Full Text Available
Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.
Climate change shocks and women in farming households: an analysis of women’s responses and changing intra-household dynamics in resettlement farms in Zibagwe District, Zimbabwe
Thesis (PhD)-University of Pretoria, 2025
Saved in:
| Other Authors: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
University of Pretoria
2026
|
| Subjects: | |
| Tags: |
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1867613674777083904 |
|---|---|
| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author2 | Thebe, Vusilizwe |
| author_browse | Thebe, Vusilizwe |
| author_facet | Thebe, Vusilizwe |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | © 2024 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. |
| description | Thesis (PhD)-University of Pretoria, 2025 |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/107924 |
| institution | University of Pretoria (South Africa) |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:39:54.561Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | University of Pretoria |
| publisherStr | University of Pretoria |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| spelling | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/107924 Climate change shocks and women in farming households: an analysis of women’s responses and changing intra-household dynamics in resettlement farms in Zibagwe District, Zimbabwe Thebe, Vusilizwe tafiey72@gmail.com Chikondo , Tafadzwa UCTD Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Farming households Climate change Sustainable development Thesis (PhD)-University of Pretoria, 2025 This study is about women and their experiences of climate change in rural small farming communities in Zimbabwe. According to the literature, climate change has contributed to uncertainties in agricultural production. If we follow the popular narrative on women and climate change, in a post-2000 context in Zimbabwe, women have experienced climate change shocks. This thesis examined the relationship between climate change and women smallholder farmers using a case of resettlement schemes in Zibagwe Rural District. Resettlement schemes are special settlements, where the practice of agriculture is a major livelihood, and settlers produce under rain-fed conditions. While landholdings are complex and depend on household types, women are found practically in every type of household – as wives or landholders in the case of widows and single women. Using a framework based on the resilience theory and sustainable livelihood framework, the study sought to understand how women in resettlement contexts are impacted by climate change, and how they have responded to climate change shocks. Of particular importance, the study sought to understand the implications of these livelihood responses to the social order and dynamics at the household and societal levels. It set out to understand these issues through a qualitative design, which adopted a multi-layered approach by utilising different methods at different levels. The study found that climate change has impacted agriculture and its practice negatively, forcing women and their households to diversify livelihoods as a coping strategy, adapting and survival. Moreover, it was discovered that the responses were complex, dynamic, and differing by situation, with women with resources and social networks engaging in beneficiary non-farm livelihoods, while the poor adopted strategies that were less rewarding and mostly related to agriculture or local off-farm opportunities. The study showed that agency is key in women’s adaptation, and that non-farm livelihoods were accessible to both men and women, with women more inclined to refocus their energies outside the farm than men, especially if they have resources and social networks to enter the formal and informal sectors of the economy. Through empirical evidence, this study has demonstrated that climate change shocks and their effect on agriculture may be emancipating for women through responses geared towards survival outside the farm. These findings provide a rather unprecedented empirical support to calls to pay more attention to context as each context is specific, and realities are different. Anthropology, Archaeology and Development Studies PhD (Development Studies) Unrestricted Faculty of Humanities SDG-01: No poverty SDG-05: Gender equality SDG-13: Climate action 2026-02-06T08:47:51Z 2026-02-06T08:47:51Z 2026-05-22 2025-12-10 Thesis * May 2026 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/107924 https://figshare.com/s/663aa8dac63f80a8927e en © 2024 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria |
| spellingShingle | UCTD Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Farming households Climate change Sustainable development Climate change shocks and women in farming households: an analysis of women’s responses and changing intra-household dynamics in resettlement farms in Zibagwe District, Zimbabwe |
| title | Climate change shocks and women in farming households: an analysis of women’s responses and changing intra-household dynamics in resettlement farms in Zibagwe District, Zimbabwe |
| title_full | Climate change shocks and women in farming households: an analysis of women’s responses and changing intra-household dynamics in resettlement farms in Zibagwe District, Zimbabwe |
| title_fullStr | Climate change shocks and women in farming households: an analysis of women’s responses and changing intra-household dynamics in resettlement farms in Zibagwe District, Zimbabwe |
| title_full_unstemmed | Climate change shocks and women in farming households: an analysis of women’s responses and changing intra-household dynamics in resettlement farms in Zibagwe District, Zimbabwe |
| title_short | Climate change shocks and women in farming households: an analysis of women’s responses and changing intra-household dynamics in resettlement farms in Zibagwe District, Zimbabwe |
| title_sort | climate change shocks and women in farming households an analysis of women s responses and changing intra household dynamics in resettlement farms in zibagwe district zimbabwe |
| topic | UCTD Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Farming households Climate change Sustainable development |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/2263/107924 https://figshare.com/s/663aa8dac63f80a8927e |