Blog series of the SVRI's Faith & GBV CoP, Working Group 1 on Evidence-Building
Written by Tendai Ganduri, communications analyst of climate disasters
In the unfolding climate crisis, extreme weather events increasingly blur the lines between environmental harm and social vulnerability. In regions such as Southern Africa, this overlap exposes entrenched systems of gendered inequality, particularly in the realm of sexual and reproductive health. While scholarship often focuses on infrastructure, food security, and displacement, the impact of climate disasters on the cultural policing of sexuality remains underexplored.
Drawing on fieldwork from Chimanimani in Zimbabwe and the Pinetown informal settlement in South Africa, this piece examines how climate disasters affect sexual freedoms and gender roles, both of which are shaped and regulated by deeply embedded religious and traditional value systems. Rather than positioning these systems solely as barriers, this reflection also foregrounds their potential as frameworks of adaptive care and cultural sustainability when approached critically and inclusively.
Framing this shift as an act of collective care repositions traditional norms as foundations for shared responsibility. This is particularly relevant as climate change intensifies the caregiving responsibilities placed on rural women.”
Cultural reverberations of climate disaster
In Chimanimani, following Cyclone Idai, community members offered spiritual explanations for the disaster, many of which centred on disrupted traditional rituals. Traditional ceremonies, which involved offerings to ancestral spirits, were not only expressions of cultural heritage but were also seen as being essential to sustaining harmony, conservation, and calm rainfall. Traditional leaders are custodians of this cultural heritage. Both traditional leaders and local residents alike interpreted the abandonment of these practices as a disruption of communal balance. However, these interpretations were not purely moralistic; rather, they reflected a worldview in which environmental care, spiritual respect, and social conduct are deeply interwoven. [1]
This worldview shapes not only how communities understand disasters, but it also informs everyday practices and extends to sexual and reproductive health practices, for example, spiritual beliefs discouraging menstruating women from approaching sacred rivers, using shared utensils with others, or touching certain vegetation. While these norms can be restrictive and have, at times, positioned women’s bodies as sites of suspicion or blame, especially in the wake of disaster, they were also described as being protective customs. Practices such as refraining from washing menstrual blood in rivers were understood as spiritual safeguards, believed to prevent transgressions that could provoke divine punishment. These beliefs influence not just ritual observance but also shape women’s mobility, access to natural resources, and participation in communal life.
Newcomers unfamiliar with, or dismissive of, these local ecological and spiritual values were sometimes seen as contributing to communal disruption. In this context, violations related to dress, sacred spaces, or menstruation were interpreted as signs of social breakdown. This presents an opportunity to revisit such customs, not through punitive or exclusionary lenses, but through their underlying emphasis on care, environmental stewardship, and collective responsibility.
Although traditional leadership exists within a constitutional framework that protects freedoms of religion, expression and personal autonomy, tensions between customary norms and individual rights persist. Even so, relational forms of care embedded in traditions remain instructive. For example, in cases where ritual restrictions prevent women from fetching water or bathing in rivers, such customs could be reinterpreted to encourage others in the household to share these responsibilities. Framing this shift as an act of collective care repositions traditional norms as foundations for shared responsibility. This is particularly relevant as climate change intensifies the caregiving responsibilities placed on rural women.
Ultimately, the intersection of climate change, sexual health, and religious belief invites a critical, yet hopeful, reimagining of leadership. Faith and tradition are not inherently obstacles to gender justice. Rather, they are potential allies when their power is directed toward inclusive care.”
Plurality and possibility in urban margins
By contrast, in Pinetown, an informal flood-affected settlement in South Africa, the spiritual narrative was more fragmented. Offline conversations were less overtly religious, though some residents linked the disaster to broader social issues such as crime and urban neglect. While a few women referenced karmic ideas of justice, spiritual perspectives were largely peripheral in local disaster responses. This reflects the character of Pinetown: an urban, socio-economically marginalised area marked by cultural and ethnic diversity. As a result, shared spiritual interpretations are less cohesive or visible. In Chimanimani, by contrast, cultural homogeneity enables a more unified set of communal beliefs and interpretations.
Traditional leadership also holds differing levels of legitimacy in these contexts. In Chimanimani, traditional leaders remain trusted figures; in Pinetown, they lack the embedded authority needed for meaningful engagement. This is not merely a limitation; it is a missed opportunity for cultural institutions to evolve into accessible centres for emotional and material support during crises. With adequate support, cultural institutions could play a key role in fostering gender-sensitive and survivor-centred interventions tailored to the needs and dynamics of each community. [2] Despite these differences, Pinetown’s diversity also presents latent opportunities for inclusive coalition-building. The presence of multiple ethnic traditions creates a rich spiritual landscape that, if intentionally engaged, could form the basis of meaningful pluralistic care strategies.
Faith-based organisations, in particular, hold potential as anchors of trust and service delivery. They could serve as community hubs for psychosocial support, gender-based violence interventions, and coordinated disaster relief. Culture-centred practices have long served as powerful catalysts for community development and transformation, often more enduring and impactful than external interventions that may not align with the community’s cultural fabric. While traditional leadership may not be deeply entrenched in Pinetown, alternative forms of social organisation can still be mobilised through locally rooted cultural and faith-based frameworks responsive to the community’s composition and needs. [3]
Communities like Chimanimani benefit from deep community trust, cultural legitimacy, and strong mobilisation capacity. Local leaders, especially headmen and traditional elders, already act as brokers of care and continuity. Their involvement in commemorative care ceremonies and community initiatives could be harnessed to promote menstrual dignity, gender equality, and climate resilience. Their legitimacy offers a powerful entry point to promote gender-sensitive practices that do not erode cultural identity but enhance it. Importantly, many traditional leaders are increasingly aware of their influence and are being called upon to reinterpret tradition in ways that serve contemporary needs. Yet, risks remain. If spiritual interpretations continue to moralise suffering, they risk reinforcing cycles of shame, exclusion, and violence.
Reimagining the nexus of faith and tradition: Pathways to gendered climate justice.
Ultimately, the intersection of climate change, sexual health, and religious belief invites a critical, yet hopeful, reimagining of leadership. Faith and tradition are not inherently obstacles to gender justice. Rather, they are potential allies when their power is directed toward inclusive care. Scholars, policymakers, and grassroots actors must treat these institutions not as static relics, but as evolving frameworks capable of adaptation. Climate resilience cannot be separated from gender equity, just as cultural legitimacy cannot be sacrificed for imported solutions. Advancing justice in this context requires deliberate, pluralistic dialogue—a path that honours the sacred while embracing change. In doing so, faith and tradition can become not only tools for survival but pathways to transformation.
References
[1] Chirongoma, S., & Chitando, E. (2021). What did we do to our mountain? African eco-feminist and Indigenous responses to Cyclone Idai in Chimanimani and Chipinge Districts, Zimbabwe. African Journal of Gender and Religion, 27. https://doi.org/10.14426/ajgr.v27i1.788
[2] Minguez Garcia, B. (2021). Integrating culture in post-crisis urban recovery: Reflections on the power of cultural heritage to deal with crisis. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 60, 102277. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2021.102277
[3] Sonn, C., & Baker, A. (2016). Creating inclusive knowledge: Exploring the transformative potential of arts and cultural practice. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 20(3), 215–228. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2015.1047663
About the author
Tendai Ganduri is a doctoral candidate in Media Studies at the University of Witwatersrand. Her research explores the communicative contexts of climate change, focusing on COP events and localised disasters in Zimbabwe and South Africa. She analyses X conversations alongside interviews from disaster-affected communities.
