Masculinity crises and femininity struggles: Gendered lived experiences of environmental insecurity in a context of compounding crises in eastern DRC

Climate change and environmental degradation are reshaping livelihoods, vulnerabilities and conflict patterns worldwide. This report examines how women and men experience such environmental insecurity in gendered ways in a context marked by compounding crisis.

Based on qualitative research in South Kivu, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, conducted between 2023 and 2025, the report explores how men and women navigate the effects of climate change, environmental degradation, insecurity and economic pressures in their everyday lives. It highlights how men’s loss of livelihoods can affect mental health, social status and relations within households and communities, while also showing how women and girls continue to face persistent inequalities, insecurity and heavy responsibilities for family and community survival. 

The report recommends that decision-makers, donors and practitioners working with climate, peace and security should integrate a men and masculinities perspective into their work. Addressing men’s vulnerabilities is important for health and dignity, but also because of links between men’s mental health and levels of conflict within and between households and communities. 

At the same time, the report stresses that such efforts must be embedded in a gender-transformative approach that does not divert attention or resources away from the persistent inequalities faced by women and girls. 

The report is authored by Dr Johanna Malm, Head of Research at FBA; Ali Bitenga Alexandre, PhD candidate in Anthropology at the Catholic University of Louvain; and Marie-Rose Bashwira, Associate Professor at the Université Catholique de Bukavu. It presents findings from the FBA research project “1325 at the Grassroots: Women’s Responses Facing Climate Insecurity” (2023–2026).