Economywide impact of climate shock on agricultural sector, women employment and poverty: A Burkina Faso Case Study

Boureima Sawadogo¹Ramos E. Mabugu^2,3*

• ¹Joseph KI-ZERBO University, Ouagadougou, Kadiogo, Burkina Faso
• ²Accounting and Economics, Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, Sol Plaatje University, Kimberley, South Africa
• ³partnership for economic policy, Nairobi, Kenya

This article contributes to understanding the links between climate change, domestic work, and paid work by explicitly incorporating domestic tasks performed by households in Burkina Faso by gender into a sequential dynamic computable general equilibrium model combined in a top-down approach with a microsimulation model. Climate change is modelled as a reduction in agricultural crop yields in a moderate and severe climate shock scenario. Findings are that under both moderate and severe scenarios, there are negative impacts that are more detrimental in the severe climate shock scenario. Rural areas compared to urban areas experience reductions in the rate of participation in economic activities and increase the burden of domestic work, particularly for women and, more so, for skilled women. Furthermore, the simulations show a negative impact on poverty, with rural households suffering the greatest and increasing the vulnerability of rural women. The study offers valuable information and guidance to policymakers as they formulate and implement gender aware strategies to tackle the rise in poverty, inequality and social exclusion induced by climate change.