A

Research on

Climate Change and GenderA Critical Analysis of Policy and Practice

i

ii

Climate Change and Gender A Critical Analysis of

Policy and Practice

A Research

Submitted to

Mohammad Towheedul Islam

Assistant Professor

Dept of International Relations

University of Dhaka

Submitted By

Tohura Moriom Misti

4th batch 8th Semester

Class roll SN-19

Exam roll 4571

Registration No হ-5257Dept of International Relations

University of Dhaka

iii

Date of Submission January 7 2014

iv

Acknowledgement

To complete this research there are lots of people who helped me during the whole

period I feel very grateful to them for their supportive and friendly nature

At first I would like to give thanks to Almighty Allah who blessed me with knowledge and

strength to complete this research within due time Then I would like to thanks to my

parents who always supported my decisions and actions My warm and cordial thanks

go to my supervisor Mohammad Towheedul Islam for his guidance and advice which

was most important to complete this research Then I would like to thank Dr A S M

Ali Ashraf who taught us proper knowledge about research writing while teaching

Research Methodology I also want to thank Dr Sohela Nazneen who has a great

contribution to make me interested and well known about gender Further I would like

to thank Sharmind Neelromi and Bushra Hasina Chowdhury who gave their valuable

time and shared their knowledge with me and also supported with literatures and

recommendations Finally I want to thank to my Friends and fellow classmates who

helped me with different information and knowledge during the research

iii

Abstract

As a coastal state Bangladesh has to deal with various types of climate hazards which

cause adverse effect on the gender Particularly women who engaged with agricultural

activities suffer the most while there is any climate hazard Flood drought heavy

rainfall and river bank erosion wipe out shelters create scarce of drinking water and

cause physical and mental damages Climate changersquos policies are now very responsive

to gender issue comparing to the past Again there has been negligence while applying

those policies towards the affected people These negligence and gaps between policy

and practice need to evaluate to reduce the vulnerability of climate change over gender

Newly reformed policy should also establish in this regard to achieve sustainable

human development

iv

Contents

Acknowledgment iii

Abstracthelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellipiv

Chapter- Ihelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip6

1 Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip62 Research Goalhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip73 Research Questionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip74 Methodology of Data Collectionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip85 Limitations of the Studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip9

Chapter- IIhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip10

6 Literature Reviewhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip107 Theoretical Explanation helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip16

Chapter- IIIhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip19

8 Climate Hazard Prone Areas in Bangladeshhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip199 Climate Vulnerabilities of Womenhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip22

v

Chapter- IVhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 27

10 Gender Responsive Climate Change Policieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip27101 International Policieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip27102 Regional Policy helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip32103 National Policieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip33

11Policy in Practice and its Effectivenesshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip35

12Loopholes Between Policies and Practiceshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip37

Chapter- Vhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 40

13Required Improvements for thePolicieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip40

14Recommendations from Research Findingshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip4115Concluding Remarkshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip43

Annexeshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip45

Bibliographyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip48

vi

Chapter I

1Introduction

Climate change often make the women worst sufferer as they are

very closely connected to the environmental components than men

in everyday life Especially those women who are engage with

agricultural activities and live in coastal areas Bangladesh is

both an agricultural and coastal country and for its geographical

location it has to face a lot of climate hazards At the same

time environmental politics of other countries is also

responsible for these climate hazards which cause rigorous impact

on the basis of gender particularly upon poor women Women who

directly or indirectly engaged into agricultural production have

to suffer more than the others of our country For instance in

2009 women of 18 to 60 years age group were 87377 affected by

cyclone Aila in Koira Dacope and Shyamnagar Upazila1 of

Bangladesh Therefore we need to understand the impacts of

climate change on the gender to apply sustainable development

policies There is numerous numbers of international

organizations conferences agreements as well as the national

organizations (both governmental and non-governmental) have been

working to reduce different climate changersquos impacts like mental

and physical suffering of women But there has been always

avoidance in gender issue while forming and applying climate

change policies In our country some major climate hazards are1Islam M R (2011) Vulnerability and Coping Strategies of Women in DisasterA Study on Coastal Areas of Bangladesh Arts Faculty Journal vol 4

flood river erosion heavy rainfall drought etc To sustain

properly with the climate change the efficacy of the existing

gender responsive climate change policies need to find out In

this regard this research will evaluate some reformation of the

existing policies to make them more effective so that the women

get more priority while forming climate change policy

2 Research Goal

Bangladesh is a least developed coastal state and for its

geographical location it has to face a lot of climate hazards

which causes remarkable impacts on the basis of gender

particularly upon the women As a member of United Nations (UN)

Bangladesh is already performing along with different UN programs

regarding this issue But gender issue has been always remaining

inattentive while designing climate change policies This

inattentiveness also exists while applying national and

international policies during climate hazards The goal of this

research is to-

7

- evaluate the role of different existing programs of UN and the

national policies of Bangladesh have to deal with climate change

considering gender issue

- For these reason the efficacy of the existing gender

responsive climate change policies will aim to find out through

this research

- Further this research tries to include what reformation the

existing climate change policies require to become more gender

considerate

3 Research QuestionsThis research is mainly focused on the following central

questions-

a) How climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

gender

b) How gender responsive policies reflect in different

international regional and national climate change policies

c) To what extent do these policies are effective comparing to

real scenario

d) If no what modifications do these policies required to

prevent the climate change impacts on women of our country

This research is designed and aimed at considering these four

central questions to find out the best suitable answer

8

4 Methodology of Data Collection

This is an individual research project for academic purpose and

is based on the context of Bangladesh This research is designed

using qualitative method which includes both primary sources and

secondary sources of data As it is an individual research paper

this research is mostly relied on secondary sources of data

Primary Sources of Data

a) Survey of 12 female from three villages (Kharasombol

Boyitpur and Fatepur) of Bagerhat district

b) Expertrsquos interviews of Sharmind Neelromi2 and Bushra Hasina

Chowdhury3 to find the difference between policies and

practices and also to include policy reformulation

Secondary Sources of Data

This research is mainly based on secondary resources like

published researches and articles but apart from these different

journals books and internet resources are also widely used for

this research as secondary data

Review of different policies like UNFCCC UNDP Hyogo Framework

for Action National Action Plan 2008 Bangladesh Climate Change

Strategy and Action Plan 2009 SAARC Framework for Action

2Assistant Professor Dept of Economics Jahangir Nagar University3Assistant Professor Dept of International Relations University of Dhaka

9

Migration policies Land Policies inheritance policies water

policies etc

Data Collection Method

Primary data were collected by a small questionnaire (see

appendix) survey of 12 female who suffered different impacts of

climate change (like flood heavy rainfall river erosion) from

three villages (Kharasombol Boyitpur and Fatepur) of Bagerhat

district direct interview of experts and reviewing policies from

different websites

Secondary data were collected from seminar library of Dept of

International Relations Dept of Disaster Management and

Vulnerability Studies Dept of Women and Gender Studies central

library of university of Dhaka British Council Library etc

6Limitations of the StudyEvery research projects have to go through some limitations and

challenges more or less and this research paper is not beyond

that problem Limitations and challenges faced during this

research are the followings

Firstly limitations of time were one of the crucial challenges

for this research because if there were sufficient time then a

lot more has to enrich this research

10

Secondly this research is an individual research which is

another important barrier faced during the whole period

Thirdly there was no funding for this research that excluded

this research from having a sufficient amount of victimrsquos

interview from all over the country which is very significant

while working on policy reformulation

Fourthly expertrsquos interview from Ministry level would have added

value for this research but due to different political

instability it could not be possible

Fifthly during the survey there was a tendency among the women

to lie about the help they got from different organization in

order to get more help in future This was another notable

challenge that made it difficult to find the actual scenario

Sixthly the number of interviewee was too short to reach any

decision about the policy practice as it provides poor

information

This research has huge impacts of these limitations and

challenges

Chapter II

11

7Literature Review

Literature review of this research begins with Cecile Jackson

(1993) who emphasized the affinity of women with the environment

Further he showed the essentialist linkages between women and

environment His analysis is based on different context such as

on the context of Zimbabwe Malaysia Kenya Tanzania etc which

give a distinct view of gender relation with the climate change

in different places But later he summarized that there cannot be

a special relationship between women and environments because

women are not a unitary category and their environmental

relations reflect not only divisions among women but also gender

relations and the dynamics of political economies and agro-

ecosystems4Joan Davidson (2007) in his article analyzed more

precisely the relation of women with land water and forests and

energy He described how changes in agriculture forestry and

water and waste management have affect women which clearly show

the relation of climate change with gender He also explored the

way in which women relate to a number of different natural

resources in both rural and urban areas5Ahsan Uddin Ahmed

Sharmind Neelormi Neelopal Adri et al (2009) showed the

linkages among climate change livelihoods poverty and women in

their research This research included different climate changes

4Jackson C (1993) Doing What Comes naturally Women and Environment in Development World Development Vol 21 Retrieved on August 172013 from josiahberkeleyedu2007FallER275Readingsjackson-GAD-1993pdf5Davidson J (1993) Womens relationship with the environment Gender amp Development Retrieved on August 17 2013 from httpdxdoiorg10108009682869308519944

12

and its effects very precisely to describe the relation of

environmental change and gender For instance they described how

the increased monsoon flows dry season low flows cyclones etc

affect the women children and old people

As this research is on the gender policies regarding climate

change at first the relation between climate change and gender

need to understand The above writers gave a clear knowledge in

there writings to understand the relation and linkages between

climate change and gender

Then for the further advancement the impacts of climate change

upon gender are important to find out to analyze the

authentication of policy practice In this regard Christine Haigh

and Bernadette Vallely (2010) in their report found the distinct

impacts of climate change on women in both developed and

developing countries To describe the impacts of climate change

on gender they included that ldquoClimate change impacts will be

differently distributed among different regions generations age

classes income groups occupations and gendersrdquo6Further they

described the impacts on women during different climate change

such as disasters and extreme weather events forced migration

for climate change water and energy etc using some case studies

which are very significant to have a view over the reality Joan

Davidson (2007) more distinctly added the problems that women

face in urban environments while they migrate from their rural

6Climate Change 2007 Impacts Adaptation and Vulnerability IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change Retrieved on August 17 2013 fromhttpswwwipccchclimate-changes-2001wg2-summary-policymakerspdf

13

areas for environmental degradation He also included that women

do not have ownership of the land that they work so hard for

which cause seasonal unemployment and insecurity He also found

out the scarcity of water and fuel wood led the women to

different physical trauma Later he also evaluated three (the

effects of minimal services the constant danger of industrial

pollution and the cumulative deterioration of the urban

hinterland) kind of environmental degradation women suffer in

urban fringe areas Further Research team of Ahsan Uddin Ahmed

Sharmind Neelormi Neelopal Adri et al (2009) also included

different area basis study to find out authentic data about the

impacts of climate change on women and special vulnerable group

which is very helpful to gather knowledge about real scenario

Their research also provides different distinct climate change

issues and their impacts on gender in different places for

example Cyclonic Storm Surge in Coastal Islands Salinity in

Tala and Shaymnagar Upazilas of Satkhira District Drought in

Manda Upazila of Naogaon District River Erosion in Kurigram and

Faridpur etc Midori Aoyagi Eiko Suda and Tomomi Shinada (2011)

added the effects of climate change upon gender in their working

paper They evaluated that people in poor countries such as

Africa are comparatively more vulnerable to climate change

impacts

These writings provide a clear vision about the mental and

physical impacts do the climate change have on the gender But

these writings are not very recent and to understand the present

14

scenario recent writings will be more helpful Because dealing

with the existing policies require the recent and authentic data

to reach at the goal And it is important to mention here that

the paper of Midori Aoyagi Eiko Suda and Tomomi Shinada (2011)

is mostly focused on disaster recovery the land ownership and

inheritance system which are not much important while finding the

impacts of climate on gender

Having a clear understanding of the climate change and its

effects on gender now it is a matter of concern what policies

exist there to prevent from these obstacles At first

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007)

emphasized on the adverse effect of climate change towards

gender IPCC (2007) recognized that women suffer more than the

men in climate hazards With this point IPCC included gender

mainstreaming and gender equality in its policy On the other

hand Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009) in her research included the

existing International and local institutions that are related to

disaster management and different international conferences that

deal with policies and interventions to prevent violence against

women and for disaster management She added the policies of

climate change adaptation and disaster reduction on gender of

Womenrsquos Human Rights of millennium development goal (MDGs) Hyogo

Framework for Action (2005-2015) World Conference on Disaster

Reduction United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC) SAARC Framework for Action (2006-2015) National Action

Plan (NAP) for Womenrsquos Advancement Relevant laws to curb

15

violence against women like Penal Code 1860 Muslim Family law

Ordinance (1961) etc She also provided the draft of National

Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) and Disaster Management

Regulative Framework which show the future attempts of Bangladesh

for disaster management National Action Plan (2008) of

Bangladesh included different existing projects and Institutions

that Bangladesh have for climate change adaptation such as The

Climate Change Action Plan (2009-2018) National Adaptation

Program of Action (2005) the National Disaster Management

Council (NDMC) National Climate Change Fund The Ministry of

Food and Disaster Management etc

These two are helpful to have an overview of the existing

policies for climate change But Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009)

mentioned in her research that there are several global

conferences and agreements on climate change but still all these

initiatives could not gain much remarkable success Moreover the

gender perspective is not getting much priority in all these

initiatives Similarly from the National Action Plan (2008) it is

also clearly been seen that gender is not consider as a separate

issue of concern while making policies for climate change But

draft of National Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) has

included gender into their policy very distinctly It mentioned

about the advancement of local judiciary system monitoring the

food distribution process advance mechanism for pure drinking

water to prevent different diseases providing training about the

disaster management process and structural violence as well This

16

plan could gain a great success to deal with climate change

considering gender if it is properly implemented

Agnes Otzelbergerrsquos (2011) research described how UNFCCC its

Kyoto Protocol Conference of parties (COP) GenderCC Global

Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA) etc have included and

planning to include the climate change policy considering gender

issue It also added the developing countryrsquos policies on climate

change regarding gender issue such as Hyogo Framework for

Action African Adaptation Program (AAP) This research is

comparatively more valuable to find out the climate change

policies responded to gender issue A report of World Health

Organization ldquoGender Climate Change and Healthrdquo described the

sectors that UNFCCC response for gender policies with the climate

change These responded sectors are health access to energy

transportation early warning systems and hazard management etc

Similarly Emmeline Skinner (2011) also described the policies of

UNFCCC the gender responsive movements of it and the initiatives

taken by the countries to reach Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs) At the same time he also included different countryrsquos

National Adaptation Policy for Action (NAPA) to understand the

gender mainstreaming policies in national level On the other

hand Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-2015) included gender

responsive policies and it recognizes that a gender perspective

should be integrated into all Disaster Risk Reduction policies

plans and decision-making processes including those associated

with existing climate variability and future climate change

17

Ministry of Environment and Forest had developed a Bangladesh

Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) 2009 which

built-in six pillars to implement and among those the first

pillar named lsquofood security social protection and healthrsquo

included women and children as special consideration for food

security safe housing employment access to basic services and

health Further National Water Policy (1999) of Bangladesh gave

emphasis to equal access to safe water and sanitation services

with an affordable cost for everyone It also prioritized on the

improvement of the role of women for decision making and water

management Ministry of Environment and Forest of Bangladesh also

developed another National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)

(2005) to deal with climate hazards Napa has a framework for

action of 2005 which included the actual and potential adverse

effect of climate change Napa prioritized on the urgent and

immediate action policy It also includes different adaptation

policies but excluding the gender issue Napa only emphasizes

gender equality but it does not include gender based policy

Unlike all these institutional policies United Nations

Development Program (UNDP) include gender and adaptation policy

quite precisely From the awareness making before climate hazards

to the post disaster situation they consider gender as a

significant issue while designing policy On the other hand the

draft of SAARC Comprehensive Framework on Disaster Management

(2006-2015) addressed about empowerment and strengthening gender

at the post disaster period They also prioritized on emergency

18

response management providing training and destined to focus on

gender issue with strong emphasis

Reviewing the existing policies the next focus of this research

goes on to find the effectiveness of these existing policies A

report of UNDP (2009) has clarified about the existing gender

responsive policies of UNDP for climate change It also included

the effective gender responsive programs of the UNDP UNFCCC and

NAPArsquos policy for climate change but mostly emphasized on the

policies of UNDP Further Mohammed Abdul Baten and Niaz Ahmed

Khan (2010) included a brief understanding in their writing about

how the gender responsive climate change policies exist in UNDP

UNFCCC NAPA BCCSAP etc and then they evaluated in the failures

of these policies regarding gender in their climate change

policy They provided a concise knowledge about the

ineffectiveness of policies while apply in reality

Effectiveness of the policies leads to understand the gaps

between policies and practices In this point of view Md Rabiul

Islam (2011) recommended in his research to prioritized women in

policies planning and program as he did not found women in

policies during his research He also discovers that women do not

have equal access to development activities of Government and

NGOs Further he finds out the week initiatives of local

administration while there is any judgment on different

unexpected torture on women Apart from these in his research he

also mentioned about women not having access to education and

training programs for adaptation and coping strategies Further

19

in a report of Tahera Akter (2009) evaluate that there are no

timeframe of any action plan to find out the problem in the

national policy She also addressed that the existing policies

are very old and are not capable to cope with changing natural

hazards Revealing these policy gaps she further mentioned that

there is lack of coordination among the organizations to

effectively evaluate the problems of environmentally displaced

people She also added that there is no national estimation or

prediction about environmental displacement World Health

Organization (WHO) also finds out some remarkable gaps between

the policies and practices in one of its report to understand the

issues for urgent action This report is mainly based on gender

climate change and health which evaluated some loopholes of the

overall existing policies

To reduce these loopholes climate change policies require

reformulation of its structure In this regard Sandra Bathge

(2010) concluded with some adaptation and mitigation measures

which can be also used as recommendation for this research as

those measures are related to policy formulation in a new way

This working paper included access to education land ownership

and services markets etc and also provided policies

considering gender about training programs awareness building

ability to generate income etc which lead this paper to design

the reformulation of climate change policies Further Alyson

Brody Justina Demetriades and Emily Esplen (2008) mostly

emphasized on the participation of women in decision making

20

processes around climate change adaptation and mitigation They

also recommended various aspects like identifying gender impacts

and adaptation priorities in both rural and urban areas

identifying gender implications of long term drought and

starvation etc on the other hand Nilufar Ahmad (2012) in her

paper mainly focused on the basis of individual policy

reformulation which is another most important literature for this

research She suggested BCCSAP to prioritize key gender entry

points indicators and annual targets and link these with the

budget She also recommended about accountable environmental

governance a gender informed cross-sectoral monitoring and

evaluation system to monitor construction and rehabilitation of

gender friendly and multi-purpose shelter and also other

important rights of women Emmeline Skinner (2011) also included

a number of notable suggestions for the pro-gender climate change

policy reformulation She added about strong political commitment

to gender equality stronger participation of women in climate

change institutions and processes conduct gender responsive

budgeting link mitigation and adaptation processes etc

These literatures are not much supportive to have a complete view

of the climate change policies on gender perspective and that is

one of the biggest challenges of this research Again reviewing

these important policies it was easy to figure out to a great

extent that the climate change policies need proper reformulation

and thus literature review evaluate the future improvements and

recommendations of gender sensitive climate change policies

21

8Theoretical ExplanationConcepts

My research follows the definition adopted by the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in which

ldquoclimate changerdquo refers to any change in climate over time

whether due to natural variability or as a result of human

activity7 This usage differs from that in the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which defines

ldquoclimate changerdquo as ldquoa change of climate which is attributed

directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the

composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to

natural climate variability observed over comparable time

periodsrdquo8

ldquoGenderrdquo refers to the socially constructed norms roles and

relations that a given society considers appropriate for men and

women Gender determines what is expected permitted and valued

in a woman or a man in a determined context9

A brief of Nandini Oberoi illustrated that Climate change is a

gender issue and that women are particularly vulnerable to

climate change because they are more prone to the adverse impacts

7Gender Climate change and Health World Health Organization pg5 Retrievedon September 23 2013 from wwwwhointglobalchangeGenderClimateChangeHealthfinalpdf8 ibid9 ibid

22

from climate change10 Changes in the climate usually impact on

sectors that are traditionally associated with women such as

paddy cultivation cotton and tea plantations and fishing11

In this research gender analysis is not a special focus on women

but rather an understanding on how discrimination against women

and gender roles interact to shape men and womenrsquos enjoyment of

human dignity rights as well as equality of living12

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) defines

Hazard as ldquoA potentially damaging physical event phenomenon or

human activity that may cause the loss of life or injury

property damage social and economic disruption or environmental

degradation Hazards can include latent conditions that may

represent future threats and can have different origins natural

(geological hydro meteorological and biological) or induced by

human processes (environmental degradation and technological

hazards)rdquo

TheoriesClimate change and gender and the relation between these two

phenomenons can be described with different theory This section

of research is destined to explain climate change and gender

relation with different International Relations theory

10Parikh J Mainstreaming Gender into Climate Change Policies Retrieved on July 8 2013 from wwwdisasterwatchnetclimatechangegndr_climt07pdf11 ibid12Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh GenderCC

23

i) Feminist Theory

The main concept of Radical feminist is lsquopatriarchyrsquo that means

the lsquorule of fatherrsquo In feminist theory we can see that there

are two form of patriarchy one is classical form of patriarchy

and another is more loose form of patriarchy But in both of the

patriarchal system women have no say in decision making Even

while they have to go through different types of mental and

physical violence during and after any climate hazard occur they

are not able to make any decision for themselves because

patriarchal society do not allow women to be treated equally as

men while decision making and it also reflects in climate change

policy

Liberal feminists are generally concerned with equal rights In

the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries liberal feminist argued

that women by nature different from men that means climate

vulnerabilities of women are also different from men They also

argued for womenrsquos equality on the grounds that they are capable

of making their personal decision and determine their best

interest which is as rational as men Therefore women should have

equal rights while decision making during any climate hazard The

reproductive chores such as child rearing and bearing water

collection food production and acquisition etc of any household

are mostly done by the female member of the family In this

regard climate hazards increases the burden for women and girls

because they are expected to ensure all this household chores

24

Radical feminist argued that to achieve genuine equality it is

important to share these responsibilities with men and as women

by nature different from men climate change policies also should

be gender sensitive

ii) Dependency Theory

According to dependency theory the core periphery and semi

periphery countryrsquos economy and development are interrelated and

interdependent So climate vulnerabilities of women are not an

internal matter for any particular country Rather it needs

global attention as it will also affect the other country and

their development process both directly and indirectly In this

regard global concern joint decision and gender responsive

climate change policy is required as the whole world is

ultimately dependent on each other

iii) Realist Theory

A very significant quote is important to address here by famous

realist scholar Thucydides is-

ldquoThe strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they mustrdquo

The developed countries as the lsquostrongrsquo power do what they want

to do to boost up their economy without considering climate

issues and the week (developing countries) suffer the effects

caused by climate change Before cold war the concept of

security used to consider as military power but in the

contemporary world climate security become more important rather

25

than military security Powerful states now are more concerned

about their own climate security and try to increase their

economic growth by exploiting the environment of weaker states

State as well as the people and mostly women of the developing

countries are the victim of this exploitation and they have to

bear different types of climate hazards which actually causes by

these developedpowerful states In result as women are the

weaker groups they suffer more than the stronger group of men

during all these climate hazards At the same time the men as

stronger group take every decision over the weaker women whenever

there is any climate hazard

iv) Neo-Liberal Theory

Neo-liberal theory supports the trade liberalization that means

removal of trade barrier opening of state economic enterprise

and privatization of market etc After the cold war the emergence

of globalization and the liberalization of market have increased

the investment of Multinational Corporations in the developing

world that have an adversely affect on their local climate The

waste materials and toxic gases emit during the production

procedure cause different types of climate hazards These

unwanted climate hazards also leave significant effect on women

As neo-liberalism emphasize on lsquoindividualrsquo women should be

consider as a group of individual while designing the policies

for climate change

26

Chapter III

ldquoHow climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

genderrdquo

9Climate Hazard Prone Areas of BangladeshThere are some common climate hazards often seen in Bangladesh

and areas mostly affected by these hazards in Bangladesh

identified to answer the above central research question

Different types of climate changersquos impacts such as flood

cyclone river erosion drought heavy rainfall sea level rise

soil degradation etc mainly seen in Bangladesh Among all these

climate hazards this research is mainly focused on three major

climate hazards of Bangladesh and these are- heavy rainfall and

flood river erosion and drought A quick view of climate

hazards prone areas of Bangladesh are given below

Table-1 (Climate Hazard Prone Areas of Bangladesh)

Climate Hazards Most Affected AreasDrought North-West Bengal districts

Rajshahi Gaibandha etcRiver Erosion Active river channels of the

Ganges the Jamuna and theTista rivers and in the coastaland offshore areas

Heavy Rainfall ndash North-western and western

27

Flood-

Bangladesh Chittagong hills

Central region North-Eastregion Charland South BengalBarisal Bagerhat KhulnaSatkhira etc

This table shows us that drought prone areas are mainly in North-

Western Bengalrsquos districts like Rajshahi Gaibandha etc which

has lower rainfall than the other areas of Bangladesh

(Map-1)

Source NAPA

28

River bank erosion prone areas are more or less around the whole

country but mostly it is being seen in the areas along the active

river channels of the Ganges the Jamuna and the Tista rivers and

in the coastal and offshore areas of Bangladesh13 About 17

million hectares of floodplain areas are prone to riverbank

erosion14

Floods are very common in Bangladesh and it affects almost 80

land of our country Every year Bangladesh has been facing 1 or 2

extreme disasters According to Zayeda Sharmin (2013) there are

different categories of floods in Bangladesh and these are ndash

(i) Monsoon floods it increase slowly and decrease slowly

inundate vast areas and causes huge loss to the life and

property

(ii) Flash floods from sudden torrential flows following a brief

intense rainstorm

(iii) Tidal floods which are of short duration but are generally

around 3 to 6 meter high and

(iv) Rain floods caused by drainage congestion and heavy rain

Flood prone areas are mainly in the south Bengal like Barisal

Bhola Bagerhat Khulna Shatkhira etc

13National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)(2005) Ministry of Environment and Forest Government of the Peoplersquos Republic of Bangladesh pg no-4 Retrieved on November 1 2013 From unfcccintresourcedocsnapaban01pdf14 Ibid

29

(Map-2)

Source NAPA

Lastly heavy rainfall is mainly seen in north-western and western

Bangladesh Chittagong hills and more or less all over the

country But mostly in the southern part than the northern part

of Bangladesh heavy rainfall is quite a common climate hazard

9 Climate Vulnerabilities of Women

As mentioned earlier that women are closely related to the

environmental elements it is obvious that climate change effects

should have impact on women In the context of climate change a

lsquogender analysisrsquo promotes an understanding of the ways that men

30

and women are differently impacted by climate-related hazards and

by adopting adaptation and mitigation strategies15 Now the

effects of climate-related hazards on gender are describing

below

Firstly in the drought prone areas

-the cultivable lands become difficult to produce any crops

Those women who depend on agricultural activities they become

helpless for their daily income In this case they face problem

to find new place for work and if by any chance they are able to

find work then they have to face different physical and mental

harassment at the working place

-On the other hand they have to take extra pressure to manage

their household because they have to go far for earning It also

decays their physical strength and at the same time they have to

face different unexpected challenges

Picture-1 Drought in Bangladesh

15Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh Op cit

31

Source Not Enough Goodcom available at

httpnotenoughgoodcom201208indian-blackoutdrought

-They also have to take care about the drinking and daily useable

water for their family which also bring another responsibility

and additional burden to handle They have to face different

types of sexual harassment as they have to go far to collect the

water

-Further pregnant women are more vulnerable during this type of

situation

Secondly at the period like flood and heavy rainfall

-women have no role in decision making for their future They

have to rely on their male head even the women who earn for their

household has no saying during these types of situation During

the survey the responses of women several times indicated that

those women had to accept what the male member of their family

decided Whether there was any health issue or household issue

women had to depend on the male to take any action

32

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

ii

Climate Change and Gender A Critical Analysis of

Policy and Practice

A Research

Submitted to

Mohammad Towheedul Islam

Assistant Professor

Dept of International Relations

University of Dhaka

Submitted By

Tohura Moriom Misti

4th batch 8th Semester

Class roll SN-19

Exam roll 4571

Registration No হ-5257Dept of International Relations

University of Dhaka

iii

Date of Submission January 7 2014

iv

Acknowledgement

To complete this research there are lots of people who helped me during the whole

period I feel very grateful to them for their supportive and friendly nature

At first I would like to give thanks to Almighty Allah who blessed me with knowledge and

strength to complete this research within due time Then I would like to thanks to my

parents who always supported my decisions and actions My warm and cordial thanks

go to my supervisor Mohammad Towheedul Islam for his guidance and advice which

was most important to complete this research Then I would like to thank Dr A S M

Ali Ashraf who taught us proper knowledge about research writing while teaching

Research Methodology I also want to thank Dr Sohela Nazneen who has a great

contribution to make me interested and well known about gender Further I would like

to thank Sharmind Neelromi and Bushra Hasina Chowdhury who gave their valuable

time and shared their knowledge with me and also supported with literatures and

recommendations Finally I want to thank to my Friends and fellow classmates who

helped me with different information and knowledge during the research

iii

Abstract

As a coastal state Bangladesh has to deal with various types of climate hazards which

cause adverse effect on the gender Particularly women who engaged with agricultural

activities suffer the most while there is any climate hazard Flood drought heavy

rainfall and river bank erosion wipe out shelters create scarce of drinking water and

cause physical and mental damages Climate changersquos policies are now very responsive

to gender issue comparing to the past Again there has been negligence while applying

those policies towards the affected people These negligence and gaps between policy

and practice need to evaluate to reduce the vulnerability of climate change over gender

Newly reformed policy should also establish in this regard to achieve sustainable

human development

iv

Contents

Acknowledgment iii

Abstracthelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellipiv

Chapter- Ihelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip6

1 Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip62 Research Goalhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip73 Research Questionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip74 Methodology of Data Collectionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip85 Limitations of the Studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip9

Chapter- IIhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip10

6 Literature Reviewhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip107 Theoretical Explanation helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip16

Chapter- IIIhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip19

8 Climate Hazard Prone Areas in Bangladeshhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip199 Climate Vulnerabilities of Womenhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip22

v

Chapter- IVhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 27

10 Gender Responsive Climate Change Policieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip27101 International Policieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip27102 Regional Policy helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip32103 National Policieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip33

11Policy in Practice and its Effectivenesshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip35

12Loopholes Between Policies and Practiceshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip37

Chapter- Vhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 40

13Required Improvements for thePolicieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip40

14Recommendations from Research Findingshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip4115Concluding Remarkshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip43

Annexeshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip45

Bibliographyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip48

vi

Chapter I

1Introduction

Climate change often make the women worst sufferer as they are

very closely connected to the environmental components than men

in everyday life Especially those women who are engage with

agricultural activities and live in coastal areas Bangladesh is

both an agricultural and coastal country and for its geographical

location it has to face a lot of climate hazards At the same

time environmental politics of other countries is also

responsible for these climate hazards which cause rigorous impact

on the basis of gender particularly upon poor women Women who

directly or indirectly engaged into agricultural production have

to suffer more than the others of our country For instance in

2009 women of 18 to 60 years age group were 87377 affected by

cyclone Aila in Koira Dacope and Shyamnagar Upazila1 of

Bangladesh Therefore we need to understand the impacts of

climate change on the gender to apply sustainable development

policies There is numerous numbers of international

organizations conferences agreements as well as the national

organizations (both governmental and non-governmental) have been

working to reduce different climate changersquos impacts like mental

and physical suffering of women But there has been always

avoidance in gender issue while forming and applying climate

change policies In our country some major climate hazards are1Islam M R (2011) Vulnerability and Coping Strategies of Women in DisasterA Study on Coastal Areas of Bangladesh Arts Faculty Journal vol 4

flood river erosion heavy rainfall drought etc To sustain

properly with the climate change the efficacy of the existing

gender responsive climate change policies need to find out In

this regard this research will evaluate some reformation of the

existing policies to make them more effective so that the women

get more priority while forming climate change policy

2 Research Goal

Bangladesh is a least developed coastal state and for its

geographical location it has to face a lot of climate hazards

which causes remarkable impacts on the basis of gender

particularly upon the women As a member of United Nations (UN)

Bangladesh is already performing along with different UN programs

regarding this issue But gender issue has been always remaining

inattentive while designing climate change policies This

inattentiveness also exists while applying national and

international policies during climate hazards The goal of this

research is to-

7

- evaluate the role of different existing programs of UN and the

national policies of Bangladesh have to deal with climate change

considering gender issue

- For these reason the efficacy of the existing gender

responsive climate change policies will aim to find out through

this research

- Further this research tries to include what reformation the

existing climate change policies require to become more gender

considerate

3 Research QuestionsThis research is mainly focused on the following central

questions-

a) How climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

gender

b) How gender responsive policies reflect in different

international regional and national climate change policies

c) To what extent do these policies are effective comparing to

real scenario

d) If no what modifications do these policies required to

prevent the climate change impacts on women of our country

This research is designed and aimed at considering these four

central questions to find out the best suitable answer

8

4 Methodology of Data Collection

This is an individual research project for academic purpose and

is based on the context of Bangladesh This research is designed

using qualitative method which includes both primary sources and

secondary sources of data As it is an individual research paper

this research is mostly relied on secondary sources of data

Primary Sources of Data

a) Survey of 12 female from three villages (Kharasombol

Boyitpur and Fatepur) of Bagerhat district

b) Expertrsquos interviews of Sharmind Neelromi2 and Bushra Hasina

Chowdhury3 to find the difference between policies and

practices and also to include policy reformulation

Secondary Sources of Data

This research is mainly based on secondary resources like

published researches and articles but apart from these different

journals books and internet resources are also widely used for

this research as secondary data

Review of different policies like UNFCCC UNDP Hyogo Framework

for Action National Action Plan 2008 Bangladesh Climate Change

Strategy and Action Plan 2009 SAARC Framework for Action

2Assistant Professor Dept of Economics Jahangir Nagar University3Assistant Professor Dept of International Relations University of Dhaka

9

Migration policies Land Policies inheritance policies water

policies etc

Data Collection Method

Primary data were collected by a small questionnaire (see

appendix) survey of 12 female who suffered different impacts of

climate change (like flood heavy rainfall river erosion) from

three villages (Kharasombol Boyitpur and Fatepur) of Bagerhat

district direct interview of experts and reviewing policies from

different websites

Secondary data were collected from seminar library of Dept of

International Relations Dept of Disaster Management and

Vulnerability Studies Dept of Women and Gender Studies central

library of university of Dhaka British Council Library etc

6Limitations of the StudyEvery research projects have to go through some limitations and

challenges more or less and this research paper is not beyond

that problem Limitations and challenges faced during this

research are the followings

Firstly limitations of time were one of the crucial challenges

for this research because if there were sufficient time then a

lot more has to enrich this research

10

Secondly this research is an individual research which is

another important barrier faced during the whole period

Thirdly there was no funding for this research that excluded

this research from having a sufficient amount of victimrsquos

interview from all over the country which is very significant

while working on policy reformulation

Fourthly expertrsquos interview from Ministry level would have added

value for this research but due to different political

instability it could not be possible

Fifthly during the survey there was a tendency among the women

to lie about the help they got from different organization in

order to get more help in future This was another notable

challenge that made it difficult to find the actual scenario

Sixthly the number of interviewee was too short to reach any

decision about the policy practice as it provides poor

information

This research has huge impacts of these limitations and

challenges

Chapter II

11

7Literature Review

Literature review of this research begins with Cecile Jackson

(1993) who emphasized the affinity of women with the environment

Further he showed the essentialist linkages between women and

environment His analysis is based on different context such as

on the context of Zimbabwe Malaysia Kenya Tanzania etc which

give a distinct view of gender relation with the climate change

in different places But later he summarized that there cannot be

a special relationship between women and environments because

women are not a unitary category and their environmental

relations reflect not only divisions among women but also gender

relations and the dynamics of political economies and agro-

ecosystems4Joan Davidson (2007) in his article analyzed more

precisely the relation of women with land water and forests and

energy He described how changes in agriculture forestry and

water and waste management have affect women which clearly show

the relation of climate change with gender He also explored the

way in which women relate to a number of different natural

resources in both rural and urban areas5Ahsan Uddin Ahmed

Sharmind Neelormi Neelopal Adri et al (2009) showed the

linkages among climate change livelihoods poverty and women in

their research This research included different climate changes

4Jackson C (1993) Doing What Comes naturally Women and Environment in Development World Development Vol 21 Retrieved on August 172013 from josiahberkeleyedu2007FallER275Readingsjackson-GAD-1993pdf5Davidson J (1993) Womens relationship with the environment Gender amp Development Retrieved on August 17 2013 from httpdxdoiorg10108009682869308519944

12

and its effects very precisely to describe the relation of

environmental change and gender For instance they described how

the increased monsoon flows dry season low flows cyclones etc

affect the women children and old people

As this research is on the gender policies regarding climate

change at first the relation between climate change and gender

need to understand The above writers gave a clear knowledge in

there writings to understand the relation and linkages between

climate change and gender

Then for the further advancement the impacts of climate change

upon gender are important to find out to analyze the

authentication of policy practice In this regard Christine Haigh

and Bernadette Vallely (2010) in their report found the distinct

impacts of climate change on women in both developed and

developing countries To describe the impacts of climate change

on gender they included that ldquoClimate change impacts will be

differently distributed among different regions generations age

classes income groups occupations and gendersrdquo6Further they

described the impacts on women during different climate change

such as disasters and extreme weather events forced migration

for climate change water and energy etc using some case studies

which are very significant to have a view over the reality Joan

Davidson (2007) more distinctly added the problems that women

face in urban environments while they migrate from their rural

6Climate Change 2007 Impacts Adaptation and Vulnerability IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change Retrieved on August 17 2013 fromhttpswwwipccchclimate-changes-2001wg2-summary-policymakerspdf

