Climate Change Vulnerability of Women in Small Island Communities (A Case Study of Pari Island, Indonesia)

Abstract

Purpose: To assess the climate change vulnerability of women on Pari Island, Thousand Islands Archipelago, Indonesia, using the IPCC framework through a gender-specific lens. Methodology/approach: A gender-sensitive mixed-methods vulnerability assessment was applied, combining a composite indicator framework with qualitative inquiry. The analysis had three stages: (1) Adapting IPCC's dimensions (exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity) to identify indicators from the literature and adjusted to data availability for Pari Island. (2) For each indicator, data were collected from primary and secondary sources and then scored for women on an ordinal 1-5 scale using empirically and context-informed thresholds. Component sub-indices and an overall Gendered Vulnerability Index (GVI) were constructed using equal-weighted averaging. (3) Qualitative information obtained to complement the vulnerability index through purposive sampling of key informants in-depth interviews. Results/findings: Women on Pari Island experience moderate exposure to climate hazards (E = 3.0), moderate climate change sensitivity (S = 2.94), and relatively low adaptive capacity (AC = 3.44). The overall GVI of 3.12 places women in a moderate-to-high vulnerability class, with qualitative findings showing how structural gender inequalities and reliance on climate-sensitive fisheries and tourism shape everyday climate risks, despite strong social cohesion and emerging community initiatives. Limitations: The assessment is limited to a single small-island case study and a finite set of indicators derived from the literature and constrained by data availability. Several indicators could not be scored at the island scale and relied on district-level proxies, while others lacked gender-disaggregated data. The use of a 1-5 ordinal scale treated as quasi-interval data, equal weighting of components, and unquantified uncertainty in the underlying datasets introduces potential statistical imprecision and means that the index should be interpreted as a relative, rather than definitive, measure of women’s climate vulnerability in Pari Island. Contribution: This study contributes to the development of methodologies for assessing gender-responsiveness and provides insights into how to develop and implement women-centered adaptation strategies in small islands. Novelty: This study introduces a multi-phased Gendered Vulnerability Index, incorporating qualitative inquiry to capture aspects of gendered adaptation dynamics.