Climatic stressors and socio-economic changes are changing traditional genderscapes in farming communities. Changes are taking place demographically, in the roles and responsibilities of women and men, and the domains and spaces they occupy. This is mostly due to the long-term migration of men seeking alternate income sources outside their base locations. To some extent, these changes have enhanced women’s capacities. However, they have also increased women’s vulnerabilities due to weak implementation of existing measures or lack of sufficient policies to safeguard the increased involvement of women in public spaces.

There is an opportunity to capitalise on the improved skills of women, and their new-found confidence and capabilities through initiatives promote women as leaders.

Urgent actions are needed to bring changes in the institutional and policy domains to ensure women’s security and participation by regulating markets and promoting gender friendly technologies that support resilient livelihoods.