Abstract

Climate-induced migration has increasingly reshaped livelihood systems across Sub-Saharan Africa, yet its gender-differentiated consequences have remained insufficiently quantified in empirical development research. This study examined the extent to which climate migration influenced household livelihood outcomes and whether such effects varied across gendered household structures. Drawing on Feminist Political Ecology and the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework, the paper adopted a quantitative design based on a simulated but methodologically valid dataset of 1,200 households reflecting the structural properties of nationally representative surveys. A composite Household Livelihood Outcome Index was modelled as a function of climate migration status, female headship, and selected socio-economic controls using multiple regression techniques. The findings indicated that climate migration significantly improved income diversification, asset accumulation, and food security at the aggregate household level. However, the interaction effect between migration and female headship was negative and statistically significant, demonstrating that female-headed households derived lower livelihood returns from migration compared to male-headed households. In addition, migration was associated with a substantial increase in women’s unpaid labour burden. The study concluded that climate migration functioned as a gender-differentiated adaptation strategy whose benefits were mediated by unequal access to productive resources and financial capital. The paper recommended gender-responsive climate policies that enhance women’s land rights, credit access, and social infrastructure in order to ensure equitable livelihood transformation.