Gender Inequality and Adaptive Capacity: The Role of Social Capital on the Impacts of Climate Change in Vietnam

Round  1

Reviewer 1 Report

It is encouraging to read about the gendered experiences of climate change adaptability in the context of Vietnam. The author(s) is aware of the historical literature on adaptive capacity, and on gender, although the former is represented more strongly than the latter. It would be useful to consider some more recent work which links gender and adaptive capacity (eg Le Masson). The author(s) have adapted some existing methodologies measuring adaptive capacity to apply in their field study. All this is described carefully. What  I do not see is how the resulting calculations/scores lead to the results and conclusions being drawn, and I would suggest that this is explicated much more clearly and systematically. Quite a few statements are made with what seems to be a lack of evidence or justification (eg lines 394-402). It is interesting to use focus groups to tease out the stories behind the quantitative data, but this also sometimes lacks evidence (eg lines 439-441; 453-460). Perhaps as a consequence, the conclusions seem rather speculative (see Fig 9, from which it is not clear how this emerges specifically from the research, rather than as a 'wish list'). I think that the article has promise, and can make a useful contribution if the results can be better explained and the conclusion grounded more thoroughly in the research evidence.

Author Response

Response to Reviewer 1 Comments

Point 1: It would be useful to consider some more recent work which links gender and adaptive capacity (eg Le Masson).

Response 1: After reviewing the article of Le Masson (2016) “Gender and Resilience: from theory to practice”. We found that it can support for the gender inequality in organization participation of men and women and its consequences in adaptive capacity.

Therefore, we added on the line 183-186 (tracked changes version) the following sentences “Besides, Le Masson (2016) claimed that gender norms which are presented in the overall patriarchy dominating governance systems in the global is the main causes of inequality between gender groups. Those inequalities prevent certain people’s access to information, training, resources and/or social protection.”

Point 2: Quite a few statements are made with what seems to be a lack of evidence or justification (eg 394 – 402).  

“In rural communities, close collaboration amongst relatives is common when it comes to farming and so decisions about farming investment depend significantly on collective actions. If people observe their relatives or neighbours doing well with a species in one season, they will invest in the same species for the next season. This domino effect causes water contamination, epidemics and massive mortality and decreases the prices of shrimp and crab, which have been very popular in DM in recent years. This reduces households’ financial capital and financial conflicts can temporarily weaken bonding ties. In other words, bonding ties stemming from informal networks can mobilise collective supports in difficult time, but they increase dependence on relatives and leave people exposed to massive local financial failures that can undermine collective support systems.”

Response 2:  To support the statement in the line 394-402, we reviewed the data of in-depth interviews to find evidences to justify the relation of knowledge from informal networks in DM to spontaneous decisions in shrimp farming, which caused massive local financial failures.

 “In DM, livelihood associated information comes partly from informal networks like neighbors, friends, relatives and leads to spontaneous collective actions. Based on the in-depth interviews with local farmers about the reasons for massive death of shrimps, they shared that based on their observation of their neighbors extending shrimp farming investment and gaining the big profit in previous crops, they decided to invest more in their shrimp farming in the next crop. However, that unplanned shrimp farming extension causes water contamination, epidemics and massive mortality and decreases the prices of shrimp, which have been very popular in DM in recent years. This can reduce households’ financial capital. In other words, bonding ties stemming from informal networks can mobilise collective supports in difficult time, but they increase dependence on relatives and leave people exposed to massive local financial failures that can undermine collective support systems.”.

Point 3: It is interesting to use focus groups to tease out the stories behind the quantitative data, but this is also sometimes lacks evidence (line 439-441)

Line 439-441: “In our focus group discussions, however, the men’s voices really overwhelmed the women’s voices, because the women lacked confidence in their own knowledge and were afraid to express themselves in public.”

Response 3: We reviewed the data of focus group discussions and found that we missed analysis of the time control ratio of males/females in four small, mixed gender groups that can help to clarify the statement of “that the men’s voices really overwhelmed the women’s voices”. Besides, we also used data from in-depth interviews to explain why women were not self-confident in participating meetings and discussions.

