Women in Kenya spend more time than men taking care of family and the sick. They are traditional water collectors and often food producers. Extreme weather events such as floods and droughts affect the availability of food, firewood, and clean water and thus increase the burden on women in terms of workload—it takes more time to ensure these basic needs are met. As the result, women have less time for income-generating activities, education, training, or participation in community decision-making processes (the Republic of Kenya, n.d.). Kerry et al. (2010) report that during the drought women traveled 5 km or more on foot to look for water. In order to help sustain families in times of hardship, women may also turn to unhealthy lifestyles and coping strategies, such as commercial sex work, exposing them to the risk of contracting HIV/AIDS, early, forced or arranged marriage of the girl, obtaining dowry in exchange for the girl to temporarily meet the family’s sustenance (the Republic of Kenya, n.d.). Women in traditional communities may be subject to cultural beliefs that deny equal opportunities and rights. Women are more likely to experience poverty, less likely to own land, and have less socioeconomic power than men. This makes it difficult to recover from climate disasters that affect infrastructure, jobs, and housing. NCCAP 2018–2022 recognizes women as a group is particularly vulnerable to climate change.