13

areas for environmental degradation He also included that women

do not have ownership of the land that they work so hard for

which cause seasonal unemployment and insecurity He also found

out the scarcity of water and fuel wood led the women to

different physical trauma Later he also evaluated three (the

effects of minimal services the constant danger of industrial

pollution and the cumulative deterioration of the urban

hinterland) kind of environmental degradation women suffer in

urban fringe areas Further Research team of Ahsan Uddin Ahmed

Sharmind Neelormi Neelopal Adri et al (2009) also included

different area basis study to find out authentic data about the

impacts of climate change on women and special vulnerable group

which is very helpful to gather knowledge about real scenario

Their research also provides different distinct climate change

issues and their impacts on gender in different places for

example Cyclonic Storm Surge in Coastal Islands Salinity in

Tala and Shaymnagar Upazilas of Satkhira District Drought in

Manda Upazila of Naogaon District River Erosion in Kurigram and

Faridpur etc Midori Aoyagi Eiko Suda and Tomomi Shinada (2011)

added the effects of climate change upon gender in their working

paper They evaluated that people in poor countries such as

Africa are comparatively more vulnerable to climate change

impacts

These writings provide a clear vision about the mental and

physical impacts do the climate change have on the gender But

these writings are not very recent and to understand the present

14

scenario recent writings will be more helpful Because dealing

with the existing policies require the recent and authentic data

to reach at the goal And it is important to mention here that

the paper of Midori Aoyagi Eiko Suda and Tomomi Shinada (2011)

is mostly focused on disaster recovery the land ownership and

inheritance system which are not much important while finding the

impacts of climate on gender

Having a clear understanding of the climate change and its

effects on gender now it is a matter of concern what policies

exist there to prevent from these obstacles At first

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007)

emphasized on the adverse effect of climate change towards

gender IPCC (2007) recognized that women suffer more than the

men in climate hazards With this point IPCC included gender

mainstreaming and gender equality in its policy On the other

hand Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009) in her research included the

existing International and local institutions that are related to

disaster management and different international conferences that

deal with policies and interventions to prevent violence against

women and for disaster management She added the policies of

climate change adaptation and disaster reduction on gender of

Womenrsquos Human Rights of millennium development goal (MDGs) Hyogo

Framework for Action (2005-2015) World Conference on Disaster

Reduction United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC) SAARC Framework for Action (2006-2015) National Action

Plan (NAP) for Womenrsquos Advancement Relevant laws to curb

15

violence against women like Penal Code 1860 Muslim Family law

Ordinance (1961) etc She also provided the draft of National

Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) and Disaster Management

Regulative Framework which show the future attempts of Bangladesh

for disaster management National Action Plan (2008) of

Bangladesh included different existing projects and Institutions

that Bangladesh have for climate change adaptation such as The

Climate Change Action Plan (2009-2018) National Adaptation

Program of Action (2005) the National Disaster Management

Council (NDMC) National Climate Change Fund The Ministry of

Food and Disaster Management etc

These two are helpful to have an overview of the existing

policies for climate change But Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009)

mentioned in her research that there are several global

conferences and agreements on climate change but still all these

initiatives could not gain much remarkable success Moreover the

gender perspective is not getting much priority in all these

initiatives Similarly from the National Action Plan (2008) it is

also clearly been seen that gender is not consider as a separate

issue of concern while making policies for climate change But

draft of National Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) has

included gender into their policy very distinctly It mentioned

about the advancement of local judiciary system monitoring the

food distribution process advance mechanism for pure drinking

water to prevent different diseases providing training about the

disaster management process and structural violence as well This

16

plan could gain a great success to deal with climate change

considering gender if it is properly implemented

Agnes Otzelbergerrsquos (2011) research described how UNFCCC its

Kyoto Protocol Conference of parties (COP) GenderCC Global

Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA) etc have included and

planning to include the climate change policy considering gender

issue It also added the developing countryrsquos policies on climate

change regarding gender issue such as Hyogo Framework for

Action African Adaptation Program (AAP) This research is

comparatively more valuable to find out the climate change

policies responded to gender issue A report of World Health

Organization ldquoGender Climate Change and Healthrdquo described the

sectors that UNFCCC response for gender policies with the climate

change These responded sectors are health access to energy

transportation early warning systems and hazard management etc

Similarly Emmeline Skinner (2011) also described the policies of

UNFCCC the gender responsive movements of it and the initiatives

taken by the countries to reach Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs) At the same time he also included different countryrsquos

National Adaptation Policy for Action (NAPA) to understand the

gender mainstreaming policies in national level On the other

hand Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-2015) included gender

responsive policies and it recognizes that a gender perspective

should be integrated into all Disaster Risk Reduction policies

plans and decision-making processes including those associated

with existing climate variability and future climate change

17

Ministry of Environment and Forest had developed a Bangladesh

Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) 2009 which

built-in six pillars to implement and among those the first

pillar named lsquofood security social protection and healthrsquo

included women and children as special consideration for food

security safe housing employment access to basic services and

health Further National Water Policy (1999) of Bangladesh gave

emphasis to equal access to safe water and sanitation services

with an affordable cost for everyone It also prioritized on the

improvement of the role of women for decision making and water

management Ministry of Environment and Forest of Bangladesh also

developed another National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)

(2005) to deal with climate hazards Napa has a framework for

action of 2005 which included the actual and potential adverse

effect of climate change Napa prioritized on the urgent and

immediate action policy It also includes different adaptation

policies but excluding the gender issue Napa only emphasizes

gender equality but it does not include gender based policy

Unlike all these institutional policies United Nations

Development Program (UNDP) include gender and adaptation policy

quite precisely From the awareness making before climate hazards

to the post disaster situation they consider gender as a

significant issue while designing policy On the other hand the

draft of SAARC Comprehensive Framework on Disaster Management

(2006-2015) addressed about empowerment and strengthening gender

at the post disaster period They also prioritized on emergency

18

response management providing training and destined to focus on

gender issue with strong emphasis

Reviewing the existing policies the next focus of this research

goes on to find the effectiveness of these existing policies A

report of UNDP (2009) has clarified about the existing gender

responsive policies of UNDP for climate change It also included

the effective gender responsive programs of the UNDP UNFCCC and

NAPArsquos policy for climate change but mostly emphasized on the

policies of UNDP Further Mohammed Abdul Baten and Niaz Ahmed

Khan (2010) included a brief understanding in their writing about

how the gender responsive climate change policies exist in UNDP

UNFCCC NAPA BCCSAP etc and then they evaluated in the failures

of these policies regarding gender in their climate change

policy They provided a concise knowledge about the

ineffectiveness of policies while apply in reality

Effectiveness of the policies leads to understand the gaps

between policies and practices In this point of view Md Rabiul

Islam (2011) recommended in his research to prioritized women in

policies planning and program as he did not found women in

policies during his research He also discovers that women do not

have equal access to development activities of Government and

NGOs Further he finds out the week initiatives of local

administration while there is any judgment on different

unexpected torture on women Apart from these in his research he

also mentioned about women not having access to education and

training programs for adaptation and coping strategies Further

19

in a report of Tahera Akter (2009) evaluate that there are no

timeframe of any action plan to find out the problem in the

national policy She also addressed that the existing policies

are very old and are not capable to cope with changing natural

hazards Revealing these policy gaps she further mentioned that

there is lack of coordination among the organizations to

effectively evaluate the problems of environmentally displaced

people She also added that there is no national estimation or

prediction about environmental displacement World Health

Organization (WHO) also finds out some remarkable gaps between

the policies and practices in one of its report to understand the

issues for urgent action This report is mainly based on gender

climate change and health which evaluated some loopholes of the

overall existing policies

To reduce these loopholes climate change policies require

reformulation of its structure In this regard Sandra Bathge

(2010) concluded with some adaptation and mitigation measures

which can be also used as recommendation for this research as

those measures are related to policy formulation in a new way

This working paper included access to education land ownership

and services markets etc and also provided policies

considering gender about training programs awareness building

ability to generate income etc which lead this paper to design

the reformulation of climate change policies Further Alyson

Brody Justina Demetriades and Emily Esplen (2008) mostly

emphasized on the participation of women in decision making

20

processes around climate change adaptation and mitigation They

also recommended various aspects like identifying gender impacts

and adaptation priorities in both rural and urban areas

identifying gender implications of long term drought and

starvation etc on the other hand Nilufar Ahmad (2012) in her

paper mainly focused on the basis of individual policy

reformulation which is another most important literature for this

research She suggested BCCSAP to prioritize key gender entry

points indicators and annual targets and link these with the

budget She also recommended about accountable environmental

governance a gender informed cross-sectoral monitoring and

evaluation system to monitor construction and rehabilitation of

gender friendly and multi-purpose shelter and also other

important rights of women Emmeline Skinner (2011) also included

a number of notable suggestions for the pro-gender climate change

policy reformulation She added about strong political commitment

to gender equality stronger participation of women in climate

change institutions and processes conduct gender responsive

budgeting link mitigation and adaptation processes etc

These literatures are not much supportive to have a complete view

of the climate change policies on gender perspective and that is

one of the biggest challenges of this research Again reviewing

these important policies it was easy to figure out to a great

extent that the climate change policies need proper reformulation

and thus literature review evaluate the future improvements and

recommendations of gender sensitive climate change policies

21

8Theoretical ExplanationConcepts

My research follows the definition adopted by the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in which

ldquoclimate changerdquo refers to any change in climate over time

whether due to natural variability or as a result of human

activity7 This usage differs from that in the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which defines

ldquoclimate changerdquo as ldquoa change of climate which is attributed

directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the

composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to

natural climate variability observed over comparable time

periodsrdquo8

ldquoGenderrdquo refers to the socially constructed norms roles and

relations that a given society considers appropriate for men and

women Gender determines what is expected permitted and valued

in a woman or a man in a determined context9

A brief of Nandini Oberoi illustrated that Climate change is a

gender issue and that women are particularly vulnerable to

climate change because they are more prone to the adverse impacts

7Gender Climate change and Health World Health Organization pg5 Retrievedon September 23 2013 from wwwwhointglobalchangeGenderClimateChangeHealthfinalpdf8 ibid9 ibid

22

from climate change10 Changes in the climate usually impact on

sectors that are traditionally associated with women such as

paddy cultivation cotton and tea plantations and fishing11

In this research gender analysis is not a special focus on women

but rather an understanding on how discrimination against women

and gender roles interact to shape men and womenrsquos enjoyment of

human dignity rights as well as equality of living12

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) defines

Hazard as ldquoA potentially damaging physical event phenomenon or

human activity that may cause the loss of life or injury

property damage social and economic disruption or environmental

degradation Hazards can include latent conditions that may

represent future threats and can have different origins natural

(geological hydro meteorological and biological) or induced by

human processes (environmental degradation and technological

hazards)rdquo

TheoriesClimate change and gender and the relation between these two

phenomenons can be described with different theory This section

of research is destined to explain climate change and gender

relation with different International Relations theory

10Parikh J Mainstreaming Gender into Climate Change Policies Retrieved on July 8 2013 from wwwdisasterwatchnetclimatechangegndr_climt07pdf11 ibid12Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh GenderCC

23

i) Feminist Theory

The main concept of Radical feminist is lsquopatriarchyrsquo that means

the lsquorule of fatherrsquo In feminist theory we can see that there

are two form of patriarchy one is classical form of patriarchy

and another is more loose form of patriarchy But in both of the

patriarchal system women have no say in decision making Even

while they have to go through different types of mental and

physical violence during and after any climate hazard occur they

are not able to make any decision for themselves because

patriarchal society do not allow women to be treated equally as

men while decision making and it also reflects in climate change

policy

Liberal feminists are generally concerned with equal rights In

the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries liberal feminist argued

that women by nature different from men that means climate

vulnerabilities of women are also different from men They also

argued for womenrsquos equality on the grounds that they are capable

of making their personal decision and determine their best

interest which is as rational as men Therefore women should have

equal rights while decision making during any climate hazard The

reproductive chores such as child rearing and bearing water

collection food production and acquisition etc of any household

are mostly done by the female member of the family In this

regard climate hazards increases the burden for women and girls

because they are expected to ensure all this household chores

24

Radical feminist argued that to achieve genuine equality it is

important to share these responsibilities with men and as women

by nature different from men climate change policies also should

be gender sensitive

ii) Dependency Theory

According to dependency theory the core periphery and semi

periphery countryrsquos economy and development are interrelated and

interdependent So climate vulnerabilities of women are not an

internal matter for any particular country Rather it needs

global attention as it will also affect the other country and

their development process both directly and indirectly In this

regard global concern joint decision and gender responsive

climate change policy is required as the whole world is

ultimately dependent on each other

iii) Realist Theory

A very significant quote is important to address here by famous

realist scholar Thucydides is-

ldquoThe strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they mustrdquo

The developed countries as the lsquostrongrsquo power do what they want

to do to boost up their economy without considering climate

issues and the week (developing countries) suffer the effects

caused by climate change Before cold war the concept of

security used to consider as military power but in the

contemporary world climate security become more important rather

25

than military security Powerful states now are more concerned

about their own climate security and try to increase their

economic growth by exploiting the environment of weaker states

State as well as the people and mostly women of the developing

countries are the victim of this exploitation and they have to

bear different types of climate hazards which actually causes by

these developedpowerful states In result as women are the

weaker groups they suffer more than the stronger group of men

during all these climate hazards At the same time the men as

stronger group take every decision over the weaker women whenever

there is any climate hazard

iv) Neo-Liberal Theory

Neo-liberal theory supports the trade liberalization that means

removal of trade barrier opening of state economic enterprise

and privatization of market etc After the cold war the emergence

of globalization and the liberalization of market have increased

the investment of Multinational Corporations in the developing

world that have an adversely affect on their local climate The

waste materials and toxic gases emit during the production

procedure cause different types of climate hazards These

unwanted climate hazards also leave significant effect on women

As neo-liberalism emphasize on lsquoindividualrsquo women should be

consider as a group of individual while designing the policies

for climate change

26

Chapter III

ldquoHow climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

genderrdquo

9Climate Hazard Prone Areas of BangladeshThere are some common climate hazards often seen in Bangladesh

and areas mostly affected by these hazards in Bangladesh

identified to answer the above central research question

Different types of climate changersquos impacts such as flood

cyclone river erosion drought heavy rainfall sea level rise

soil degradation etc mainly seen in Bangladesh Among all these

climate hazards this research is mainly focused on three major

climate hazards of Bangladesh and these are- heavy rainfall and

flood river erosion and drought A quick view of climate

hazards prone areas of Bangladesh are given below

Table-1 (Climate Hazard Prone Areas of Bangladesh)

Climate Hazards Most Affected AreasDrought North-West Bengal districts

Rajshahi Gaibandha etcRiver Erosion Active river channels of the

Ganges the Jamuna and theTista rivers and in the coastaland offshore areas

Heavy Rainfall ndash North-western and western

27

Flood-

Bangladesh Chittagong hills

Central region North-Eastregion Charland South BengalBarisal Bagerhat KhulnaSatkhira etc

This table shows us that drought prone areas are mainly in North-

Western Bengalrsquos districts like Rajshahi Gaibandha etc which

has lower rainfall than the other areas of Bangladesh

(Map-1)

Source NAPA

28

River bank erosion prone areas are more or less around the whole

country but mostly it is being seen in the areas along the active

river channels of the Ganges the Jamuna and the Tista rivers and

in the coastal and offshore areas of Bangladesh13 About 17

million hectares of floodplain areas are prone to riverbank

erosion14

Floods are very common in Bangladesh and it affects almost 80

land of our country Every year Bangladesh has been facing 1 or 2

extreme disasters According to Zayeda Sharmin (2013) there are

different categories of floods in Bangladesh and these are ndash

(i) Monsoon floods it increase slowly and decrease slowly

inundate vast areas and causes huge loss to the life and

property

(ii) Flash floods from sudden torrential flows following a brief

intense rainstorm

(iii) Tidal floods which are of short duration but are generally

around 3 to 6 meter high and

(iv) Rain floods caused by drainage congestion and heavy rain

Flood prone areas are mainly in the south Bengal like Barisal

Bhola Bagerhat Khulna Shatkhira etc

13National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)(2005) Ministry of Environment and Forest Government of the Peoplersquos Republic of Bangladesh pg no-4 Retrieved on November 1 2013 From unfcccintresourcedocsnapaban01pdf14 Ibid

29

(Map-2)

Source NAPA

Lastly heavy rainfall is mainly seen in north-western and western

Bangladesh Chittagong hills and more or less all over the

country But mostly in the southern part than the northern part

of Bangladesh heavy rainfall is quite a common climate hazard

9 Climate Vulnerabilities of Women

As mentioned earlier that women are closely related to the

environmental elements it is obvious that climate change effects

should have impact on women In the context of climate change a

lsquogender analysisrsquo promotes an understanding of the ways that men

30

and women are differently impacted by climate-related hazards and

by adopting adaptation and mitigation strategies15 Now the

effects of climate-related hazards on gender are describing

below

Firstly in the drought prone areas

-the cultivable lands become difficult to produce any crops

Those women who depend on agricultural activities they become

helpless for their daily income In this case they face problem

to find new place for work and if by any chance they are able to

find work then they have to face different physical and mental

harassment at the working place

-On the other hand they have to take extra pressure to manage

their household because they have to go far for earning It also

decays their physical strength and at the same time they have to

face different unexpected challenges

Picture-1 Drought in Bangladesh

15Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh Op cit

31

Source Not Enough Goodcom available at

httpnotenoughgoodcom201208indian-blackoutdrought

-They also have to take care about the drinking and daily useable

water for their family which also bring another responsibility

and additional burden to handle They have to face different

types of sexual harassment as they have to go far to collect the

water

-Further pregnant women are more vulnerable during this type of

situation

Secondly at the period like flood and heavy rainfall

-women have no role in decision making for their future They

have to rely on their male head even the women who earn for their

household has no saying during these types of situation During

the survey the responses of women several times indicated that

those women had to accept what the male member of their family

decided Whether there was any health issue or household issue

women had to depend on the male to take any action

32

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

Climate Change and Gender A Critical Analysis of

Policy and Practice

A Research

Submitted to

Mohammad Towheedul Islam

Assistant Professor

Dept of International Relations

University of Dhaka

Submitted By

Tohura Moriom Misti

4th batch 8th Semester

Class roll SN-19

Exam roll 4571

Registration No হ-5257Dept of International Relations

University of Dhaka

iii

Date of Submission January 7 2014

iv

Acknowledgement

To complete this research there are lots of people who helped me during the whole

period I feel very grateful to them for their supportive and friendly nature

At first I would like to give thanks to Almighty Allah who blessed me with knowledge and

strength to complete this research within due time Then I would like to thanks to my

parents who always supported my decisions and actions My warm and cordial thanks

go to my supervisor Mohammad Towheedul Islam for his guidance and advice which

was most important to complete this research Then I would like to thank Dr A S M

Ali Ashraf who taught us proper knowledge about research writing while teaching

Research Methodology I also want to thank Dr Sohela Nazneen who has a great

contribution to make me interested and well known about gender Further I would like

to thank Sharmind Neelromi and Bushra Hasina Chowdhury who gave their valuable

time and shared their knowledge with me and also supported with literatures and

recommendations Finally I want to thank to my Friends and fellow classmates who

helped me with different information and knowledge during the research

iii

Abstract

As a coastal state Bangladesh has to deal with various types of climate hazards which

cause adverse effect on the gender Particularly women who engaged with agricultural

activities suffer the most while there is any climate hazard Flood drought heavy

rainfall and river bank erosion wipe out shelters create scarce of drinking water and

cause physical and mental damages Climate changersquos policies are now very responsive

to gender issue comparing to the past Again there has been negligence while applying

those policies towards the affected people These negligence and gaps between policy

and practice need to evaluate to reduce the vulnerability of climate change over gender

Newly reformed policy should also establish in this regard to achieve sustainable

human development

iv

Contents

Acknowledgment iii

Abstracthelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellipiv

Chapter- Ihelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip6

1 Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip62 Research Goalhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip73 Research Questionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip74 Methodology of Data Collectionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip85 Limitations of the Studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip9

Chapter- IIhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip10

6 Literature Reviewhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip107 Theoretical Explanation helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip16

Chapter- IIIhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip19

8 Climate Hazard Prone Areas in Bangladeshhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip199 Climate Vulnerabilities of Womenhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip22

v

Chapter- IVhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 27

10 Gender Responsive Climate Change Policieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip27101 International Policieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip27102 Regional Policy helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip32103 National Policieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip33

11Policy in Practice and its Effectivenesshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip35

12Loopholes Between Policies and Practiceshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip37

Chapter- Vhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 40

13Required Improvements for thePolicieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip40

14Recommendations from Research Findingshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip4115Concluding Remarkshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip43

Annexeshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip45

Bibliographyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip48

vi

Chapter I

1Introduction

Climate change often make the women worst sufferer as they are

very closely connected to the environmental components than men

in everyday life Especially those women who are engage with

agricultural activities and live in coastal areas Bangladesh is

both an agricultural and coastal country and for its geographical

location it has to face a lot of climate hazards At the same

time environmental politics of other countries is also

responsible for these climate hazards which cause rigorous impact

on the basis of gender particularly upon poor women Women who

directly or indirectly engaged into agricultural production have

to suffer more than the others of our country For instance in

2009 women of 18 to 60 years age group were 87377 affected by

cyclone Aila in Koira Dacope and Shyamnagar Upazila1 of

Bangladesh Therefore we need to understand the impacts of

climate change on the gender to apply sustainable development

policies There is numerous numbers of international

organizations conferences agreements as well as the national

organizations (both governmental and non-governmental) have been

working to reduce different climate changersquos impacts like mental

and physical suffering of women But there has been always

avoidance in gender issue while forming and applying climate

change policies In our country some major climate hazards are1Islam M R (2011) Vulnerability and Coping Strategies of Women in DisasterA Study on Coastal Areas of Bangladesh Arts Faculty Journal vol 4

flood river erosion heavy rainfall drought etc To sustain

properly with the climate change the efficacy of the existing

gender responsive climate change policies need to find out In

this regard this research will evaluate some reformation of the

existing policies to make them more effective so that the women

get more priority while forming climate change policy

2 Research Goal

Bangladesh is a least developed coastal state and for its

geographical location it has to face a lot of climate hazards

which causes remarkable impacts on the basis of gender

particularly upon the women As a member of United Nations (UN)

Bangladesh is already performing along with different UN programs

regarding this issue But gender issue has been always remaining

inattentive while designing climate change policies This

inattentiveness also exists while applying national and

international policies during climate hazards The goal of this

research is to-

7

- evaluate the role of different existing programs of UN and the

national policies of Bangladesh have to deal with climate change

considering gender issue

- For these reason the efficacy of the existing gender

responsive climate change policies will aim to find out through

this research

- Further this research tries to include what reformation the

existing climate change policies require to become more gender

considerate

3 Research QuestionsThis research is mainly focused on the following central

questions-

a) How climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

gender

b) How gender responsive policies reflect in different

international regional and national climate change policies

c) To what extent do these policies are effective comparing to

real scenario

d) If no what modifications do these policies required to

prevent the climate change impacts on women of our country

This research is designed and aimed at considering these four

central questions to find out the best suitable answer

8

4 Methodology of Data Collection

This is an individual research project for academic purpose and

is based on the context of Bangladesh This research is designed

using qualitative method which includes both primary sources and

secondary sources of data As it is an individual research paper

this research is mostly relied on secondary sources of data

Primary Sources of Data

a) Survey of 12 female from three villages (Kharasombol

Boyitpur and Fatepur) of Bagerhat district

b) Expertrsquos interviews of Sharmind Neelromi2 and Bushra Hasina

Chowdhury3 to find the difference between policies and

practices and also to include policy reformulation

Secondary Sources of Data

This research is mainly based on secondary resources like

published researches and articles but apart from these different

journals books and internet resources are also widely used for

this research as secondary data

Review of different policies like UNFCCC UNDP Hyogo Framework

for Action National Action Plan 2008 Bangladesh Climate Change

Strategy and Action Plan 2009 SAARC Framework for Action

2Assistant Professor Dept of Economics Jahangir Nagar University3Assistant Professor Dept of International Relations University of Dhaka

9

Migration policies Land Policies inheritance policies water

policies etc

Data Collection Method

Primary data were collected by a small questionnaire (see

appendix) survey of 12 female who suffered different impacts of

climate change (like flood heavy rainfall river erosion) from

three villages (Kharasombol Boyitpur and Fatepur) of Bagerhat

district direct interview of experts and reviewing policies from

different websites

Secondary data were collected from seminar library of Dept of

International Relations Dept of Disaster Management and

Vulnerability Studies Dept of Women and Gender Studies central

library of university of Dhaka British Council Library etc

6Limitations of the StudyEvery research projects have to go through some limitations and

challenges more or less and this research paper is not beyond

that problem Limitations and challenges faced during this

research are the followings

Firstly limitations of time were one of the crucial challenges

for this research because if there were sufficient time then a

lot more has to enrich this research

10

Secondly this research is an individual research which is

another important barrier faced during the whole period

Thirdly there was no funding for this research that excluded

this research from having a sufficient amount of victimrsquos

interview from all over the country which is very significant

while working on policy reformulation

Fourthly expertrsquos interview from Ministry level would have added

value for this research but due to different political

instability it could not be possible

Fifthly during the survey there was a tendency among the women

to lie about the help they got from different organization in

order to get more help in future This was another notable

challenge that made it difficult to find the actual scenario

Sixthly the number of interviewee was too short to reach any

decision about the policy practice as it provides poor

information

This research has huge impacts of these limitations and

challenges

Chapter II

11

7Literature Review

Literature review of this research begins with Cecile Jackson

(1993) who emphasized the affinity of women with the environment

Further he showed the essentialist linkages between women and

environment His analysis is based on different context such as

on the context of Zimbabwe Malaysia Kenya Tanzania etc which

give a distinct view of gender relation with the climate change

in different places But later he summarized that there cannot be

a special relationship between women and environments because

women are not a unitary category and their environmental

relations reflect not only divisions among women but also gender

relations and the dynamics of political economies and agro-

ecosystems4Joan Davidson (2007) in his article analyzed more

precisely the relation of women with land water and forests and

energy He described how changes in agriculture forestry and

water and waste management have affect women which clearly show

the relation of climate change with gender He also explored the

way in which women relate to a number of different natural

resources in both rural and urban areas5Ahsan Uddin Ahmed

Sharmind Neelormi Neelopal Adri et al (2009) showed the

linkages among climate change livelihoods poverty and women in

their research This research included different climate changes

4Jackson C (1993) Doing What Comes naturally Women and Environment in Development World Development Vol 21 Retrieved on August 172013 from josiahberkeleyedu2007FallER275Readingsjackson-GAD-1993pdf5Davidson J (1993) Womens relationship with the environment Gender amp Development Retrieved on August 17 2013 from httpdxdoiorg10108009682869308519944

12

and its effects very precisely to describe the relation of

environmental change and gender For instance they described how

the increased monsoon flows dry season low flows cyclones etc

affect the women children and old people

As this research is on the gender policies regarding climate

change at first the relation between climate change and gender

need to understand The above writers gave a clear knowledge in

there writings to understand the relation and linkages between

climate change and gender

Then for the further advancement the impacts of climate change

upon gender are important to find out to analyze the

authentication of policy practice In this regard Christine Haigh

and Bernadette Vallely (2010) in their report found the distinct

impacts of climate change on women in both developed and

developing countries To describe the impacts of climate change

on gender they included that ldquoClimate change impacts will be

differently distributed among different regions generations age

classes income groups occupations and gendersrdquo6Further they

described the impacts on women during different climate change

such as disasters and extreme weather events forced migration

for climate change water and energy etc using some case studies

which are very significant to have a view over the reality Joan

Davidson (2007) more distinctly added the problems that women

face in urban environments while they migrate from their rural

6Climate Change 2007 Impacts Adaptation and Vulnerability IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change Retrieved on August 17 2013 fromhttpswwwipccchclimate-changes-2001wg2-summary-policymakerspdf

13

areas for environmental degradation He also included that women

do not have ownership of the land that they work so hard for

which cause seasonal unemployment and insecurity He also found

out the scarcity of water and fuel wood led the women to

different physical trauma Later he also evaluated three (the

effects of minimal services the constant danger of industrial

pollution and the cumulative deterioration of the urban

hinterland) kind of environmental degradation women suffer in

urban fringe areas Further Research team of Ahsan Uddin Ahmed

Sharmind Neelormi Neelopal Adri et al (2009) also included

different area basis study to find out authentic data about the

impacts of climate change on women and special vulnerable group

which is very helpful to gather knowledge about real scenario

Their research also provides different distinct climate change

issues and their impacts on gender in different places for

example Cyclonic Storm Surge in Coastal Islands Salinity in

Tala and Shaymnagar Upazilas of Satkhira District Drought in

Manda Upazila of Naogaon District River Erosion in Kurigram and

Faridpur etc Midori Aoyagi Eiko Suda and Tomomi Shinada (2011)

added the effects of climate change upon gender in their working

paper They evaluated that people in poor countries such as

Africa are comparatively more vulnerable to climate change

impacts

These writings provide a clear vision about the mental and

physical impacts do the climate change have on the gender But

these writings are not very recent and to understand the present

14

scenario recent writings will be more helpful Because dealing

with the existing policies require the recent and authentic data

to reach at the goal And it is important to mention here that

the paper of Midori Aoyagi Eiko Suda and Tomomi Shinada (2011)

is mostly focused on disaster recovery the land ownership and

inheritance system which are not much important while finding the

impacts of climate on gender

Having a clear understanding of the climate change and its

effects on gender now it is a matter of concern what policies

exist there to prevent from these obstacles At first

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007)

emphasized on the adverse effect of climate change towards

gender IPCC (2007) recognized that women suffer more than the

men in climate hazards With this point IPCC included gender

mainstreaming and gender equality in its policy On the other

hand Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009) in her research included the

existing International and local institutions that are related to

disaster management and different international conferences that

deal with policies and interventions to prevent violence against

women and for disaster management She added the policies of

climate change adaptation and disaster reduction on gender of

Womenrsquos Human Rights of millennium development goal (MDGs) Hyogo

Framework for Action (2005-2015) World Conference on Disaster

Reduction United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC) SAARC Framework for Action (2006-2015) National Action

Plan (NAP) for Womenrsquos Advancement Relevant laws to curb

15

violence against women like Penal Code 1860 Muslim Family law

Ordinance (1961) etc She also provided the draft of National

Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) and Disaster Management

Regulative Framework which show the future attempts of Bangladesh

for disaster management National Action Plan (2008) of

Bangladesh included different existing projects and Institutions

that Bangladesh have for climate change adaptation such as The

Climate Change Action Plan (2009-2018) National Adaptation

Program of Action (2005) the National Disaster Management

Council (NDMC) National Climate Change Fund The Ministry of

Food and Disaster Management etc

These two are helpful to have an overview of the existing

policies for climate change But Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009)

mentioned in her research that there are several global

conferences and agreements on climate change but still all these

initiatives could not gain much remarkable success Moreover the

gender perspective is not getting much priority in all these

initiatives Similarly from the National Action Plan (2008) it is

also clearly been seen that gender is not consider as a separate

issue of concern while making policies for climate change But

draft of National Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) has

included gender into their policy very distinctly It mentioned

about the advancement of local judiciary system monitoring the

food distribution process advance mechanism for pure drinking

water to prevent different diseases providing training about the

disaster management process and structural violence as well This

16

plan could gain a great success to deal with climate change

considering gender if it is properly implemented

Agnes Otzelbergerrsquos (2011) research described how UNFCCC its

Kyoto Protocol Conference of parties (COP) GenderCC Global

Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA) etc have included and

planning to include the climate change policy considering gender

issue It also added the developing countryrsquos policies on climate

change regarding gender issue such as Hyogo Framework for

Action African Adaptation Program (AAP) This research is

comparatively more valuable to find out the climate change

policies responded to gender issue A report of World Health

Organization ldquoGender Climate Change and Healthrdquo described the

sectors that UNFCCC response for gender policies with the climate

change These responded sectors are health access to energy

transportation early warning systems and hazard management etc

Similarly Emmeline Skinner (2011) also described the policies of

UNFCCC the gender responsive movements of it and the initiatives

taken by the countries to reach Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs) At the same time he also included different countryrsquos

National Adaptation Policy for Action (NAPA) to understand the

gender mainstreaming policies in national level On the other

hand Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-2015) included gender

responsive policies and it recognizes that a gender perspective

should be integrated into all Disaster Risk Reduction policies

plans and decision-making processes including those associated

with existing climate variability and future climate change

17

Ministry of Environment and Forest had developed a Bangladesh

Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) 2009 which

built-in six pillars to implement and among those the first

pillar named lsquofood security social protection and healthrsquo

included women and children as special consideration for food

security safe housing employment access to basic services and

health Further National Water Policy (1999) of Bangladesh gave

emphasis to equal access to safe water and sanitation services

with an affordable cost for everyone It also prioritized on the

improvement of the role of women for decision making and water

management Ministry of Environment and Forest of Bangladesh also

developed another National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)

(2005) to deal with climate hazards Napa has a framework for

action of 2005 which included the actual and potential adverse

effect of climate change Napa prioritized on the urgent and

immediate action policy It also includes different adaptation

policies but excluding the gender issue Napa only emphasizes

gender equality but it does not include gender based policy

Unlike all these institutional policies United Nations

Development Program (UNDP) include gender and adaptation policy

quite precisely From the awareness making before climate hazards

to the post disaster situation they consider gender as a

significant issue while designing policy On the other hand the

draft of SAARC Comprehensive Framework on Disaster Management

(2006-2015) addressed about empowerment and strengthening gender

at the post disaster period They also prioritized on emergency

18

response management providing training and destined to focus on

gender issue with strong emphasis

Reviewing the existing policies the next focus of this research

goes on to find the effectiveness of these existing policies A

report of UNDP (2009) has clarified about the existing gender

responsive policies of UNDP for climate change It also included

the effective gender responsive programs of the UNDP UNFCCC and

NAPArsquos policy for climate change but mostly emphasized on the

policies of UNDP Further Mohammed Abdul Baten and Niaz Ahmed

Khan (2010) included a brief understanding in their writing about

how the gender responsive climate change policies exist in UNDP

UNFCCC NAPA BCCSAP etc and then they evaluated in the failures

of these policies regarding gender in their climate change

policy They provided a concise knowledge about the

ineffectiveness of policies while apply in reality

Effectiveness of the policies leads to understand the gaps

between policies and practices In this point of view Md Rabiul

Islam (2011) recommended in his research to prioritized women in

policies planning and program as he did not found women in

policies during his research He also discovers that women do not

have equal access to development activities of Government and

NGOs Further he finds out the week initiatives of local

administration while there is any judgment on different

unexpected torture on women Apart from these in his research he

also mentioned about women not having access to education and

training programs for adaptation and coping strategies Further

19

in a report of Tahera Akter (2009) evaluate that there are no

timeframe of any action plan to find out the problem in the

national policy She also addressed that the existing policies

are very old and are not capable to cope with changing natural

hazards Revealing these policy gaps she further mentioned that

there is lack of coordination among the organizations to

effectively evaluate the problems of environmentally displaced

people She also added that there is no national estimation or

prediction about environmental displacement World Health

Organization (WHO) also finds out some remarkable gaps between

the policies and practices in one of its report to understand the

issues for urgent action This report is mainly based on gender

climate change and health which evaluated some loopholes of the

overall existing policies

To reduce these loopholes climate change policies require

reformulation of its structure In this regard Sandra Bathge

(2010) concluded with some adaptation and mitigation measures

which can be also used as recommendation for this research as

those measures are related to policy formulation in a new way

This working paper included access to education land ownership

and services markets etc and also provided policies

considering gender about training programs awareness building

ability to generate income etc which lead this paper to design

the reformulation of climate change policies Further Alyson

Brody Justina Demetriades and Emily Esplen (2008) mostly

emphasized on the participation of women in decision making

20

processes around climate change adaptation and mitigation They

also recommended various aspects like identifying gender impacts

and adaptation priorities in both rural and urban areas

identifying gender implications of long term drought and

starvation etc on the other hand Nilufar Ahmad (2012) in her

paper mainly focused on the basis of individual policy

reformulation which is another most important literature for this

research She suggested BCCSAP to prioritize key gender entry

points indicators and annual targets and link these with the

budget She also recommended about accountable environmental

governance a gender informed cross-sectoral monitoring and

evaluation system to monitor construction and rehabilitation of

gender friendly and multi-purpose shelter and also other

important rights of women Emmeline Skinner (2011) also included

a number of notable suggestions for the pro-gender climate change

policy reformulation She added about strong political commitment

to gender equality stronger participation of women in climate

change institutions and processes conduct gender responsive

budgeting link mitigation and adaptation processes etc

These literatures are not much supportive to have a complete view

of the climate change policies on gender perspective and that is

one of the biggest challenges of this research Again reviewing

these important policies it was easy to figure out to a great

extent that the climate change policies need proper reformulation

and thus literature review evaluate the future improvements and

recommendations of gender sensitive climate change policies

21

8Theoretical ExplanationConcepts

My research follows the definition adopted by the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in which

ldquoclimate changerdquo refers to any change in climate over time

whether due to natural variability or as a result of human

activity7 This usage differs from that in the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which defines

ldquoclimate changerdquo as ldquoa change of climate which is attributed

directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the

composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to

natural climate variability observed over comparable time

periodsrdquo8

ldquoGenderrdquo refers to the socially constructed norms roles and

relations that a given society considers appropriate for men and

women Gender determines what is expected permitted and valued

in a woman or a man in a determined context9

A brief of Nandini Oberoi illustrated that Climate change is a

gender issue and that women are particularly vulnerable to

climate change because they are more prone to the adverse impacts

7Gender Climate change and Health World Health Organization pg5 Retrievedon September 23 2013 from wwwwhointglobalchangeGenderClimateChangeHealthfinalpdf8 ibid9 ibid