“In our focus group discussions, however, based on the results of analyzing time control ratio of males and females in focus group discussion, in most groups, males control more than 60% of discussion. That statement proved that the men’s voices really overwhelmed the women’s voices. Based on interviewing women for reasons why they don’t attend the community meetings, they shared that they do not have knowledge to join in. But based on the women performance in the focus-group discussion as I analyzed before, women have important contribution in providing general information of disasters in local as well as reduce tensions in groups in discussion. Therefore, we supposed that women lacked confidence in their own knowledge, followed by were afraid to express themselves in public”.

Point 4: It is interesting to use focus groups to tease out the stories behind the quantitative data, but this is also sometimes lacks evidence (Line 453-460)

Line 453-460:

Finally, social capital can be a burden for women if it is not used effectively. Because social capital is intangible there are associated risks that are not easily recognised. We observed some instances in which women’s gender carries certain benefits, for example members of the WU were able to get low-interest bank loans. This makes it easier for women to increase their financial capital. But given that husbands make 72% of the family's decisions they can take advantage of this by, in effect, borrowing money from the bank at a low interest rate under their wife’s name. Therefore, when climate change threatens to production from aquaculture, women can be at higher risk of debt and money problems than men.

Response 4: We reviewed the data of in-depth interviews to find evidence to justify the financial risks of social capital toward women:

“Finally, social capital can be a burden for women if it is not used effectively. Because social capital is intangible there are associated risks that are not easily recognized. Based on the results of in-depth interview, women in Dong Minh shared the reality that their husband borrowed money from banks under wife’s name to get low interest bank loans. And in the unstable and risky conditions caused by climate change, we suppose that women can be at higher risk of debt and money problems than men when massive death of shrimps occurs”

Point 5: What I do not see is how the resulting calculations/scores lead to the results and conclusions being drawn, and I would suggest that this is explicated (explained) much more clearly and systematically.

Response 5: We re-organized the result part added more evidences from database to make results is more logical and coherent. Therefore, some comments of lacking evidences for statements are also fixed.

4. Results

4.1. The relations between social capital and adaptive capacity

Firstly, the empirical results showed that the impacts of social capital can be revealed in formal networks and informal networks to adaptive capacity. The formal organisations in the DM commune at the time of the study were the Farmers’ Association (FA), Veterans’ Association (VA), Women’s Union (WU), Youth Association (YA) and Commune Communism Party (CP). By participating in those networks and meetings, the individuals can be beneficial in other manifests of social capital like - decision making in family and community, collective supports in natural disasters as well as have more livelihood associated information; and other capitals like financial, human capital which is theoretically beneficial their adaptive capacity (Table 2).

Table 2. The influences of formal and informal network on adaptive capacity in DM

To be specific, participation in political organisations like CP and VA gives members access to knowledge in diverse fields, including politics, economy and society. This helps them gain power and confidence and makes it easier for them to make their voice heard and get involved in family and community decision-making. The CP - the only party political organization in the DM community has control over the other organisations and has leads and monitors their activities (table 2). Some organizations with members sharing same identities such as gender (WU), occupations (FA) leads to the high compassion, connections and reinforce the bonding ties among members. For example, members of the FA have access to information on agriculture and aquaculture and support to get aqua-cultural materials and equipment in producing. Being labelled as the weaker component of their community means that women – members of WU get a lot of sympathy and support from social organizations and local government when disaster strikes (table 2; figure 5b). Members of the WU are also equipped with knowledge of population policy and family planning as well as health associated information which can improve their human capital and health.  Besides, one of the gender equality initiatives in rural areas offers members of the WU financial support to help them develop a business. Mrs. Pham Thi Thuan, a WU member said “As a member of the WU, I can borrow money at a lower interest rate.” Thus, that can have positive impacts on financial capital of WU’s members. 

