A Gendered Perspective on Environmental (im)Mobility in Bangladesh

The nature of the relationship between climate change and migration is complex, context specific, and often shaped by social factors such as gender. This study examines how gender influences perceptions of environmental change and decisions related to mobility or immobility. Using a mixed-methods approach, we combine qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with 34 women and original survey panel data from 1700 households living along the Jamuna River in Bangladesh, a region severely impacted by environmental change, particularly flooding and riverbank erosion. Our findings reveal that women's roles and responsibilities within their household and communities significantly influence their perspectives on environmental migration. While migration due to environmental changes exacerbates hardships for many women, they can also lead to unanticipated opportunities. The findings highlight that impacts of both, climate change and the resulting (im)mobility, are not uniform but rather highly varied across population subgroups. Thereby, they underscore the importance of integrating a gendered lens into policy interventions addressing climate change and migration.