How do pre-existing inequalities in access to resources, healthcare, and infrastructure increase the vulnerability of marginalized groups to climate-induced disasters, such as floods, droughts, or heatwaves?

1. Key finding

Overall

Conservation Agriculture (CA) promotes sustainable farming through minimal tillage, permanent soil cover, and crop rotation, improving productivity, reducing labor demands, and enhancing soil quality. However, women face constraints in adopting CA, including limited access to resources and increased workloads.

Women and girls-related 

CA positively influences women's incomes and decision-making roles in households but also exposes them to risks such as land dispossession when agriculture becomes more profitable for men. It increases employment opportunities yet adds to women's labor burdens. Strategies to support women’s participation in CA include direct agricultural input distribution to women and sensitization programs for men on gender needs in farming.

2. Short summary 

This review examines the intersection of gender and CA in sub-Saharan Africa, highlighting the limited research on how gender dynamics influence CA adoption and implementation. The review identifies barriers women face in adopting CA, such as labor-intensive practices, restricted access to resources, and limited decision-making authority. Despite these challenges, CA has provided economic benefits to women by improving household food security, increasing their incomes, and enhancing their roles in agricultural decision-making.

However, CA also has adverse effects, including increased workloads and potential land displacement when commercial opportunities arise. Gender-responsive strategies, such as direct agricultural support to women and engaging men in gender-sensitive training, are crucial for equitable CA adoption. Overall, the findings emphasize the need for gender-inclusive agricultural policies that address structural inequalities and enhance women’s participation in sustainable farming practices.

3. Long summary

3.1 PICOS

• Population: Studies focusing on gender roles in conservation agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa.
• Intervention: Analysis of CA’s impact on productivity, food security, labor, and gender relations.
• Comparison: Evaluation of differences in CA adoption and benefits between men and women.
• Outcome: Identification of gendered barriers, economic effects, and policy implications.
• Study design: Systematic review of studies published in English between 1992-2019.

3.2 Risk of bias Not assessed

3.3 Publication bias Not assessed

3.4 Findings 

Conservation agriculture (CA) brought both opportunities and challenges for women, reshaping their roles, incomes, and well-being in complex ways. In many cases, CA increased women’s earnings, offering them a more prominent role in farm management and decision-making, especially in female-headed households. As crop managers, women began to challenge traditional gender roles that had long limited them to labor-only positions. However, this shift was not without consequences. In places like Zambia, when groundnuts—historically cultivated by women—became a profitable cash crop, men began to assert control over the land, pushing women to the margins. Although CA generated income, the benefits were often reinvested into inputs and livestock rather than household food security. The discouragement of intercropping further reduced dietary diversity, prompting some women to abandon CA altogether and return to conventional farming.

The transition to CA also changed the labor landscape. Women were burdened with physically demanding tasks, often using heavy tools like the ‘chaka’ hoe that led to back injuries. Mechanized tools such as the Magoye ripper, intended to ease labor, sometimes had the opposite effect—shifting more responsibilities to women and increasing their workload. Herbicide use, while reducing manual weeding, also eliminated a key source of income for women and poor men. Tasks like transporting manure for fertilization fell to women and children, further compounding their daily burdens.

Health risks added another layer of complexity. The physical strain of CA practices and exposure to chemical herbicides and fertilizers created serious health concerns for both women and men. Despite these challenges, CA did open up space for women’s empowerment in some contexts—but the trade-offs in labor, health, and food security reveal that its impacts are deeply gendered and far from uniform.

3.5 Sensitivity analysis Not assessed

4. AMSTAR 2 assessment of the review

5. Count of references to the following words

1. Key finding

Overall

Climate change has negatively impacted livelihoods across Africa, with women disproportionately affected due to social, economic, and structural inequalities. Key vulnerabilities include agricultural production, food security, health, water and energy, and climate-related disasters. Women also have limited access to climate information services, restricting their ability to adapt effectively.

Women and girls related

Women face greater climate-related challenges, particularly in agriculture, food security, health, water access, and migration. Limited access to resources and decision-making power hampers adaptation. Food insecurity often leads women to reduce their food intake for male family members. Climate disasters result in higher mortality rates among women, while water scarcity increases their workload and limits economic and educational opportunities. Migration of men for employment further exacerbates women's struggles with land tenure and economic instability, reinforcing gender inequalities.

2. Short summary

This review explores the gendered impacts of climate change on both men and women. It highlights the barriers that prevent women from adapting to climate-resilient practices and identifies gender-based disparities in coping mechanisms.

The findings reveal that climate change-induced vulnerabilities impact livelihoods and well-being differently for men and women. Women, in particular, face challenges due to limited access to decision-making power, resources, education, and skills necessary for effective adaptation. Furthermore, structural and institutional biases exacerbate these inequalities, making women more susceptible to adverse climate conditions.

By examining the existing literature, this review underscores the need for gender-responsive climate policies and interventions. Addressing these gender disparities is crucial to enhancing the resilience of African communities in the face of climate change.

3. Long summary

3.1 PICOS

• Population: Studies focusing on gender, particularly women, affected by climate change in Africa.
• Intervention: Assessment of climate change impacts on women’s livelihoods, health, and resources.
• Outcome: Identification of gender-specific vulnerabilities and proposed gender-responsive solutions.
• Study design: Inclusion of modeling studies, narrative and systematic reviews, case studies, case series, and qualitative research from 1992-2022.

3.2 Risk of bias Not assessed

3.3 Publication bias Not assessed

3.4 Findings

Across multiple sectors, women encounter persistent barriers to adapting to climate change, stemming from limited access to training, extension services, and essential technologies. Structural and institutional biases worsen food and nutrition insecurity, especially in female-headed households, where women often forgo their own meals to feed others, as seen in northeastern Kenya. Health risks are also greater for women, with higher mortality rates during climate disasters linked to inadequate healthcare access and broader socioeconomic vulnerabilities. Water and energy shortages, particularly during dry seasons, place additional burdens on women due to culturally assigned labor roles, leading to increased illness, reduced quality of life, and fewer opportunities for education and income. Gender norms also shape vulnerability to migration-related challenges, as women left behind face legal and societal obstacles in accessing land and resources. These gender-based disparities in power, knowledge, and resource control deepen climate vulnerability and highlight the need for inclusive, gender-sensitive climate adaptation policies.

3.5 Sensitivity analysis Not assessed

4. AMSTAR 2 assessment of the review

5. Count of references to the following words