22

from climate change10 Changes in the climate usually impact on

sectors that are traditionally associated with women such as

paddy cultivation cotton and tea plantations and fishing11

In this research gender analysis is not a special focus on women

but rather an understanding on how discrimination against women

and gender roles interact to shape men and womenrsquos enjoyment of

human dignity rights as well as equality of living12

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) defines

Hazard as ldquoA potentially damaging physical event phenomenon or

human activity that may cause the loss of life or injury

property damage social and economic disruption or environmental

degradation Hazards can include latent conditions that may

represent future threats and can have different origins natural

(geological hydro meteorological and biological) or induced by

human processes (environmental degradation and technological

hazards)rdquo

TheoriesClimate change and gender and the relation between these two

phenomenons can be described with different theory This section

of research is destined to explain climate change and gender

relation with different International Relations theory

10Parikh J Mainstreaming Gender into Climate Change Policies Retrieved on July 8 2013 from wwwdisasterwatchnetclimatechangegndr_climt07pdf11 ibid12Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh GenderCC

23

i) Feminist Theory

The main concept of Radical feminist is lsquopatriarchyrsquo that means

the lsquorule of fatherrsquo In feminist theory we can see that there

are two form of patriarchy one is classical form of patriarchy

and another is more loose form of patriarchy But in both of the

patriarchal system women have no say in decision making Even

while they have to go through different types of mental and

physical violence during and after any climate hazard occur they

are not able to make any decision for themselves because

patriarchal society do not allow women to be treated equally as

men while decision making and it also reflects in climate change

policy

Liberal feminists are generally concerned with equal rights In

the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries liberal feminist argued

that women by nature different from men that means climate

vulnerabilities of women are also different from men They also

argued for womenrsquos equality on the grounds that they are capable

of making their personal decision and determine their best

interest which is as rational as men Therefore women should have

equal rights while decision making during any climate hazard The

reproductive chores such as child rearing and bearing water

collection food production and acquisition etc of any household

are mostly done by the female member of the family In this

regard climate hazards increases the burden for women and girls

because they are expected to ensure all this household chores

24

Radical feminist argued that to achieve genuine equality it is

important to share these responsibilities with men and as women

by nature different from men climate change policies also should

be gender sensitive

ii) Dependency Theory

According to dependency theory the core periphery and semi

periphery countryrsquos economy and development are interrelated and

interdependent So climate vulnerabilities of women are not an

internal matter for any particular country Rather it needs

global attention as it will also affect the other country and

their development process both directly and indirectly In this

regard global concern joint decision and gender responsive

climate change policy is required as the whole world is

ultimately dependent on each other

iii) Realist Theory

A very significant quote is important to address here by famous

realist scholar Thucydides is-

ldquoThe strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they mustrdquo

The developed countries as the lsquostrongrsquo power do what they want

to do to boost up their economy without considering climate

issues and the week (developing countries) suffer the effects

caused by climate change Before cold war the concept of

security used to consider as military power but in the

contemporary world climate security become more important rather

25

than military security Powerful states now are more concerned

about their own climate security and try to increase their

economic growth by exploiting the environment of weaker states

State as well as the people and mostly women of the developing

countries are the victim of this exploitation and they have to

bear different types of climate hazards which actually causes by

these developedpowerful states In result as women are the

weaker groups they suffer more than the stronger group of men

during all these climate hazards At the same time the men as

stronger group take every decision over the weaker women whenever

there is any climate hazard

iv) Neo-Liberal Theory

Neo-liberal theory supports the trade liberalization that means

removal of trade barrier opening of state economic enterprise

and privatization of market etc After the cold war the emergence

of globalization and the liberalization of market have increased

the investment of Multinational Corporations in the developing

world that have an adversely affect on their local climate The

waste materials and toxic gases emit during the production

procedure cause different types of climate hazards These

unwanted climate hazards also leave significant effect on women

As neo-liberalism emphasize on lsquoindividualrsquo women should be

consider as a group of individual while designing the policies

for climate change

26

Chapter III

ldquoHow climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

genderrdquo

9Climate Hazard Prone Areas of BangladeshThere are some common climate hazards often seen in Bangladesh

and areas mostly affected by these hazards in Bangladesh

identified to answer the above central research question

Different types of climate changersquos impacts such as flood

cyclone river erosion drought heavy rainfall sea level rise

soil degradation etc mainly seen in Bangladesh Among all these

climate hazards this research is mainly focused on three major

climate hazards of Bangladesh and these are- heavy rainfall and

flood river erosion and drought A quick view of climate

hazards prone areas of Bangladesh are given below

Table-1 (Climate Hazard Prone Areas of Bangladesh)

Climate Hazards Most Affected AreasDrought North-West Bengal districts

Rajshahi Gaibandha etcRiver Erosion Active river channels of the

Ganges the Jamuna and theTista rivers and in the coastaland offshore areas

Heavy Rainfall ndash North-western and western

27

Flood-

Bangladesh Chittagong hills

Central region North-Eastregion Charland South BengalBarisal Bagerhat KhulnaSatkhira etc

This table shows us that drought prone areas are mainly in North-

Western Bengalrsquos districts like Rajshahi Gaibandha etc which

has lower rainfall than the other areas of Bangladesh

(Map-1)

Source NAPA

28

River bank erosion prone areas are more or less around the whole

country but mostly it is being seen in the areas along the active

river channels of the Ganges the Jamuna and the Tista rivers and

in the coastal and offshore areas of Bangladesh13 About 17

million hectares of floodplain areas are prone to riverbank

erosion14

Floods are very common in Bangladesh and it affects almost 80

land of our country Every year Bangladesh has been facing 1 or 2

extreme disasters According to Zayeda Sharmin (2013) there are

different categories of floods in Bangladesh and these are ndash

(i) Monsoon floods it increase slowly and decrease slowly

inundate vast areas and causes huge loss to the life and

property

(ii) Flash floods from sudden torrential flows following a brief

intense rainstorm

(iii) Tidal floods which are of short duration but are generally

around 3 to 6 meter high and

(iv) Rain floods caused by drainage congestion and heavy rain

Flood prone areas are mainly in the south Bengal like Barisal

Bhola Bagerhat Khulna Shatkhira etc

13National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)(2005) Ministry of Environment and Forest Government of the Peoplersquos Republic of Bangladesh pg no-4 Retrieved on November 1 2013 From unfcccintresourcedocsnapaban01pdf14 Ibid

29

(Map-2)

Source NAPA

Lastly heavy rainfall is mainly seen in north-western and western

Bangladesh Chittagong hills and more or less all over the

country But mostly in the southern part than the northern part

of Bangladesh heavy rainfall is quite a common climate hazard

9 Climate Vulnerabilities of Women

As mentioned earlier that women are closely related to the

environmental elements it is obvious that climate change effects

should have impact on women In the context of climate change a

lsquogender analysisrsquo promotes an understanding of the ways that men

30

and women are differently impacted by climate-related hazards and

by adopting adaptation and mitigation strategies15 Now the

effects of climate-related hazards on gender are describing

below

Firstly in the drought prone areas

-the cultivable lands become difficult to produce any crops

Those women who depend on agricultural activities they become

helpless for their daily income In this case they face problem

to find new place for work and if by any chance they are able to

find work then they have to face different physical and mental

harassment at the working place

-On the other hand they have to take extra pressure to manage

their household because they have to go far for earning It also

decays their physical strength and at the same time they have to

face different unexpected challenges

Picture-1 Drought in Bangladesh

15Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh Op cit

31

Source Not Enough Goodcom available at

httpnotenoughgoodcom201208indian-blackoutdrought

-They also have to take care about the drinking and daily useable

water for their family which also bring another responsibility

and additional burden to handle They have to face different

types of sexual harassment as they have to go far to collect the

water

-Further pregnant women are more vulnerable during this type of

situation

Secondly at the period like flood and heavy rainfall

-women have no role in decision making for their future They

have to rely on their male head even the women who earn for their

household has no saying during these types of situation During

the survey the responses of women several times indicated that

those women had to accept what the male member of their family

decided Whether there was any health issue or household issue

women had to depend on the male to take any action

32

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

Date of Submission January 7 2014

iv

Acknowledgement

To complete this research there are lots of people who helped me during the whole

period I feel very grateful to them for their supportive and friendly nature

At first I would like to give thanks to Almighty Allah who blessed me with knowledge and

strength to complete this research within due time Then I would like to thanks to my

parents who always supported my decisions and actions My warm and cordial thanks

go to my supervisor Mohammad Towheedul Islam for his guidance and advice which

was most important to complete this research Then I would like to thank Dr A S M

Ali Ashraf who taught us proper knowledge about research writing while teaching

Research Methodology I also want to thank Dr Sohela Nazneen who has a great

contribution to make me interested and well known about gender Further I would like

to thank Sharmind Neelromi and Bushra Hasina Chowdhury who gave their valuable

time and shared their knowledge with me and also supported with literatures and

recommendations Finally I want to thank to my Friends and fellow classmates who

helped me with different information and knowledge during the research

iii

Abstract

As a coastal state Bangladesh has to deal with various types of climate hazards which

cause adverse effect on the gender Particularly women who engaged with agricultural

activities suffer the most while there is any climate hazard Flood drought heavy

rainfall and river bank erosion wipe out shelters create scarce of drinking water and

cause physical and mental damages Climate changersquos policies are now very responsive

to gender issue comparing to the past Again there has been negligence while applying

those policies towards the affected people These negligence and gaps between policy

and practice need to evaluate to reduce the vulnerability of climate change over gender

Newly reformed policy should also establish in this regard to achieve sustainable

human development

iv

Contents

Acknowledgment iii

Abstracthelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellipiv

Chapter- Ihelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip6

1 Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip62 Research Goalhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip73 Research Questionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip74 Methodology of Data Collectionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip85 Limitations of the Studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip9

Chapter- IIhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip10

6 Literature Reviewhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip107 Theoretical Explanation helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip16

Chapter- IIIhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip19

8 Climate Hazard Prone Areas in Bangladeshhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip199 Climate Vulnerabilities of Womenhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip22

v

Chapter- IVhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 27

10 Gender Responsive Climate Change Policieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip27101 International Policieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip27102 Regional Policy helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip32103 National Policieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip33

11Policy in Practice and its Effectivenesshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip35

12Loopholes Between Policies and Practiceshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip37

Chapter- Vhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 40

13Required Improvements for thePolicieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip40

14Recommendations from Research Findingshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip4115Concluding Remarkshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip43

Annexeshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip45

Bibliographyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip48

vi

Chapter I

1Introduction

Climate change often make the women worst sufferer as they are

very closely connected to the environmental components than men

in everyday life Especially those women who are engage with

agricultural activities and live in coastal areas Bangladesh is

both an agricultural and coastal country and for its geographical

location it has to face a lot of climate hazards At the same

time environmental politics of other countries is also

responsible for these climate hazards which cause rigorous impact

on the basis of gender particularly upon poor women Women who

directly or indirectly engaged into agricultural production have

to suffer more than the others of our country For instance in

2009 women of 18 to 60 years age group were 87377 affected by

cyclone Aila in Koira Dacope and Shyamnagar Upazila1 of

Bangladesh Therefore we need to understand the impacts of

climate change on the gender to apply sustainable development

policies There is numerous numbers of international

organizations conferences agreements as well as the national

organizations (both governmental and non-governmental) have been

working to reduce different climate changersquos impacts like mental

and physical suffering of women But there has been always

avoidance in gender issue while forming and applying climate

change policies In our country some major climate hazards are1Islam M R (2011) Vulnerability and Coping Strategies of Women in DisasterA Study on Coastal Areas of Bangladesh Arts Faculty Journal vol 4

flood river erosion heavy rainfall drought etc To sustain

properly with the climate change the efficacy of the existing

gender responsive climate change policies need to find out In

this regard this research will evaluate some reformation of the

existing policies to make them more effective so that the women

get more priority while forming climate change policy

2 Research Goal

Bangladesh is a least developed coastal state and for its

geographical location it has to face a lot of climate hazards

which causes remarkable impacts on the basis of gender

particularly upon the women As a member of United Nations (UN)

Bangladesh is already performing along with different UN programs

regarding this issue But gender issue has been always remaining

inattentive while designing climate change policies This

inattentiveness also exists while applying national and

international policies during climate hazards The goal of this

research is to-

7

- evaluate the role of different existing programs of UN and the

national policies of Bangladesh have to deal with climate change

considering gender issue

- For these reason the efficacy of the existing gender

responsive climate change policies will aim to find out through

this research

- Further this research tries to include what reformation the

existing climate change policies require to become more gender

considerate

3 Research QuestionsThis research is mainly focused on the following central

questions-

a) How climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

gender

b) How gender responsive policies reflect in different

international regional and national climate change policies

c) To what extent do these policies are effective comparing to

real scenario

d) If no what modifications do these policies required to

prevent the climate change impacts on women of our country

This research is designed and aimed at considering these four

central questions to find out the best suitable answer

8

4 Methodology of Data Collection

This is an individual research project for academic purpose and

is based on the context of Bangladesh This research is designed

using qualitative method which includes both primary sources and

secondary sources of data As it is an individual research paper

this research is mostly relied on secondary sources of data

Primary Sources of Data

a) Survey of 12 female from three villages (Kharasombol

Boyitpur and Fatepur) of Bagerhat district

b) Expertrsquos interviews of Sharmind Neelromi2 and Bushra Hasina

Chowdhury3 to find the difference between policies and

practices and also to include policy reformulation

Secondary Sources of Data

This research is mainly based on secondary resources like

published researches and articles but apart from these different

journals books and internet resources are also widely used for

this research as secondary data

Review of different policies like UNFCCC UNDP Hyogo Framework

for Action National Action Plan 2008 Bangladesh Climate Change

Strategy and Action Plan 2009 SAARC Framework for Action

2Assistant Professor Dept of Economics Jahangir Nagar University3Assistant Professor Dept of International Relations University of Dhaka

9

Migration policies Land Policies inheritance policies water

policies etc

Data Collection Method

Primary data were collected by a small questionnaire (see

appendix) survey of 12 female who suffered different impacts of

climate change (like flood heavy rainfall river erosion) from

three villages (Kharasombol Boyitpur and Fatepur) of Bagerhat

district direct interview of experts and reviewing policies from

different websites

Secondary data were collected from seminar library of Dept of

International Relations Dept of Disaster Management and

Vulnerability Studies Dept of Women and Gender Studies central

library of university of Dhaka British Council Library etc

6Limitations of the StudyEvery research projects have to go through some limitations and

challenges more or less and this research paper is not beyond

that problem Limitations and challenges faced during this

research are the followings

Firstly limitations of time were one of the crucial challenges

for this research because if there were sufficient time then a

lot more has to enrich this research

10

Secondly this research is an individual research which is

another important barrier faced during the whole period

Thirdly there was no funding for this research that excluded

this research from having a sufficient amount of victimrsquos

interview from all over the country which is very significant

while working on policy reformulation

Fourthly expertrsquos interview from Ministry level would have added

value for this research but due to different political

instability it could not be possible

Fifthly during the survey there was a tendency among the women

to lie about the help they got from different organization in

order to get more help in future This was another notable

challenge that made it difficult to find the actual scenario

Sixthly the number of interviewee was too short to reach any

decision about the policy practice as it provides poor

information

This research has huge impacts of these limitations and

challenges

Chapter II

11

7Literature Review

Literature review of this research begins with Cecile Jackson

(1993) who emphasized the affinity of women with the environment

Further he showed the essentialist linkages between women and

environment His analysis is based on different context such as

on the context of Zimbabwe Malaysia Kenya Tanzania etc which

give a distinct view of gender relation with the climate change

in different places But later he summarized that there cannot be

a special relationship between women and environments because

women are not a unitary category and their environmental

relations reflect not only divisions among women but also gender

relations and the dynamics of political economies and agro-

ecosystems4Joan Davidson (2007) in his article analyzed more

precisely the relation of women with land water and forests and

energy He described how changes in agriculture forestry and

water and waste management have affect women which clearly show

the relation of climate change with gender He also explored the

way in which women relate to a number of different natural

resources in both rural and urban areas5Ahsan Uddin Ahmed

Sharmind Neelormi Neelopal Adri et al (2009) showed the

linkages among climate change livelihoods poverty and women in

their research This research included different climate changes

4Jackson C (1993) Doing What Comes naturally Women and Environment in Development World Development Vol 21 Retrieved on August 172013 from josiahberkeleyedu2007FallER275Readingsjackson-GAD-1993pdf5Davidson J (1993) Womens relationship with the environment Gender amp Development Retrieved on August 17 2013 from httpdxdoiorg10108009682869308519944

12

and its effects very precisely to describe the relation of

environmental change and gender For instance they described how

the increased monsoon flows dry season low flows cyclones etc

affect the women children and old people

As this research is on the gender policies regarding climate

change at first the relation between climate change and gender

need to understand The above writers gave a clear knowledge in

there writings to understand the relation and linkages between

climate change and gender

Then for the further advancement the impacts of climate change

upon gender are important to find out to analyze the

authentication of policy practice In this regard Christine Haigh

and Bernadette Vallely (2010) in their report found the distinct

impacts of climate change on women in both developed and

developing countries To describe the impacts of climate change

on gender they included that ldquoClimate change impacts will be

differently distributed among different regions generations age

classes income groups occupations and gendersrdquo6Further they

described the impacts on women during different climate change

such as disasters and extreme weather events forced migration

for climate change water and energy etc using some case studies

which are very significant to have a view over the reality Joan

Davidson (2007) more distinctly added the problems that women

face in urban environments while they migrate from their rural

6Climate Change 2007 Impacts Adaptation and Vulnerability IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change Retrieved on August 17 2013 fromhttpswwwipccchclimate-changes-2001wg2-summary-policymakerspdf

13

areas for environmental degradation He also included that women

do not have ownership of the land that they work so hard for

which cause seasonal unemployment and insecurity He also found

out the scarcity of water and fuel wood led the women to

different physical trauma Later he also evaluated three (the

effects of minimal services the constant danger of industrial

pollution and the cumulative deterioration of the urban

hinterland) kind of environmental degradation women suffer in

urban fringe areas Further Research team of Ahsan Uddin Ahmed

Sharmind Neelormi Neelopal Adri et al (2009) also included

different area basis study to find out authentic data about the

impacts of climate change on women and special vulnerable group

which is very helpful to gather knowledge about real scenario

Their research also provides different distinct climate change

issues and their impacts on gender in different places for

example Cyclonic Storm Surge in Coastal Islands Salinity in

Tala and Shaymnagar Upazilas of Satkhira District Drought in

Manda Upazila of Naogaon District River Erosion in Kurigram and

Faridpur etc Midori Aoyagi Eiko Suda and Tomomi Shinada (2011)

added the effects of climate change upon gender in their working

paper They evaluated that people in poor countries such as

Africa are comparatively more vulnerable to climate change

impacts

These writings provide a clear vision about the mental and

physical impacts do the climate change have on the gender But

these writings are not very recent and to understand the present

14

scenario recent writings will be more helpful Because dealing

with the existing policies require the recent and authentic data

to reach at the goal And it is important to mention here that

the paper of Midori Aoyagi Eiko Suda and Tomomi Shinada (2011)

is mostly focused on disaster recovery the land ownership and

inheritance system which are not much important while finding the

impacts of climate on gender

Having a clear understanding of the climate change and its

effects on gender now it is a matter of concern what policies

exist there to prevent from these obstacles At first

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007)

emphasized on the adverse effect of climate change towards

gender IPCC (2007) recognized that women suffer more than the

men in climate hazards With this point IPCC included gender

mainstreaming and gender equality in its policy On the other

hand Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009) in her research included the

existing International and local institutions that are related to

disaster management and different international conferences that

deal with policies and interventions to prevent violence against

women and for disaster management She added the policies of

climate change adaptation and disaster reduction on gender of

Womenrsquos Human Rights of millennium development goal (MDGs) Hyogo

Framework for Action (2005-2015) World Conference on Disaster

Reduction United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC) SAARC Framework for Action (2006-2015) National Action

Plan (NAP) for Womenrsquos Advancement Relevant laws to curb

15

violence against women like Penal Code 1860 Muslim Family law

Ordinance (1961) etc She also provided the draft of National

Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) and Disaster Management

Regulative Framework which show the future attempts of Bangladesh

for disaster management National Action Plan (2008) of

Bangladesh included different existing projects and Institutions

that Bangladesh have for climate change adaptation such as The

Climate Change Action Plan (2009-2018) National Adaptation

Program of Action (2005) the National Disaster Management

Council (NDMC) National Climate Change Fund The Ministry of

Food and Disaster Management etc

These two are helpful to have an overview of the existing

policies for climate change But Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009)

mentioned in her research that there are several global

conferences and agreements on climate change but still all these

initiatives could not gain much remarkable success Moreover the

gender perspective is not getting much priority in all these

initiatives Similarly from the National Action Plan (2008) it is

also clearly been seen that gender is not consider as a separate

issue of concern while making policies for climate change But

draft of National Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) has

included gender into their policy very distinctly It mentioned

about the advancement of local judiciary system monitoring the

food distribution process advance mechanism for pure drinking

water to prevent different diseases providing training about the

disaster management process and structural violence as well This

16

plan could gain a great success to deal with climate change

considering gender if it is properly implemented

Agnes Otzelbergerrsquos (2011) research described how UNFCCC its

Kyoto Protocol Conference of parties (COP) GenderCC Global

Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA) etc have included and

planning to include the climate change policy considering gender

issue It also added the developing countryrsquos policies on climate

change regarding gender issue such as Hyogo Framework for

Action African Adaptation Program (AAP) This research is

comparatively more valuable to find out the climate change

policies responded to gender issue A report of World Health

Organization ldquoGender Climate Change and Healthrdquo described the

sectors that UNFCCC response for gender policies with the climate

change These responded sectors are health access to energy

transportation early warning systems and hazard management etc

Similarly Emmeline Skinner (2011) also described the policies of

UNFCCC the gender responsive movements of it and the initiatives

taken by the countries to reach Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs) At the same time he also included different countryrsquos

National Adaptation Policy for Action (NAPA) to understand the

gender mainstreaming policies in national level On the other

hand Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-2015) included gender

responsive policies and it recognizes that a gender perspective

should be integrated into all Disaster Risk Reduction policies

plans and decision-making processes including those associated

with existing climate variability and future climate change

17

Ministry of Environment and Forest had developed a Bangladesh

Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) 2009 which

built-in six pillars to implement and among those the first

pillar named lsquofood security social protection and healthrsquo

included women and children as special consideration for food

security safe housing employment access to basic services and

health Further National Water Policy (1999) of Bangladesh gave

emphasis to equal access to safe water and sanitation services

with an affordable cost for everyone It also prioritized on the

improvement of the role of women for decision making and water

management Ministry of Environment and Forest of Bangladesh also

developed another National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)

(2005) to deal with climate hazards Napa has a framework for

action of 2005 which included the actual and potential adverse

effect of climate change Napa prioritized on the urgent and

immediate action policy It also includes different adaptation

policies but excluding the gender issue Napa only emphasizes

gender equality but it does not include gender based policy

Unlike all these institutional policies United Nations

Development Program (UNDP) include gender and adaptation policy

quite precisely From the awareness making before climate hazards

to the post disaster situation they consider gender as a

significant issue while designing policy On the other hand the

draft of SAARC Comprehensive Framework on Disaster Management

(2006-2015) addressed about empowerment and strengthening gender

at the post disaster period They also prioritized on emergency

18

response management providing training and destined to focus on

gender issue with strong emphasis

Reviewing the existing policies the next focus of this research

goes on to find the effectiveness of these existing policies A

report of UNDP (2009) has clarified about the existing gender

responsive policies of UNDP for climate change It also included

the effective gender responsive programs of the UNDP UNFCCC and

NAPArsquos policy for climate change but mostly emphasized on the

policies of UNDP Further Mohammed Abdul Baten and Niaz Ahmed

Khan (2010) included a brief understanding in their writing about

how the gender responsive climate change policies exist in UNDP

UNFCCC NAPA BCCSAP etc and then they evaluated in the failures

of these policies regarding gender in their climate change

policy They provided a concise knowledge about the

ineffectiveness of policies while apply in reality

Effectiveness of the policies leads to understand the gaps

between policies and practices In this point of view Md Rabiul

Islam (2011) recommended in his research to prioritized women in

policies planning and program as he did not found women in

policies during his research He also discovers that women do not

have equal access to development activities of Government and

NGOs Further he finds out the week initiatives of local

administration while there is any judgment on different

unexpected torture on women Apart from these in his research he

also mentioned about women not having access to education and

training programs for adaptation and coping strategies Further

19

in a report of Tahera Akter (2009) evaluate that there are no

timeframe of any action plan to find out the problem in the

national policy She also addressed that the existing policies

are very old and are not capable to cope with changing natural

hazards Revealing these policy gaps she further mentioned that

there is lack of coordination among the organizations to

effectively evaluate the problems of environmentally displaced

people She also added that there is no national estimation or

prediction about environmental displacement World Health

Organization (WHO) also finds out some remarkable gaps between

the policies and practices in one of its report to understand the

issues for urgent action This report is mainly based on gender

climate change and health which evaluated some loopholes of the

overall existing policies

To reduce these loopholes climate change policies require

reformulation of its structure In this regard Sandra Bathge

(2010) concluded with some adaptation and mitigation measures

which can be also used as recommendation for this research as

those measures are related to policy formulation in a new way

This working paper included access to education land ownership

and services markets etc and also provided policies

considering gender about training programs awareness building

ability to generate income etc which lead this paper to design

the reformulation of climate change policies Further Alyson

Brody Justina Demetriades and Emily Esplen (2008) mostly

emphasized on the participation of women in decision making

20

processes around climate change adaptation and mitigation They

also recommended various aspects like identifying gender impacts

and adaptation priorities in both rural and urban areas

identifying gender implications of long term drought and

starvation etc on the other hand Nilufar Ahmad (2012) in her

paper mainly focused on the basis of individual policy

reformulation which is another most important literature for this

research She suggested BCCSAP to prioritize key gender entry

points indicators and annual targets and link these with the

budget She also recommended about accountable environmental

governance a gender informed cross-sectoral monitoring and

evaluation system to monitor construction and rehabilitation of

gender friendly and multi-purpose shelter and also other

important rights of women Emmeline Skinner (2011) also included

a number of notable suggestions for the pro-gender climate change

policy reformulation She added about strong political commitment

to gender equality stronger participation of women in climate

change institutions and processes conduct gender responsive

budgeting link mitigation and adaptation processes etc

These literatures are not much supportive to have a complete view

of the climate change policies on gender perspective and that is

one of the biggest challenges of this research Again reviewing

these important policies it was easy to figure out to a great

extent that the climate change policies need proper reformulation

and thus literature review evaluate the future improvements and

recommendations of gender sensitive climate change policies

21

8Theoretical ExplanationConcepts

My research follows the definition adopted by the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in which

ldquoclimate changerdquo refers to any change in climate over time

whether due to natural variability or as a result of human

activity7 This usage differs from that in the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which defines

ldquoclimate changerdquo as ldquoa change of climate which is attributed

directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the

composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to

natural climate variability observed over comparable time

periodsrdquo8

ldquoGenderrdquo refers to the socially constructed norms roles and

relations that a given society considers appropriate for men and

women Gender determines what is expected permitted and valued

in a woman or a man in a determined context9

A brief of Nandini Oberoi illustrated that Climate change is a

gender issue and that women are particularly vulnerable to

climate change because they are more prone to the adverse impacts

7Gender Climate change and Health World Health Organization pg5 Retrievedon September 23 2013 from wwwwhointglobalchangeGenderClimateChangeHealthfinalpdf8 ibid9 ibid

22

from climate change10 Changes in the climate usually impact on

sectors that are traditionally associated with women such as

paddy cultivation cotton and tea plantations and fishing11

In this research gender analysis is not a special focus on women

but rather an understanding on how discrimination against women

and gender roles interact to shape men and womenrsquos enjoyment of

human dignity rights as well as equality of living12

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) defines

Hazard as ldquoA potentially damaging physical event phenomenon or

human activity that may cause the loss of life or injury

property damage social and economic disruption or environmental

degradation Hazards can include latent conditions that may

represent future threats and can have different origins natural

(geological hydro meteorological and biological) or induced by

human processes (environmental degradation and technological

hazards)rdquo

TheoriesClimate change and gender and the relation between these two

phenomenons can be described with different theory This section

of research is destined to explain climate change and gender

relation with different International Relations theory

10Parikh J Mainstreaming Gender into Climate Change Policies Retrieved on July 8 2013 from wwwdisasterwatchnetclimatechangegndr_climt07pdf11 ibid12Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh GenderCC

23

i) Feminist Theory

The main concept of Radical feminist is lsquopatriarchyrsquo that means

the lsquorule of fatherrsquo In feminist theory we can see that there

are two form of patriarchy one is classical form of patriarchy

and another is more loose form of patriarchy But in both of the

patriarchal system women have no say in decision making Even

while they have to go through different types of mental and

physical violence during and after any climate hazard occur they

are not able to make any decision for themselves because

patriarchal society do not allow women to be treated equally as

men while decision making and it also reflects in climate change

policy

Liberal feminists are generally concerned with equal rights In

the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries liberal feminist argued

that women by nature different from men that means climate

vulnerabilities of women are also different from men They also

argued for womenrsquos equality on the grounds that they are capable

of making their personal decision and determine their best

interest which is as rational as men Therefore women should have

equal rights while decision making during any climate hazard The

reproductive chores such as child rearing and bearing water

collection food production and acquisition etc of any household

are mostly done by the female member of the family In this

regard climate hazards increases the burden for women and girls

because they are expected to ensure all this household chores

24

Radical feminist argued that to achieve genuine equality it is

important to share these responsibilities with men and as women

by nature different from men climate change policies also should

be gender sensitive

ii) Dependency Theory

According to dependency theory the core periphery and semi

periphery countryrsquos economy and development are interrelated and

interdependent So climate vulnerabilities of women are not an

internal matter for any particular country Rather it needs

global attention as it will also affect the other country and

their development process both directly and indirectly In this

regard global concern joint decision and gender responsive

climate change policy is required as the whole world is

ultimately dependent on each other

iii) Realist Theory

A very significant quote is important to address here by famous

realist scholar Thucydides is-

ldquoThe strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they mustrdquo

The developed countries as the lsquostrongrsquo power do what they want

to do to boost up their economy without considering climate

issues and the week (developing countries) suffer the effects

caused by climate change Before cold war the concept of

security used to consider as military power but in the

contemporary world climate security become more important rather

25

than military security Powerful states now are more concerned

about their own climate security and try to increase their

economic growth by exploiting the environment of weaker states

State as well as the people and mostly women of the developing

countries are the victim of this exploitation and they have to

bear different types of climate hazards which actually causes by

these developedpowerful states In result as women are the

weaker groups they suffer more than the stronger group of men

during all these climate hazards At the same time the men as

stronger group take every decision over the weaker women whenever

there is any climate hazard

iv) Neo-Liberal Theory

Neo-liberal theory supports the trade liberalization that means

removal of trade barrier opening of state economic enterprise

and privatization of market etc After the cold war the emergence

of globalization and the liberalization of market have increased

the investment of Multinational Corporations in the developing

world that have an adversely affect on their local climate The

waste materials and toxic gases emit during the production

procedure cause different types of climate hazards These

unwanted climate hazards also leave significant effect on women

As neo-liberalism emphasize on lsquoindividualrsquo women should be

consider as a group of individual while designing the policies

for climate change

26

Chapter III

ldquoHow climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

genderrdquo

9Climate Hazard Prone Areas of BangladeshThere are some common climate hazards often seen in Bangladesh

and areas mostly affected by these hazards in Bangladesh

identified to answer the above central research question

Different types of climate changersquos impacts such as flood

cyclone river erosion drought heavy rainfall sea level rise

soil degradation etc mainly seen in Bangladesh Among all these

climate hazards this research is mainly focused on three major

climate hazards of Bangladesh and these are- heavy rainfall and

flood river erosion and drought A quick view of climate

hazards prone areas of Bangladesh are given below

Table-1 (Climate Hazard Prone Areas of Bangladesh)

Climate Hazards Most Affected AreasDrought North-West Bengal districts

Rajshahi Gaibandha etcRiver Erosion Active river channels of the

Ganges the Jamuna and theTista rivers and in the coastaland offshore areas

Heavy Rainfall ndash North-western and western

27

Flood-

Bangladesh Chittagong hills

Central region North-Eastregion Charland South BengalBarisal Bagerhat KhulnaSatkhira etc

This table shows us that drought prone areas are mainly in North-

Western Bengalrsquos districts like Rajshahi Gaibandha etc which

has lower rainfall than the other areas of Bangladesh

(Map-1)

Source NAPA

28

River bank erosion prone areas are more or less around the whole

country but mostly it is being seen in the areas along the active

river channels of the Ganges the Jamuna and the Tista rivers and

in the coastal and offshore areas of Bangladesh13 About 17

million hectares of floodplain areas are prone to riverbank

erosion14

Floods are very common in Bangladesh and it affects almost 80

land of our country Every year Bangladesh has been facing 1 or 2

extreme disasters According to Zayeda Sharmin (2013) there are

different categories of floods in Bangladesh and these are ndash

(i) Monsoon floods it increase slowly and decrease slowly

inundate vast areas and causes huge loss to the life and

property

(ii) Flash floods from sudden torrential flows following a brief

intense rainstorm

(iii) Tidal floods which are of short duration but are generally

around 3 to 6 meter high and

(iv) Rain floods caused by drainage congestion and heavy rain

Flood prone areas are mainly in the south Bengal like Barisal

Bhola Bagerhat Khulna Shatkhira etc

13National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)(2005) Ministry of Environment and Forest Government of the Peoplersquos Republic of Bangladesh pg no-4 Retrieved on November 1 2013 From unfcccintresourcedocsnapaban01pdf14 Ibid

29

(Map-2)

Source NAPA

Lastly heavy rainfall is mainly seen in north-western and western

Bangladesh Chittagong hills and more or less all over the

country But mostly in the southern part than the northern part

of Bangladesh heavy rainfall is quite a common climate hazard

9 Climate Vulnerabilities of Women

As mentioned earlier that women are closely related to the

environmental elements it is obvious that climate change effects

should have impact on women In the context of climate change a

lsquogender analysisrsquo promotes an understanding of the ways that men

30

and women are differently impacted by climate-related hazards and

by adopting adaptation and mitigation strategies15 Now the

effects of climate-related hazards on gender are describing

below

Firstly in the drought prone areas

-the cultivable lands become difficult to produce any crops

Those women who depend on agricultural activities they become

helpless for their daily income In this case they face problem

to find new place for work and if by any chance they are able to

find work then they have to face different physical and mental

harassment at the working place

-On the other hand they have to take extra pressure to manage

their household because they have to go far for earning It also

decays their physical strength and at the same time they have to

face different unexpected challenges

Picture-1 Drought in Bangladesh

15Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh Op cit

31

Source Not Enough Goodcom available at

httpnotenoughgoodcom201208indian-blackoutdrought

-They also have to take care about the drinking and daily useable

water for their family which also bring another responsibility

and additional burden to handle They have to face different

types of sexual harassment as they have to go far to collect the

water

-Further pregnant women are more vulnerable during this type of

situation

Secondly at the period like flood and heavy rainfall

-women have no role in decision making for their future They

have to rely on their male head even the women who earn for their

household has no saying during these types of situation During

the survey the responses of women several times indicated that

those women had to accept what the male member of their family

decided Whether there was any health issue or household issue

women had to depend on the male to take any action

32

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

Acknowledgement

To complete this research there are lots of people who helped me during the whole

period I feel very grateful to them for their supportive and friendly nature

At first I would like to give thanks to Almighty Allah who blessed me with knowledge and

strength to complete this research within due time Then I would like to thanks to my

parents who always supported my decisions and actions My warm and cordial thanks

go to my supervisor Mohammad Towheedul Islam for his guidance and advice which

was most important to complete this research Then I would like to thank Dr A S M

Ali Ashraf who taught us proper knowledge about research writing while teaching

Research Methodology I also want to thank Dr Sohela Nazneen who has a great

contribution to make me interested and well known about gender Further I would like

to thank Sharmind Neelromi and Bushra Hasina Chowdhury who gave their valuable

time and shared their knowledge with me and also supported with literatures and

recommendations Finally I want to thank to my Friends and fellow classmates who

helped me with different information and knowledge during the research

iii

Abstract

As a coastal state Bangladesh has to deal with various types of climate hazards which

cause adverse effect on the gender Particularly women who engaged with agricultural

activities suffer the most while there is any climate hazard Flood drought heavy

rainfall and river bank erosion wipe out shelters create scarce of drinking water and

cause physical and mental damages Climate changersquos policies are now very responsive

to gender issue comparing to the past Again there has been negligence while applying

those policies towards the affected people These negligence and gaps between policy

and practice need to evaluate to reduce the vulnerability of climate change over gender

Newly reformed policy should also establish in this regard to achieve sustainable

human development

iv

Contents

Acknowledgment iii

Abstracthelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellipiv

Chapter- Ihelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip6

1 Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip62 Research Goalhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip73 Research Questionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip74 Methodology of Data Collectionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip85 Limitations of the Studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip9

Chapter- IIhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip10

6 Literature Reviewhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip107 Theoretical Explanation helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip16

Chapter- IIIhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip19

8 Climate Hazard Prone Areas in Bangladeshhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip199 Climate Vulnerabilities of Womenhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip22

v

Chapter- IVhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 27

10 Gender Responsive Climate Change Policieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip27101 International Policieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip27102 Regional Policy helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip32103 National Policieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip33

11Policy in Practice and its Effectivenesshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip35

12Loopholes Between Policies and Practiceshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip37

Chapter- Vhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 40

13Required Improvements for thePolicieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip40

14Recommendations from Research Findingshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip4115Concluding Remarkshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip43

Annexeshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip45

Bibliographyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip48

vi

Chapter I

1Introduction

Climate change often make the women worst sufferer as they are

very closely connected to the environmental components than men

in everyday life Especially those women who are engage with

agricultural activities and live in coastal areas Bangladesh is

both an agricultural and coastal country and for its geographical

location it has to face a lot of climate hazards At the same

time environmental politics of other countries is also

responsible for these climate hazards which cause rigorous impact

on the basis of gender particularly upon poor women Women who

directly or indirectly engaged into agricultural production have

to suffer more than the others of our country For instance in

2009 women of 18 to 60 years age group were 87377 affected by

cyclone Aila in Koira Dacope and Shyamnagar Upazila1 of

Bangladesh Therefore we need to understand the impacts of

climate change on the gender to apply sustainable development

policies There is numerous numbers of international

organizations conferences agreements as well as the national

organizations (both governmental and non-governmental) have been

working to reduce different climate changersquos impacts like mental

and physical suffering of women But there has been always

avoidance in gender issue while forming and applying climate

change policies In our country some major climate hazards are1Islam M R (2011) Vulnerability and Coping Strategies of Women in DisasterA Study on Coastal Areas of Bangladesh Arts Faculty Journal vol 4

flood river erosion heavy rainfall drought etc To sustain

properly with the climate change the efficacy of the existing

gender responsive climate change policies need to find out In

this regard this research will evaluate some reformation of the

existing policies to make them more effective so that the women

get more priority while forming climate change policy

2 Research Goal

Bangladesh is a least developed coastal state and for its

geographical location it has to face a lot of climate hazards

which causes remarkable impacts on the basis of gender

particularly upon the women As a member of United Nations (UN)

Bangladesh is already performing along with different UN programs

regarding this issue But gender issue has been always remaining

inattentive while designing climate change policies This

inattentiveness also exists while applying national and

international policies during climate hazards The goal of this

research is to-

7

- evaluate the role of different existing programs of UN and the

national policies of Bangladesh have to deal with climate change

considering gender issue

- For these reason the efficacy of the existing gender

responsive climate change policies will aim to find out through

this research

- Further this research tries to include what reformation the

existing climate change policies require to become more gender

considerate

3 Research QuestionsThis research is mainly focused on the following central

questions-

a) How climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

gender

b) How gender responsive policies reflect in different

international regional and national climate change policies

c) To what extent do these policies are effective comparing to

real scenario

d) If no what modifications do these policies required to

prevent the climate change impacts on women of our country

This research is designed and aimed at considering these four

central questions to find out the best suitable answer

8

4 Methodology of Data Collection

This is an individual research project for academic purpose and

is based on the context of Bangladesh This research is designed

using qualitative method which includes both primary sources and

secondary sources of data As it is an individual research paper

this research is mostly relied on secondary sources of data

Primary Sources of Data

a) Survey of 12 female from three villages (Kharasombol

Boyitpur and Fatepur) of Bagerhat district

b) Expertrsquos interviews of Sharmind Neelromi2 and Bushra Hasina

Chowdhury3 to find the difference between policies and

practices and also to include policy reformulation

Secondary Sources of Data

This research is mainly based on secondary resources like

published researches and articles but apart from these different

journals books and internet resources are also widely used for

this research as secondary data

Review of different policies like UNFCCC UNDP Hyogo Framework

for Action National Action Plan 2008 Bangladesh Climate Change

Strategy and Action Plan 2009 SAARC Framework for Action

2Assistant Professor Dept of Economics Jahangir Nagar University3Assistant Professor Dept of International Relations University of Dhaka

9

Migration policies Land Policies inheritance policies water

policies etc

Data Collection Method

Primary data were collected by a small questionnaire (see

appendix) survey of 12 female who suffered different impacts of

climate change (like flood heavy rainfall river erosion) from

three villages (Kharasombol Boyitpur and Fatepur) of Bagerhat

district direct interview of experts and reviewing policies from

different websites

Secondary data were collected from seminar library of Dept of

International Relations Dept of Disaster Management and

Vulnerability Studies Dept of Women and Gender Studies central

library of university of Dhaka British Council Library etc

6Limitations of the StudyEvery research projects have to go through some limitations and

challenges more or less and this research paper is not beyond

that problem Limitations and challenges faced during this

research are the followings

Firstly limitations of time were one of the crucial challenges

for this research because if there were sufficient time then a

lot more has to enrich this research

10

Secondly this research is an individual research which is

another important barrier faced during the whole period

Thirdly there was no funding for this research that excluded

this research from having a sufficient amount of victimrsquos

interview from all over the country which is very significant

while working on policy reformulation

Fourthly expertrsquos interview from Ministry level would have added

value for this research but due to different political

instability it could not be possible

Fifthly during the survey there was a tendency among the women

to lie about the help they got from different organization in

order to get more help in future This was another notable

challenge that made it difficult to find the actual scenario

Sixthly the number of interviewee was too short to reach any

decision about the policy practice as it provides poor

information

This research has huge impacts of these limitations and

challenges

Chapter II

11

7Literature Review

Literature review of this research begins with Cecile Jackson

(1993) who emphasized the affinity of women with the environment

Further he showed the essentialist linkages between women and

environment His analysis is based on different context such as

on the context of Zimbabwe Malaysia Kenya Tanzania etc which

give a distinct view of gender relation with the climate change

in different places But later he summarized that there cannot be

a special relationship between women and environments because

women are not a unitary category and their environmental

relations reflect not only divisions among women but also gender

relations and the dynamics of political economies and agro-

ecosystems4Joan Davidson (2007) in his article analyzed more

precisely the relation of women with land water and forests and

energy He described how changes in agriculture forestry and

water and waste management have affect women which clearly show

the relation of climate change with gender He also explored the

way in which women relate to a number of different natural

resources in both rural and urban areas5Ahsan Uddin Ahmed

Sharmind Neelormi Neelopal Adri et al (2009) showed the

linkages among climate change livelihoods poverty and women in

their research This research included different climate changes

4Jackson C (1993) Doing What Comes naturally Women and Environment in Development World Development Vol 21 Retrieved on August 172013 from josiahberkeleyedu2007FallER275Readingsjackson-GAD-1993pdf5Davidson J (1993) Womens relationship with the environment Gender amp Development Retrieved on August 17 2013 from httpdxdoiorg10108009682869308519944

12

and its effects very precisely to describe the relation of

environmental change and gender For instance they described how

the increased monsoon flows dry season low flows cyclones etc

affect the women children and old people

As this research is on the gender policies regarding climate

change at first the relation between climate change and gender

need to understand The above writers gave a clear knowledge in

there writings to understand the relation and linkages between

climate change and gender

Then for the further advancement the impacts of climate change

upon gender are important to find out to analyze the

authentication of policy practice In this regard Christine Haigh

and Bernadette Vallely (2010) in their report found the distinct

impacts of climate change on women in both developed and

developing countries To describe the impacts of climate change

on gender they included that ldquoClimate change impacts will be

differently distributed among different regions generations age

classes income groups occupations and gendersrdquo6Further they

described the impacts on women during different climate change

such as disasters and extreme weather events forced migration

for climate change water and energy etc using some case studies

which are very significant to have a view over the reality Joan

Davidson (2007) more distinctly added the problems that women

face in urban environments while they migrate from their rural

6Climate Change 2007 Impacts Adaptation and Vulnerability IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change Retrieved on August 17 2013 fromhttpswwwipccchclimate-changes-2001wg2-summary-policymakerspdf

13

areas for environmental degradation He also included that women

do not have ownership of the land that they work so hard for

which cause seasonal unemployment and insecurity He also found

out the scarcity of water and fuel wood led the women to

different physical trauma Later he also evaluated three (the

effects of minimal services the constant danger of industrial

pollution and the cumulative deterioration of the urban

hinterland) kind of environmental degradation women suffer in

urban fringe areas Further Research team of Ahsan Uddin Ahmed

Sharmind Neelormi Neelopal Adri et al (2009) also included

different area basis study to find out authentic data about the

impacts of climate change on women and special vulnerable group

which is very helpful to gather knowledge about real scenario

Their research also provides different distinct climate change

issues and their impacts on gender in different places for

example Cyclonic Storm Surge in Coastal Islands Salinity in

Tala and Shaymnagar Upazilas of Satkhira District Drought in

Manda Upazila of Naogaon District River Erosion in Kurigram and

Faridpur etc Midori Aoyagi Eiko Suda and Tomomi Shinada (2011)

added the effects of climate change upon gender in their working

paper They evaluated that people in poor countries such as

Africa are comparatively more vulnerable to climate change

impacts

These writings provide a clear vision about the mental and

physical impacts do the climate change have on the gender But

these writings are not very recent and to understand the present

14

scenario recent writings will be more helpful Because dealing

with the existing policies require the recent and authentic data

to reach at the goal And it is important to mention here that

the paper of Midori Aoyagi Eiko Suda and Tomomi Shinada (2011)

is mostly focused on disaster recovery the land ownership and

inheritance system which are not much important while finding the

impacts of climate on gender

Having a clear understanding of the climate change and its

effects on gender now it is a matter of concern what policies

exist there to prevent from these obstacles At first

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007)

emphasized on the adverse effect of climate change towards

gender IPCC (2007) recognized that women suffer more than the

men in climate hazards With this point IPCC included gender

mainstreaming and gender equality in its policy On the other

hand Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009) in her research included the

existing International and local institutions that are related to

disaster management and different international conferences that

deal with policies and interventions to prevent violence against

women and for disaster management She added the policies of

climate change adaptation and disaster reduction on gender of

Womenrsquos Human Rights of millennium development goal (MDGs) Hyogo

Framework for Action (2005-2015) World Conference on Disaster

Reduction United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC) SAARC Framework for Action (2006-2015) National Action

Plan (NAP) for Womenrsquos Advancement Relevant laws to curb

15

violence against women like Penal Code 1860 Muslim Family law

Ordinance (1961) etc She also provided the draft of National

Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) and Disaster Management

Regulative Framework which show the future attempts of Bangladesh

for disaster management National Action Plan (2008) of

Bangladesh included different existing projects and Institutions

that Bangladesh have for climate change adaptation such as The

Climate Change Action Plan (2009-2018) National Adaptation

Program of Action (2005) the National Disaster Management

Council (NDMC) National Climate Change Fund The Ministry of

Food and Disaster Management etc

These two are helpful to have an overview of the existing

policies for climate change But Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009)

mentioned in her research that there are several global

conferences and agreements on climate change but still all these

initiatives could not gain much remarkable success Moreover the

gender perspective is not getting much priority in all these

initiatives Similarly from the National Action Plan (2008) it is

also clearly been seen that gender is not consider as a separate

issue of concern while making policies for climate change But

draft of National Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) has

included gender into their policy very distinctly It mentioned

about the advancement of local judiciary system monitoring the

food distribution process advance mechanism for pure drinking

water to prevent different diseases providing training about the

disaster management process and structural violence as well This

16

plan could gain a great success to deal with climate change

considering gender if it is properly implemented

Agnes Otzelbergerrsquos (2011) research described how UNFCCC its

Kyoto Protocol Conference of parties (COP) GenderCC Global

Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA) etc have included and

planning to include the climate change policy considering gender

issue It also added the developing countryrsquos policies on climate

change regarding gender issue such as Hyogo Framework for

Action African Adaptation Program (AAP) This research is

comparatively more valuable to find out the climate change

policies responded to gender issue A report of World Health

Organization ldquoGender Climate Change and Healthrdquo described the

sectors that UNFCCC response for gender policies with the climate

change These responded sectors are health access to energy

transportation early warning systems and hazard management etc

Similarly Emmeline Skinner (2011) also described the policies of

UNFCCC the gender responsive movements of it and the initiatives

taken by the countries to reach Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs) At the same time he also included different countryrsquos

National Adaptation Policy for Action (NAPA) to understand the

gender mainstreaming policies in national level On the other

hand Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-2015) included gender

responsive policies and it recognizes that a gender perspective

should be integrated into all Disaster Risk Reduction policies

plans and decision-making processes including those associated

with existing climate variability and future climate change

17

Ministry of Environment and Forest had developed a Bangladesh

Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) 2009 which

built-in six pillars to implement and among those the first

pillar named lsquofood security social protection and healthrsquo

included women and children as special consideration for food

security safe housing employment access to basic services and

health Further National Water Policy (1999) of Bangladesh gave

emphasis to equal access to safe water and sanitation services

with an affordable cost for everyone It also prioritized on the

improvement of the role of women for decision making and water

management Ministry of Environment and Forest of Bangladesh also

developed another National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)

(2005) to deal with climate hazards Napa has a framework for

action of 2005 which included the actual and potential adverse

effect of climate change Napa prioritized on the urgent and

immediate action policy It also includes different adaptation

policies but excluding the gender issue Napa only emphasizes

gender equality but it does not include gender based policy

Unlike all these institutional policies United Nations

Development Program (UNDP) include gender and adaptation policy

quite precisely From the awareness making before climate hazards

to the post disaster situation they consider gender as a

significant issue while designing policy On the other hand the

draft of SAARC Comprehensive Framework on Disaster Management

(2006-2015) addressed about empowerment and strengthening gender

at the post disaster period They also prioritized on emergency

18

response management providing training and destined to focus on

gender issue with strong emphasis

Reviewing the existing policies the next focus of this research

goes on to find the effectiveness of these existing policies A

report of UNDP (2009) has clarified about the existing gender

responsive policies of UNDP for climate change It also included

the effective gender responsive programs of the UNDP UNFCCC and

NAPArsquos policy for climate change but mostly emphasized on the

policies of UNDP Further Mohammed Abdul Baten and Niaz Ahmed

Khan (2010) included a brief understanding in their writing about

how the gender responsive climate change policies exist in UNDP

UNFCCC NAPA BCCSAP etc and then they evaluated in the failures

of these policies regarding gender in their climate change

policy They provided a concise knowledge about the

ineffectiveness of policies while apply in reality

Effectiveness of the policies leads to understand the gaps

between policies and practices In this point of view Md Rabiul

Islam (2011) recommended in his research to prioritized women in

policies planning and program as he did not found women in

policies during his research He also discovers that women do not

have equal access to development activities of Government and

NGOs Further he finds out the week initiatives of local

administration while there is any judgment on different

unexpected torture on women Apart from these in his research he

also mentioned about women not having access to education and

training programs for adaptation and coping strategies Further

19

in a report of Tahera Akter (2009) evaluate that there are no

timeframe of any action plan to find out the problem in the

national policy She also addressed that the existing policies

are very old and are not capable to cope with changing natural

hazards Revealing these policy gaps she further mentioned that

there is lack of coordination among the organizations to

effectively evaluate the problems of environmentally displaced

people She also added that there is no national estimation or

prediction about environmental displacement World Health

Organization (WHO) also finds out some remarkable gaps between

the policies and practices in one of its report to understand the

issues for urgent action This report is mainly based on gender

climate change and health which evaluated some loopholes of the

overall existing policies

To reduce these loopholes climate change policies require

reformulation of its structure In this regard Sandra Bathge

(2010) concluded with some adaptation and mitigation measures

which can be also used as recommendation for this research as

those measures are related to policy formulation in a new way

This working paper included access to education land ownership

and services markets etc and also provided policies

considering gender about training programs awareness building

ability to generate income etc which lead this paper to design

the reformulation of climate change policies Further Alyson

Brody Justina Demetriades and Emily Esplen (2008) mostly

emphasized on the participation of women in decision making

20

processes around climate change adaptation and mitigation They

also recommended various aspects like identifying gender impacts

and adaptation priorities in both rural and urban areas

identifying gender implications of long term drought and

starvation etc on the other hand Nilufar Ahmad (2012) in her

paper mainly focused on the basis of individual policy

reformulation which is another most important literature for this

research She suggested BCCSAP to prioritize key gender entry

points indicators and annual targets and link these with the

budget She also recommended about accountable environmental

governance a gender informed cross-sectoral monitoring and

evaluation system to monitor construction and rehabilitation of

gender friendly and multi-purpose shelter and also other

important rights of women Emmeline Skinner (2011) also included

a number of notable suggestions for the pro-gender climate change

policy reformulation She added about strong political commitment

to gender equality stronger participation of women in climate

change institutions and processes conduct gender responsive

budgeting link mitigation and adaptation processes etc

These literatures are not much supportive to have a complete view

of the climate change policies on gender perspective and that is

one of the biggest challenges of this research Again reviewing

these important policies it was easy to figure out to a great

extent that the climate change policies need proper reformulation

and thus literature review evaluate the future improvements and

recommendations of gender sensitive climate change policies

21

8Theoretical ExplanationConcepts

My research follows the definition adopted by the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in which

ldquoclimate changerdquo refers to any change in climate over time

whether due to natural variability or as a result of human

activity7 This usage differs from that in the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which defines

ldquoclimate changerdquo as ldquoa change of climate which is attributed

directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the

composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to

natural climate variability observed over comparable time

periodsrdquo8

ldquoGenderrdquo refers to the socially constructed norms roles and

relations that a given society considers appropriate for men and

women Gender determines what is expected permitted and valued

in a woman or a man in a determined context9

A brief of Nandini Oberoi illustrated that Climate change is a

gender issue and that women are particularly vulnerable to

climate change because they are more prone to the adverse impacts

7Gender Climate change and Health World Health Organization pg5 Retrievedon September 23 2013 from wwwwhointglobalchangeGenderClimateChangeHealthfinalpdf8 ibid9 ibid

22

from climate change10 Changes in the climate usually impact on

sectors that are traditionally associated with women such as

paddy cultivation cotton and tea plantations and fishing11

In this research gender analysis is not a special focus on women

but rather an understanding on how discrimination against women

and gender roles interact to shape men and womenrsquos enjoyment of

human dignity rights as well as equality of living12

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) defines

Hazard as ldquoA potentially damaging physical event phenomenon or

human activity that may cause the loss of life or injury

property damage social and economic disruption or environmental

degradation Hazards can include latent conditions that may

represent future threats and can have different origins natural

(geological hydro meteorological and biological) or induced by

human processes (environmental degradation and technological

hazards)rdquo

TheoriesClimate change and gender and the relation between these two

phenomenons can be described with different theory This section

of research is destined to explain climate change and gender

relation with different International Relations theory

10Parikh J Mainstreaming Gender into Climate Change Policies Retrieved on July 8 2013 from wwwdisasterwatchnetclimatechangegndr_climt07pdf11 ibid12Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh GenderCC

23

i) Feminist Theory

The main concept of Radical feminist is lsquopatriarchyrsquo that means

the lsquorule of fatherrsquo In feminist theory we can see that there

are two form of patriarchy one is classical form of patriarchy

and another is more loose form of patriarchy But in both of the

patriarchal system women have no say in decision making Even

while they have to go through different types of mental and

physical violence during and after any climate hazard occur they

are not able to make any decision for themselves because

patriarchal society do not allow women to be treated equally as

men while decision making and it also reflects in climate change

policy

Liberal feminists are generally concerned with equal rights In

the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries liberal feminist argued

that women by nature different from men that means climate

vulnerabilities of women are also different from men They also

argued for womenrsquos equality on the grounds that they are capable

of making their personal decision and determine their best

interest which is as rational as men Therefore women should have

equal rights while decision making during any climate hazard The

reproductive chores such as child rearing and bearing water

collection food production and acquisition etc of any household

are mostly done by the female member of the family In this

regard climate hazards increases the burden for women and girls

because they are expected to ensure all this household chores

24

Radical feminist argued that to achieve genuine equality it is

important to share these responsibilities with men and as women

by nature different from men climate change policies also should

be gender sensitive

ii) Dependency Theory

According to dependency theory the core periphery and semi

periphery countryrsquos economy and development are interrelated and

interdependent So climate vulnerabilities of women are not an

internal matter for any particular country Rather it needs

global attention as it will also affect the other country and

their development process both directly and indirectly In this

regard global concern joint decision and gender responsive

climate change policy is required as the whole world is

ultimately dependent on each other

iii) Realist Theory

A very significant quote is important to address here by famous

realist scholar Thucydides is-

ldquoThe strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they mustrdquo

The developed countries as the lsquostrongrsquo power do what they want

to do to boost up their economy without considering climate

issues and the week (developing countries) suffer the effects

caused by climate change Before cold war the concept of

security used to consider as military power but in the

contemporary world climate security become more important rather

25

than military security Powerful states now are more concerned

about their own climate security and try to increase their

economic growth by exploiting the environment of weaker states

State as well as the people and mostly women of the developing

countries are the victim of this exploitation and they have to

bear different types of climate hazards which actually causes by

these developedpowerful states In result as women are the

weaker groups they suffer more than the stronger group of men

during all these climate hazards At the same time the men as

stronger group take every decision over the weaker women whenever

there is any climate hazard

iv) Neo-Liberal Theory

Neo-liberal theory supports the trade liberalization that means

removal of trade barrier opening of state economic enterprise

and privatization of market etc After the cold war the emergence

of globalization and the liberalization of market have increased

the investment of Multinational Corporations in the developing

world that have an adversely affect on their local climate The

waste materials and toxic gases emit during the production

procedure cause different types of climate hazards These

unwanted climate hazards also leave significant effect on women

As neo-liberalism emphasize on lsquoindividualrsquo women should be

consider as a group of individual while designing the policies

for climate change

26

Chapter III

ldquoHow climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

genderrdquo

9Climate Hazard Prone Areas of BangladeshThere are some common climate hazards often seen in Bangladesh

and areas mostly affected by these hazards in Bangladesh

identified to answer the above central research question

Different types of climate changersquos impacts such as flood

cyclone river erosion drought heavy rainfall sea level rise

soil degradation etc mainly seen in Bangladesh Among all these

climate hazards this research is mainly focused on three major

climate hazards of Bangladesh and these are- heavy rainfall and

flood river erosion and drought A quick view of climate

hazards prone areas of Bangladesh are given below

Table-1 (Climate Hazard Prone Areas of Bangladesh)

Climate Hazards Most Affected AreasDrought North-West Bengal districts

Rajshahi Gaibandha etcRiver Erosion Active river channels of the

Ganges the Jamuna and theTista rivers and in the coastaland offshore areas

Heavy Rainfall ndash North-western and western

27

Flood-

Bangladesh Chittagong hills

Central region North-Eastregion Charland South BengalBarisal Bagerhat KhulnaSatkhira etc

This table shows us that drought prone areas are mainly in North-

Western Bengalrsquos districts like Rajshahi Gaibandha etc which

has lower rainfall than the other areas of Bangladesh

(Map-1)

Source NAPA

28

River bank erosion prone areas are more or less around the whole

country but mostly it is being seen in the areas along the active

river channels of the Ganges the Jamuna and the Tista rivers and

in the coastal and offshore areas of Bangladesh13 About 17

million hectares of floodplain areas are prone to riverbank

erosion14

Floods are very common in Bangladesh and it affects almost 80

land of our country Every year Bangladesh has been facing 1 or 2

extreme disasters According to Zayeda Sharmin (2013) there are

different categories of floods in Bangladesh and these are ndash

(i) Monsoon floods it increase slowly and decrease slowly

inundate vast areas and causes huge loss to the life and

property

(ii) Flash floods from sudden torrential flows following a brief

intense rainstorm

(iii) Tidal floods which are of short duration but are generally

around 3 to 6 meter high and

(iv) Rain floods caused by drainage congestion and heavy rain

Flood prone areas are mainly in the south Bengal like Barisal

Bhola Bagerhat Khulna Shatkhira etc

13National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)(2005) Ministry of Environment and Forest Government of the Peoplersquos Republic of Bangladesh pg no-4 Retrieved on November 1 2013 From unfcccintresourcedocsnapaban01pdf14 Ibid

29

(Map-2)

Source NAPA

Lastly heavy rainfall is mainly seen in north-western and western

Bangladesh Chittagong hills and more or less all over the

country But mostly in the southern part than the northern part

of Bangladesh heavy rainfall is quite a common climate hazard

9 Climate Vulnerabilities of Women

As mentioned earlier that women are closely related to the

environmental elements it is obvious that climate change effects

should have impact on women In the context of climate change a

lsquogender analysisrsquo promotes an understanding of the ways that men

30

and women are differently impacted by climate-related hazards and

by adopting adaptation and mitigation strategies15 Now the

effects of climate-related hazards on gender are describing

below

Firstly in the drought prone areas

-the cultivable lands become difficult to produce any crops

Those women who depend on agricultural activities they become

helpless for their daily income In this case they face problem

to find new place for work and if by any chance they are able to

find work then they have to face different physical and mental

harassment at the working place

-On the other hand they have to take extra pressure to manage

their household because they have to go far for earning It also

decays their physical strength and at the same time they have to

face different unexpected challenges

Picture-1 Drought in Bangladesh

15Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh Op cit

31

Source Not Enough Goodcom available at

httpnotenoughgoodcom201208indian-blackoutdrought

-They also have to take care about the drinking and daily useable

water for their family which also bring another responsibility

and additional burden to handle They have to face different

types of sexual harassment as they have to go far to collect the

water

-Further pregnant women are more vulnerable during this type of

situation

Secondly at the period like flood and heavy rainfall

-women have no role in decision making for their future They

have to rely on their male head even the women who earn for their

household has no saying during these types of situation During

the survey the responses of women several times indicated that

those women had to accept what the male member of their family

decided Whether there was any health issue or household issue

women had to depend on the male to take any action

32

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

Abstract

As a coastal state Bangladesh has to deal with various types of climate hazards which

cause adverse effect on the gender Particularly women who engaged with agricultural

activities suffer the most while there is any climate hazard Flood drought heavy

rainfall and river bank erosion wipe out shelters create scarce of drinking water and

cause physical and mental damages Climate changersquos policies are now very responsive

to gender issue comparing to the past Again there has been negligence while applying

those policies towards the affected people These negligence and gaps between policy

and practice need to evaluate to reduce the vulnerability of climate change over gender

Newly reformed policy should also establish in this regard to achieve sustainable

human development

iv

Contents

Acknowledgment iii

Abstracthelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellipiv

Chapter- Ihelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip6

1 Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip62 Research Goalhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip73 Research Questionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip74 Methodology of Data Collectionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip85 Limitations of the Studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip9

Chapter- IIhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip10

6 Literature Reviewhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip107 Theoretical Explanation helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip16

Chapter- IIIhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip19

8 Climate Hazard Prone Areas in Bangladeshhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip199 Climate Vulnerabilities of Womenhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip22

v

Chapter- IVhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 27

10 Gender Responsive Climate Change Policieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip27101 International Policieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip27102 Regional Policy helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip32103 National Policieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip33

11Policy in Practice and its Effectivenesshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip35

12Loopholes Between Policies and Practiceshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip37

Chapter- Vhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 40

13Required Improvements for thePolicieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip40

14Recommendations from Research Findingshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip4115Concluding Remarkshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip43

Annexeshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip45

Bibliographyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip48

vi

Chapter I

1Introduction

Climate change often make the women worst sufferer as they are

very closely connected to the environmental components than men

in everyday life Especially those women who are engage with

agricultural activities and live in coastal areas Bangladesh is

both an agricultural and coastal country and for its geographical

location it has to face a lot of climate hazards At the same

time environmental politics of other countries is also

responsible for these climate hazards which cause rigorous impact

on the basis of gender particularly upon poor women Women who

directly or indirectly engaged into agricultural production have

to suffer more than the others of our country For instance in

2009 women of 18 to 60 years age group were 87377 affected by

cyclone Aila in Koira Dacope and Shyamnagar Upazila1 of

Bangladesh Therefore we need to understand the impacts of

climate change on the gender to apply sustainable development

policies There is numerous numbers of international

organizations conferences agreements as well as the national

organizations (both governmental and non-governmental) have been

working to reduce different climate changersquos impacts like mental

and physical suffering of women But there has been always

avoidance in gender issue while forming and applying climate

change policies In our country some major climate hazards are1Islam M R (2011) Vulnerability and Coping Strategies of Women in DisasterA Study on Coastal Areas of Bangladesh Arts Faculty Journal vol 4

flood river erosion heavy rainfall drought etc To sustain

properly with the climate change the efficacy of the existing

gender responsive climate change policies need to find out In

this regard this research will evaluate some reformation of the

existing policies to make them more effective so that the women

get more priority while forming climate change policy

2 Research Goal

Bangladesh is a least developed coastal state and for its

geographical location it has to face a lot of climate hazards

which causes remarkable impacts on the basis of gender

particularly upon the women As a member of United Nations (UN)

Bangladesh is already performing along with different UN programs

regarding this issue But gender issue has been always remaining

inattentive while designing climate change policies This

inattentiveness also exists while applying national and

international policies during climate hazards The goal of this

research is to-

7

- evaluate the role of different existing programs of UN and the

national policies of Bangladesh have to deal with climate change

considering gender issue

- For these reason the efficacy of the existing gender

responsive climate change policies will aim to find out through

this research

- Further this research tries to include what reformation the

existing climate change policies require to become more gender

considerate

3 Research QuestionsThis research is mainly focused on the following central

questions-

a) How climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

gender

b) How gender responsive policies reflect in different

international regional and national climate change policies

c) To what extent do these policies are effective comparing to

real scenario

d) If no what modifications do these policies required to

prevent the climate change impacts on women of our country

This research is designed and aimed at considering these four

central questions to find out the best suitable answer

8

4 Methodology of Data Collection

This is an individual research project for academic purpose and

is based on the context of Bangladesh This research is designed

using qualitative method which includes both primary sources and

secondary sources of data As it is an individual research paper

this research is mostly relied on secondary sources of data

Primary Sources of Data

a) Survey of 12 female from three villages (Kharasombol

Boyitpur and Fatepur) of Bagerhat district

b) Expertrsquos interviews of Sharmind Neelromi2 and Bushra Hasina

Chowdhury3 to find the difference between policies and

practices and also to include policy reformulation

Secondary Sources of Data

This research is mainly based on secondary resources like

published researches and articles but apart from these different

journals books and internet resources are also widely used for

this research as secondary data

Review of different policies like UNFCCC UNDP Hyogo Framework

for Action National Action Plan 2008 Bangladesh Climate Change

Strategy and Action Plan 2009 SAARC Framework for Action

2Assistant Professor Dept of Economics Jahangir Nagar University3Assistant Professor Dept of International Relations University of Dhaka

9

Migration policies Land Policies inheritance policies water

policies etc

Data Collection Method

Primary data were collected by a small questionnaire (see

appendix) survey of 12 female who suffered different impacts of

climate change (like flood heavy rainfall river erosion) from

three villages (Kharasombol Boyitpur and Fatepur) of Bagerhat

district direct interview of experts and reviewing policies from

different websites

Secondary data were collected from seminar library of Dept of

International Relations Dept of Disaster Management and

Vulnerability Studies Dept of Women and Gender Studies central

library of university of Dhaka British Council Library etc

6Limitations of the StudyEvery research projects have to go through some limitations and

challenges more or less and this research paper is not beyond

that problem Limitations and challenges faced during this

research are the followings

Firstly limitations of time were one of the crucial challenges

for this research because if there were sufficient time then a

lot more has to enrich this research

10

Secondly this research is an individual research which is

another important barrier faced during the whole period

Thirdly there was no funding for this research that excluded

this research from having a sufficient amount of victimrsquos

interview from all over the country which is very significant

while working on policy reformulation

Fourthly expertrsquos interview from Ministry level would have added

value for this research but due to different political

instability it could not be possible

Fifthly during the survey there was a tendency among the women

to lie about the help they got from different organization in

order to get more help in future This was another notable

challenge that made it difficult to find the actual scenario

Sixthly the number of interviewee was too short to reach any

decision about the policy practice as it provides poor

information

This research has huge impacts of these limitations and

challenges

Chapter II

11

7Literature Review

Literature review of this research begins with Cecile Jackson

(1993) who emphasized the affinity of women with the environment

Further he showed the essentialist linkages between women and

environment His analysis is based on different context such as

on the context of Zimbabwe Malaysia Kenya Tanzania etc which

give a distinct view of gender relation with the climate change

in different places But later he summarized that there cannot be

a special relationship between women and environments because

women are not a unitary category and their environmental

relations reflect not only divisions among women but also gender

relations and the dynamics of political economies and agro-

ecosystems4Joan Davidson (2007) in his article analyzed more

precisely the relation of women with land water and forests and

energy He described how changes in agriculture forestry and

water and waste management have affect women which clearly show

the relation of climate change with gender He also explored the

way in which women relate to a number of different natural

resources in both rural and urban areas5Ahsan Uddin Ahmed

Sharmind Neelormi Neelopal Adri et al (2009) showed the

linkages among climate change livelihoods poverty and women in

their research This research included different climate changes

4Jackson C (1993) Doing What Comes naturally Women and Environment in Development World Development Vol 21 Retrieved on August 172013 from josiahberkeleyedu2007FallER275Readingsjackson-GAD-1993pdf5Davidson J (1993) Womens relationship with the environment Gender amp Development Retrieved on August 17 2013 from httpdxdoiorg10108009682869308519944

12

and its effects very precisely to describe the relation of

environmental change and gender For instance they described how

the increased monsoon flows dry season low flows cyclones etc

affect the women children and old people

As this research is on the gender policies regarding climate

change at first the relation between climate change and gender

need to understand The above writers gave a clear knowledge in

there writings to understand the relation and linkages between

climate change and gender

Then for the further advancement the impacts of climate change

upon gender are important to find out to analyze the

authentication of policy practice In this regard Christine Haigh

and Bernadette Vallely (2010) in their report found the distinct

impacts of climate change on women in both developed and

developing countries To describe the impacts of climate change

on gender they included that ldquoClimate change impacts will be

differently distributed among different regions generations age

classes income groups occupations and gendersrdquo6Further they

described the impacts on women during different climate change

such as disasters and extreme weather events forced migration

for climate change water and energy etc using some case studies

which are very significant to have a view over the reality Joan

Davidson (2007) more distinctly added the problems that women

face in urban environments while they migrate from their rural

6Climate Change 2007 Impacts Adaptation and Vulnerability IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change Retrieved on August 17 2013 fromhttpswwwipccchclimate-changes-2001wg2-summary-policymakerspdf

13

areas for environmental degradation He also included that women

do not have ownership of the land that they work so hard for

which cause seasonal unemployment and insecurity He also found

out the scarcity of water and fuel wood led the women to

different physical trauma Later he also evaluated three (the

effects of minimal services the constant danger of industrial

pollution and the cumulative deterioration of the urban

hinterland) kind of environmental degradation women suffer in

urban fringe areas Further Research team of Ahsan Uddin Ahmed

Sharmind Neelormi Neelopal Adri et al (2009) also included

different area basis study to find out authentic data about the

impacts of climate change on women and special vulnerable group

which is very helpful to gather knowledge about real scenario

Their research also provides different distinct climate change

issues and their impacts on gender in different places for

example Cyclonic Storm Surge in Coastal Islands Salinity in

Tala and Shaymnagar Upazilas of Satkhira District Drought in

Manda Upazila of Naogaon District River Erosion in Kurigram and

Faridpur etc Midori Aoyagi Eiko Suda and Tomomi Shinada (2011)

added the effects of climate change upon gender in their working

paper They evaluated that people in poor countries such as

Africa are comparatively more vulnerable to climate change

impacts

These writings provide a clear vision about the mental and

physical impacts do the climate change have on the gender But

these writings are not very recent and to understand the present

14

scenario recent writings will be more helpful Because dealing

with the existing policies require the recent and authentic data

to reach at the goal And it is important to mention here that

the paper of Midori Aoyagi Eiko Suda and Tomomi Shinada (2011)

is mostly focused on disaster recovery the land ownership and

inheritance system which are not much important while finding the

impacts of climate on gender

Having a clear understanding of the climate change and its

effects on gender now it is a matter of concern what policies

exist there to prevent from these obstacles At first

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007)

emphasized on the adverse effect of climate change towards

gender IPCC (2007) recognized that women suffer more than the

men in climate hazards With this point IPCC included gender

mainstreaming and gender equality in its policy On the other

hand Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009) in her research included the

existing International and local institutions that are related to

disaster management and different international conferences that

deal with policies and interventions to prevent violence against

women and for disaster management She added the policies of

climate change adaptation and disaster reduction on gender of

Womenrsquos Human Rights of millennium development goal (MDGs) Hyogo

Framework for Action (2005-2015) World Conference on Disaster

Reduction United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC) SAARC Framework for Action (2006-2015) National Action

Plan (NAP) for Womenrsquos Advancement Relevant laws to curb

15

violence against women like Penal Code 1860 Muslim Family law

Ordinance (1961) etc She also provided the draft of National

Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) and Disaster Management

Regulative Framework which show the future attempts of Bangladesh

for disaster management National Action Plan (2008) of

Bangladesh included different existing projects and Institutions

that Bangladesh have for climate change adaptation such as The

Climate Change Action Plan (2009-2018) National Adaptation

Program of Action (2005) the National Disaster Management

Council (NDMC) National Climate Change Fund The Ministry of

Food and Disaster Management etc

These two are helpful to have an overview of the existing

policies for climate change But Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009)

mentioned in her research that there are several global

conferences and agreements on climate change but still all these

initiatives could not gain much remarkable success Moreover the

gender perspective is not getting much priority in all these

initiatives Similarly from the National Action Plan (2008) it is

also clearly been seen that gender is not consider as a separate

issue of concern while making policies for climate change But

draft of National Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) has

included gender into their policy very distinctly It mentioned

about the advancement of local judiciary system monitoring the

food distribution process advance mechanism for pure drinking

water to prevent different diseases providing training about the

disaster management process and structural violence as well This

16

plan could gain a great success to deal with climate change

considering gender if it is properly implemented

Agnes Otzelbergerrsquos (2011) research described how UNFCCC its

Kyoto Protocol Conference of parties (COP) GenderCC Global

Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA) etc have included and

planning to include the climate change policy considering gender

issue It also added the developing countryrsquos policies on climate

change regarding gender issue such as Hyogo Framework for

Action African Adaptation Program (AAP) This research is

comparatively more valuable to find out the climate change

policies responded to gender issue A report of World Health

Organization ldquoGender Climate Change and Healthrdquo described the

sectors that UNFCCC response for gender policies with the climate

change These responded sectors are health access to energy

transportation early warning systems and hazard management etc

Similarly Emmeline Skinner (2011) also described the policies of

UNFCCC the gender responsive movements of it and the initiatives

taken by the countries to reach Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs) At the same time he also included different countryrsquos

National Adaptation Policy for Action (NAPA) to understand the

gender mainstreaming policies in national level On the other

hand Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-2015) included gender

responsive policies and it recognizes that a gender perspective

should be integrated into all Disaster Risk Reduction policies

plans and decision-making processes including those associated

with existing climate variability and future climate change

17

Ministry of Environment and Forest had developed a Bangladesh

Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) 2009 which

built-in six pillars to implement and among those the first

pillar named lsquofood security social protection and healthrsquo

included women and children as special consideration for food

security safe housing employment access to basic services and

health Further National Water Policy (1999) of Bangladesh gave

emphasis to equal access to safe water and sanitation services

with an affordable cost for everyone It also prioritized on the

improvement of the role of women for decision making and water

management Ministry of Environment and Forest of Bangladesh also

developed another National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)

