Gendered Power in Climate Adaptation: A Systematic Review of Pastoralist Systems

Pastoralist socio-ecological systems across Africa, Asia, and Latin America are transforming under climate stress, with adaptation patterned by gendered power. I systematically reviewed 35 empirical studies (2013–2025) using PRISMA 2020 and the SWiM protocol. Searches in Web of Science and Scopus applied pre-registered inclusion criteria (empirical, pastoralist/agro-pastoralist focus, gender analysis); screening used a single reviewer with a 25% independent audit. The objective of the research was to examine power as an organising principle across four interconnected domains: labour redistribution, resource control, decision-making authority, and knowledge recognition. Majority of studies (≈70–80%) report increased women’s workloads alongside male control of land, water, and high-value stock, decision-making as mitigated by committee presence without agenda/budget authority, and women’s knowledge recorded as informal rather than actionable. Exceptions arise where inheritance or titling and decision procedures change. The paper’s innovation is a relational agency framework that links roles, rights, and records to specify tractable, auditable levers that convert participation into consequential authority. The goal is to guide context sensitive reforms that redistribute power and improve adaptation in pastoralist systems.