The paradox of gendered resilience: institutional capture and the feminization of adaptation labor in the Lake Chad Basin

This paper examines the “paradox of gendered resilience” in Nigeria’s Lake Chad Basin, where women bear expanding climate adaptation responsibilities without corresponding governance authority. Drawing on 400 household surveys and 20 interviews (the qualitative component deliberately oversampled men, 13 of 20 interviews, to probe how male authority persists amid the collapse of men’s traditional economic roles) the Responsibility-Authority Gap Index (RAGI) is introduced. Findings reveal 46 per cent of women experience “responsibility without authority” versus 17.6 per cent of men (OR = 5.36, p < 0.001). Despite high engagement in place-based adaptation, women face a 43 per cent “participation ceiling.” Current frameworks function as “feminized accumulation regimes,” extracting value from women’s labor while masculinized institutions retain authority. The Gender-Responsive Climate Insecurity Adaptation Framework (GR-CIAF) offers an authority-redistribution alternative, centered on two concrete policy priorities: mandatory gender-responsive climate budgets tied to authority (not just participation) metrics and women-led oversight structures with veto power over resource allocation.