(2005) to deal with climate hazards Napa has a framework for

action of 2005 which included the actual and potential adverse

effect of climate change Napa prioritized on the urgent and

immediate action policy It also includes different adaptation

policies but excluding the gender issue Napa only emphasizes

gender equality but it does not include gender based policy

Unlike all these institutional policies United Nations

Development Program (UNDP) include gender and adaptation policy

quite precisely From the awareness making before climate hazards

to the post disaster situation they consider gender as a

significant issue while designing policy On the other hand the

draft of SAARC Comprehensive Framework on Disaster Management

(2006-2015) addressed about empowerment and strengthening gender

at the post disaster period They also prioritized on emergency

18

response management providing training and destined to focus on

gender issue with strong emphasis

Reviewing the existing policies the next focus of this research

goes on to find the effectiveness of these existing policies A

report of UNDP (2009) has clarified about the existing gender

responsive policies of UNDP for climate change It also included

the effective gender responsive programs of the UNDP UNFCCC and

NAPArsquos policy for climate change but mostly emphasized on the

policies of UNDP Further Mohammed Abdul Baten and Niaz Ahmed

Khan (2010) included a brief understanding in their writing about

how the gender responsive climate change policies exist in UNDP

UNFCCC NAPA BCCSAP etc and then they evaluated in the failures

of these policies regarding gender in their climate change

policy They provided a concise knowledge about the

ineffectiveness of policies while apply in reality

Effectiveness of the policies leads to understand the gaps

between policies and practices In this point of view Md Rabiul

Islam (2011) recommended in his research to prioritized women in

policies planning and program as he did not found women in

policies during his research He also discovers that women do not

have equal access to development activities of Government and

NGOs Further he finds out the week initiatives of local

administration while there is any judgment on different

unexpected torture on women Apart from these in his research he

also mentioned about women not having access to education and

training programs for adaptation and coping strategies Further

19

in a report of Tahera Akter (2009) evaluate that there are no

timeframe of any action plan to find out the problem in the

national policy She also addressed that the existing policies

are very old and are not capable to cope with changing natural

hazards Revealing these policy gaps she further mentioned that

there is lack of coordination among the organizations to

effectively evaluate the problems of environmentally displaced

people She also added that there is no national estimation or

prediction about environmental displacement World Health

Organization (WHO) also finds out some remarkable gaps between

the policies and practices in one of its report to understand the

issues for urgent action This report is mainly based on gender

climate change and health which evaluated some loopholes of the

overall existing policies

To reduce these loopholes climate change policies require

reformulation of its structure In this regard Sandra Bathge

(2010) concluded with some adaptation and mitigation measures

which can be also used as recommendation for this research as

those measures are related to policy formulation in a new way

This working paper included access to education land ownership

and services markets etc and also provided policies

considering gender about training programs awareness building

ability to generate income etc which lead this paper to design

the reformulation of climate change policies Further Alyson

Brody Justina Demetriades and Emily Esplen (2008) mostly

emphasized on the participation of women in decision making

20

processes around climate change adaptation and mitigation They

also recommended various aspects like identifying gender impacts

and adaptation priorities in both rural and urban areas

identifying gender implications of long term drought and

starvation etc on the other hand Nilufar Ahmad (2012) in her

paper mainly focused on the basis of individual policy

reformulation which is another most important literature for this

research She suggested BCCSAP to prioritize key gender entry

points indicators and annual targets and link these with the

budget She also recommended about accountable environmental

governance a gender informed cross-sectoral monitoring and

evaluation system to monitor construction and rehabilitation of

gender friendly and multi-purpose shelter and also other

important rights of women Emmeline Skinner (2011) also included

a number of notable suggestions for the pro-gender climate change

policy reformulation She added about strong political commitment

to gender equality stronger participation of women in climate

change institutions and processes conduct gender responsive

budgeting link mitigation and adaptation processes etc

These literatures are not much supportive to have a complete view

of the climate change policies on gender perspective and that is

one of the biggest challenges of this research Again reviewing

these important policies it was easy to figure out to a great

extent that the climate change policies need proper reformulation

and thus literature review evaluate the future improvements and

recommendations of gender sensitive climate change policies

21

8Theoretical ExplanationConcepts

My research follows the definition adopted by the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in which

ldquoclimate changerdquo refers to any change in climate over time

whether due to natural variability or as a result of human

activity7 This usage differs from that in the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which defines

ldquoclimate changerdquo as ldquoa change of climate which is attributed

directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the

composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to

natural climate variability observed over comparable time

periodsrdquo8

ldquoGenderrdquo refers to the socially constructed norms roles and

relations that a given society considers appropriate for men and

women Gender determines what is expected permitted and valued

in a woman or a man in a determined context9

A brief of Nandini Oberoi illustrated that Climate change is a

gender issue and that women are particularly vulnerable to

climate change because they are more prone to the adverse impacts

7Gender Climate change and Health World Health Organization pg5 Retrievedon September 23 2013 from wwwwhointglobalchangeGenderClimateChangeHealthfinalpdf8 ibid9 ibid

22

from climate change10 Changes in the climate usually impact on

sectors that are traditionally associated with women such as

paddy cultivation cotton and tea plantations and fishing11

In this research gender analysis is not a special focus on women

but rather an understanding on how discrimination against women

and gender roles interact to shape men and womenrsquos enjoyment of

human dignity rights as well as equality of living12

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) defines

Hazard as ldquoA potentially damaging physical event phenomenon or

human activity that may cause the loss of life or injury

property damage social and economic disruption or environmental

degradation Hazards can include latent conditions that may

represent future threats and can have different origins natural

(geological hydro meteorological and biological) or induced by

human processes (environmental degradation and technological

hazards)rdquo

TheoriesClimate change and gender and the relation between these two

phenomenons can be described with different theory This section

of research is destined to explain climate change and gender

relation with different International Relations theory

10Parikh J Mainstreaming Gender into Climate Change Policies Retrieved on July 8 2013 from wwwdisasterwatchnetclimatechangegndr_climt07pdf11 ibid12Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh GenderCC

23

i) Feminist Theory

The main concept of Radical feminist is lsquopatriarchyrsquo that means

the lsquorule of fatherrsquo In feminist theory we can see that there

are two form of patriarchy one is classical form of patriarchy

and another is more loose form of patriarchy But in both of the

patriarchal system women have no say in decision making Even

while they have to go through different types of mental and

physical violence during and after any climate hazard occur they

are not able to make any decision for themselves because

patriarchal society do not allow women to be treated equally as

men while decision making and it also reflects in climate change

policy

Liberal feminists are generally concerned with equal rights In

the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries liberal feminist argued

that women by nature different from men that means climate

vulnerabilities of women are also different from men They also

argued for womenrsquos equality on the grounds that they are capable

of making their personal decision and determine their best

interest which is as rational as men Therefore women should have

equal rights while decision making during any climate hazard The

reproductive chores such as child rearing and bearing water

collection food production and acquisition etc of any household

are mostly done by the female member of the family In this

regard climate hazards increases the burden for women and girls

because they are expected to ensure all this household chores

24

Radical feminist argued that to achieve genuine equality it is

important to share these responsibilities with men and as women

by nature different from men climate change policies also should

be gender sensitive

ii) Dependency Theory

According to dependency theory the core periphery and semi

periphery countryrsquos economy and development are interrelated and

interdependent So climate vulnerabilities of women are not an

internal matter for any particular country Rather it needs

global attention as it will also affect the other country and

their development process both directly and indirectly In this

regard global concern joint decision and gender responsive

climate change policy is required as the whole world is

ultimately dependent on each other

iii) Realist Theory

A very significant quote is important to address here by famous

realist scholar Thucydides is-

ldquoThe strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they mustrdquo

The developed countries as the lsquostrongrsquo power do what they want

to do to boost up their economy without considering climate

issues and the week (developing countries) suffer the effects

caused by climate change Before cold war the concept of

security used to consider as military power but in the

contemporary world climate security become more important rather

25

than military security Powerful states now are more concerned

about their own climate security and try to increase their

economic growth by exploiting the environment of weaker states

State as well as the people and mostly women of the developing

countries are the victim of this exploitation and they have to

bear different types of climate hazards which actually causes by

these developedpowerful states In result as women are the

weaker groups they suffer more than the stronger group of men

during all these climate hazards At the same time the men as

stronger group take every decision over the weaker women whenever

there is any climate hazard

iv) Neo-Liberal Theory

Neo-liberal theory supports the trade liberalization that means

removal of trade barrier opening of state economic enterprise

and privatization of market etc After the cold war the emergence

of globalization and the liberalization of market have increased

the investment of Multinational Corporations in the developing

world that have an adversely affect on their local climate The

waste materials and toxic gases emit during the production

procedure cause different types of climate hazards These

unwanted climate hazards also leave significant effect on women

As neo-liberalism emphasize on lsquoindividualrsquo women should be

consider as a group of individual while designing the policies

for climate change

26

Chapter III

ldquoHow climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

genderrdquo

9Climate Hazard Prone Areas of BangladeshThere are some common climate hazards often seen in Bangladesh

and areas mostly affected by these hazards in Bangladesh

identified to answer the above central research question

Different types of climate changersquos impacts such as flood

cyclone river erosion drought heavy rainfall sea level rise

soil degradation etc mainly seen in Bangladesh Among all these

climate hazards this research is mainly focused on three major

climate hazards of Bangladesh and these are- heavy rainfall and

flood river erosion and drought A quick view of climate

hazards prone areas of Bangladesh are given below

Table-1 (Climate Hazard Prone Areas of Bangladesh)

Climate Hazards Most Affected AreasDrought North-West Bengal districts

Rajshahi Gaibandha etcRiver Erosion Active river channels of the

Ganges the Jamuna and theTista rivers and in the coastaland offshore areas

Heavy Rainfall ndash North-western and western

27

Flood-

Bangladesh Chittagong hills

Central region North-Eastregion Charland South BengalBarisal Bagerhat KhulnaSatkhira etc

This table shows us that drought prone areas are mainly in North-

Western Bengalrsquos districts like Rajshahi Gaibandha etc which

has lower rainfall than the other areas of Bangladesh

(Map-1)

Source NAPA

28

River bank erosion prone areas are more or less around the whole

country but mostly it is being seen in the areas along the active

river channels of the Ganges the Jamuna and the Tista rivers and

in the coastal and offshore areas of Bangladesh13 About 17

million hectares of floodplain areas are prone to riverbank

erosion14

Floods are very common in Bangladesh and it affects almost 80

land of our country Every year Bangladesh has been facing 1 or 2

extreme disasters According to Zayeda Sharmin (2013) there are

different categories of floods in Bangladesh and these are ndash

(i) Monsoon floods it increase slowly and decrease slowly

inundate vast areas and causes huge loss to the life and

property

(ii) Flash floods from sudden torrential flows following a brief

intense rainstorm

(iii) Tidal floods which are of short duration but are generally

around 3 to 6 meter high and

(iv) Rain floods caused by drainage congestion and heavy rain

Flood prone areas are mainly in the south Bengal like Barisal

Bhola Bagerhat Khulna Shatkhira etc

13National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)(2005) Ministry of Environment and Forest Government of the Peoplersquos Republic of Bangladesh pg no-4 Retrieved on November 1 2013 From unfcccintresourcedocsnapaban01pdf14 Ibid

29

(Map-2)

Source NAPA

Lastly heavy rainfall is mainly seen in north-western and western

Bangladesh Chittagong hills and more or less all over the

country But mostly in the southern part than the northern part

of Bangladesh heavy rainfall is quite a common climate hazard

9 Climate Vulnerabilities of Women

As mentioned earlier that women are closely related to the

environmental elements it is obvious that climate change effects

should have impact on women In the context of climate change a

lsquogender analysisrsquo promotes an understanding of the ways that men

30

and women are differently impacted by climate-related hazards and

by adopting adaptation and mitigation strategies15 Now the

effects of climate-related hazards on gender are describing

below

Firstly in the drought prone areas

-the cultivable lands become difficult to produce any crops

Those women who depend on agricultural activities they become

helpless for their daily income In this case they face problem

to find new place for work and if by any chance they are able to

find work then they have to face different physical and mental

harassment at the working place

-On the other hand they have to take extra pressure to manage

their household because they have to go far for earning It also

decays their physical strength and at the same time they have to

face different unexpected challenges

Picture-1 Drought in Bangladesh

15Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh Op cit

31

Source Not Enough Goodcom available at

httpnotenoughgoodcom201208indian-blackoutdrought

-They also have to take care about the drinking and daily useable

water for their family which also bring another responsibility

and additional burden to handle They have to face different

types of sexual harassment as they have to go far to collect the

water

-Further pregnant women are more vulnerable during this type of

situation

Secondly at the period like flood and heavy rainfall

-women have no role in decision making for their future They

have to rely on their male head even the women who earn for their

household has no saying during these types of situation During

the survey the responses of women several times indicated that

those women had to accept what the male member of their family

decided Whether there was any health issue or household issue

women had to depend on the male to take any action

32

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

Contents

Acknowledgment iii

Abstracthelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellipiv

Chapter- Ihelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip6

1 Introductionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip62 Research Goalhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip73 Research Questionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip74 Methodology of Data Collectionhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip85 Limitations of the Studyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip9

Chapter- IIhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip10

6 Literature Reviewhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip107 Theoretical Explanation helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip16

Chapter- IIIhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip19

8 Climate Hazard Prone Areas in Bangladeshhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip199 Climate Vulnerabilities of Womenhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip22

v

Chapter- IVhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 27

10 Gender Responsive Climate Change Policieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip27101 International Policieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip27102 Regional Policy helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip32103 National Policieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip33

11Policy in Practice and its Effectivenesshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip35

12Loopholes Between Policies and Practiceshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip37

Chapter- Vhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 40

13Required Improvements for thePolicieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip40

14Recommendations from Research Findingshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip4115Concluding Remarkshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip43

Annexeshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip45

Bibliographyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip48

vi

Chapter I

1Introduction

Climate change often make the women worst sufferer as they are

very closely connected to the environmental components than men

in everyday life Especially those women who are engage with

agricultural activities and live in coastal areas Bangladesh is

both an agricultural and coastal country and for its geographical

location it has to face a lot of climate hazards At the same

time environmental politics of other countries is also

responsible for these climate hazards which cause rigorous impact

on the basis of gender particularly upon poor women Women who

directly or indirectly engaged into agricultural production have

to suffer more than the others of our country For instance in

2009 women of 18 to 60 years age group were 87377 affected by

cyclone Aila in Koira Dacope and Shyamnagar Upazila1 of

Bangladesh Therefore we need to understand the impacts of

climate change on the gender to apply sustainable development

policies There is numerous numbers of international

organizations conferences agreements as well as the national

organizations (both governmental and non-governmental) have been

working to reduce different climate changersquos impacts like mental

and physical suffering of women But there has been always

avoidance in gender issue while forming and applying climate

change policies In our country some major climate hazards are1Islam M R (2011) Vulnerability and Coping Strategies of Women in DisasterA Study on Coastal Areas of Bangladesh Arts Faculty Journal vol 4

flood river erosion heavy rainfall drought etc To sustain

properly with the climate change the efficacy of the existing

gender responsive climate change policies need to find out In

this regard this research will evaluate some reformation of the

existing policies to make them more effective so that the women

get more priority while forming climate change policy

2 Research Goal

Bangladesh is a least developed coastal state and for its

geographical location it has to face a lot of climate hazards

which causes remarkable impacts on the basis of gender

particularly upon the women As a member of United Nations (UN)

Bangladesh is already performing along with different UN programs

regarding this issue But gender issue has been always remaining

inattentive while designing climate change policies This

inattentiveness also exists while applying national and

international policies during climate hazards The goal of this

research is to-

7

- evaluate the role of different existing programs of UN and the

national policies of Bangladesh have to deal with climate change

considering gender issue

- For these reason the efficacy of the existing gender

responsive climate change policies will aim to find out through

this research

- Further this research tries to include what reformation the

existing climate change policies require to become more gender

considerate

3 Research QuestionsThis research is mainly focused on the following central

questions-

a) How climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

gender

b) How gender responsive policies reflect in different

international regional and national climate change policies

c) To what extent do these policies are effective comparing to

real scenario

d) If no what modifications do these policies required to

prevent the climate change impacts on women of our country

This research is designed and aimed at considering these four

central questions to find out the best suitable answer

8

4 Methodology of Data Collection

This is an individual research project for academic purpose and

is based on the context of Bangladesh This research is designed

using qualitative method which includes both primary sources and

secondary sources of data As it is an individual research paper

this research is mostly relied on secondary sources of data

Primary Sources of Data

a) Survey of 12 female from three villages (Kharasombol

Boyitpur and Fatepur) of Bagerhat district

b) Expertrsquos interviews of Sharmind Neelromi2 and Bushra Hasina

Chowdhury3 to find the difference between policies and

practices and also to include policy reformulation

Secondary Sources of Data

This research is mainly based on secondary resources like

published researches and articles but apart from these different

journals books and internet resources are also widely used for

this research as secondary data

Review of different policies like UNFCCC UNDP Hyogo Framework

for Action National Action Plan 2008 Bangladesh Climate Change

Strategy and Action Plan 2009 SAARC Framework for Action

2Assistant Professor Dept of Economics Jahangir Nagar University3Assistant Professor Dept of International Relations University of Dhaka

9

Migration policies Land Policies inheritance policies water

policies etc

Data Collection Method

Primary data were collected by a small questionnaire (see

appendix) survey of 12 female who suffered different impacts of

climate change (like flood heavy rainfall river erosion) from

three villages (Kharasombol Boyitpur and Fatepur) of Bagerhat

district direct interview of experts and reviewing policies from

different websites

Secondary data were collected from seminar library of Dept of

International Relations Dept of Disaster Management and

Vulnerability Studies Dept of Women and Gender Studies central

library of university of Dhaka British Council Library etc

6Limitations of the StudyEvery research projects have to go through some limitations and

challenges more or less and this research paper is not beyond

that problem Limitations and challenges faced during this

research are the followings

Firstly limitations of time were one of the crucial challenges

for this research because if there were sufficient time then a

lot more has to enrich this research

10

Secondly this research is an individual research which is

another important barrier faced during the whole period

Thirdly there was no funding for this research that excluded

this research from having a sufficient amount of victimrsquos

interview from all over the country which is very significant

while working on policy reformulation

Fourthly expertrsquos interview from Ministry level would have added

value for this research but due to different political

instability it could not be possible

Fifthly during the survey there was a tendency among the women

to lie about the help they got from different organization in

order to get more help in future This was another notable

challenge that made it difficult to find the actual scenario

Sixthly the number of interviewee was too short to reach any

decision about the policy practice as it provides poor

information

This research has huge impacts of these limitations and

challenges

Chapter II

11

7Literature Review

Literature review of this research begins with Cecile Jackson

(1993) who emphasized the affinity of women with the environment

Further he showed the essentialist linkages between women and

environment His analysis is based on different context such as

on the context of Zimbabwe Malaysia Kenya Tanzania etc which

give a distinct view of gender relation with the climate change

in different places But later he summarized that there cannot be

a special relationship between women and environments because

women are not a unitary category and their environmental

relations reflect not only divisions among women but also gender

relations and the dynamics of political economies and agro-

ecosystems4Joan Davidson (2007) in his article analyzed more

precisely the relation of women with land water and forests and

energy He described how changes in agriculture forestry and

water and waste management have affect women which clearly show

the relation of climate change with gender He also explored the

way in which women relate to a number of different natural

resources in both rural and urban areas5Ahsan Uddin Ahmed

Sharmind Neelormi Neelopal Adri et al (2009) showed the

linkages among climate change livelihoods poverty and women in

their research This research included different climate changes

4Jackson C (1993) Doing What Comes naturally Women and Environment in Development World Development Vol 21 Retrieved on August 172013 from josiahberkeleyedu2007FallER275Readingsjackson-GAD-1993pdf5Davidson J (1993) Womens relationship with the environment Gender amp Development Retrieved on August 17 2013 from httpdxdoiorg10108009682869308519944

12

and its effects very precisely to describe the relation of

environmental change and gender For instance they described how

the increased monsoon flows dry season low flows cyclones etc

affect the women children and old people

As this research is on the gender policies regarding climate

change at first the relation between climate change and gender

need to understand The above writers gave a clear knowledge in

there writings to understand the relation and linkages between

climate change and gender

Then for the further advancement the impacts of climate change

upon gender are important to find out to analyze the

authentication of policy practice In this regard Christine Haigh

and Bernadette Vallely (2010) in their report found the distinct

impacts of climate change on women in both developed and

developing countries To describe the impacts of climate change

on gender they included that ldquoClimate change impacts will be

differently distributed among different regions generations age

classes income groups occupations and gendersrdquo6Further they

described the impacts on women during different climate change

such as disasters and extreme weather events forced migration

for climate change water and energy etc using some case studies

which are very significant to have a view over the reality Joan

Davidson (2007) more distinctly added the problems that women

face in urban environments while they migrate from their rural

6Climate Change 2007 Impacts Adaptation and Vulnerability IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change Retrieved on August 17 2013 fromhttpswwwipccchclimate-changes-2001wg2-summary-policymakerspdf

13

areas for environmental degradation He also included that women

do not have ownership of the land that they work so hard for

which cause seasonal unemployment and insecurity He also found

out the scarcity of water and fuel wood led the women to

different physical trauma Later he also evaluated three (the

effects of minimal services the constant danger of industrial

pollution and the cumulative deterioration of the urban

hinterland) kind of environmental degradation women suffer in

urban fringe areas Further Research team of Ahsan Uddin Ahmed

Sharmind Neelormi Neelopal Adri et al (2009) also included

different area basis study to find out authentic data about the

impacts of climate change on women and special vulnerable group

which is very helpful to gather knowledge about real scenario

Their research also provides different distinct climate change

issues and their impacts on gender in different places for

example Cyclonic Storm Surge in Coastal Islands Salinity in

Tala and Shaymnagar Upazilas of Satkhira District Drought in

Manda Upazila of Naogaon District River Erosion in Kurigram and

Faridpur etc Midori Aoyagi Eiko Suda and Tomomi Shinada (2011)

added the effects of climate change upon gender in their working

paper They evaluated that people in poor countries such as

Africa are comparatively more vulnerable to climate change

impacts

These writings provide a clear vision about the mental and

physical impacts do the climate change have on the gender But

these writings are not very recent and to understand the present

14

scenario recent writings will be more helpful Because dealing

with the existing policies require the recent and authentic data

to reach at the goal And it is important to mention here that

the paper of Midori Aoyagi Eiko Suda and Tomomi Shinada (2011)

is mostly focused on disaster recovery the land ownership and

inheritance system which are not much important while finding the

impacts of climate on gender

Having a clear understanding of the climate change and its

effects on gender now it is a matter of concern what policies

exist there to prevent from these obstacles At first

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007)

emphasized on the adverse effect of climate change towards

gender IPCC (2007) recognized that women suffer more than the

men in climate hazards With this point IPCC included gender

mainstreaming and gender equality in its policy On the other

hand Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009) in her research included the

existing International and local institutions that are related to

disaster management and different international conferences that

deal with policies and interventions to prevent violence against

women and for disaster management She added the policies of

climate change adaptation and disaster reduction on gender of

Womenrsquos Human Rights of millennium development goal (MDGs) Hyogo

Framework for Action (2005-2015) World Conference on Disaster

Reduction United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC) SAARC Framework for Action (2006-2015) National Action

Plan (NAP) for Womenrsquos Advancement Relevant laws to curb

15

violence against women like Penal Code 1860 Muslim Family law

Ordinance (1961) etc She also provided the draft of National

Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) and Disaster Management

Regulative Framework which show the future attempts of Bangladesh

for disaster management National Action Plan (2008) of

Bangladesh included different existing projects and Institutions

that Bangladesh have for climate change adaptation such as The

Climate Change Action Plan (2009-2018) National Adaptation

Program of Action (2005) the National Disaster Management

Council (NDMC) National Climate Change Fund The Ministry of

Food and Disaster Management etc

These two are helpful to have an overview of the existing

policies for climate change But Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009)

mentioned in her research that there are several global

conferences and agreements on climate change but still all these

initiatives could not gain much remarkable success Moreover the

gender perspective is not getting much priority in all these

initiatives Similarly from the National Action Plan (2008) it is

also clearly been seen that gender is not consider as a separate

issue of concern while making policies for climate change But

draft of National Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) has

included gender into their policy very distinctly It mentioned

about the advancement of local judiciary system monitoring the

food distribution process advance mechanism for pure drinking

water to prevent different diseases providing training about the

disaster management process and structural violence as well This

16

plan could gain a great success to deal with climate change

considering gender if it is properly implemented

Agnes Otzelbergerrsquos (2011) research described how UNFCCC its

Kyoto Protocol Conference of parties (COP) GenderCC Global

Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA) etc have included and

planning to include the climate change policy considering gender

issue It also added the developing countryrsquos policies on climate

change regarding gender issue such as Hyogo Framework for

Action African Adaptation Program (AAP) This research is

comparatively more valuable to find out the climate change

policies responded to gender issue A report of World Health

Organization ldquoGender Climate Change and Healthrdquo described the

sectors that UNFCCC response for gender policies with the climate

change These responded sectors are health access to energy

transportation early warning systems and hazard management etc

Similarly Emmeline Skinner (2011) also described the policies of

UNFCCC the gender responsive movements of it and the initiatives

taken by the countries to reach Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs) At the same time he also included different countryrsquos

National Adaptation Policy for Action (NAPA) to understand the

gender mainstreaming policies in national level On the other

hand Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-2015) included gender

responsive policies and it recognizes that a gender perspective

should be integrated into all Disaster Risk Reduction policies

plans and decision-making processes including those associated

with existing climate variability and future climate change

17

Ministry of Environment and Forest had developed a Bangladesh

Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) 2009 which

built-in six pillars to implement and among those the first

pillar named lsquofood security social protection and healthrsquo

included women and children as special consideration for food

security safe housing employment access to basic services and

health Further National Water Policy (1999) of Bangladesh gave

emphasis to equal access to safe water and sanitation services

with an affordable cost for everyone It also prioritized on the

improvement of the role of women for decision making and water

management Ministry of Environment and Forest of Bangladesh also

developed another National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)

(2005) to deal with climate hazards Napa has a framework for

action of 2005 which included the actual and potential adverse

effect of climate change Napa prioritized on the urgent and

immediate action policy It also includes different adaptation

policies but excluding the gender issue Napa only emphasizes

gender equality but it does not include gender based policy

Unlike all these institutional policies United Nations

Development Program (UNDP) include gender and adaptation policy

quite precisely From the awareness making before climate hazards

to the post disaster situation they consider gender as a

significant issue while designing policy On the other hand the

draft of SAARC Comprehensive Framework on Disaster Management

(2006-2015) addressed about empowerment and strengthening gender

at the post disaster period They also prioritized on emergency

18

response management providing training and destined to focus on

gender issue with strong emphasis

Reviewing the existing policies the next focus of this research

goes on to find the effectiveness of these existing policies A

report of UNDP (2009) has clarified about the existing gender

responsive policies of UNDP for climate change It also included

the effective gender responsive programs of the UNDP UNFCCC and

NAPArsquos policy for climate change but mostly emphasized on the

policies of UNDP Further Mohammed Abdul Baten and Niaz Ahmed

Khan (2010) included a brief understanding in their writing about

how the gender responsive climate change policies exist in UNDP

UNFCCC NAPA BCCSAP etc and then they evaluated in the failures

of these policies regarding gender in their climate change

policy They provided a concise knowledge about the

ineffectiveness of policies while apply in reality

Effectiveness of the policies leads to understand the gaps

between policies and practices In this point of view Md Rabiul

Islam (2011) recommended in his research to prioritized women in

policies planning and program as he did not found women in

policies during his research He also discovers that women do not

have equal access to development activities of Government and

NGOs Further he finds out the week initiatives of local

administration while there is any judgment on different

unexpected torture on women Apart from these in his research he

also mentioned about women not having access to education and

training programs for adaptation and coping strategies Further

19

in a report of Tahera Akter (2009) evaluate that there are no

timeframe of any action plan to find out the problem in the

national policy She also addressed that the existing policies

are very old and are not capable to cope with changing natural

hazards Revealing these policy gaps she further mentioned that

there is lack of coordination among the organizations to

effectively evaluate the problems of environmentally displaced

people She also added that there is no national estimation or

prediction about environmental displacement World Health

Organization (WHO) also finds out some remarkable gaps between

the policies and practices in one of its report to understand the

issues for urgent action This report is mainly based on gender

climate change and health which evaluated some loopholes of the

overall existing policies

To reduce these loopholes climate change policies require

reformulation of its structure In this regard Sandra Bathge

(2010) concluded with some adaptation and mitigation measures

which can be also used as recommendation for this research as

those measures are related to policy formulation in a new way

This working paper included access to education land ownership

and services markets etc and also provided policies

considering gender about training programs awareness building

ability to generate income etc which lead this paper to design

the reformulation of climate change policies Further Alyson

Brody Justina Demetriades and Emily Esplen (2008) mostly

emphasized on the participation of women in decision making

20

processes around climate change adaptation and mitigation They

also recommended various aspects like identifying gender impacts

and adaptation priorities in both rural and urban areas

identifying gender implications of long term drought and

starvation etc on the other hand Nilufar Ahmad (2012) in her

paper mainly focused on the basis of individual policy

reformulation which is another most important literature for this

research She suggested BCCSAP to prioritize key gender entry

points indicators and annual targets and link these with the

budget She also recommended about accountable environmental

governance a gender informed cross-sectoral monitoring and

evaluation system to monitor construction and rehabilitation of

gender friendly and multi-purpose shelter and also other

important rights of women Emmeline Skinner (2011) also included

a number of notable suggestions for the pro-gender climate change

policy reformulation She added about strong political commitment

to gender equality stronger participation of women in climate

change institutions and processes conduct gender responsive

budgeting link mitigation and adaptation processes etc

These literatures are not much supportive to have a complete view

of the climate change policies on gender perspective and that is

one of the biggest challenges of this research Again reviewing

these important policies it was easy to figure out to a great

extent that the climate change policies need proper reformulation

and thus literature review evaluate the future improvements and

recommendations of gender sensitive climate change policies

21

8Theoretical ExplanationConcepts

My research follows the definition adopted by the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in which

ldquoclimate changerdquo refers to any change in climate over time

whether due to natural variability or as a result of human

activity7 This usage differs from that in the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which defines

ldquoclimate changerdquo as ldquoa change of climate which is attributed

directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the

composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to

natural climate variability observed over comparable time

periodsrdquo8

ldquoGenderrdquo refers to the socially constructed norms roles and

relations that a given society considers appropriate for men and

women Gender determines what is expected permitted and valued

in a woman or a man in a determined context9

A brief of Nandini Oberoi illustrated that Climate change is a

gender issue and that women are particularly vulnerable to

climate change because they are more prone to the adverse impacts

7Gender Climate change and Health World Health Organization pg5 Retrievedon September 23 2013 from wwwwhointglobalchangeGenderClimateChangeHealthfinalpdf8 ibid9 ibid

22

from climate change10 Changes in the climate usually impact on

sectors that are traditionally associated with women such as

paddy cultivation cotton and tea plantations and fishing11

In this research gender analysis is not a special focus on women

but rather an understanding on how discrimination against women

and gender roles interact to shape men and womenrsquos enjoyment of

human dignity rights as well as equality of living12

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) defines

Hazard as ldquoA potentially damaging physical event phenomenon or

human activity that may cause the loss of life or injury

property damage social and economic disruption or environmental

degradation Hazards can include latent conditions that may

represent future threats and can have different origins natural

(geological hydro meteorological and biological) or induced by

human processes (environmental degradation and technological

hazards)rdquo

TheoriesClimate change and gender and the relation between these two

phenomenons can be described with different theory This section

of research is destined to explain climate change and gender

relation with different International Relations theory

10Parikh J Mainstreaming Gender into Climate Change Policies Retrieved on July 8 2013 from wwwdisasterwatchnetclimatechangegndr_climt07pdf11 ibid12Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh GenderCC

23

i) Feminist Theory

The main concept of Radical feminist is lsquopatriarchyrsquo that means

the lsquorule of fatherrsquo In feminist theory we can see that there

are two form of patriarchy one is classical form of patriarchy

and another is more loose form of patriarchy But in both of the

patriarchal system women have no say in decision making Even

while they have to go through different types of mental and

physical violence during and after any climate hazard occur they

are not able to make any decision for themselves because

patriarchal society do not allow women to be treated equally as

men while decision making and it also reflects in climate change

policy

Liberal feminists are generally concerned with equal rights In

the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries liberal feminist argued

that women by nature different from men that means climate

vulnerabilities of women are also different from men They also

argued for womenrsquos equality on the grounds that they are capable

of making their personal decision and determine their best

interest which is as rational as men Therefore women should have

equal rights while decision making during any climate hazard The

reproductive chores such as child rearing and bearing water

collection food production and acquisition etc of any household

are mostly done by the female member of the family In this

regard climate hazards increases the burden for women and girls

because they are expected to ensure all this household chores

24

Radical feminist argued that to achieve genuine equality it is

important to share these responsibilities with men and as women

by nature different from men climate change policies also should

be gender sensitive

ii) Dependency Theory

According to dependency theory the core periphery and semi

periphery countryrsquos economy and development are interrelated and

interdependent So climate vulnerabilities of women are not an

internal matter for any particular country Rather it needs

global attention as it will also affect the other country and

their development process both directly and indirectly In this

regard global concern joint decision and gender responsive

climate change policy is required as the whole world is

ultimately dependent on each other

iii) Realist Theory

A very significant quote is important to address here by famous

realist scholar Thucydides is-

ldquoThe strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they mustrdquo

The developed countries as the lsquostrongrsquo power do what they want

to do to boost up their economy without considering climate

issues and the week (developing countries) suffer the effects

caused by climate change Before cold war the concept of

security used to consider as military power but in the

contemporary world climate security become more important rather

25

than military security Powerful states now are more concerned

about their own climate security and try to increase their

economic growth by exploiting the environment of weaker states

State as well as the people and mostly women of the developing

countries are the victim of this exploitation and they have to

bear different types of climate hazards which actually causes by

these developedpowerful states In result as women are the

weaker groups they suffer more than the stronger group of men

during all these climate hazards At the same time the men as

stronger group take every decision over the weaker women whenever

there is any climate hazard

iv) Neo-Liberal Theory

Neo-liberal theory supports the trade liberalization that means

removal of trade barrier opening of state economic enterprise

and privatization of market etc After the cold war the emergence

of globalization and the liberalization of market have increased

the investment of Multinational Corporations in the developing

world that have an adversely affect on their local climate The

waste materials and toxic gases emit during the production

procedure cause different types of climate hazards These

unwanted climate hazards also leave significant effect on women

As neo-liberalism emphasize on lsquoindividualrsquo women should be

consider as a group of individual while designing the policies

for climate change

26

Chapter III

ldquoHow climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

genderrdquo

9Climate Hazard Prone Areas of BangladeshThere are some common climate hazards often seen in Bangladesh

and areas mostly affected by these hazards in Bangladesh

identified to answer the above central research question

Different types of climate changersquos impacts such as flood

cyclone river erosion drought heavy rainfall sea level rise

soil degradation etc mainly seen in Bangladesh Among all these

climate hazards this research is mainly focused on three major

climate hazards of Bangladesh and these are- heavy rainfall and

flood river erosion and drought A quick view of climate

hazards prone areas of Bangladesh are given below

Table-1 (Climate Hazard Prone Areas of Bangladesh)

Climate Hazards Most Affected AreasDrought North-West Bengal districts

Rajshahi Gaibandha etcRiver Erosion Active river channels of the

Ganges the Jamuna and theTista rivers and in the coastaland offshore areas

Heavy Rainfall ndash North-western and western

27

Flood-

Bangladesh Chittagong hills

Central region North-Eastregion Charland South BengalBarisal Bagerhat KhulnaSatkhira etc

This table shows us that drought prone areas are mainly in North-

Western Bengalrsquos districts like Rajshahi Gaibandha etc which

has lower rainfall than the other areas of Bangladesh

(Map-1)

Source NAPA

28

River bank erosion prone areas are more or less around the whole

country but mostly it is being seen in the areas along the active

river channels of the Ganges the Jamuna and the Tista rivers and

in the coastal and offshore areas of Bangladesh13 About 17

million hectares of floodplain areas are prone to riverbank

erosion14

Floods are very common in Bangladesh and it affects almost 80

land of our country Every year Bangladesh has been facing 1 or 2

extreme disasters According to Zayeda Sharmin (2013) there are

different categories of floods in Bangladesh and these are ndash

(i) Monsoon floods it increase slowly and decrease slowly

inundate vast areas and causes huge loss to the life and

property

(ii) Flash floods from sudden torrential flows following a brief

intense rainstorm

(iii) Tidal floods which are of short duration but are generally

around 3 to 6 meter high and

(iv) Rain floods caused by drainage congestion and heavy rain

Flood prone areas are mainly in the south Bengal like Barisal

Bhola Bagerhat Khulna Shatkhira etc

13National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)(2005) Ministry of Environment and Forest Government of the Peoplersquos Republic of Bangladesh pg no-4 Retrieved on November 1 2013 From unfcccintresourcedocsnapaban01pdf14 Ibid

29

(Map-2)