The survey revealed no gender differences in the rate of participation in social organisations. However, representation of women was concentrated in a small number of organisations whereas men were represented across a wide range of community organisations. While men predominate in organisations with more stringent criteria, women are usually members of organisations with loose and easy-to-fulfil membership criteria (Gidengil et al., 2005). The criteria for VA and CP membership are stricter and base on their prestige in community, their political ideology, education background, etc. For example, membership of the CP requires a two-year probation process and criminal-record checks of themselves and their family members in three generations. Ninety-nine percent of women were members of the WU (female-dominated organisation); membership of the FA was gender balanced; other male-dominated organisations such as CP and VA have 80-90% of members being men (Figure 5a). This pattern affects the diversity and quality of information to which each gender has access as well as the opportunities available to them. For example, most WU meetings discuss population policy and family planning, which reinforces women’s traditional roles in family and community; meanwhile the male-dominated organisations deal with topics more relevant to livelihood, politics, disasters, epidemics etc. Thus men have easier access to diverse sources of information and to wider social networks, making it easier for them to develop and mobilise AC, especially, when CP takes control over activities of other organisations. This means that whilst the WU is considered “a loyal opposition within the political bureaucracy that attempts to safe guard and promote women’s interests” it remains “staunchly behind other aspects of party policy” (Goodkind, 1995, 343). In other words, in DM, a male-dominated organisation, the CP, controls the activities and decisions of other gendered organisations in the community (figure 5a).

Figure 5. The gender imbalance in formal organizations in Dong Minh and the resulting gendering of benefits (a) and the difference between male and female in receiving the supports (b).

Source: The result of investigating 99 participants, 2015

By scoring methods, the study also quantified the gender different impacts of social capital including 4 sub-dimensions of social networks, decision making in adaptation solutions, collective actions and information exchange on other capitals as well as sub-dimensions of adaptive capacity (figure 6). The dominance of men in the core political organisations such as CP and VA explains their exceeding in sub-dimensions of adaptive capacity with the score rate of male/female of knowledge and skills (0.61/0.52); decision making in financial (1/0.48) and adaptation decision (0.83/0.59), working equipment (0.96/0.6) and especially in natural capital (0.97/0.18) with male dominance in land ownership (figure 6b). Therefore, like previous studies, we found that “male dominance is still very prevalent” (Liebenberg, 1997; Jones, 1999) in forms of capital in adaptive capacity. By comparison, the calculation results also show that women are equal with men in some aspects related to health (0.75/0.72), income generating options (0.59/0.57). [PTL1] That statement can be explained by positive impacts of being members of WU, which helps women approach to health associated information and low interest loans as well as more collective supports in disasters than men. This may be a positive consequence of recent gender equality movements in Vietnam. However, the core factors for climate change adaptation such as decision making in adaptive actions, natural resources, financial-related decision making, working equipment (Nhuan, 2016) still have a great gap between men and women (Figure 6b). When technological adaptations to climate change are not neutral gender, a great burden is placed on the shoulders of women in rural areas (Oxfam &UN-VN, 2009).

Figure 6. Gender differences in the 5 dimensions (a) and 14 sub-dimensions of adaptive capacity (b).

Besides, the survey also showed that there was a greater gender difference in material capital than in non-material capital (Figure 5a), this implies that reforms to power structures and processes have not been sufficient to equalize AC. In Vietnam there is still a big gap between policy and reality when it comes to gender quality.

Gender differences in bonding and bridging ties manifest not only in formal gendered organisations, but also informal networks. In the countryside, where the kinship is vital, subsistence agriculture makes bonding ties more important and more immediate in their effects than bridging ties. Women in DM have stronger bonding ties than men for many reasons. They participate more often in community events such as weddings and funerals. The leader of the WU explained that statement “In DM, in weddings or funerals, food is usually divided into servings and given to participants to bring home. It is called “take-away” custom. However, men feel that doing (take-away) is petty and feminine, so they refuse to go to the feasts because they feel shame”. This “take-away” custom is still popular in the poor rural areas in the Northern of Vietnam. Although women do not go to community meetings to improve their social network, the “take-away” custom provides them with opportunities to reinforce their bonding ties with relatives and community. Besides, according to the questionnaire’ results, women participate more in collective activities like dyke construction, maintain communal water channels (weeding) and environmental protection activities than men. The leader of the WU explained that statement “Because those activities require each household have at least one member participating no matter how productivity they contribute, therefore, the family members who have flexible time in family will participate, mainly are women”. That helps to reinforce the bonding ties of women in community. Strong bonding ties provide access to social and economic support between group members, so they are associated more with recovery actions which are often observed in natural disasters and conflicts (Pelling, 2003). Therefore, DM’s women receive more support from siblings, relatives and friends than men do in the aftermath of natural disasters (Figure 5b). In the long term, however, vulnerable people’s bonding ties can increase their dependence on family members (Pelling, 2003) who share the same background, financial status and levels of human and physical capital, which can mean that support is slower to arrive after natural disasters.

