Gender, (im)mobility and social relations shaping vulnerabilities in coastal Bangladesh

Abstract

Relational vulnerability embraces place-specific social relations as critical determinants of vulnerability, countering the traditional conceptualization of vulnerability as scale neutral and a static feature of an individual or a social group. This paper adopts a relational approach to examine how vulnerabilities are experienced by two groups of women in southwestern Bangladesh. The first group remained in their villages while their husbands migrated to the city for better livelihoods after cyclone Aila in 2009. The second group relocated with their husbands from the coastal villages to the nearby regional urban center, typically in the aftermath of major coastal cyclones during 2007–2013. A qualitative examination of these women's experiences in the origin and destination highlights how gender identity shapes forms of social relations, minimizing or reinforcing existing vulnerabilities and, on some occasions, creating new vulnerabilities. The findings debunk some of the popular misconceptions about post-cyclone mobilities in coastal Bangladesh. Migration to cities is typically seen as a rational adaptation response to minimize climate vulnerabilities; however, the paper shows how migration also redistributes and triggers new forms of non-climatic vulnerabilities to women in those migrant families. Similarly, non-migration is often perceived as an actor's inability to avoid risks. However, our findings suggest that immobility enables left-alone housewives to devise creative in-situ responses and resist vulnerabilities. The findings reinforce the importance of examining the differential vulnerabilities and responses reproduced in the intersections of gender, (im)mobility, and social relations, warranting just scales of intervention to support gender-specific needs temporally, socially and spatially.