Source NAPA

Lastly heavy rainfall is mainly seen in north-western and western

Bangladesh Chittagong hills and more or less all over the

country But mostly in the southern part than the northern part

of Bangladesh heavy rainfall is quite a common climate hazard

9 Climate Vulnerabilities of Women

As mentioned earlier that women are closely related to the

environmental elements it is obvious that climate change effects

should have impact on women In the context of climate change a

lsquogender analysisrsquo promotes an understanding of the ways that men

30

and women are differently impacted by climate-related hazards and

by adopting adaptation and mitigation strategies15 Now the

effects of climate-related hazards on gender are describing

below

Firstly in the drought prone areas

-the cultivable lands become difficult to produce any crops

Those women who depend on agricultural activities they become

helpless for their daily income In this case they face problem

to find new place for work and if by any chance they are able to

find work then they have to face different physical and mental

harassment at the working place

-On the other hand they have to take extra pressure to manage

their household because they have to go far for earning It also

decays their physical strength and at the same time they have to

face different unexpected challenges

Picture-1 Drought in Bangladesh

15Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh Op cit

31

Source Not Enough Goodcom available at

httpnotenoughgoodcom201208indian-blackoutdrought

-They also have to take care about the drinking and daily useable

water for their family which also bring another responsibility

and additional burden to handle They have to face different

types of sexual harassment as they have to go far to collect the

water

-Further pregnant women are more vulnerable during this type of

situation

Secondly at the period like flood and heavy rainfall

-women have no role in decision making for their future They

have to rely on their male head even the women who earn for their

household has no saying during these types of situation During

the survey the responses of women several times indicated that

those women had to accept what the male member of their family

decided Whether there was any health issue or household issue

women had to depend on the male to take any action

32

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

Chapter- IVhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 27

10 Gender Responsive Climate Change Policieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip27101 International Policieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip27102 Regional Policy helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip32103 National Policieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip33

11Policy in Practice and its Effectivenesshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip35

12Loopholes Between Policies and Practiceshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip37

Chapter- Vhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip 40

13Required Improvements for thePolicieshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip40

14Recommendations from Research Findingshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip4115Concluding Remarkshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip43

Annexeshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip45

Bibliographyhelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip48

vi

Chapter I

1Introduction

Climate change often make the women worst sufferer as they are

very closely connected to the environmental components than men

in everyday life Especially those women who are engage with

agricultural activities and live in coastal areas Bangladesh is

both an agricultural and coastal country and for its geographical

location it has to face a lot of climate hazards At the same

time environmental politics of other countries is also

responsible for these climate hazards which cause rigorous impact

on the basis of gender particularly upon poor women Women who

directly or indirectly engaged into agricultural production have

to suffer more than the others of our country For instance in

2009 women of 18 to 60 years age group were 87377 affected by

cyclone Aila in Koira Dacope and Shyamnagar Upazila1 of

Bangladesh Therefore we need to understand the impacts of

climate change on the gender to apply sustainable development

policies There is numerous numbers of international

organizations conferences agreements as well as the national

organizations (both governmental and non-governmental) have been

working to reduce different climate changersquos impacts like mental

and physical suffering of women But there has been always

avoidance in gender issue while forming and applying climate

change policies In our country some major climate hazards are1Islam M R (2011) Vulnerability and Coping Strategies of Women in DisasterA Study on Coastal Areas of Bangladesh Arts Faculty Journal vol 4

flood river erosion heavy rainfall drought etc To sustain

properly with the climate change the efficacy of the existing

gender responsive climate change policies need to find out In

this regard this research will evaluate some reformation of the

existing policies to make them more effective so that the women

get more priority while forming climate change policy

2 Research Goal

Bangladesh is a least developed coastal state and for its

geographical location it has to face a lot of climate hazards

which causes remarkable impacts on the basis of gender

particularly upon the women As a member of United Nations (UN)

Bangladesh is already performing along with different UN programs

regarding this issue But gender issue has been always remaining

inattentive while designing climate change policies This

inattentiveness also exists while applying national and

international policies during climate hazards The goal of this

research is to-

7

- evaluate the role of different existing programs of UN and the

national policies of Bangladesh have to deal with climate change

considering gender issue

- For these reason the efficacy of the existing gender

responsive climate change policies will aim to find out through

this research

- Further this research tries to include what reformation the

existing climate change policies require to become more gender

considerate

3 Research QuestionsThis research is mainly focused on the following central

questions-

a) How climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

gender

b) How gender responsive policies reflect in different

international regional and national climate change policies

c) To what extent do these policies are effective comparing to

real scenario

d) If no what modifications do these policies required to

prevent the climate change impacts on women of our country

This research is designed and aimed at considering these four

central questions to find out the best suitable answer

8

4 Methodology of Data Collection

This is an individual research project for academic purpose and

is based on the context of Bangladesh This research is designed

using qualitative method which includes both primary sources and

secondary sources of data As it is an individual research paper

this research is mostly relied on secondary sources of data

Primary Sources of Data

a) Survey of 12 female from three villages (Kharasombol

Boyitpur and Fatepur) of Bagerhat district

b) Expertrsquos interviews of Sharmind Neelromi2 and Bushra Hasina

Chowdhury3 to find the difference between policies and

practices and also to include policy reformulation

Secondary Sources of Data

This research is mainly based on secondary resources like

published researches and articles but apart from these different

journals books and internet resources are also widely used for

this research as secondary data

Review of different policies like UNFCCC UNDP Hyogo Framework

for Action National Action Plan 2008 Bangladesh Climate Change

Strategy and Action Plan 2009 SAARC Framework for Action

2Assistant Professor Dept of Economics Jahangir Nagar University3Assistant Professor Dept of International Relations University of Dhaka

9

Migration policies Land Policies inheritance policies water

policies etc

Data Collection Method

Primary data were collected by a small questionnaire (see

appendix) survey of 12 female who suffered different impacts of

climate change (like flood heavy rainfall river erosion) from

three villages (Kharasombol Boyitpur and Fatepur) of Bagerhat

district direct interview of experts and reviewing policies from

different websites

Secondary data were collected from seminar library of Dept of

International Relations Dept of Disaster Management and

Vulnerability Studies Dept of Women and Gender Studies central

library of university of Dhaka British Council Library etc

6Limitations of the StudyEvery research projects have to go through some limitations and

challenges more or less and this research paper is not beyond

that problem Limitations and challenges faced during this

research are the followings

Firstly limitations of time were one of the crucial challenges

for this research because if there were sufficient time then a

lot more has to enrich this research

10

Secondly this research is an individual research which is

another important barrier faced during the whole period

Thirdly there was no funding for this research that excluded

this research from having a sufficient amount of victimrsquos

interview from all over the country which is very significant

while working on policy reformulation

Fourthly expertrsquos interview from Ministry level would have added

value for this research but due to different political

instability it could not be possible

Fifthly during the survey there was a tendency among the women

to lie about the help they got from different organization in

order to get more help in future This was another notable

challenge that made it difficult to find the actual scenario

Sixthly the number of interviewee was too short to reach any

decision about the policy practice as it provides poor

information

This research has huge impacts of these limitations and

challenges

Chapter II

11

7Literature Review

Literature review of this research begins with Cecile Jackson

(1993) who emphasized the affinity of women with the environment

Further he showed the essentialist linkages between women and

environment His analysis is based on different context such as

on the context of Zimbabwe Malaysia Kenya Tanzania etc which

give a distinct view of gender relation with the climate change

in different places But later he summarized that there cannot be

a special relationship between women and environments because

women are not a unitary category and their environmental

relations reflect not only divisions among women but also gender

relations and the dynamics of political economies and agro-

ecosystems4Joan Davidson (2007) in his article analyzed more

precisely the relation of women with land water and forests and

energy He described how changes in agriculture forestry and

water and waste management have affect women which clearly show

the relation of climate change with gender He also explored the

way in which women relate to a number of different natural

resources in both rural and urban areas5Ahsan Uddin Ahmed

Sharmind Neelormi Neelopal Adri et al (2009) showed the

linkages among climate change livelihoods poverty and women in

their research This research included different climate changes

4Jackson C (1993) Doing What Comes naturally Women and Environment in Development World Development Vol 21 Retrieved on August 172013 from josiahberkeleyedu2007FallER275Readingsjackson-GAD-1993pdf5Davidson J (1993) Womens relationship with the environment Gender amp Development Retrieved on August 17 2013 from httpdxdoiorg10108009682869308519944

12

and its effects very precisely to describe the relation of

environmental change and gender For instance they described how

the increased monsoon flows dry season low flows cyclones etc

affect the women children and old people

As this research is on the gender policies regarding climate

change at first the relation between climate change and gender

need to understand The above writers gave a clear knowledge in

there writings to understand the relation and linkages between

climate change and gender

Then for the further advancement the impacts of climate change

upon gender are important to find out to analyze the

authentication of policy practice In this regard Christine Haigh

and Bernadette Vallely (2010) in their report found the distinct

impacts of climate change on women in both developed and

developing countries To describe the impacts of climate change

on gender they included that ldquoClimate change impacts will be

differently distributed among different regions generations age

classes income groups occupations and gendersrdquo6Further they

described the impacts on women during different climate change

such as disasters and extreme weather events forced migration

for climate change water and energy etc using some case studies

which are very significant to have a view over the reality Joan

Davidson (2007) more distinctly added the problems that women

face in urban environments while they migrate from their rural

6Climate Change 2007 Impacts Adaptation and Vulnerability IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change Retrieved on August 17 2013 fromhttpswwwipccchclimate-changes-2001wg2-summary-policymakerspdf

13

areas for environmental degradation He also included that women

do not have ownership of the land that they work so hard for

which cause seasonal unemployment and insecurity He also found

out the scarcity of water and fuel wood led the women to

different physical trauma Later he also evaluated three (the

effects of minimal services the constant danger of industrial

pollution and the cumulative deterioration of the urban

hinterland) kind of environmental degradation women suffer in

urban fringe areas Further Research team of Ahsan Uddin Ahmed

Sharmind Neelormi Neelopal Adri et al (2009) also included

different area basis study to find out authentic data about the

impacts of climate change on women and special vulnerable group

which is very helpful to gather knowledge about real scenario

Their research also provides different distinct climate change

issues and their impacts on gender in different places for

example Cyclonic Storm Surge in Coastal Islands Salinity in

Tala and Shaymnagar Upazilas of Satkhira District Drought in

Manda Upazila of Naogaon District River Erosion in Kurigram and

Faridpur etc Midori Aoyagi Eiko Suda and Tomomi Shinada (2011)

added the effects of climate change upon gender in their working

paper They evaluated that people in poor countries such as

Africa are comparatively more vulnerable to climate change

impacts

These writings provide a clear vision about the mental and

physical impacts do the climate change have on the gender But

these writings are not very recent and to understand the present

14

scenario recent writings will be more helpful Because dealing

with the existing policies require the recent and authentic data

to reach at the goal And it is important to mention here that

the paper of Midori Aoyagi Eiko Suda and Tomomi Shinada (2011)

is mostly focused on disaster recovery the land ownership and

inheritance system which are not much important while finding the

impacts of climate on gender

Having a clear understanding of the climate change and its

effects on gender now it is a matter of concern what policies

exist there to prevent from these obstacles At first

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007)

emphasized on the adverse effect of climate change towards

gender IPCC (2007) recognized that women suffer more than the

men in climate hazards With this point IPCC included gender

mainstreaming and gender equality in its policy On the other

hand Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009) in her research included the

existing International and local institutions that are related to

disaster management and different international conferences that

deal with policies and interventions to prevent violence against

women and for disaster management She added the policies of

climate change adaptation and disaster reduction on gender of

Womenrsquos Human Rights of millennium development goal (MDGs) Hyogo

Framework for Action (2005-2015) World Conference on Disaster

Reduction United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC) SAARC Framework for Action (2006-2015) National Action

Plan (NAP) for Womenrsquos Advancement Relevant laws to curb

15

violence against women like Penal Code 1860 Muslim Family law

Ordinance (1961) etc She also provided the draft of National

Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) and Disaster Management

Regulative Framework which show the future attempts of Bangladesh

for disaster management National Action Plan (2008) of

Bangladesh included different existing projects and Institutions

that Bangladesh have for climate change adaptation such as The

Climate Change Action Plan (2009-2018) National Adaptation

Program of Action (2005) the National Disaster Management

Council (NDMC) National Climate Change Fund The Ministry of

Food and Disaster Management etc

These two are helpful to have an overview of the existing

policies for climate change But Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009)

mentioned in her research that there are several global

conferences and agreements on climate change but still all these

initiatives could not gain much remarkable success Moreover the

gender perspective is not getting much priority in all these

initiatives Similarly from the National Action Plan (2008) it is

also clearly been seen that gender is not consider as a separate

issue of concern while making policies for climate change But

draft of National Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) has

included gender into their policy very distinctly It mentioned

about the advancement of local judiciary system monitoring the

food distribution process advance mechanism for pure drinking

water to prevent different diseases providing training about the

disaster management process and structural violence as well This

16

plan could gain a great success to deal with climate change

considering gender if it is properly implemented

Agnes Otzelbergerrsquos (2011) research described how UNFCCC its

Kyoto Protocol Conference of parties (COP) GenderCC Global

Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA) etc have included and

planning to include the climate change policy considering gender

issue It also added the developing countryrsquos policies on climate

change regarding gender issue such as Hyogo Framework for

Action African Adaptation Program (AAP) This research is

comparatively more valuable to find out the climate change

policies responded to gender issue A report of World Health

Organization ldquoGender Climate Change and Healthrdquo described the

sectors that UNFCCC response for gender policies with the climate

change These responded sectors are health access to energy

transportation early warning systems and hazard management etc

Similarly Emmeline Skinner (2011) also described the policies of

UNFCCC the gender responsive movements of it and the initiatives

taken by the countries to reach Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs) At the same time he also included different countryrsquos

National Adaptation Policy for Action (NAPA) to understand the

gender mainstreaming policies in national level On the other

hand Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-2015) included gender

responsive policies and it recognizes that a gender perspective

should be integrated into all Disaster Risk Reduction policies

plans and decision-making processes including those associated

with existing climate variability and future climate change

17

Ministry of Environment and Forest had developed a Bangladesh

Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) 2009 which

built-in six pillars to implement and among those the first

pillar named lsquofood security social protection and healthrsquo

included women and children as special consideration for food

security safe housing employment access to basic services and

health Further National Water Policy (1999) of Bangladesh gave

emphasis to equal access to safe water and sanitation services

with an affordable cost for everyone It also prioritized on the

improvement of the role of women for decision making and water

management Ministry of Environment and Forest of Bangladesh also

developed another National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)

(2005) to deal with climate hazards Napa has a framework for

action of 2005 which included the actual and potential adverse

effect of climate change Napa prioritized on the urgent and

immediate action policy It also includes different adaptation

policies but excluding the gender issue Napa only emphasizes

gender equality but it does not include gender based policy

Unlike all these institutional policies United Nations

Development Program (UNDP) include gender and adaptation policy

quite precisely From the awareness making before climate hazards

to the post disaster situation they consider gender as a

significant issue while designing policy On the other hand the

draft of SAARC Comprehensive Framework on Disaster Management

(2006-2015) addressed about empowerment and strengthening gender

at the post disaster period They also prioritized on emergency

18

response management providing training and destined to focus on

gender issue with strong emphasis

Reviewing the existing policies the next focus of this research

goes on to find the effectiveness of these existing policies A

report of UNDP (2009) has clarified about the existing gender

responsive policies of UNDP for climate change It also included

the effective gender responsive programs of the UNDP UNFCCC and

NAPArsquos policy for climate change but mostly emphasized on the

policies of UNDP Further Mohammed Abdul Baten and Niaz Ahmed

Khan (2010) included a brief understanding in their writing about

how the gender responsive climate change policies exist in UNDP

UNFCCC NAPA BCCSAP etc and then they evaluated in the failures

of these policies regarding gender in their climate change

policy They provided a concise knowledge about the

ineffectiveness of policies while apply in reality

Effectiveness of the policies leads to understand the gaps

between policies and practices In this point of view Md Rabiul

Islam (2011) recommended in his research to prioritized women in

policies planning and program as he did not found women in

policies during his research He also discovers that women do not

have equal access to development activities of Government and

NGOs Further he finds out the week initiatives of local

administration while there is any judgment on different

unexpected torture on women Apart from these in his research he

also mentioned about women not having access to education and

training programs for adaptation and coping strategies Further

19

in a report of Tahera Akter (2009) evaluate that there are no

timeframe of any action plan to find out the problem in the

national policy She also addressed that the existing policies

are very old and are not capable to cope with changing natural

hazards Revealing these policy gaps she further mentioned that

there is lack of coordination among the organizations to

effectively evaluate the problems of environmentally displaced

people She also added that there is no national estimation or

prediction about environmental displacement World Health

Organization (WHO) also finds out some remarkable gaps between

the policies and practices in one of its report to understand the

issues for urgent action This report is mainly based on gender

climate change and health which evaluated some loopholes of the

overall existing policies

To reduce these loopholes climate change policies require

reformulation of its structure In this regard Sandra Bathge

(2010) concluded with some adaptation and mitigation measures

which can be also used as recommendation for this research as

those measures are related to policy formulation in a new way

This working paper included access to education land ownership

and services markets etc and also provided policies

considering gender about training programs awareness building

ability to generate income etc which lead this paper to design

the reformulation of climate change policies Further Alyson

Brody Justina Demetriades and Emily Esplen (2008) mostly

emphasized on the participation of women in decision making

20

processes around climate change adaptation and mitigation They

also recommended various aspects like identifying gender impacts

and adaptation priorities in both rural and urban areas

identifying gender implications of long term drought and

starvation etc on the other hand Nilufar Ahmad (2012) in her

paper mainly focused on the basis of individual policy

reformulation which is another most important literature for this

research She suggested BCCSAP to prioritize key gender entry

points indicators and annual targets and link these with the

budget She also recommended about accountable environmental

governance a gender informed cross-sectoral monitoring and

evaluation system to monitor construction and rehabilitation of

gender friendly and multi-purpose shelter and also other

important rights of women Emmeline Skinner (2011) also included

a number of notable suggestions for the pro-gender climate change

policy reformulation She added about strong political commitment

to gender equality stronger participation of women in climate

change institutions and processes conduct gender responsive

budgeting link mitigation and adaptation processes etc

These literatures are not much supportive to have a complete view

of the climate change policies on gender perspective and that is

one of the biggest challenges of this research Again reviewing

these important policies it was easy to figure out to a great

extent that the climate change policies need proper reformulation

and thus literature review evaluate the future improvements and

recommendations of gender sensitive climate change policies

21

8Theoretical ExplanationConcepts

My research follows the definition adopted by the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in which

ldquoclimate changerdquo refers to any change in climate over time

whether due to natural variability or as a result of human

activity7 This usage differs from that in the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which defines

ldquoclimate changerdquo as ldquoa change of climate which is attributed

directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the

composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to

natural climate variability observed over comparable time

periodsrdquo8

ldquoGenderrdquo refers to the socially constructed norms roles and

relations that a given society considers appropriate for men and

women Gender determines what is expected permitted and valued

in a woman or a man in a determined context9

A brief of Nandini Oberoi illustrated that Climate change is a

gender issue and that women are particularly vulnerable to

climate change because they are more prone to the adverse impacts

7Gender Climate change and Health World Health Organization pg5 Retrievedon September 23 2013 from wwwwhointglobalchangeGenderClimateChangeHealthfinalpdf8 ibid9 ibid

22

from climate change10 Changes in the climate usually impact on

sectors that are traditionally associated with women such as

paddy cultivation cotton and tea plantations and fishing11

In this research gender analysis is not a special focus on women

but rather an understanding on how discrimination against women

and gender roles interact to shape men and womenrsquos enjoyment of

human dignity rights as well as equality of living12

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) defines

Hazard as ldquoA potentially damaging physical event phenomenon or

human activity that may cause the loss of life or injury

property damage social and economic disruption or environmental

degradation Hazards can include latent conditions that may

represent future threats and can have different origins natural

(geological hydro meteorological and biological) or induced by

human processes (environmental degradation and technological

hazards)rdquo

TheoriesClimate change and gender and the relation between these two

phenomenons can be described with different theory This section

of research is destined to explain climate change and gender

relation with different International Relations theory

10Parikh J Mainstreaming Gender into Climate Change Policies Retrieved on July 8 2013 from wwwdisasterwatchnetclimatechangegndr_climt07pdf11 ibid12Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh GenderCC

23

i) Feminist Theory

The main concept of Radical feminist is lsquopatriarchyrsquo that means

the lsquorule of fatherrsquo In feminist theory we can see that there

are two form of patriarchy one is classical form of patriarchy

and another is more loose form of patriarchy But in both of the

patriarchal system women have no say in decision making Even

while they have to go through different types of mental and

physical violence during and after any climate hazard occur they

are not able to make any decision for themselves because

patriarchal society do not allow women to be treated equally as

men while decision making and it also reflects in climate change

policy

Liberal feminists are generally concerned with equal rights In

the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries liberal feminist argued

that women by nature different from men that means climate

vulnerabilities of women are also different from men They also

argued for womenrsquos equality on the grounds that they are capable

of making their personal decision and determine their best

interest which is as rational as men Therefore women should have

equal rights while decision making during any climate hazard The

reproductive chores such as child rearing and bearing water

collection food production and acquisition etc of any household

are mostly done by the female member of the family In this

regard climate hazards increases the burden for women and girls

because they are expected to ensure all this household chores

24

Radical feminist argued that to achieve genuine equality it is

important to share these responsibilities with men and as women

by nature different from men climate change policies also should

be gender sensitive

ii) Dependency Theory

According to dependency theory the core periphery and semi

periphery countryrsquos economy and development are interrelated and

interdependent So climate vulnerabilities of women are not an

internal matter for any particular country Rather it needs

global attention as it will also affect the other country and

their development process both directly and indirectly In this

regard global concern joint decision and gender responsive

climate change policy is required as the whole world is

ultimately dependent on each other

iii) Realist Theory

A very significant quote is important to address here by famous

realist scholar Thucydides is-

ldquoThe strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they mustrdquo

The developed countries as the lsquostrongrsquo power do what they want

to do to boost up their economy without considering climate

issues and the week (developing countries) suffer the effects

caused by climate change Before cold war the concept of

security used to consider as military power but in the

contemporary world climate security become more important rather

25

than military security Powerful states now are more concerned

about their own climate security and try to increase their

economic growth by exploiting the environment of weaker states

State as well as the people and mostly women of the developing

countries are the victim of this exploitation and they have to

bear different types of climate hazards which actually causes by

these developedpowerful states In result as women are the

weaker groups they suffer more than the stronger group of men

during all these climate hazards At the same time the men as

stronger group take every decision over the weaker women whenever

there is any climate hazard

iv) Neo-Liberal Theory

Neo-liberal theory supports the trade liberalization that means

removal of trade barrier opening of state economic enterprise

and privatization of market etc After the cold war the emergence

of globalization and the liberalization of market have increased

the investment of Multinational Corporations in the developing

world that have an adversely affect on their local climate The

waste materials and toxic gases emit during the production

procedure cause different types of climate hazards These

unwanted climate hazards also leave significant effect on women

As neo-liberalism emphasize on lsquoindividualrsquo women should be

consider as a group of individual while designing the policies

for climate change

26

Chapter III

ldquoHow climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

genderrdquo

9Climate Hazard Prone Areas of BangladeshThere are some common climate hazards often seen in Bangladesh

and areas mostly affected by these hazards in Bangladesh

identified to answer the above central research question

Different types of climate changersquos impacts such as flood

cyclone river erosion drought heavy rainfall sea level rise

soil degradation etc mainly seen in Bangladesh Among all these

climate hazards this research is mainly focused on three major

climate hazards of Bangladesh and these are- heavy rainfall and

flood river erosion and drought A quick view of climate

hazards prone areas of Bangladesh are given below

Table-1 (Climate Hazard Prone Areas of Bangladesh)

Climate Hazards Most Affected AreasDrought North-West Bengal districts

Rajshahi Gaibandha etcRiver Erosion Active river channels of the

Ganges the Jamuna and theTista rivers and in the coastaland offshore areas

Heavy Rainfall ndash North-western and western

27

Flood-

Bangladesh Chittagong hills

Central region North-Eastregion Charland South BengalBarisal Bagerhat KhulnaSatkhira etc

This table shows us that drought prone areas are mainly in North-

Western Bengalrsquos districts like Rajshahi Gaibandha etc which

has lower rainfall than the other areas of Bangladesh

(Map-1)

Source NAPA

28

River bank erosion prone areas are more or less around the whole

country but mostly it is being seen in the areas along the active

river channels of the Ganges the Jamuna and the Tista rivers and

in the coastal and offshore areas of Bangladesh13 About 17

million hectares of floodplain areas are prone to riverbank

erosion14

Floods are very common in Bangladesh and it affects almost 80

land of our country Every year Bangladesh has been facing 1 or 2

extreme disasters According to Zayeda Sharmin (2013) there are

different categories of floods in Bangladesh and these are ndash

(i) Monsoon floods it increase slowly and decrease slowly

inundate vast areas and causes huge loss to the life and

property

(ii) Flash floods from sudden torrential flows following a brief

intense rainstorm

(iii) Tidal floods which are of short duration but are generally

around 3 to 6 meter high and

(iv) Rain floods caused by drainage congestion and heavy rain

Flood prone areas are mainly in the south Bengal like Barisal

Bhola Bagerhat Khulna Shatkhira etc

13National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)(2005) Ministry of Environment and Forest Government of the Peoplersquos Republic of Bangladesh pg no-4 Retrieved on November 1 2013 From unfcccintresourcedocsnapaban01pdf14 Ibid

29

(Map-2)

Source NAPA

Lastly heavy rainfall is mainly seen in north-western and western

Bangladesh Chittagong hills and more or less all over the

country But mostly in the southern part than the northern part

of Bangladesh heavy rainfall is quite a common climate hazard

9 Climate Vulnerabilities of Women

As mentioned earlier that women are closely related to the

environmental elements it is obvious that climate change effects

should have impact on women In the context of climate change a

lsquogender analysisrsquo promotes an understanding of the ways that men

30

and women are differently impacted by climate-related hazards and

by adopting adaptation and mitigation strategies15 Now the

effects of climate-related hazards on gender are describing

below

Firstly in the drought prone areas

-the cultivable lands become difficult to produce any crops

Those women who depend on agricultural activities they become

helpless for their daily income In this case they face problem

to find new place for work and if by any chance they are able to

find work then they have to face different physical and mental

harassment at the working place

-On the other hand they have to take extra pressure to manage

their household because they have to go far for earning It also

decays their physical strength and at the same time they have to

face different unexpected challenges

Picture-1 Drought in Bangladesh

15Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh Op cit

31

Source Not Enough Goodcom available at

httpnotenoughgoodcom201208indian-blackoutdrought

-They also have to take care about the drinking and daily useable

water for their family which also bring another responsibility

and additional burden to handle They have to face different

types of sexual harassment as they have to go far to collect the

water

-Further pregnant women are more vulnerable during this type of

situation

Secondly at the period like flood and heavy rainfall

-women have no role in decision making for their future They

have to rely on their male head even the women who earn for their

household has no saying during these types of situation During

the survey the responses of women several times indicated that

those women had to accept what the male member of their family

decided Whether there was any health issue or household issue

women had to depend on the male to take any action

32

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

Chapter I

1Introduction

Climate change often make the women worst sufferer as they are

very closely connected to the environmental components than men

in everyday life Especially those women who are engage with

agricultural activities and live in coastal areas Bangladesh is

both an agricultural and coastal country and for its geographical

location it has to face a lot of climate hazards At the same

time environmental politics of other countries is also

responsible for these climate hazards which cause rigorous impact

on the basis of gender particularly upon poor women Women who

directly or indirectly engaged into agricultural production have

to suffer more than the others of our country For instance in

2009 women of 18 to 60 years age group were 87377 affected by

cyclone Aila in Koira Dacope and Shyamnagar Upazila1 of

Bangladesh Therefore we need to understand the impacts of

climate change on the gender to apply sustainable development

policies There is numerous numbers of international

organizations conferences agreements as well as the national

organizations (both governmental and non-governmental) have been

working to reduce different climate changersquos impacts like mental

and physical suffering of women But there has been always

avoidance in gender issue while forming and applying climate

change policies In our country some major climate hazards are1Islam M R (2011) Vulnerability and Coping Strategies of Women in DisasterA Study on Coastal Areas of Bangladesh Arts Faculty Journal vol 4

flood river erosion heavy rainfall drought etc To sustain

properly with the climate change the efficacy of the existing

gender responsive climate change policies need to find out In

this regard this research will evaluate some reformation of the

existing policies to make them more effective so that the women

get more priority while forming climate change policy

2 Research Goal

Bangladesh is a least developed coastal state and for its

geographical location it has to face a lot of climate hazards

which causes remarkable impacts on the basis of gender

particularly upon the women As a member of United Nations (UN)

Bangladesh is already performing along with different UN programs

regarding this issue But gender issue has been always remaining

inattentive while designing climate change policies This

inattentiveness also exists while applying national and

international policies during climate hazards The goal of this

research is to-

7

- evaluate the role of different existing programs of UN and the

national policies of Bangladesh have to deal with climate change

considering gender issue

- For these reason the efficacy of the existing gender

responsive climate change policies will aim to find out through

this research

- Further this research tries to include what reformation the

existing climate change policies require to become more gender

considerate

3 Research QuestionsThis research is mainly focused on the following central

questions-

a) How climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

gender

b) How gender responsive policies reflect in different

international regional and national climate change policies

c) To what extent do these policies are effective comparing to

real scenario

d) If no what modifications do these policies required to

prevent the climate change impacts on women of our country

This research is designed and aimed at considering these four

central questions to find out the best suitable answer

8

4 Methodology of Data Collection

This is an individual research project for academic purpose and

is based on the context of Bangladesh This research is designed

using qualitative method which includes both primary sources and

secondary sources of data As it is an individual research paper

this research is mostly relied on secondary sources of data

Primary Sources of Data

a) Survey of 12 female from three villages (Kharasombol

Boyitpur and Fatepur) of Bagerhat district

b) Expertrsquos interviews of Sharmind Neelromi2 and Bushra Hasina

Chowdhury3 to find the difference between policies and

practices and also to include policy reformulation

Secondary Sources of Data

This research is mainly based on secondary resources like

published researches and articles but apart from these different

journals books and internet resources are also widely used for

this research as secondary data

Review of different policies like UNFCCC UNDP Hyogo Framework

for Action National Action Plan 2008 Bangladesh Climate Change

Strategy and Action Plan 2009 SAARC Framework for Action

2Assistant Professor Dept of Economics Jahangir Nagar University3Assistant Professor Dept of International Relations University of Dhaka

9

Migration policies Land Policies inheritance policies water

policies etc

Data Collection Method

Primary data were collected by a small questionnaire (see

appendix) survey of 12 female who suffered different impacts of

climate change (like flood heavy rainfall river erosion) from

three villages (Kharasombol Boyitpur and Fatepur) of Bagerhat

district direct interview of experts and reviewing policies from

different websites

Secondary data were collected from seminar library of Dept of

International Relations Dept of Disaster Management and

Vulnerability Studies Dept of Women and Gender Studies central

library of university of Dhaka British Council Library etc

6Limitations of the StudyEvery research projects have to go through some limitations and

challenges more or less and this research paper is not beyond

that problem Limitations and challenges faced during this

research are the followings

Firstly limitations of time were one of the crucial challenges

for this research because if there were sufficient time then a

lot more has to enrich this research

10

Secondly this research is an individual research which is

another important barrier faced during the whole period

Thirdly there was no funding for this research that excluded

this research from having a sufficient amount of victimrsquos

interview from all over the country which is very significant

while working on policy reformulation

Fourthly expertrsquos interview from Ministry level would have added

value for this research but due to different political

instability it could not be possible

Fifthly during the survey there was a tendency among the women

to lie about the help they got from different organization in

order to get more help in future This was another notable

challenge that made it difficult to find the actual scenario

Sixthly the number of interviewee was too short to reach any

decision about the policy practice as it provides poor

information

This research has huge impacts of these limitations and

challenges

Chapter II

11

7Literature Review

Literature review of this research begins with Cecile Jackson

(1993) who emphasized the affinity of women with the environment

Further he showed the essentialist linkages between women and

environment His analysis is based on different context such as

on the context of Zimbabwe Malaysia Kenya Tanzania etc which

give a distinct view of gender relation with the climate change

in different places But later he summarized that there cannot be

a special relationship between women and environments because

women are not a unitary category and their environmental

relations reflect not only divisions among women but also gender

relations and the dynamics of political economies and agro-

ecosystems4Joan Davidson (2007) in his article analyzed more

precisely the relation of women with land water and forests and

energy He described how changes in agriculture forestry and

water and waste management have affect women which clearly show

the relation of climate change with gender He also explored the

way in which women relate to a number of different natural

resources in both rural and urban areas5Ahsan Uddin Ahmed

Sharmind Neelormi Neelopal Adri et al (2009) showed the

linkages among climate change livelihoods poverty and women in

their research This research included different climate changes

4Jackson C (1993) Doing What Comes naturally Women and Environment in Development World Development Vol 21 Retrieved on August 172013 from josiahberkeleyedu2007FallER275Readingsjackson-GAD-1993pdf5Davidson J (1993) Womens relationship with the environment Gender amp Development Retrieved on August 17 2013 from httpdxdoiorg10108009682869308519944

12

and its effects very precisely to describe the relation of

environmental change and gender For instance they described how

the increased monsoon flows dry season low flows cyclones etc

affect the women children and old people

As this research is on the gender policies regarding climate

change at first the relation between climate change and gender

need to understand The above writers gave a clear knowledge in

there writings to understand the relation and linkages between

climate change and gender

Then for the further advancement the impacts of climate change

upon gender are important to find out to analyze the

authentication of policy practice In this regard Christine Haigh

and Bernadette Vallely (2010) in their report found the distinct

impacts of climate change on women in both developed and

developing countries To describe the impacts of climate change

on gender they included that ldquoClimate change impacts will be

differently distributed among different regions generations age

classes income groups occupations and gendersrdquo6Further they

described the impacts on women during different climate change

such as disasters and extreme weather events forced migration

for climate change water and energy etc using some case studies

which are very significant to have a view over the reality Joan

Davidson (2007) more distinctly added the problems that women

face in urban environments while they migrate from their rural

6Climate Change 2007 Impacts Adaptation and Vulnerability IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change Retrieved on August 17 2013 fromhttpswwwipccchclimate-changes-2001wg2-summary-policymakerspdf

13

areas for environmental degradation He also included that women

do not have ownership of the land that they work so hard for

which cause seasonal unemployment and insecurity He also found

out the scarcity of water and fuel wood led the women to

different physical trauma Later he also evaluated three (the

effects of minimal services the constant danger of industrial

pollution and the cumulative deterioration of the urban

hinterland) kind of environmental degradation women suffer in

urban fringe areas Further Research team of Ahsan Uddin Ahmed

Sharmind Neelormi Neelopal Adri et al (2009) also included

different area basis study to find out authentic data about the

impacts of climate change on women and special vulnerable group

which is very helpful to gather knowledge about real scenario

Their research also provides different distinct climate change

issues and their impacts on gender in different places for

example Cyclonic Storm Surge in Coastal Islands Salinity in

Tala and Shaymnagar Upazilas of Satkhira District Drought in

Manda Upazila of Naogaon District River Erosion in Kurigram and

Faridpur etc Midori Aoyagi Eiko Suda and Tomomi Shinada (2011)

added the effects of climate change upon gender in their working

paper They evaluated that people in poor countries such as

Africa are comparatively more vulnerable to climate change

impacts

These writings provide a clear vision about the mental and

physical impacts do the climate change have on the gender But

these writings are not very recent and to understand the present

14

scenario recent writings will be more helpful Because dealing

with the existing policies require the recent and authentic data

to reach at the goal And it is important to mention here that

the paper of Midori Aoyagi Eiko Suda and Tomomi Shinada (2011)

is mostly focused on disaster recovery the land ownership and

inheritance system which are not much important while finding the

impacts of climate on gender

Having a clear understanding of the climate change and its

effects on gender now it is a matter of concern what policies

exist there to prevent from these obstacles At first

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007)

emphasized on the adverse effect of climate change towards

gender IPCC (2007) recognized that women suffer more than the

men in climate hazards With this point IPCC included gender

mainstreaming and gender equality in its policy On the other

hand Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009) in her research included the

existing International and local institutions that are related to

disaster management and different international conferences that

deal with policies and interventions to prevent violence against

women and for disaster management She added the policies of

climate change adaptation and disaster reduction on gender of

Womenrsquos Human Rights of millennium development goal (MDGs) Hyogo

Framework for Action (2005-2015) World Conference on Disaster

Reduction United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC) SAARC Framework for Action (2006-2015) National Action

Plan (NAP) for Womenrsquos Advancement Relevant laws to curb

15

violence against women like Penal Code 1860 Muslim Family law

Ordinance (1961) etc She also provided the draft of National

Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) and Disaster Management

Regulative Framework which show the future attempts of Bangladesh

for disaster management National Action Plan (2008) of

Bangladesh included different existing projects and Institutions

that Bangladesh have for climate change adaptation such as The

Climate Change Action Plan (2009-2018) National Adaptation

Program of Action (2005) the National Disaster Management

Council (NDMC) National Climate Change Fund The Ministry of

Food and Disaster Management etc

These two are helpful to have an overview of the existing

policies for climate change But Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009)

mentioned in her research that there are several global

conferences and agreements on climate change but still all these

initiatives could not gain much remarkable success Moreover the

gender perspective is not getting much priority in all these

initiatives Similarly from the National Action Plan (2008) it is

also clearly been seen that gender is not consider as a separate

issue of concern while making policies for climate change But

draft of National Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) has

included gender into their policy very distinctly It mentioned

about the advancement of local judiciary system monitoring the

food distribution process advance mechanism for pure drinking

water to prevent different diseases providing training about the

disaster management process and structural violence as well This

16

plan could gain a great success to deal with climate change

considering gender if it is properly implemented

Agnes Otzelbergerrsquos (2011) research described how UNFCCC its

Kyoto Protocol Conference of parties (COP) GenderCC Global

Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA) etc have included and

planning to include the climate change policy considering gender

issue It also added the developing countryrsquos policies on climate

change regarding gender issue such as Hyogo Framework for

Action African Adaptation Program (AAP) This research is

comparatively more valuable to find out the climate change

policies responded to gender issue A report of World Health

Organization ldquoGender Climate Change and Healthrdquo described the

sectors that UNFCCC response for gender policies with the climate

change These responded sectors are health access to energy

transportation early warning systems and hazard management etc

Similarly Emmeline Skinner (2011) also described the policies of

UNFCCC the gender responsive movements of it and the initiatives

taken by the countries to reach Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs) At the same time he also included different countryrsquos