In DM, livelihood associated information comes partly from informal networks like neighbors, friends, relatives and leads to spontaneous collective actions. Based on the in-depth interviews with local farmers about the reasons for massive death of shrimps, they shared that based on their observation of their neighbors extending shrimp farming investment and gaining the big profit in previous crops, they decided to invest more in their shrimp farming in the next crop. However, that unplanned shrimp farming extension causes water contamination, epidemics and massive mortality and decreases the prices of shrimp, which have been very popular in DM in recent years. This can reduce households’ financial capital. In other words, bonding ties stemming from informal networks can mobilise collective supports in difficult time, but they increase dependence on relatives and leave people exposed to massive local financial failures that can undermine collective support systems.

4.2. Gender norms influence the roles of men and women in decisions about adaptation to climate change

Gender norms influence every aspect of life in the DM community, the economy, society and politics, and they determine the gender balance in the various networks and community interactions. Women dominate bonding networks, collective actions (getting support from government, relatives and non-governmental organisations) whereas men dominate bridging networks, decision-making fora and formal community activities (Figure 5a). Government efforts to reduce gender inequality mean that women now have more opportunity to access economic information and financial support, but they are still restricted to the traditional role of housewife and the stereotype that women lack basic knowledge of politics, economics and society is still prevalent. Mr. Tran Minh Chien, a 66-year-old aquacultural farmer said, “I often participate in social meetings because I think that those meetings require social - political knowledge which my wife doesn’t have.” Gender norms decide the division of social networking activities within families with women participating in informal community events like weddings, funerals and men taking part in formal meetings. This has been customary for many years and is widely perceived as reasonable, but it creates gender imbalances in access to information and power and thus reduces women’s decision-making power in the family and in the community.

The focus group discussions revealed gender differences in participation in community meetings and discussions. Men were active in expressing and defending their opinions and contributed to lively debates, whereas women were passive and reserved. The better results in discussions of the small, mixed groups compared to the rest groups are due to in the small, mixed groups, the participation of members is more equal, active and responsible. That the men were good at leading discussions whilst the women were better at mediating and facilitating explains the better quality of discussion in the small, mixed groups. In other words, although it is undeniable that the men had more adaptation-related knowledge, women can still make a valuable contribution to decision-making in both family and community.

Figure 7. The influence of gender norms on decision making in Dong Minh commune.

Figure 7 is the results of analyses of four small, mixed gender groups. Although men and women have their own AC they play different roles in discussions. Men were assigned to be leaders and note takers in all groups, and hence they had final say in group discussions. This assignment of roles is based on the gender stereotype that men are better leaders than women and should have therefore have the final say in any discussion. This influences the outcomes of discussions as it means they are dominated by male participants’ proposals. In contrast women act as an audience and as mediators. They listen carefully to what other speakers say and react cleverly to contrary opinions, thus helping to ensure discussions run smoothly and without conflict. In our focus group discussions, however, based on the results of analyzing time control ratio of males and females in focus group discussion, in most groups, males control more than 60% of discussion. That statement proved that the men’s voices really overwhelmed the women’s voices.[PTL2]  Based on interviewing women for reasons why they don’t attend the community meetings, they shared they do not have knowledge to join in. But based on the women performance in the focus-group discussion as I analyzed before, women have important contribution in providing general information of disasters in local as well as reduce tensions in groups in discussion. Therefore, we supposed that women lacked confidence in their own knowledge, followed by were afraid to express themselves in public.

