Feminisation of agriculture and the role of environmental changes: ‘It's already a tough job and it's getting tougher due to weather changes’

Abstract

In the present study, we aim to examine how slow-onset environmental changes are intertwined with the feminisation of agriculture and how these environmental changes impact gender relations in the rural Souss-Massa region—a predominantly agricultural region in Morocco. We do so by firstly studying the perspectives of rural inhabitants on broader household, kinship, land ownership and community-based gender relations in rural regions in the Souss-Massa region of Morocco. Secondly, we examine whether and how these slow changes alter the position of women in the family. This study is based on 38 interviews with farmers in the Souss-Massa region of Morocco, of which 15 interviews were conducted with rural women. Our findings show how slow-onset environmental changes seem to have changed the position of women within the family. This study shows that gender roles matter when examining the vulnerabilities of people confronted with slow-onset environmental change.