Critical contributions of gender perspectives for transformative adaptation planning: A case study from Southern Germany

Climate change adaptation decisions profoundly impact resource distribution and future pathways, yet empirical research that critically examines power dynamics and injustices in adaptation processes in the Global North remains limited. We argue that gender perspectives offer a valuable analytical lens to understanding and addressing the politics of adaptation and demonstrate this through a retrospective analysis of a municipal adaptation planning process in Southern Germany. Combining gender perspectives with the trivalent environmental justice framework, we show how municipal adaptation planning in Germany affects and reflects gender relations. The findings point to the androcentric narratives that suppress feminized knowledges and epistemologies as well as to the gendered norms and practices that dominate municipal adaptation planning. Finally, we discuss how these findings can inform transformative adaptation, for example by emphasizing the need for more inclusive participatory methods in adaptation processes.