Men dominate decision-making at household level as well as community level. Our survey showed that 73.3% of decisions were made by the husband alone and only 12.8% by both husband and wife. Although couples may discuss investment decisions if the husband is resolute in his opinion the wife will accept it. Mrs. Thuan (40 years old, Thanh Lam village) told us “There is seldom tension or conflict in my family. Because we always discuss things before making any decision, we agree and accept the risks of any investment […] All machinery and equipment for the family and the shrimp pond are purchased and operated by my husband. Sometime, I do not agree with his opinions, but if my husband buys something I have to support his decision, even if I have to borrow more money”. In most Vietnamese families, especially in rural areas, women willing   or resigned   to remaining silent for the sake of peace in the family. If they are ingenious they will find ways to influence their husband’s decisions and thus protect their interests, but in the end every decision is made by the husband.

Finally, social capital can be a burden for women if it is not used effectively[PTL3] . Because social capital is intangible there are associated risks that are not easily recognized. Based on the results of in-depth interview, women in Dong Minh shared the reality that their husband borrowed money from banks under wife’s name to get low interest bank loans. And in the unstable and risky conditions caused by climate change, we suppose that women can be at higher risk of debt and money problems than men if serial massive death of shrimps keeps going on like current situation.

Point 6: The conclusions seem rather speculative, see figure 9: from which it is not clear how this emerges specifically from the research, rather than as a 'wish list')

Response 5: After revising, we agree that our study does not have enough evidences for this conclusion, so we decide to delete the figure 9 with its transcript.

5. Discussion and conclusion

Based on the above analysis we argue that in terms of social capital women are not completely at a disadvantage relative to men. They have bonding ties (1) derived from their formal networks (WU, FA) and informal networks. Bonding ties and the fact that women are recognised as a vulnerable group help women to mobilise both relational and collective support in times of natural disaster. Those supports both purposefully and incidentally (Pelling & Christ, 2005) lead to material intervention. For example, women can get financial aid after a storm strikes or they can borrow money from banks with low interest for diversifying their livelihoods to reduce the impacts of climate change. Men, on the other hand, have more bridging ties and decision making power can control over the balance of decision - making power to regulate access to resources for sustainability (institutional modification). For example, by bridging ties men can access adaptation-related information to propose and implement adaptation solutions such as equip more machinery and aquaculture equipment for their shrimp ponds in the period of heat waves (purposeful interventions to climate change stress). Besides, dominating formal political organisations, men can hold most of the power and make most of the decisions at both family and community level to control over all natural and financial resources in family, which help them to increase their economic resilience to disasters (incidental interventions to background stress).

Those above outcomes of mobilising social capital provide women with financial capital which “allows all these productive activities to get going” (Goodwin, 2003, p. 3) that seems women can start their adaptation solutions. However, women still lack decision-making power which are considered vital to influence over adaptive actions (Nhuan, 2016; Pelling & Christ, 2005). Thus because women have little effective control over their financial resources they are exposed to the risk of climate change and dependent on financial support. Besides, because female dominated organisations are under the influence of male-dominated organisations, gender equality policies are still far from becoming a reality. Whereas, that men receive very little help in natural disasters threatens their life. Although the disparity in receiving collective supports between men and women is rational. However, local government also need to take account into the negative of social capital in make exclusion of outsider (Portes, 1998) in disaster supports to reduce the gender biased in collective supports. Besides, when men are decision makers in both family and community but lack financial supports, which puts more pressure on their shoulders. In brief, at present the outcomes of mobilising social capital to improve AC are different for men and women and the process can actually exacerbate gender inequalities.

On the basis of our results we also propose some redistribution of power at community level, for example reducing the number of people at both formal and informal meetings, because the smaller the number of participants the more likely it is that every participant’s voice will be heard. This would depend, however, on deployment of physical capital (shared infrastructure) and human capital (management and organisational skills of community leaders). We also argue that in the long term external interventions will not be helpful unless there are internal transformations in men’s and women’s understanding of their equal roles in balancing decision - making power to regulate access to resources for sustainability.

To conclude, our analysis of the gendering of AC through social capital has showed the origin of gender inequality is inappropriate gender norms. Gender norms reinforce the belief of the men’s roles in social interactions with men dominating formal networks and meetings, leading discussions and making most of the decisions about proposal for adaptation to climate change. Women take part in more in informal meetings and belong to female-dominated organisations. Thus there is gender inequality in access to information, which exacerbates the gender gap in information flow and power.  The existing distribution of social capital reinforces gender inequalities and spreading misinformation and makes women become more dependent and more vulnerable in the impacts of climate change. The gulf between gender equality policy and reality is evident from the gender imbalance in material and non-material capital. The first step towards eliminating gender inequality in decisions about adaptation to climate change is to eradicate gender inequalities in knowledge and access to information, to create the conditions in which women can participate fully in family and community discussions, putting forward their own proposals and defending them.