National Adaptation Policy for Action (NAPA) to understand the

gender mainstreaming policies in national level On the other

hand Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-2015) included gender

responsive policies and it recognizes that a gender perspective

should be integrated into all Disaster Risk Reduction policies

plans and decision-making processes including those associated

with existing climate variability and future climate change

17

Ministry of Environment and Forest had developed a Bangladesh

Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) 2009 which

built-in six pillars to implement and among those the first

pillar named lsquofood security social protection and healthrsquo

included women and children as special consideration for food

security safe housing employment access to basic services and

health Further National Water Policy (1999) of Bangladesh gave

emphasis to equal access to safe water and sanitation services

with an affordable cost for everyone It also prioritized on the

improvement of the role of women for decision making and water

management Ministry of Environment and Forest of Bangladesh also

developed another National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)

(2005) to deal with climate hazards Napa has a framework for

action of 2005 which included the actual and potential adverse

effect of climate change Napa prioritized on the urgent and

immediate action policy It also includes different adaptation

policies but excluding the gender issue Napa only emphasizes

gender equality but it does not include gender based policy

Unlike all these institutional policies United Nations

Development Program (UNDP) include gender and adaptation policy

quite precisely From the awareness making before climate hazards

to the post disaster situation they consider gender as a

significant issue while designing policy On the other hand the

draft of SAARC Comprehensive Framework on Disaster Management

(2006-2015) addressed about empowerment and strengthening gender

at the post disaster period They also prioritized on emergency

18

response management providing training and destined to focus on

gender issue with strong emphasis

Reviewing the existing policies the next focus of this research

goes on to find the effectiveness of these existing policies A

report of UNDP (2009) has clarified about the existing gender

responsive policies of UNDP for climate change It also included

the effective gender responsive programs of the UNDP UNFCCC and

NAPArsquos policy for climate change but mostly emphasized on the

policies of UNDP Further Mohammed Abdul Baten and Niaz Ahmed

Khan (2010) included a brief understanding in their writing about

how the gender responsive climate change policies exist in UNDP

UNFCCC NAPA BCCSAP etc and then they evaluated in the failures

of these policies regarding gender in their climate change

policy They provided a concise knowledge about the

ineffectiveness of policies while apply in reality

Effectiveness of the policies leads to understand the gaps

between policies and practices In this point of view Md Rabiul

Islam (2011) recommended in his research to prioritized women in

policies planning and program as he did not found women in

policies during his research He also discovers that women do not

have equal access to development activities of Government and

NGOs Further he finds out the week initiatives of local

administration while there is any judgment on different

unexpected torture on women Apart from these in his research he

also mentioned about women not having access to education and

training programs for adaptation and coping strategies Further

19

in a report of Tahera Akter (2009) evaluate that there are no

timeframe of any action plan to find out the problem in the

national policy She also addressed that the existing policies

are very old and are not capable to cope with changing natural

hazards Revealing these policy gaps she further mentioned that

there is lack of coordination among the organizations to

effectively evaluate the problems of environmentally displaced

people She also added that there is no national estimation or

prediction about environmental displacement World Health

Organization (WHO) also finds out some remarkable gaps between

the policies and practices in one of its report to understand the

issues for urgent action This report is mainly based on gender

climate change and health which evaluated some loopholes of the

overall existing policies

To reduce these loopholes climate change policies require

reformulation of its structure In this regard Sandra Bathge

(2010) concluded with some adaptation and mitigation measures

which can be also used as recommendation for this research as

those measures are related to policy formulation in a new way

This working paper included access to education land ownership

and services markets etc and also provided policies

considering gender about training programs awareness building

ability to generate income etc which lead this paper to design

the reformulation of climate change policies Further Alyson

Brody Justina Demetriades and Emily Esplen (2008) mostly

emphasized on the participation of women in decision making

20

processes around climate change adaptation and mitigation They

also recommended various aspects like identifying gender impacts

and adaptation priorities in both rural and urban areas

identifying gender implications of long term drought and

starvation etc on the other hand Nilufar Ahmad (2012) in her

paper mainly focused on the basis of individual policy

reformulation which is another most important literature for this

research She suggested BCCSAP to prioritize key gender entry

points indicators and annual targets and link these with the

budget She also recommended about accountable environmental

governance a gender informed cross-sectoral monitoring and

evaluation system to monitor construction and rehabilitation of

gender friendly and multi-purpose shelter and also other

important rights of women Emmeline Skinner (2011) also included

a number of notable suggestions for the pro-gender climate change

policy reformulation She added about strong political commitment

to gender equality stronger participation of women in climate

change institutions and processes conduct gender responsive

budgeting link mitigation and adaptation processes etc

These literatures are not much supportive to have a complete view

of the climate change policies on gender perspective and that is

one of the biggest challenges of this research Again reviewing

these important policies it was easy to figure out to a great

extent that the climate change policies need proper reformulation

and thus literature review evaluate the future improvements and

recommendations of gender sensitive climate change policies

21

8Theoretical ExplanationConcepts

My research follows the definition adopted by the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in which

ldquoclimate changerdquo refers to any change in climate over time

whether due to natural variability or as a result of human

activity7 This usage differs from that in the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which defines

ldquoclimate changerdquo as ldquoa change of climate which is attributed

directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the

composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to

natural climate variability observed over comparable time

periodsrdquo8

ldquoGenderrdquo refers to the socially constructed norms roles and

relations that a given society considers appropriate for men and

women Gender determines what is expected permitted and valued

in a woman or a man in a determined context9

A brief of Nandini Oberoi illustrated that Climate change is a

gender issue and that women are particularly vulnerable to

climate change because they are more prone to the adverse impacts

7Gender Climate change and Health World Health Organization pg5 Retrievedon September 23 2013 from wwwwhointglobalchangeGenderClimateChangeHealthfinalpdf8 ibid9 ibid

22

from climate change10 Changes in the climate usually impact on

sectors that are traditionally associated with women such as

paddy cultivation cotton and tea plantations and fishing11

In this research gender analysis is not a special focus on women

but rather an understanding on how discrimination against women

and gender roles interact to shape men and womenrsquos enjoyment of

human dignity rights as well as equality of living12

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) defines

Hazard as ldquoA potentially damaging physical event phenomenon or

human activity that may cause the loss of life or injury

property damage social and economic disruption or environmental

degradation Hazards can include latent conditions that may

represent future threats and can have different origins natural

(geological hydro meteorological and biological) or induced by

human processes (environmental degradation and technological

hazards)rdquo

TheoriesClimate change and gender and the relation between these two

phenomenons can be described with different theory This section

of research is destined to explain climate change and gender

relation with different International Relations theory

10Parikh J Mainstreaming Gender into Climate Change Policies Retrieved on July 8 2013 from wwwdisasterwatchnetclimatechangegndr_climt07pdf11 ibid12Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh GenderCC

23

i) Feminist Theory

The main concept of Radical feminist is lsquopatriarchyrsquo that means

the lsquorule of fatherrsquo In feminist theory we can see that there

are two form of patriarchy one is classical form of patriarchy

and another is more loose form of patriarchy But in both of the

patriarchal system women have no say in decision making Even

while they have to go through different types of mental and

physical violence during and after any climate hazard occur they

are not able to make any decision for themselves because

patriarchal society do not allow women to be treated equally as

men while decision making and it also reflects in climate change

policy

Liberal feminists are generally concerned with equal rights In

the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries liberal feminist argued

that women by nature different from men that means climate

vulnerabilities of women are also different from men They also

argued for womenrsquos equality on the grounds that they are capable

of making their personal decision and determine their best

interest which is as rational as men Therefore women should have

equal rights while decision making during any climate hazard The

reproductive chores such as child rearing and bearing water

collection food production and acquisition etc of any household

are mostly done by the female member of the family In this

regard climate hazards increases the burden for women and girls

because they are expected to ensure all this household chores

24

Radical feminist argued that to achieve genuine equality it is

important to share these responsibilities with men and as women

by nature different from men climate change policies also should

be gender sensitive

ii) Dependency Theory

According to dependency theory the core periphery and semi

periphery countryrsquos economy and development are interrelated and

interdependent So climate vulnerabilities of women are not an

internal matter for any particular country Rather it needs

global attention as it will also affect the other country and

their development process both directly and indirectly In this

regard global concern joint decision and gender responsive

climate change policy is required as the whole world is

ultimately dependent on each other

iii) Realist Theory

A very significant quote is important to address here by famous

realist scholar Thucydides is-

ldquoThe strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they mustrdquo

The developed countries as the lsquostrongrsquo power do what they want

to do to boost up their economy without considering climate

issues and the week (developing countries) suffer the effects

caused by climate change Before cold war the concept of

security used to consider as military power but in the

contemporary world climate security become more important rather

25

than military security Powerful states now are more concerned

about their own climate security and try to increase their

economic growth by exploiting the environment of weaker states

State as well as the people and mostly women of the developing

countries are the victim of this exploitation and they have to

bear different types of climate hazards which actually causes by

these developedpowerful states In result as women are the

weaker groups they suffer more than the stronger group of men

during all these climate hazards At the same time the men as

stronger group take every decision over the weaker women whenever

there is any climate hazard

iv) Neo-Liberal Theory

Neo-liberal theory supports the trade liberalization that means

removal of trade barrier opening of state economic enterprise

and privatization of market etc After the cold war the emergence

of globalization and the liberalization of market have increased

the investment of Multinational Corporations in the developing

world that have an adversely affect on their local climate The

waste materials and toxic gases emit during the production

procedure cause different types of climate hazards These

unwanted climate hazards also leave significant effect on women

As neo-liberalism emphasize on lsquoindividualrsquo women should be

consider as a group of individual while designing the policies

for climate change

26

Chapter III

ldquoHow climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

genderrdquo

9Climate Hazard Prone Areas of BangladeshThere are some common climate hazards often seen in Bangladesh

and areas mostly affected by these hazards in Bangladesh

identified to answer the above central research question

Different types of climate changersquos impacts such as flood

cyclone river erosion drought heavy rainfall sea level rise

soil degradation etc mainly seen in Bangladesh Among all these

climate hazards this research is mainly focused on three major

climate hazards of Bangladesh and these are- heavy rainfall and

flood river erosion and drought A quick view of climate

hazards prone areas of Bangladesh are given below

Table-1 (Climate Hazard Prone Areas of Bangladesh)

Climate Hazards Most Affected AreasDrought North-West Bengal districts

Rajshahi Gaibandha etcRiver Erosion Active river channels of the

Ganges the Jamuna and theTista rivers and in the coastaland offshore areas

Heavy Rainfall ndash North-western and western

27

Flood-

Bangladesh Chittagong hills

Central region North-Eastregion Charland South BengalBarisal Bagerhat KhulnaSatkhira etc

This table shows us that drought prone areas are mainly in North-

Western Bengalrsquos districts like Rajshahi Gaibandha etc which

has lower rainfall than the other areas of Bangladesh

(Map-1)

Source NAPA

28

River bank erosion prone areas are more or less around the whole

country but mostly it is being seen in the areas along the active

river channels of the Ganges the Jamuna and the Tista rivers and

in the coastal and offshore areas of Bangladesh13 About 17

million hectares of floodplain areas are prone to riverbank

erosion14

Floods are very common in Bangladesh and it affects almost 80

land of our country Every year Bangladesh has been facing 1 or 2

extreme disasters According to Zayeda Sharmin (2013) there are

different categories of floods in Bangladesh and these are ndash

(i) Monsoon floods it increase slowly and decrease slowly

inundate vast areas and causes huge loss to the life and

property

(ii) Flash floods from sudden torrential flows following a brief

intense rainstorm

(iii) Tidal floods which are of short duration but are generally

around 3 to 6 meter high and

(iv) Rain floods caused by drainage congestion and heavy rain

Flood prone areas are mainly in the south Bengal like Barisal

Bhola Bagerhat Khulna Shatkhira etc

13National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)(2005) Ministry of Environment and Forest Government of the Peoplersquos Republic of Bangladesh pg no-4 Retrieved on November 1 2013 From unfcccintresourcedocsnapaban01pdf14 Ibid

29

(Map-2)

Source NAPA

Lastly heavy rainfall is mainly seen in north-western and western

Bangladesh Chittagong hills and more or less all over the

country But mostly in the southern part than the northern part

of Bangladesh heavy rainfall is quite a common climate hazard

9 Climate Vulnerabilities of Women

As mentioned earlier that women are closely related to the

environmental elements it is obvious that climate change effects

should have impact on women In the context of climate change a

lsquogender analysisrsquo promotes an understanding of the ways that men

30

and women are differently impacted by climate-related hazards and

by adopting adaptation and mitigation strategies15 Now the

effects of climate-related hazards on gender are describing

below

Firstly in the drought prone areas

-the cultivable lands become difficult to produce any crops

Those women who depend on agricultural activities they become

helpless for their daily income In this case they face problem

to find new place for work and if by any chance they are able to

find work then they have to face different physical and mental

harassment at the working place

-On the other hand they have to take extra pressure to manage

their household because they have to go far for earning It also

decays their physical strength and at the same time they have to

face different unexpected challenges

Picture-1 Drought in Bangladesh

15Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh Op cit

31

Source Not Enough Goodcom available at

httpnotenoughgoodcom201208indian-blackoutdrought

-They also have to take care about the drinking and daily useable

water for their family which also bring another responsibility

and additional burden to handle They have to face different

types of sexual harassment as they have to go far to collect the

water

-Further pregnant women are more vulnerable during this type of

situation

Secondly at the period like flood and heavy rainfall

-women have no role in decision making for their future They

have to rely on their male head even the women who earn for their

household has no saying during these types of situation During

the survey the responses of women several times indicated that

those women had to accept what the male member of their family

decided Whether there was any health issue or household issue

women had to depend on the male to take any action

32

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

flood river erosion heavy rainfall drought etc To sustain

properly with the climate change the efficacy of the existing

gender responsive climate change policies need to find out In

this regard this research will evaluate some reformation of the

existing policies to make them more effective so that the women

get more priority while forming climate change policy

2 Research Goal

Bangladesh is a least developed coastal state and for its

geographical location it has to face a lot of climate hazards

which causes remarkable impacts on the basis of gender

particularly upon the women As a member of United Nations (UN)

Bangladesh is already performing along with different UN programs

regarding this issue But gender issue has been always remaining

inattentive while designing climate change policies This

inattentiveness also exists while applying national and

international policies during climate hazards The goal of this

research is to-

7

- evaluate the role of different existing programs of UN and the

national policies of Bangladesh have to deal with climate change

considering gender issue

- For these reason the efficacy of the existing gender

responsive climate change policies will aim to find out through

this research

- Further this research tries to include what reformation the

existing climate change policies require to become more gender

considerate

3 Research QuestionsThis research is mainly focused on the following central

questions-

a) How climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

gender

b) How gender responsive policies reflect in different

international regional and national climate change policies

c) To what extent do these policies are effective comparing to

real scenario

d) If no what modifications do these policies required to

prevent the climate change impacts on women of our country

This research is designed and aimed at considering these four

central questions to find out the best suitable answer

8

4 Methodology of Data Collection

This is an individual research project for academic purpose and

is based on the context of Bangladesh This research is designed

using qualitative method which includes both primary sources and

secondary sources of data As it is an individual research paper

this research is mostly relied on secondary sources of data

Primary Sources of Data

a) Survey of 12 female from three villages (Kharasombol

Boyitpur and Fatepur) of Bagerhat district

b) Expertrsquos interviews of Sharmind Neelromi2 and Bushra Hasina

Chowdhury3 to find the difference between policies and

practices and also to include policy reformulation

Secondary Sources of Data

This research is mainly based on secondary resources like

published researches and articles but apart from these different

journals books and internet resources are also widely used for

this research as secondary data

Review of different policies like UNFCCC UNDP Hyogo Framework

for Action National Action Plan 2008 Bangladesh Climate Change

Strategy and Action Plan 2009 SAARC Framework for Action

2Assistant Professor Dept of Economics Jahangir Nagar University3Assistant Professor Dept of International Relations University of Dhaka

9

Migration policies Land Policies inheritance policies water

policies etc

Data Collection Method

Primary data were collected by a small questionnaire (see

appendix) survey of 12 female who suffered different impacts of

climate change (like flood heavy rainfall river erosion) from

three villages (Kharasombol Boyitpur and Fatepur) of Bagerhat

district direct interview of experts and reviewing policies from

different websites

Secondary data were collected from seminar library of Dept of

International Relations Dept of Disaster Management and

Vulnerability Studies Dept of Women and Gender Studies central

library of university of Dhaka British Council Library etc

6Limitations of the StudyEvery research projects have to go through some limitations and

challenges more or less and this research paper is not beyond

that problem Limitations and challenges faced during this

research are the followings

Firstly limitations of time were one of the crucial challenges

for this research because if there were sufficient time then a

lot more has to enrich this research

10

Secondly this research is an individual research which is

another important barrier faced during the whole period

Thirdly there was no funding for this research that excluded

this research from having a sufficient amount of victimrsquos

interview from all over the country which is very significant

while working on policy reformulation

Fourthly expertrsquos interview from Ministry level would have added

value for this research but due to different political

instability it could not be possible

Fifthly during the survey there was a tendency among the women

to lie about the help they got from different organization in

order to get more help in future This was another notable

challenge that made it difficult to find the actual scenario

Sixthly the number of interviewee was too short to reach any

decision about the policy practice as it provides poor

information

This research has huge impacts of these limitations and

challenges

Chapter II

11

7Literature Review

Literature review of this research begins with Cecile Jackson

(1993) who emphasized the affinity of women with the environment

Further he showed the essentialist linkages between women and

environment His analysis is based on different context such as

on the context of Zimbabwe Malaysia Kenya Tanzania etc which

give a distinct view of gender relation with the climate change

in different places But later he summarized that there cannot be

a special relationship between women and environments because

women are not a unitary category and their environmental

relations reflect not only divisions among women but also gender

relations and the dynamics of political economies and agro-

ecosystems4Joan Davidson (2007) in his article analyzed more

precisely the relation of women with land water and forests and

energy He described how changes in agriculture forestry and

water and waste management have affect women which clearly show

the relation of climate change with gender He also explored the

way in which women relate to a number of different natural

resources in both rural and urban areas5Ahsan Uddin Ahmed

Sharmind Neelormi Neelopal Adri et al (2009) showed the

linkages among climate change livelihoods poverty and women in

their research This research included different climate changes

4Jackson C (1993) Doing What Comes naturally Women and Environment in Development World Development Vol 21 Retrieved on August 172013 from josiahberkeleyedu2007FallER275Readingsjackson-GAD-1993pdf5Davidson J (1993) Womens relationship with the environment Gender amp Development Retrieved on August 17 2013 from httpdxdoiorg10108009682869308519944

12

and its effects very precisely to describe the relation of

environmental change and gender For instance they described how

the increased monsoon flows dry season low flows cyclones etc

affect the women children and old people

As this research is on the gender policies regarding climate

change at first the relation between climate change and gender

need to understand The above writers gave a clear knowledge in

there writings to understand the relation and linkages between

climate change and gender

Then for the further advancement the impacts of climate change

upon gender are important to find out to analyze the

authentication of policy practice In this regard Christine Haigh

and Bernadette Vallely (2010) in their report found the distinct

impacts of climate change on women in both developed and

developing countries To describe the impacts of climate change

on gender they included that ldquoClimate change impacts will be

differently distributed among different regions generations age

classes income groups occupations and gendersrdquo6Further they

described the impacts on women during different climate change

such as disasters and extreme weather events forced migration

for climate change water and energy etc using some case studies

which are very significant to have a view over the reality Joan

Davidson (2007) more distinctly added the problems that women

face in urban environments while they migrate from their rural

6Climate Change 2007 Impacts Adaptation and Vulnerability IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change Retrieved on August 17 2013 fromhttpswwwipccchclimate-changes-2001wg2-summary-policymakerspdf

13

areas for environmental degradation He also included that women

do not have ownership of the land that they work so hard for

which cause seasonal unemployment and insecurity He also found

out the scarcity of water and fuel wood led the women to

different physical trauma Later he also evaluated three (the

effects of minimal services the constant danger of industrial

pollution and the cumulative deterioration of the urban

hinterland) kind of environmental degradation women suffer in

urban fringe areas Further Research team of Ahsan Uddin Ahmed

Sharmind Neelormi Neelopal Adri et al (2009) also included

different area basis study to find out authentic data about the

impacts of climate change on women and special vulnerable group

which is very helpful to gather knowledge about real scenario

Their research also provides different distinct climate change

issues and their impacts on gender in different places for

example Cyclonic Storm Surge in Coastal Islands Salinity in

Tala and Shaymnagar Upazilas of Satkhira District Drought in

Manda Upazila of Naogaon District River Erosion in Kurigram and

Faridpur etc Midori Aoyagi Eiko Suda and Tomomi Shinada (2011)

added the effects of climate change upon gender in their working

paper They evaluated that people in poor countries such as

Africa are comparatively more vulnerable to climate change

impacts

These writings provide a clear vision about the mental and

physical impacts do the climate change have on the gender But

these writings are not very recent and to understand the present

14

scenario recent writings will be more helpful Because dealing

with the existing policies require the recent and authentic data

to reach at the goal And it is important to mention here that

the paper of Midori Aoyagi Eiko Suda and Tomomi Shinada (2011)

is mostly focused on disaster recovery the land ownership and

inheritance system which are not much important while finding the

impacts of climate on gender

Having a clear understanding of the climate change and its

effects on gender now it is a matter of concern what policies

exist there to prevent from these obstacles At first

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007)

emphasized on the adverse effect of climate change towards

gender IPCC (2007) recognized that women suffer more than the

men in climate hazards With this point IPCC included gender

mainstreaming and gender equality in its policy On the other

hand Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009) in her research included the

existing International and local institutions that are related to

disaster management and different international conferences that

deal with policies and interventions to prevent violence against

women and for disaster management She added the policies of

climate change adaptation and disaster reduction on gender of

Womenrsquos Human Rights of millennium development goal (MDGs) Hyogo

Framework for Action (2005-2015) World Conference on Disaster

Reduction United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC) SAARC Framework for Action (2006-2015) National Action

Plan (NAP) for Womenrsquos Advancement Relevant laws to curb

15

violence against women like Penal Code 1860 Muslim Family law

Ordinance (1961) etc She also provided the draft of National

Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) and Disaster Management

Regulative Framework which show the future attempts of Bangladesh

for disaster management National Action Plan (2008) of

Bangladesh included different existing projects and Institutions

that Bangladesh have for climate change adaptation such as The

Climate Change Action Plan (2009-2018) National Adaptation

Program of Action (2005) the National Disaster Management

Council (NDMC) National Climate Change Fund The Ministry of

Food and Disaster Management etc

These two are helpful to have an overview of the existing

policies for climate change But Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009)

mentioned in her research that there are several global

conferences and agreements on climate change but still all these

initiatives could not gain much remarkable success Moreover the

gender perspective is not getting much priority in all these

initiatives Similarly from the National Action Plan (2008) it is

also clearly been seen that gender is not consider as a separate

issue of concern while making policies for climate change But

draft of National Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) has

included gender into their policy very distinctly It mentioned

about the advancement of local judiciary system monitoring the

food distribution process advance mechanism for pure drinking

water to prevent different diseases providing training about the

disaster management process and structural violence as well This

16

plan could gain a great success to deal with climate change

considering gender if it is properly implemented

Agnes Otzelbergerrsquos (2011) research described how UNFCCC its

Kyoto Protocol Conference of parties (COP) GenderCC Global

Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA) etc have included and

planning to include the climate change policy considering gender

issue It also added the developing countryrsquos policies on climate

change regarding gender issue such as Hyogo Framework for

Action African Adaptation Program (AAP) This research is

comparatively more valuable to find out the climate change

policies responded to gender issue A report of World Health

Organization ldquoGender Climate Change and Healthrdquo described the

sectors that UNFCCC response for gender policies with the climate

change These responded sectors are health access to energy

transportation early warning systems and hazard management etc

Similarly Emmeline Skinner (2011) also described the policies of

UNFCCC the gender responsive movements of it and the initiatives

taken by the countries to reach Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs) At the same time he also included different countryrsquos

National Adaptation Policy for Action (NAPA) to understand the

gender mainstreaming policies in national level On the other

hand Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-2015) included gender

responsive policies and it recognizes that a gender perspective

should be integrated into all Disaster Risk Reduction policies

plans and decision-making processes including those associated

with existing climate variability and future climate change

17

Ministry of Environment and Forest had developed a Bangladesh

Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) 2009 which

built-in six pillars to implement and among those the first

pillar named lsquofood security social protection and healthrsquo

included women and children as special consideration for food

security safe housing employment access to basic services and

health Further National Water Policy (1999) of Bangladesh gave

emphasis to equal access to safe water and sanitation services

with an affordable cost for everyone It also prioritized on the

improvement of the role of women for decision making and water

management Ministry of Environment and Forest of Bangladesh also

developed another National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)

(2005) to deal with climate hazards Napa has a framework for

action of 2005 which included the actual and potential adverse

effect of climate change Napa prioritized on the urgent and

immediate action policy It also includes different adaptation

policies but excluding the gender issue Napa only emphasizes

gender equality but it does not include gender based policy

Unlike all these institutional policies United Nations

Development Program (UNDP) include gender and adaptation policy

quite precisely From the awareness making before climate hazards

to the post disaster situation they consider gender as a

significant issue while designing policy On the other hand the

draft of SAARC Comprehensive Framework on Disaster Management

(2006-2015) addressed about empowerment and strengthening gender

at the post disaster period They also prioritized on emergency

18

response management providing training and destined to focus on

gender issue with strong emphasis

Reviewing the existing policies the next focus of this research

goes on to find the effectiveness of these existing policies A

report of UNDP (2009) has clarified about the existing gender

responsive policies of UNDP for climate change It also included

the effective gender responsive programs of the UNDP UNFCCC and

NAPArsquos policy for climate change but mostly emphasized on the

policies of UNDP Further Mohammed Abdul Baten and Niaz Ahmed

Khan (2010) included a brief understanding in their writing about

how the gender responsive climate change policies exist in UNDP

UNFCCC NAPA BCCSAP etc and then they evaluated in the failures

of these policies regarding gender in their climate change

policy They provided a concise knowledge about the

ineffectiveness of policies while apply in reality

Effectiveness of the policies leads to understand the gaps

between policies and practices In this point of view Md Rabiul

Islam (2011) recommended in his research to prioritized women in

policies planning and program as he did not found women in

policies during his research He also discovers that women do not

have equal access to development activities of Government and

NGOs Further he finds out the week initiatives of local

administration while there is any judgment on different

unexpected torture on women Apart from these in his research he

also mentioned about women not having access to education and

training programs for adaptation and coping strategies Further

19

in a report of Tahera Akter (2009) evaluate that there are no

timeframe of any action plan to find out the problem in the

national policy She also addressed that the existing policies

are very old and are not capable to cope with changing natural

hazards Revealing these policy gaps she further mentioned that

there is lack of coordination among the organizations to

effectively evaluate the problems of environmentally displaced

people She also added that there is no national estimation or

prediction about environmental displacement World Health

Organization (WHO) also finds out some remarkable gaps between

the policies and practices in one of its report to understand the

issues for urgent action This report is mainly based on gender

climate change and health which evaluated some loopholes of the

overall existing policies

To reduce these loopholes climate change policies require

reformulation of its structure In this regard Sandra Bathge

(2010) concluded with some adaptation and mitigation measures

which can be also used as recommendation for this research as

those measures are related to policy formulation in a new way

This working paper included access to education land ownership

and services markets etc and also provided policies

considering gender about training programs awareness building

ability to generate income etc which lead this paper to design

the reformulation of climate change policies Further Alyson

Brody Justina Demetriades and Emily Esplen (2008) mostly

emphasized on the participation of women in decision making

20

processes around climate change adaptation and mitigation They

also recommended various aspects like identifying gender impacts

and adaptation priorities in both rural and urban areas

identifying gender implications of long term drought and

starvation etc on the other hand Nilufar Ahmad (2012) in her

paper mainly focused on the basis of individual policy

reformulation which is another most important literature for this

research She suggested BCCSAP to prioritize key gender entry

points indicators and annual targets and link these with the

budget She also recommended about accountable environmental

governance a gender informed cross-sectoral monitoring and

evaluation system to monitor construction and rehabilitation of

gender friendly and multi-purpose shelter and also other

important rights of women Emmeline Skinner (2011) also included

a number of notable suggestions for the pro-gender climate change

policy reformulation She added about strong political commitment

to gender equality stronger participation of women in climate

change institutions and processes conduct gender responsive

budgeting link mitigation and adaptation processes etc

These literatures are not much supportive to have a complete view

of the climate change policies on gender perspective and that is

one of the biggest challenges of this research Again reviewing

these important policies it was easy to figure out to a great

extent that the climate change policies need proper reformulation

and thus literature review evaluate the future improvements and

recommendations of gender sensitive climate change policies

21

8Theoretical ExplanationConcepts

My research follows the definition adopted by the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in which

ldquoclimate changerdquo refers to any change in climate over time

whether due to natural variability or as a result of human

activity7 This usage differs from that in the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which defines

ldquoclimate changerdquo as ldquoa change of climate which is attributed

directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the

composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to

natural climate variability observed over comparable time

periodsrdquo8

ldquoGenderrdquo refers to the socially constructed norms roles and

relations that a given society considers appropriate for men and

women Gender determines what is expected permitted and valued

in a woman or a man in a determined context9

A brief of Nandini Oberoi illustrated that Climate change is a

gender issue and that women are particularly vulnerable to

climate change because they are more prone to the adverse impacts

7Gender Climate change and Health World Health Organization pg5 Retrievedon September 23 2013 from wwwwhointglobalchangeGenderClimateChangeHealthfinalpdf8 ibid9 ibid

22

from climate change10 Changes in the climate usually impact on

sectors that are traditionally associated with women such as

paddy cultivation cotton and tea plantations and fishing11

In this research gender analysis is not a special focus on women

but rather an understanding on how discrimination against women

and gender roles interact to shape men and womenrsquos enjoyment of

human dignity rights as well as equality of living12

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) defines

Hazard as ldquoA potentially damaging physical event phenomenon or

human activity that may cause the loss of life or injury

property damage social and economic disruption or environmental

degradation Hazards can include latent conditions that may

represent future threats and can have different origins natural

(geological hydro meteorological and biological) or induced by

human processes (environmental degradation and technological

hazards)rdquo

TheoriesClimate change and gender and the relation between these two

phenomenons can be described with different theory This section

of research is destined to explain climate change and gender

relation with different International Relations theory

10Parikh J Mainstreaming Gender into Climate Change Policies Retrieved on July 8 2013 from wwwdisasterwatchnetclimatechangegndr_climt07pdf11 ibid12Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh GenderCC

23

i) Feminist Theory

The main concept of Radical feminist is lsquopatriarchyrsquo that means

the lsquorule of fatherrsquo In feminist theory we can see that there

are two form of patriarchy one is classical form of patriarchy

and another is more loose form of patriarchy But in both of the

patriarchal system women have no say in decision making Even

while they have to go through different types of mental and

physical violence during and after any climate hazard occur they

are not able to make any decision for themselves because

patriarchal society do not allow women to be treated equally as

men while decision making and it also reflects in climate change

policy

Liberal feminists are generally concerned with equal rights In

the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries liberal feminist argued

that women by nature different from men that means climate

vulnerabilities of women are also different from men They also

argued for womenrsquos equality on the grounds that they are capable

of making their personal decision and determine their best

interest which is as rational as men Therefore women should have

equal rights while decision making during any climate hazard The

reproductive chores such as child rearing and bearing water

collection food production and acquisition etc of any household

are mostly done by the female member of the family In this

regard climate hazards increases the burden for women and girls

because they are expected to ensure all this household chores

24

Radical feminist argued that to achieve genuine equality it is

important to share these responsibilities with men and as women

by nature different from men climate change policies also should

be gender sensitive

ii) Dependency Theory

According to dependency theory the core periphery and semi

periphery countryrsquos economy and development are interrelated and

interdependent So climate vulnerabilities of women are not an

internal matter for any particular country Rather it needs

global attention as it will also affect the other country and

their development process both directly and indirectly In this

regard global concern joint decision and gender responsive

climate change policy is required as the whole world is

ultimately dependent on each other

iii) Realist Theory

A very significant quote is important to address here by famous

realist scholar Thucydides is-

ldquoThe strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they mustrdquo

The developed countries as the lsquostrongrsquo power do what they want

to do to boost up their economy without considering climate

issues and the week (developing countries) suffer the effects

caused by climate change Before cold war the concept of

security used to consider as military power but in the

contemporary world climate security become more important rather

25

than military security Powerful states now are more concerned

about their own climate security and try to increase their

economic growth by exploiting the environment of weaker states

State as well as the people and mostly women of the developing

countries are the victim of this exploitation and they have to

bear different types of climate hazards which actually causes by

these developedpowerful states In result as women are the

weaker groups they suffer more than the stronger group of men

during all these climate hazards At the same time the men as

stronger group take every decision over the weaker women whenever

there is any climate hazard

iv) Neo-Liberal Theory

Neo-liberal theory supports the trade liberalization that means

removal of trade barrier opening of state economic enterprise

and privatization of market etc After the cold war the emergence

of globalization and the liberalization of market have increased

the investment of Multinational Corporations in the developing

world that have an adversely affect on their local climate The

waste materials and toxic gases emit during the production

procedure cause different types of climate hazards These

unwanted climate hazards also leave significant effect on women

As neo-liberalism emphasize on lsquoindividualrsquo women should be

consider as a group of individual while designing the policies

for climate change

26

Chapter III

ldquoHow climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

genderrdquo

9Climate Hazard Prone Areas of BangladeshThere are some common climate hazards often seen in Bangladesh

and areas mostly affected by these hazards in Bangladesh

identified to answer the above central research question

Different types of climate changersquos impacts such as flood

cyclone river erosion drought heavy rainfall sea level rise

soil degradation etc mainly seen in Bangladesh Among all these

climate hazards this research is mainly focused on three major

climate hazards of Bangladesh and these are- heavy rainfall and

flood river erosion and drought A quick view of climate

hazards prone areas of Bangladesh are given below

Table-1 (Climate Hazard Prone Areas of Bangladesh)

Climate Hazards Most Affected AreasDrought North-West Bengal districts

Rajshahi Gaibandha etcRiver Erosion Active river channels of the

Ganges the Jamuna and theTista rivers and in the coastaland offshore areas

Heavy Rainfall ndash North-western and western

27

Flood-

Bangladesh Chittagong hills

Central region North-Eastregion Charland South BengalBarisal Bagerhat KhulnaSatkhira etc

This table shows us that drought prone areas are mainly in North-

Western Bengalrsquos districts like Rajshahi Gaibandha etc which

has lower rainfall than the other areas of Bangladesh

(Map-1)

Source NAPA

28

River bank erosion prone areas are more or less around the whole

country but mostly it is being seen in the areas along the active

river channels of the Ganges the Jamuna and the Tista rivers and

in the coastal and offshore areas of Bangladesh13 About 17

million hectares of floodplain areas are prone to riverbank

erosion14

Floods are very common in Bangladesh and it affects almost 80

land of our country Every year Bangladesh has been facing 1 or 2

extreme disasters According to Zayeda Sharmin (2013) there are

different categories of floods in Bangladesh and these are ndash

(i) Monsoon floods it increase slowly and decrease slowly

inundate vast areas and causes huge loss to the life and

property

(ii) Flash floods from sudden torrential flows following a brief

intense rainstorm

(iii) Tidal floods which are of short duration but are generally

around 3 to 6 meter high and

(iv) Rain floods caused by drainage congestion and heavy rain

Flood prone areas are mainly in the south Bengal like Barisal

Bhola Bagerhat Khulna Shatkhira etc

13National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)(2005) Ministry of Environment and Forest Government of the Peoplersquos Republic of Bangladesh pg no-4 Retrieved on November 1 2013 From unfcccintresourcedocsnapaban01pdf14 Ibid

29

(Map-2)

Source NAPA

Lastly heavy rainfall is mainly seen in north-western and western

Bangladesh Chittagong hills and more or less all over the

country But mostly in the southern part than the northern part

of Bangladesh heavy rainfall is quite a common climate hazard

9 Climate Vulnerabilities of Women

As mentioned earlier that women are closely related to the

environmental elements it is obvious that climate change effects

should have impact on women In the context of climate change a

lsquogender analysisrsquo promotes an understanding of the ways that men

30

and women are differently impacted by climate-related hazards and

by adopting adaptation and mitigation strategies15 Now the

effects of climate-related hazards on gender are describing

below

Firstly in the drought prone areas

-the cultivable lands become difficult to produce any crops

Those women who depend on agricultural activities they become

helpless for their daily income In this case they face problem

to find new place for work and if by any chance they are able to

find work then they have to face different physical and mental

harassment at the working place

-On the other hand they have to take extra pressure to manage

their household because they have to go far for earning It also

decays their physical strength and at the same time they have to

face different unexpected challenges

Picture-1 Drought in Bangladesh

15Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh Op cit

31

Source Not Enough Goodcom available at

httpnotenoughgoodcom201208indian-blackoutdrought

-They also have to take care about the drinking and daily useable

water for their family which also bring another responsibility

and additional burden to handle They have to face different

types of sexual harassment as they have to go far to collect the

water

-Further pregnant women are more vulnerable during this type of

situation

Secondly at the period like flood and heavy rainfall

-women have no role in decision making for their future They

have to rely on their male head even the women who earn for their

household has no saying during these types of situation During

the survey the responses of women several times indicated that

those women had to accept what the male member of their family

decided Whether there was any health issue or household issue

women had to depend on the male to take any action

32

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

- evaluate the role of different existing programs of UN and the

national policies of Bangladesh have to deal with climate change

considering gender issue

- For these reason the efficacy of the existing gender

responsive climate change policies will aim to find out through

this research

- Further this research tries to include what reformation the

existing climate change policies require to become more gender

considerate

3 Research QuestionsThis research is mainly focused on the following central

questions-

a) How climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

gender

b) How gender responsive policies reflect in different

international regional and national climate change policies

c) To what extent do these policies are effective comparing to

real scenario

d) If no what modifications do these policies required to

prevent the climate change impacts on women of our country

This research is designed and aimed at considering these four

central questions to find out the best suitable answer

8

4 Methodology of Data Collection

This is an individual research project for academic purpose and

is based on the context of Bangladesh This research is designed

using qualitative method which includes both primary sources and

secondary sources of data As it is an individual research paper

this research is mostly relied on secondary sources of data

Primary Sources of Data

a) Survey of 12 female from three villages (Kharasombol

Boyitpur and Fatepur) of Bagerhat district

b) Expertrsquos interviews of Sharmind Neelromi2 and Bushra Hasina

Chowdhury3 to find the difference between policies and

practices and also to include policy reformulation

Secondary Sources of Data

This research is mainly based on secondary resources like

published researches and articles but apart from these different

journals books and internet resources are also widely used for

this research as secondary data

Review of different policies like UNFCCC UNDP Hyogo Framework

for Action National Action Plan 2008 Bangladesh Climate Change

Strategy and Action Plan 2009 SAARC Framework for Action

2Assistant Professor Dept of Economics Jahangir Nagar University3Assistant Professor Dept of International Relations University of Dhaka

