Gendered space and climate resilience in informal settlements in Khulna City, Bangladesh

Abstract

Climate resilience varies significantly based on gender and on location in different physical and social spaces. A qualitative study exploring conditions of the urban poor in Khulna, Bangladesh demonstrates how the appropriation of private, parochial and public spaces by residents of informal settlements influences their capacity to cope with climate risks. Because of the spatial implications of the predominant patriarchal system, women remain vulnerable in private spaces. The parochial spaces they use for productive work also leave them exposed and sensitive to climate hazards. On the other hand, men, who make greater use of public spaces, still have negligible capacity to take any anticipatory and reactive actions in response to risks there. This paper, which provides a comparison to earlier research in Dhaka, argues that gendered constraints in both inhabiting and shaping spaces is an underlying cause of differential climate resilience; alternatively, planning climate-resilient spaces can be seen as a fundamental change contributing to transformative adaptation.