 [PTL1]We added analysis of questionnaires data by scoring methods.

 [PTL2]Reviewer: Lack of evidence or justification

Author: Based on analysis of group discussion, we added detail data to prove the men’s voices overwhelmed women’s voices as well as based on in-depth interview, we partly explained that women lacked confidence in their own knowledge, followed by were afraid to express themselves in public.

 [PTL3]Reviewer comments: lack of evidence or justification

Author:  Finally, social capital can be a burden for women if it is not used effectively. Because social capital is intangible there are associated risks that are not easily recognized. Based on the results of in-depth interview, women in Dong Minh shared the reality that their husband borrowed money from banks under wife’s name to get low interest bank loans. And in the unstable and risky conditions caused by climate change, we suppose that women can be at higher risk of debt and money problems than men if serial massive death of shrimps keeps going on like current situation.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

This research investigates how gender norms influence social network participation and thus, social capital in relationship to climate change policy in Viet Nam. This research employs a mixed methods approach using structured interviews, focus groups, and in-depth interviews. This research finds that though men dominate most domains of social capital, women fare better in those based on bonding social capital.

The theoretical discussion is well developed. However, it has one omission and would benefit from the inclusion of Portes’ 1998 research that highlights how social capital can have both positive and negative consequences.  In particular, he posits that social capital can overburden people when their strong ties network ties place them in high demand.

The methods section would benefit with a description of how the 120 farmers were randomly selected to be interviewed. The sample frame is not identified nor is the selection process. In addition a claim is made that social interactions within social networks cannot be quantified.  Social capital research exists that measures this interaction quantitatively.  This is not a justification to employ qualitative methods.  These methods provide valid information and can be used to better understand social capital.

In the results section, the sentence in lines 315-317 appear to be missing something and is not clear.

Portes, Alejandro (1998). Social Capital: Its Origins and Applications in Modern Sociology. Annual Review of Sociology, 24:1, 1-24.

Author Response

Response to Reviewer 2 Comments

Point 1: It has one omission and would benefit from the inclusion of Portes’ 1998 research that highlights how social capital can have both positive and negative consequences.  In particular, he posits that social capital can overburden people when their strong ties network ties place them in high demand. Portes, Alejandro (1998). Social Capital: Its Origins and Applications in Modern Sociology. Annual Review of Sociology, 24:1, 1-24.

Response 1: After reviewing the article of Portes (1998), we found it can support the statement of “the impact of social capital on sustainable livelihood outcomes is not always positive”

Therefore, we added on the line 106-109 (tracked changes version) the following sentences “However, as in the case of other forms of capital, the impact of social capital on sustainable livelihood outcomes is not always positive, if some groups are more privileged than other then it can increase social injustice. It is also mentioned by Portes (1998) when he claimed that social capital can make exclusion of outsider. Besides, he also stated that social capital can “excess claims on group members; restrictions on individual freedoms, and downward levelling norms” (Portes, 1998, 15). Those statements can be explained because membership of organisations does not always improve an individual’s knowledge, as in the case of organisations that disseminate biased information (DFID, 1999).”

Point 2: The methods sections would benefit with a description of how the 120 farmers were randomly selected to be interviewed. The sample frame is not identified nor is the selection process.

Response 2: We added more detail of the scoping trip structure questionnaires to describe the way we randomly selected 120 farmers and set up the sample frame as well as selection process.

