Seventeenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

Climate change-induced crises can aggravate gender-based violence; the loss of income when weather affects the agricultural industry can exacerbate violence at home. In Kenya, 98% of agriculture depends on rainfall. Changing weather patterns challenges farmers in planting and harvesting of crops. The aim of this research is to assess patterns in domestic violence (DV) and severe weather events (SWE) in Kenya. We examined IPUMS-DHS data from 2008, and 2014 (9418 women) for patterns of DV. We used EM-DAT weather event data and GPS coordinates to identify SWEs by county in Kenya. We conducted a logistic regression using a mixed effects model grouped by county to evaluate the association between SEWs and DV. All analyses were controlled for rural/urban residence, husband drinking status, husband working in agriculture. We identified a significant association between SWEs and reporting DV. Having a partner who worked in agriculture increased the odds of reporting domestic violence (OR = 1.2, 95% CI: 1.1-1.3). The odds of reporting DV were greater in areas that experienced a major flood (OR = 1.4, 95% CI: 1.3-1.6) and in areas that reported an increase in floods as compared to areas where no floods occurred (OR = 1.6, 95% CI: 1.4-1.9). Climate action is essential in the ongoing fight to eliminate violence against women and girls. This analysis adds to the urgency of addressing action to stop environmental degradation, action to stop gender-based violence, and demonstrate that the two issues often need to be addressed together.