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This article addresses the uneven impacts of climate change on women. To date, there has been a significant emphasis on climate science and technological solutions to aid mitigation and adaptation strategies. This has led to a form of global managerialism that presupposes that all people can adapt with the right resources and knowledge. In this article, it is argued that the differential impacts of climate change on women demand that climate actions and strategies require gender sensitivity and that further research on climate change, adaptations, and actions includes a gendered analysis. WIREs Clim Change 2013, 4:351–358. doi: 10.1002/wcc.232

This paper outlines water reform policy in Australia’s Murray-Darling Basin area. Drawing on research with key informants and farm family members, it notes the significant social impacts in the communities in the region and the limits to adaptation evident amongst people in these areas. It outlines the vulnerability of individuals and communities and notes the need for actions to build resilience and to enable transformation in these areas. With this in mind, policy strategies are outlined that may assist long-term social sustainability in this region.

This paper outlines the link between child and forced marriage, dowry and climate changes in Bangladesh. Drawing on a three year research study on the gendered impacts of climate change, we argue that climate crises are creating significant economic hardships. This has led to dowry being viewed by the families of young men as a form of capital accumulation. For the families of girls, dowry has become a significant burden, a burden that increases with the age of the girl. We argue that the economic crises created by climate challenges are leading to an increase in child and forced marriages because the dowry is cheaper. We conclude that attention to climate challenges must take a much broader focus on social consequences in order to protect the human rights of women and girls in vulnerable communities.

This brief focuses on the use of gender indicators as a way of measuring change. It asks: what are indicators,  and  why  should we develop gender indicators ? It also addresses the often political issue of what we should be measuring,  providing some broad principles that can be considered in making these decisions, as well as some questions donors can ask themselves when they are developing gender indicators. The brief also offers examples of existing indicators – noting that they always need to be adapted to specific contexts.