“3.2.1.1. Scoping trip

Based on the theoretical discussion, we had hypothesis that more social capital the individual has, the higher adaptive capacity they possess. Therefore, the first step, we went to local and interviewed some local people and commune officers (leaders of Women Union and Agriculture Association, officers at communal Department of Land Use and Department of Fishery and Forest) to explore the real context in commune and find the potential interviewees, identify the manifests of social capital and adaptive capacity. By interviewing the leaders of some communal agencies, we acquired the list of aquaculture farmers in local (with 844/2792 household participating in aquaculture activities, most of them were engaging clam and shrimp farming). Based on the list, we randomly selected 120 households (14% of population) and sent invitation letter to conduct structure questionnaires. Besides, by interviewing with leaders of Women Union and Agriculture Association, we found the social capital in Dong Minh come from two main sources: participation in organizations (formal networks) and in informal community meetings (wedding, funerals, community feasts); and those sources of social capital can have potential impacts on other sub-dimensions of social capital such as collective actions like collective activities (dyke constructions; water system cleaning; street cleaning); collective received supports and other capitals. Besides, we noticed the gender bias in household division in engaging and interacting in both formal, informal networks and collective activities. So based on it and the theoretical framework of social capital and adaptive capacity from gender perspective, we redesigned the structured questions, in-depth interview and focus group questions.

3.2.1.2. Structured questionnaires

The majority of questions in structured questionnaires were closed, but we included a few open questions to allow respondents to explain issues in greater detail. A random sample of 120 aquaculture farmers was invited to participate in this phase of the research; the invitations described the subject and purpose of the questionnaire. The commune secretary - who have been lived in Dong Minh for over 50 years got some payment to do this. We noted with him to send the invitation to household along the village streets and even the aquaculture farmers he met on the way, and he just sent the invitation and the assignment in the household like wife or husband would participate in interviews depend on household decision to remain the objectivity of data. Finally, there are 99/120 farmers accepted to join in questionnaire surveys. So we have just 17.5% rejection rate and the respondent rate is 11.7% of population. In total 99 farmers (35 women; 64 men) completed the questionnaire, which took about 45 to 60 minutes. The questionnaire captured data on 14 AC sub-dimensions and background information on respondents (Table 1). Responses were collected, synthesised and analysed using Excel. Two radar charts were constructed to compare the 14 sub-dimensions and 5 dimensions of AC in men and women and draw general conclusions about gender differences in DM residents’ ability to adapt to climate change”.

We also restructured the table 1 to make audience can easily understand the way we scored indicators

Table 1. The table for adaptive capacity assessment.

Point 3: In addition, a claim is made that social interactions within social networks cannot be quantified. Social capital research exists that measures this interaction quantitatively. This is not a justification to employ qualitative methods. These methods provide valid information and can be used to better understand social capital.

Response 3: We revised and re-wrote that statement below:

“Therefore, to better the understanding of social capital such as gender norms, social interactions within social networks, the relationship between social capital and other forms of capital, it is necessary to use qualitative method to gain more insight into individuals’ ideas and the lived experiences of local community coping with climate change.”

Point 4: In the results section, the sentence in lines 315-317 appear to be missing something and is not clear.

Response 4: We added more detail of calculation result to illustrate the statement:

“By scoring methods, the study also quantified the gender different impacts of social capital including 4 sub-dimensions of social networks, decision making in adaptation solutions, collective actions and information exchange on other capitals as well as sub-dimensions of adaptive capacity (figure 6). The dominance of men in the core political organisations such as CP and VA explains their exceeding in sub-dimensions of adaptive capacity with the score rate of male/female of knowledge and skills (0.61/0.52); decision making in financial (1/0.48) and adaptation decision (0.83/0.59), working equipment (0.96/0.6) and especially in natural capital (0.97/0.18) with male dominance in land ownership (figure 6b). Therefore, like previous studies, we found that “male dominance is still very prevalent” (Liebenberg, 1997; Jones, 1999) in forms of capital in adaptive capacity. By comparison, the calculation results also show that women are equal with men in some aspects related to health (0.75/0.72), income generating options (0.59/0.57). That statement can be explained by positive impacts of being members of WU, which helps women approach to health associated information and low interest loans as well as more collective supports in disasters than men. This may be a positive consequence of recent gender equality movements in Vietnam. However, the core factors for climate change adaptation such as decision making in adaptive actions, natural resources, financial-related decision making, working equipment (Nhuan, 2016) still have a great gap between men and women (Figure 6b). When technological adaptations to climate change are not neutral gender, a great burden is placed on the shoulders of women in rural areas (Oxfam &UN-VN, 2009).”

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf