the auspices of a research organisation and funded by the South African National Research Foundation and the Department of Science and Technology.

2. A larger proportion of females compared to males are more likely to be involved in water collection. As the distance increases, the likelihood of female responsibility for water collection increases. In rural EC and KZN it is black African households that mostly rely on off-site water sources. However, at national level lack of access to piped water inside household or on site decreased from 41.3% in 2001 to 28.4% in 2011 (StatsSA, 2012).

3. Relative to males, similar to water collection, women and girls are more likely to collect wood and dung. At national level the percentage of households using wood or dung as their main energy source for cooking decreased from 27.1% in 2001 to 16.9% in 2011. The percentage of black African households using wood and dung for fuel is highest, at 33.4% in 2001, decreasing to 20.8% in 2011 (StatsSA, 2012).

4. In particular the focus was on the rural villages of Cofimvaba and Bholokodlela.

5. This municipality previously included Sisonke District Municipality and uThukela District.

6. Unpublished reports by Law Reform Commission (2014) and Commission for Gender Equality (2009).

7. A report by the Commission on Gender Equality (2009) found that 89 girls from Bergville and Loskop were afraid of becoming victims of the practice.

8. The policy under adaptation, agriculture and forestry notes that under-resourced small-scale and subsistence farmers are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. “Climate-resilient sectoral plans have the potential to directly address the plight of those most impacted by climate change – the rural poor” (DEA, 2011b:18).

9. Manyano is a generic term for women's church movement but it has been used to also refer to places where water or firewood is gathered. These places are regarded as ‘safe forums’ at which women ‘let out’ and initiate projects.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Thenjiwe Meyiwa

THENJIWE MEYIWA is a research director in the Education and Skills Development unit of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), South Africa, and an honorary professor at the Durban University of Technology, South Africa. Prior to joining the HSRC she was a Research Professor at Walter Sisulu University, a rural university in the Eastern Cape. She did her basic education schooling in eMahlongwa, a rural village south of Durban. Her areas of research interest include feminist theory, cultural constructions of gender, self-study, indigenous knowledges and the impact of HIV and AIDS on parenting. She is currently leading three rural-based research projects. Email: [email protected]

Thandokazi Maseti

THANDOKAZI MASETI was born and bred in a rural village in Engcobo in the Eastern Cape. She is a lecturer at the Department of Family Medicine, Witwatersrand University. She is a junior researcher in the Education and Skills Development unit at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). She has a Master's degree in Research Psychology. Thando's research interest include: gender and development, African sexualities, culture and traditions of patriarchy and she is also currently researching and writing within the field of gender-based violence. These interests draw from work she has done in her Master's thesis on attitudes and beliefs toward lesbianism. Thando is registered as an Intern Research Psychologist with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA). Email: [email protected]

Sizani Ngubane

SIZANI NGUBANE founded the Rural Women's Movement (RWM) in KwaZulu-Natal in 1998, and under her leadership it has grown to a membership of approximately 50 000. Sizani has inspired thousands of rural women to become part of the Movement with a vision to assist women to improve their rural livelihood. Her stance has always been apolitical although she has pushed to have more women elected to decision-making bodies including local and national government. Part of the work she does is to train the rural women for such responsibilities. Members of the RWM are all reliant on land which offers a means of alleviating poverty, generating income and paying for education. Sizani is the eldest of five children from a very poor family that was deserted by their migrant-worker father. They frequently went to bed hungry and she left school at 15 to pay for the schooling of her three brothers and sister. That was when she vowed that she would be part of the “solution” when she grew up to bring about gender equality. Email: [email protected]

Tebello Letsekha

TEBELLO LETSEKHA hails from Mzimkhulu, a rural area between the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces. She is a researcher in the Education and Skills Development (ESD) unit at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). She holds a MA degree in Industrial and Economic Sociology from Rhodes University. Her Master's research, Portrait of a Scholar: Ruth First the Teacher and Academic, focused on the sociological works of South African scholar-activist Ruth First. She is a PhD candidate at Rhodes University. Her areas of research interest include curriculum development and transformation, educational policy and life history research. Email: [email protected]

Carina Rozani

CARINA NOMFUZO (DUNA) ROZANI comes from Lower Xhongorha, Baziyaa village in the outskirts of Mthatha. She is a librarian with a MA degree from Walter Sisulu University (WSU). She also holds a postgraduate diploma in education from the University of Port Elizabeth and BEd Hons from Rhodes University. She is currently involved in a study related to patterns of successful ageing among centenarians in the Joe Gqabi District Municipality, Eastern Cape, South Africa. She is a member of eZiko Writers Institute (eZWI), a team researching about issues of Indigenous Knowledge (IK-uLwazi lweMveli). Email: [email protected]