9

Migration policies Land Policies inheritance policies water

policies etc

Data Collection Method

Primary data were collected by a small questionnaire (see

appendix) survey of 12 female who suffered different impacts of

climate change (like flood heavy rainfall river erosion) from

three villages (Kharasombol Boyitpur and Fatepur) of Bagerhat

district direct interview of experts and reviewing policies from

different websites

Secondary data were collected from seminar library of Dept of

International Relations Dept of Disaster Management and

Vulnerability Studies Dept of Women and Gender Studies central

library of university of Dhaka British Council Library etc

6Limitations of the StudyEvery research projects have to go through some limitations and

challenges more or less and this research paper is not beyond

that problem Limitations and challenges faced during this

research are the followings

Firstly limitations of time were one of the crucial challenges

for this research because if there were sufficient time then a

lot more has to enrich this research

10

Secondly this research is an individual research which is

another important barrier faced during the whole period

Thirdly there was no funding for this research that excluded

this research from having a sufficient amount of victimrsquos

interview from all over the country which is very significant

while working on policy reformulation

Fourthly expertrsquos interview from Ministry level would have added

value for this research but due to different political

instability it could not be possible

Fifthly during the survey there was a tendency among the women

to lie about the help they got from different organization in

order to get more help in future This was another notable

challenge that made it difficult to find the actual scenario

Sixthly the number of interviewee was too short to reach any

decision about the policy practice as it provides poor

information

This research has huge impacts of these limitations and

challenges

Chapter II

11

7Literature Review

Literature review of this research begins with Cecile Jackson

(1993) who emphasized the affinity of women with the environment

Further he showed the essentialist linkages between women and

environment His analysis is based on different context such as

on the context of Zimbabwe Malaysia Kenya Tanzania etc which

give a distinct view of gender relation with the climate change

in different places But later he summarized that there cannot be

a special relationship between women and environments because

women are not a unitary category and their environmental

relations reflect not only divisions among women but also gender

relations and the dynamics of political economies and agro-

ecosystems4Joan Davidson (2007) in his article analyzed more

precisely the relation of women with land water and forests and

energy He described how changes in agriculture forestry and

water and waste management have affect women which clearly show

the relation of climate change with gender He also explored the

way in which women relate to a number of different natural

resources in both rural and urban areas5Ahsan Uddin Ahmed

Sharmind Neelormi Neelopal Adri et al (2009) showed the

linkages among climate change livelihoods poverty and women in

their research This research included different climate changes

4Jackson C (1993) Doing What Comes naturally Women and Environment in Development World Development Vol 21 Retrieved on August 172013 from josiahberkeleyedu2007FallER275Readingsjackson-GAD-1993pdf5Davidson J (1993) Womens relationship with the environment Gender amp Development Retrieved on August 17 2013 from httpdxdoiorg10108009682869308519944

12

and its effects very precisely to describe the relation of

environmental change and gender For instance they described how

the increased monsoon flows dry season low flows cyclones etc

affect the women children and old people

As this research is on the gender policies regarding climate

change at first the relation between climate change and gender

need to understand The above writers gave a clear knowledge in

there writings to understand the relation and linkages between

climate change and gender

Then for the further advancement the impacts of climate change

upon gender are important to find out to analyze the

authentication of policy practice In this regard Christine Haigh

and Bernadette Vallely (2010) in their report found the distinct

impacts of climate change on women in both developed and

developing countries To describe the impacts of climate change

on gender they included that ldquoClimate change impacts will be

differently distributed among different regions generations age

classes income groups occupations and gendersrdquo6Further they

described the impacts on women during different climate change

such as disasters and extreme weather events forced migration

for climate change water and energy etc using some case studies

which are very significant to have a view over the reality Joan

Davidson (2007) more distinctly added the problems that women

face in urban environments while they migrate from their rural

6Climate Change 2007 Impacts Adaptation and Vulnerability IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change Retrieved on August 17 2013 fromhttpswwwipccchclimate-changes-2001wg2-summary-policymakerspdf

13

areas for environmental degradation He also included that women

do not have ownership of the land that they work so hard for

which cause seasonal unemployment and insecurity He also found

out the scarcity of water and fuel wood led the women to

different physical trauma Later he also evaluated three (the

effects of minimal services the constant danger of industrial

pollution and the cumulative deterioration of the urban

hinterland) kind of environmental degradation women suffer in

urban fringe areas Further Research team of Ahsan Uddin Ahmed

Sharmind Neelormi Neelopal Adri et al (2009) also included

different area basis study to find out authentic data about the

impacts of climate change on women and special vulnerable group

which is very helpful to gather knowledge about real scenario

Their research also provides different distinct climate change

issues and their impacts on gender in different places for

example Cyclonic Storm Surge in Coastal Islands Salinity in

Tala and Shaymnagar Upazilas of Satkhira District Drought in

Manda Upazila of Naogaon District River Erosion in Kurigram and

Faridpur etc Midori Aoyagi Eiko Suda and Tomomi Shinada (2011)

added the effects of climate change upon gender in their working

paper They evaluated that people in poor countries such as

Africa are comparatively more vulnerable to climate change

impacts

These writings provide a clear vision about the mental and

physical impacts do the climate change have on the gender But

these writings are not very recent and to understand the present

14

scenario recent writings will be more helpful Because dealing

with the existing policies require the recent and authentic data

to reach at the goal And it is important to mention here that

the paper of Midori Aoyagi Eiko Suda and Tomomi Shinada (2011)

is mostly focused on disaster recovery the land ownership and

inheritance system which are not much important while finding the

impacts of climate on gender

Having a clear understanding of the climate change and its

effects on gender now it is a matter of concern what policies

exist there to prevent from these obstacles At first

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007)

emphasized on the adverse effect of climate change towards

gender IPCC (2007) recognized that women suffer more than the

men in climate hazards With this point IPCC included gender

mainstreaming and gender equality in its policy On the other

hand Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009) in her research included the

existing International and local institutions that are related to

disaster management and different international conferences that

deal with policies and interventions to prevent violence against

women and for disaster management She added the policies of

climate change adaptation and disaster reduction on gender of

Womenrsquos Human Rights of millennium development goal (MDGs) Hyogo

Framework for Action (2005-2015) World Conference on Disaster

Reduction United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC) SAARC Framework for Action (2006-2015) National Action

Plan (NAP) for Womenrsquos Advancement Relevant laws to curb

15

violence against women like Penal Code 1860 Muslim Family law

Ordinance (1961) etc She also provided the draft of National

Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) and Disaster Management

Regulative Framework which show the future attempts of Bangladesh

for disaster management National Action Plan (2008) of

Bangladesh included different existing projects and Institutions

that Bangladesh have for climate change adaptation such as The

Climate Change Action Plan (2009-2018) National Adaptation

Program of Action (2005) the National Disaster Management

Council (NDMC) National Climate Change Fund The Ministry of

Food and Disaster Management etc

These two are helpful to have an overview of the existing

policies for climate change But Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009)

mentioned in her research that there are several global

conferences and agreements on climate change but still all these

initiatives could not gain much remarkable success Moreover the

gender perspective is not getting much priority in all these

initiatives Similarly from the National Action Plan (2008) it is

also clearly been seen that gender is not consider as a separate

issue of concern while making policies for climate change But

draft of National Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) has

included gender into their policy very distinctly It mentioned

about the advancement of local judiciary system monitoring the

food distribution process advance mechanism for pure drinking

water to prevent different diseases providing training about the

disaster management process and structural violence as well This

16

plan could gain a great success to deal with climate change

considering gender if it is properly implemented

Agnes Otzelbergerrsquos (2011) research described how UNFCCC its

Kyoto Protocol Conference of parties (COP) GenderCC Global

Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA) etc have included and

planning to include the climate change policy considering gender

issue It also added the developing countryrsquos policies on climate

change regarding gender issue such as Hyogo Framework for

Action African Adaptation Program (AAP) This research is

comparatively more valuable to find out the climate change

policies responded to gender issue A report of World Health

Organization ldquoGender Climate Change and Healthrdquo described the

sectors that UNFCCC response for gender policies with the climate

change These responded sectors are health access to energy

transportation early warning systems and hazard management etc

Similarly Emmeline Skinner (2011) also described the policies of

UNFCCC the gender responsive movements of it and the initiatives

taken by the countries to reach Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs) At the same time he also included different countryrsquos

National Adaptation Policy for Action (NAPA) to understand the

gender mainstreaming policies in national level On the other

hand Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-2015) included gender

responsive policies and it recognizes that a gender perspective

should be integrated into all Disaster Risk Reduction policies

plans and decision-making processes including those associated

with existing climate variability and future climate change

17

Ministry of Environment and Forest had developed a Bangladesh

Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) 2009 which

built-in six pillars to implement and among those the first

pillar named lsquofood security social protection and healthrsquo

included women and children as special consideration for food

security safe housing employment access to basic services and

health Further National Water Policy (1999) of Bangladesh gave

emphasis to equal access to safe water and sanitation services

with an affordable cost for everyone It also prioritized on the

improvement of the role of women for decision making and water

management Ministry of Environment and Forest of Bangladesh also

developed another National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)

(2005) to deal with climate hazards Napa has a framework for

action of 2005 which included the actual and potential adverse

effect of climate change Napa prioritized on the urgent and

immediate action policy It also includes different adaptation

policies but excluding the gender issue Napa only emphasizes

gender equality but it does not include gender based policy

Unlike all these institutional policies United Nations

Development Program (UNDP) include gender and adaptation policy

quite precisely From the awareness making before climate hazards

to the post disaster situation they consider gender as a

significant issue while designing policy On the other hand the

draft of SAARC Comprehensive Framework on Disaster Management

(2006-2015) addressed about empowerment and strengthening gender

at the post disaster period They also prioritized on emergency

18

response management providing training and destined to focus on

gender issue with strong emphasis

Reviewing the existing policies the next focus of this research

goes on to find the effectiveness of these existing policies A

report of UNDP (2009) has clarified about the existing gender

responsive policies of UNDP for climate change It also included

the effective gender responsive programs of the UNDP UNFCCC and

NAPArsquos policy for climate change but mostly emphasized on the

policies of UNDP Further Mohammed Abdul Baten and Niaz Ahmed

Khan (2010) included a brief understanding in their writing about

how the gender responsive climate change policies exist in UNDP

UNFCCC NAPA BCCSAP etc and then they evaluated in the failures

of these policies regarding gender in their climate change

policy They provided a concise knowledge about the

ineffectiveness of policies while apply in reality

Effectiveness of the policies leads to understand the gaps

between policies and practices In this point of view Md Rabiul

Islam (2011) recommended in his research to prioritized women in

policies planning and program as he did not found women in

policies during his research He also discovers that women do not

have equal access to development activities of Government and

NGOs Further he finds out the week initiatives of local

administration while there is any judgment on different

unexpected torture on women Apart from these in his research he

also mentioned about women not having access to education and

training programs for adaptation and coping strategies Further

19

in a report of Tahera Akter (2009) evaluate that there are no

timeframe of any action plan to find out the problem in the

national policy She also addressed that the existing policies

are very old and are not capable to cope with changing natural

hazards Revealing these policy gaps she further mentioned that

there is lack of coordination among the organizations to

effectively evaluate the problems of environmentally displaced

people She also added that there is no national estimation or

prediction about environmental displacement World Health

Organization (WHO) also finds out some remarkable gaps between

the policies and practices in one of its report to understand the

issues for urgent action This report is mainly based on gender

climate change and health which evaluated some loopholes of the

overall existing policies

To reduce these loopholes climate change policies require

reformulation of its structure In this regard Sandra Bathge

(2010) concluded with some adaptation and mitigation measures

which can be also used as recommendation for this research as

those measures are related to policy formulation in a new way

This working paper included access to education land ownership

and services markets etc and also provided policies

considering gender about training programs awareness building

ability to generate income etc which lead this paper to design

the reformulation of climate change policies Further Alyson

Brody Justina Demetriades and Emily Esplen (2008) mostly

emphasized on the participation of women in decision making

20

processes around climate change adaptation and mitigation They

also recommended various aspects like identifying gender impacts

and adaptation priorities in both rural and urban areas

identifying gender implications of long term drought and

starvation etc on the other hand Nilufar Ahmad (2012) in her

paper mainly focused on the basis of individual policy

reformulation which is another most important literature for this

research She suggested BCCSAP to prioritize key gender entry

points indicators and annual targets and link these with the

budget She also recommended about accountable environmental

governance a gender informed cross-sectoral monitoring and

evaluation system to monitor construction and rehabilitation of

gender friendly and multi-purpose shelter and also other

important rights of women Emmeline Skinner (2011) also included

a number of notable suggestions for the pro-gender climate change

policy reformulation She added about strong political commitment

to gender equality stronger participation of women in climate

change institutions and processes conduct gender responsive

budgeting link mitigation and adaptation processes etc

These literatures are not much supportive to have a complete view

of the climate change policies on gender perspective and that is

one of the biggest challenges of this research Again reviewing

these important policies it was easy to figure out to a great

extent that the climate change policies need proper reformulation

and thus literature review evaluate the future improvements and

recommendations of gender sensitive climate change policies

21

8Theoretical ExplanationConcepts

My research follows the definition adopted by the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in which

ldquoclimate changerdquo refers to any change in climate over time

whether due to natural variability or as a result of human

activity7 This usage differs from that in the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which defines

ldquoclimate changerdquo as ldquoa change of climate which is attributed

directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the

composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to

natural climate variability observed over comparable time

periodsrdquo8

ldquoGenderrdquo refers to the socially constructed norms roles and

relations that a given society considers appropriate for men and

women Gender determines what is expected permitted and valued

in a woman or a man in a determined context9

A brief of Nandini Oberoi illustrated that Climate change is a

gender issue and that women are particularly vulnerable to

climate change because they are more prone to the adverse impacts

7Gender Climate change and Health World Health Organization pg5 Retrievedon September 23 2013 from wwwwhointglobalchangeGenderClimateChangeHealthfinalpdf8 ibid9 ibid

22

from climate change10 Changes in the climate usually impact on

sectors that are traditionally associated with women such as

paddy cultivation cotton and tea plantations and fishing11

In this research gender analysis is not a special focus on women

but rather an understanding on how discrimination against women

and gender roles interact to shape men and womenrsquos enjoyment of

human dignity rights as well as equality of living12

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) defines

Hazard as ldquoA potentially damaging physical event phenomenon or

human activity that may cause the loss of life or injury

property damage social and economic disruption or environmental

degradation Hazards can include latent conditions that may

represent future threats and can have different origins natural

(geological hydro meteorological and biological) or induced by

human processes (environmental degradation and technological

hazards)rdquo

TheoriesClimate change and gender and the relation between these two

phenomenons can be described with different theory This section

of research is destined to explain climate change and gender

relation with different International Relations theory

10Parikh J Mainstreaming Gender into Climate Change Policies Retrieved on July 8 2013 from wwwdisasterwatchnetclimatechangegndr_climt07pdf11 ibid12Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh GenderCC

23

i) Feminist Theory

The main concept of Radical feminist is lsquopatriarchyrsquo that means

the lsquorule of fatherrsquo In feminist theory we can see that there

are two form of patriarchy one is classical form of patriarchy

and another is more loose form of patriarchy But in both of the

patriarchal system women have no say in decision making Even

while they have to go through different types of mental and

physical violence during and after any climate hazard occur they

are not able to make any decision for themselves because

patriarchal society do not allow women to be treated equally as

men while decision making and it also reflects in climate change

policy

Liberal feminists are generally concerned with equal rights In

the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries liberal feminist argued

that women by nature different from men that means climate

vulnerabilities of women are also different from men They also

argued for womenrsquos equality on the grounds that they are capable

of making their personal decision and determine their best

interest which is as rational as men Therefore women should have

equal rights while decision making during any climate hazard The

reproductive chores such as child rearing and bearing water

collection food production and acquisition etc of any household

are mostly done by the female member of the family In this

regard climate hazards increases the burden for women and girls

because they are expected to ensure all this household chores

24

Radical feminist argued that to achieve genuine equality it is

important to share these responsibilities with men and as women

by nature different from men climate change policies also should

be gender sensitive

ii) Dependency Theory

According to dependency theory the core periphery and semi

periphery countryrsquos economy and development are interrelated and

interdependent So climate vulnerabilities of women are not an

internal matter for any particular country Rather it needs

global attention as it will also affect the other country and

their development process both directly and indirectly In this

regard global concern joint decision and gender responsive

climate change policy is required as the whole world is

ultimately dependent on each other

iii) Realist Theory

A very significant quote is important to address here by famous

realist scholar Thucydides is-

ldquoThe strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they mustrdquo

The developed countries as the lsquostrongrsquo power do what they want

to do to boost up their economy without considering climate

issues and the week (developing countries) suffer the effects

caused by climate change Before cold war the concept of

security used to consider as military power but in the

contemporary world climate security become more important rather

25

than military security Powerful states now are more concerned

about their own climate security and try to increase their

economic growth by exploiting the environment of weaker states

State as well as the people and mostly women of the developing

countries are the victim of this exploitation and they have to

bear different types of climate hazards which actually causes by

these developedpowerful states In result as women are the

weaker groups they suffer more than the stronger group of men

during all these climate hazards At the same time the men as

stronger group take every decision over the weaker women whenever

there is any climate hazard

iv) Neo-Liberal Theory

Neo-liberal theory supports the trade liberalization that means

removal of trade barrier opening of state economic enterprise

and privatization of market etc After the cold war the emergence

of globalization and the liberalization of market have increased

the investment of Multinational Corporations in the developing

world that have an adversely affect on their local climate The

waste materials and toxic gases emit during the production

procedure cause different types of climate hazards These

unwanted climate hazards also leave significant effect on women

As neo-liberalism emphasize on lsquoindividualrsquo women should be

consider as a group of individual while designing the policies

for climate change

26

Chapter III

ldquoHow climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

genderrdquo

9Climate Hazard Prone Areas of BangladeshThere are some common climate hazards often seen in Bangladesh

and areas mostly affected by these hazards in Bangladesh

identified to answer the above central research question

Different types of climate changersquos impacts such as flood

cyclone river erosion drought heavy rainfall sea level rise

soil degradation etc mainly seen in Bangladesh Among all these

climate hazards this research is mainly focused on three major

climate hazards of Bangladesh and these are- heavy rainfall and

flood river erosion and drought A quick view of climate

hazards prone areas of Bangladesh are given below

Table-1 (Climate Hazard Prone Areas of Bangladesh)

Climate Hazards Most Affected AreasDrought North-West Bengal districts

Rajshahi Gaibandha etcRiver Erosion Active river channels of the

Ganges the Jamuna and theTista rivers and in the coastaland offshore areas

Heavy Rainfall ndash North-western and western

27

Flood-

Bangladesh Chittagong hills

Central region North-Eastregion Charland South BengalBarisal Bagerhat KhulnaSatkhira etc

This table shows us that drought prone areas are mainly in North-

Western Bengalrsquos districts like Rajshahi Gaibandha etc which

has lower rainfall than the other areas of Bangladesh

(Map-1)

Source NAPA

28

River bank erosion prone areas are more or less around the whole

country but mostly it is being seen in the areas along the active

river channels of the Ganges the Jamuna and the Tista rivers and

in the coastal and offshore areas of Bangladesh13 About 17

million hectares of floodplain areas are prone to riverbank

erosion14

Floods are very common in Bangladesh and it affects almost 80

land of our country Every year Bangladesh has been facing 1 or 2

extreme disasters According to Zayeda Sharmin (2013) there are

different categories of floods in Bangladesh and these are ndash

(i) Monsoon floods it increase slowly and decrease slowly

inundate vast areas and causes huge loss to the life and

property

(ii) Flash floods from sudden torrential flows following a brief

intense rainstorm

(iii) Tidal floods which are of short duration but are generally

around 3 to 6 meter high and

(iv) Rain floods caused by drainage congestion and heavy rain

Flood prone areas are mainly in the south Bengal like Barisal

Bhola Bagerhat Khulna Shatkhira etc

13National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)(2005) Ministry of Environment and Forest Government of the Peoplersquos Republic of Bangladesh pg no-4 Retrieved on November 1 2013 From unfcccintresourcedocsnapaban01pdf14 Ibid

29

(Map-2)

Source NAPA

Lastly heavy rainfall is mainly seen in north-western and western

Bangladesh Chittagong hills and more or less all over the

country But mostly in the southern part than the northern part

of Bangladesh heavy rainfall is quite a common climate hazard

9 Climate Vulnerabilities of Women

As mentioned earlier that women are closely related to the

environmental elements it is obvious that climate change effects

should have impact on women In the context of climate change a

lsquogender analysisrsquo promotes an understanding of the ways that men

30

and women are differently impacted by climate-related hazards and

by adopting adaptation and mitigation strategies15 Now the

effects of climate-related hazards on gender are describing

below

Firstly in the drought prone areas

-the cultivable lands become difficult to produce any crops

Those women who depend on agricultural activities they become

helpless for their daily income In this case they face problem

to find new place for work and if by any chance they are able to

find work then they have to face different physical and mental

harassment at the working place

-On the other hand they have to take extra pressure to manage

their household because they have to go far for earning It also

decays their physical strength and at the same time they have to

face different unexpected challenges

Picture-1 Drought in Bangladesh

15Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh Op cit

31

Source Not Enough Goodcom available at

httpnotenoughgoodcom201208indian-blackoutdrought

-They also have to take care about the drinking and daily useable

water for their family which also bring another responsibility

and additional burden to handle They have to face different

types of sexual harassment as they have to go far to collect the

water

-Further pregnant women are more vulnerable during this type of

situation

Secondly at the period like flood and heavy rainfall

-women have no role in decision making for their future They

have to rely on their male head even the women who earn for their

household has no saying during these types of situation During

the survey the responses of women several times indicated that

those women had to accept what the male member of their family

decided Whether there was any health issue or household issue

women had to depend on the male to take any action

32

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

4 Methodology of Data Collection

This is an individual research project for academic purpose and

is based on the context of Bangladesh This research is designed

using qualitative method which includes both primary sources and

secondary sources of data As it is an individual research paper

this research is mostly relied on secondary sources of data

Primary Sources of Data

a) Survey of 12 female from three villages (Kharasombol

Boyitpur and Fatepur) of Bagerhat district

b) Expertrsquos interviews of Sharmind Neelromi2 and Bushra Hasina

Chowdhury3 to find the difference between policies and

practices and also to include policy reformulation

Secondary Sources of Data

This research is mainly based on secondary resources like

published researches and articles but apart from these different

journals books and internet resources are also widely used for

this research as secondary data

Review of different policies like UNFCCC UNDP Hyogo Framework

for Action National Action Plan 2008 Bangladesh Climate Change

Strategy and Action Plan 2009 SAARC Framework for Action

2Assistant Professor Dept of Economics Jahangir Nagar University3Assistant Professor Dept of International Relations University of Dhaka

9

Migration policies Land Policies inheritance policies water

policies etc

Data Collection Method

Primary data were collected by a small questionnaire (see

appendix) survey of 12 female who suffered different impacts of

climate change (like flood heavy rainfall river erosion) from

three villages (Kharasombol Boyitpur and Fatepur) of Bagerhat

district direct interview of experts and reviewing policies from

different websites

Secondary data were collected from seminar library of Dept of

International Relations Dept of Disaster Management and

Vulnerability Studies Dept of Women and Gender Studies central

library of university of Dhaka British Council Library etc

6Limitations of the StudyEvery research projects have to go through some limitations and

challenges more or less and this research paper is not beyond

that problem Limitations and challenges faced during this

research are the followings

Firstly limitations of time were one of the crucial challenges

for this research because if there were sufficient time then a

lot more has to enrich this research

10

Secondly this research is an individual research which is

another important barrier faced during the whole period

Thirdly there was no funding for this research that excluded

this research from having a sufficient amount of victimrsquos

interview from all over the country which is very significant

while working on policy reformulation

Fourthly expertrsquos interview from Ministry level would have added

value for this research but due to different political

instability it could not be possible

Fifthly during the survey there was a tendency among the women

to lie about the help they got from different organization in

order to get more help in future This was another notable

challenge that made it difficult to find the actual scenario

Sixthly the number of interviewee was too short to reach any

decision about the policy practice as it provides poor

information

This research has huge impacts of these limitations and

challenges

Chapter II

11

7Literature Review

Literature review of this research begins with Cecile Jackson

(1993) who emphasized the affinity of women with the environment

Further he showed the essentialist linkages between women and

environment His analysis is based on different context such as

on the context of Zimbabwe Malaysia Kenya Tanzania etc which

give a distinct view of gender relation with the climate change

in different places But later he summarized that there cannot be

a special relationship between women and environments because

women are not a unitary category and their environmental

relations reflect not only divisions among women but also gender

relations and the dynamics of political economies and agro-

ecosystems4Joan Davidson (2007) in his article analyzed more

precisely the relation of women with land water and forests and

energy He described how changes in agriculture forestry and

water and waste management have affect women which clearly show

the relation of climate change with gender He also explored the

way in which women relate to a number of different natural

resources in both rural and urban areas5Ahsan Uddin Ahmed

Sharmind Neelormi Neelopal Adri et al (2009) showed the

linkages among climate change livelihoods poverty and women in

their research This research included different climate changes

4Jackson C (1993) Doing What Comes naturally Women and Environment in Development World Development Vol 21 Retrieved on August 172013 from josiahberkeleyedu2007FallER275Readingsjackson-GAD-1993pdf5Davidson J (1993) Womens relationship with the environment Gender amp Development Retrieved on August 17 2013 from httpdxdoiorg10108009682869308519944

12

and its effects very precisely to describe the relation of

environmental change and gender For instance they described how

the increased monsoon flows dry season low flows cyclones etc

affect the women children and old people

As this research is on the gender policies regarding climate

change at first the relation between climate change and gender

need to understand The above writers gave a clear knowledge in

there writings to understand the relation and linkages between

climate change and gender

Then for the further advancement the impacts of climate change

upon gender are important to find out to analyze the

authentication of policy practice In this regard Christine Haigh

and Bernadette Vallely (2010) in their report found the distinct

impacts of climate change on women in both developed and

developing countries To describe the impacts of climate change

on gender they included that ldquoClimate change impacts will be

differently distributed among different regions generations age

classes income groups occupations and gendersrdquo6Further they

described the impacts on women during different climate change

such as disasters and extreme weather events forced migration

for climate change water and energy etc using some case studies

which are very significant to have a view over the reality Joan

Davidson (2007) more distinctly added the problems that women

face in urban environments while they migrate from their rural

6Climate Change 2007 Impacts Adaptation and Vulnerability IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change Retrieved on August 17 2013 fromhttpswwwipccchclimate-changes-2001wg2-summary-policymakerspdf

13

areas for environmental degradation He also included that women

do not have ownership of the land that they work so hard for

which cause seasonal unemployment and insecurity He also found

out the scarcity of water and fuel wood led the women to

different physical trauma Later he also evaluated three (the

effects of minimal services the constant danger of industrial

pollution and the cumulative deterioration of the urban

hinterland) kind of environmental degradation women suffer in

urban fringe areas Further Research team of Ahsan Uddin Ahmed

Sharmind Neelormi Neelopal Adri et al (2009) also included

different area basis study to find out authentic data about the

impacts of climate change on women and special vulnerable group

which is very helpful to gather knowledge about real scenario

Their research also provides different distinct climate change

issues and their impacts on gender in different places for

example Cyclonic Storm Surge in Coastal Islands Salinity in

Tala and Shaymnagar Upazilas of Satkhira District Drought in

Manda Upazila of Naogaon District River Erosion in Kurigram and

Faridpur etc Midori Aoyagi Eiko Suda and Tomomi Shinada (2011)

added the effects of climate change upon gender in their working

paper They evaluated that people in poor countries such as

Africa are comparatively more vulnerable to climate change

impacts

These writings provide a clear vision about the mental and

physical impacts do the climate change have on the gender But

these writings are not very recent and to understand the present

14

scenario recent writings will be more helpful Because dealing

with the existing policies require the recent and authentic data

to reach at the goal And it is important to mention here that

the paper of Midori Aoyagi Eiko Suda and Tomomi Shinada (2011)

is mostly focused on disaster recovery the land ownership and

inheritance system which are not much important while finding the

impacts of climate on gender

Having a clear understanding of the climate change and its

effects on gender now it is a matter of concern what policies

exist there to prevent from these obstacles At first

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007)

emphasized on the adverse effect of climate change towards

gender IPCC (2007) recognized that women suffer more than the

men in climate hazards With this point IPCC included gender

mainstreaming and gender equality in its policy On the other

hand Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009) in her research included the

existing International and local institutions that are related to

disaster management and different international conferences that

deal with policies and interventions to prevent violence against

women and for disaster management She added the policies of

climate change adaptation and disaster reduction on gender of

Womenrsquos Human Rights of millennium development goal (MDGs) Hyogo

Framework for Action (2005-2015) World Conference on Disaster

Reduction United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC) SAARC Framework for Action (2006-2015) National Action

Plan (NAP) for Womenrsquos Advancement Relevant laws to curb

15

violence against women like Penal Code 1860 Muslim Family law

Ordinance (1961) etc She also provided the draft of National

Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) and Disaster Management

Regulative Framework which show the future attempts of Bangladesh

for disaster management National Action Plan (2008) of

Bangladesh included different existing projects and Institutions

that Bangladesh have for climate change adaptation such as The

Climate Change Action Plan (2009-2018) National Adaptation

Program of Action (2005) the National Disaster Management

Council (NDMC) National Climate Change Fund The Ministry of

Food and Disaster Management etc

These two are helpful to have an overview of the existing

policies for climate change But Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009)

mentioned in her research that there are several global

conferences and agreements on climate change but still all these

initiatives could not gain much remarkable success Moreover the

gender perspective is not getting much priority in all these

initiatives Similarly from the National Action Plan (2008) it is

also clearly been seen that gender is not consider as a separate

issue of concern while making policies for climate change But

draft of National Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) has

included gender into their policy very distinctly It mentioned

about the advancement of local judiciary system monitoring the

food distribution process advance mechanism for pure drinking

water to prevent different diseases providing training about the

disaster management process and structural violence as well This

16

plan could gain a great success to deal with climate change

considering gender if it is properly implemented

Agnes Otzelbergerrsquos (2011) research described how UNFCCC its

Kyoto Protocol Conference of parties (COP) GenderCC Global

Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA) etc have included and

planning to include the climate change policy considering gender

issue It also added the developing countryrsquos policies on climate

change regarding gender issue such as Hyogo Framework for

Action African Adaptation Program (AAP) This research is

comparatively more valuable to find out the climate change

policies responded to gender issue A report of World Health

Organization ldquoGender Climate Change and Healthrdquo described the

sectors that UNFCCC response for gender policies with the climate

change These responded sectors are health access to energy

transportation early warning systems and hazard management etc

Similarly Emmeline Skinner (2011) also described the policies of

UNFCCC the gender responsive movements of it and the initiatives

taken by the countries to reach Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs) At the same time he also included different countryrsquos

National Adaptation Policy for Action (NAPA) to understand the

gender mainstreaming policies in national level On the other

hand Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-2015) included gender

responsive policies and it recognizes that a gender perspective

should be integrated into all Disaster Risk Reduction policies

plans and decision-making processes including those associated

with existing climate variability and future climate change

17

Ministry of Environment and Forest had developed a Bangladesh

Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) 2009 which

built-in six pillars to implement and among those the first

pillar named lsquofood security social protection and healthrsquo

included women and children as special consideration for food

security safe housing employment access to basic services and

health Further National Water Policy (1999) of Bangladesh gave

emphasis to equal access to safe water and sanitation services

with an affordable cost for everyone It also prioritized on the

improvement of the role of women for decision making and water

management Ministry of Environment and Forest of Bangladesh also

developed another National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)

(2005) to deal with climate hazards Napa has a framework for

action of 2005 which included the actual and potential adverse

effect of climate change Napa prioritized on the urgent and

immediate action policy It also includes different adaptation

policies but excluding the gender issue Napa only emphasizes

gender equality but it does not include gender based policy

Unlike all these institutional policies United Nations

Development Program (UNDP) include gender and adaptation policy

quite precisely From the awareness making before climate hazards

to the post disaster situation they consider gender as a

significant issue while designing policy On the other hand the

draft of SAARC Comprehensive Framework on Disaster Management

(2006-2015) addressed about empowerment and strengthening gender

at the post disaster period They also prioritized on emergency

18

response management providing training and destined to focus on

gender issue with strong emphasis

Reviewing the existing policies the next focus of this research

goes on to find the effectiveness of these existing policies A

report of UNDP (2009) has clarified about the existing gender

responsive policies of UNDP for climate change It also included

the effective gender responsive programs of the UNDP UNFCCC and

NAPArsquos policy for climate change but mostly emphasized on the

policies of UNDP Further Mohammed Abdul Baten and Niaz Ahmed

Khan (2010) included a brief understanding in their writing about

how the gender responsive climate change policies exist in UNDP

UNFCCC NAPA BCCSAP etc and then they evaluated in the failures

of these policies regarding gender in their climate change

policy They provided a concise knowledge about the

ineffectiveness of policies while apply in reality

Effectiveness of the policies leads to understand the gaps

between policies and practices In this point of view Md Rabiul

Islam (2011) recommended in his research to prioritized women in

policies planning and program as he did not found women in

policies during his research He also discovers that women do not

have equal access to development activities of Government and

NGOs Further he finds out the week initiatives of local

administration while there is any judgment on different

unexpected torture on women Apart from these in his research he

also mentioned about women not having access to education and

training programs for adaptation and coping strategies Further

19

in a report of Tahera Akter (2009) evaluate that there are no

timeframe of any action plan to find out the problem in the

national policy She also addressed that the existing policies

are very old and are not capable to cope with changing natural

hazards Revealing these policy gaps she further mentioned that

there is lack of coordination among the organizations to

effectively evaluate the problems of environmentally displaced

people She also added that there is no national estimation or

prediction about environmental displacement World Health

Organization (WHO) also finds out some remarkable gaps between

the policies and practices in one of its report to understand the

issues for urgent action This report is mainly based on gender

climate change and health which evaluated some loopholes of the

overall existing policies

To reduce these loopholes climate change policies require

reformulation of its structure In this regard Sandra Bathge

(2010) concluded with some adaptation and mitigation measures

which can be also used as recommendation for this research as

those measures are related to policy formulation in a new way

This working paper included access to education land ownership

and services markets etc and also provided policies

considering gender about training programs awareness building

ability to generate income etc which lead this paper to design

the reformulation of climate change policies Further Alyson

Brody Justina Demetriades and Emily Esplen (2008) mostly

emphasized on the participation of women in decision making

20

processes around climate change adaptation and mitigation They

also recommended various aspects like identifying gender impacts

and adaptation priorities in both rural and urban areas

identifying gender implications of long term drought and

starvation etc on the other hand Nilufar Ahmad (2012) in her

paper mainly focused on the basis of individual policy

reformulation which is another most important literature for this

research She suggested BCCSAP to prioritize key gender entry

points indicators and annual targets and link these with the

budget She also recommended about accountable environmental

governance a gender informed cross-sectoral monitoring and

evaluation system to monitor construction and rehabilitation of

gender friendly and multi-purpose shelter and also other

important rights of women Emmeline Skinner (2011) also included

a number of notable suggestions for the pro-gender climate change

policy reformulation She added about strong political commitment

to gender equality stronger participation of women in climate

change institutions and processes conduct gender responsive

budgeting link mitigation and adaptation processes etc

These literatures are not much supportive to have a complete view

of the climate change policies on gender perspective and that is

one of the biggest challenges of this research Again reviewing

these important policies it was easy to figure out to a great

extent that the climate change policies need proper reformulation

and thus literature review evaluate the future improvements and

recommendations of gender sensitive climate change policies

21

8Theoretical ExplanationConcepts

My research follows the definition adopted by the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in which

ldquoclimate changerdquo refers to any change in climate over time

whether due to natural variability or as a result of human

activity7 This usage differs from that in the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which defines

ldquoclimate changerdquo as ldquoa change of climate which is attributed

directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the

composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to

natural climate variability observed over comparable time

periodsrdquo8

ldquoGenderrdquo refers to the socially constructed norms roles and

relations that a given society considers appropriate for men and

women Gender determines what is expected permitted and valued

in a woman or a man in a determined context9

A brief of Nandini Oberoi illustrated that Climate change is a

gender issue and that women are particularly vulnerable to

climate change because they are more prone to the adverse impacts

7Gender Climate change and Health World Health Organization pg5 Retrievedon September 23 2013 from wwwwhointglobalchangeGenderClimateChangeHealthfinalpdf8 ibid9 ibid

22

from climate change10 Changes in the climate usually impact on

sectors that are traditionally associated with women such as

paddy cultivation cotton and tea plantations and fishing11

In this research gender analysis is not a special focus on women

but rather an understanding on how discrimination against women

and gender roles interact to shape men and womenrsquos enjoyment of

human dignity rights as well as equality of living12

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) defines

Hazard as ldquoA potentially damaging physical event phenomenon or

human activity that may cause the loss of life or injury

property damage social and economic disruption or environmental

degradation Hazards can include latent conditions that may

represent future threats and can have different origins natural

(geological hydro meteorological and biological) or induced by

human processes (environmental degradation and technological

hazards)rdquo

TheoriesClimate change and gender and the relation between these two

phenomenons can be described with different theory This section

of research is destined to explain climate change and gender

relation with different International Relations theory

10Parikh J Mainstreaming Gender into Climate Change Policies Retrieved on July 8 2013 from wwwdisasterwatchnetclimatechangegndr_climt07pdf11 ibid12Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh GenderCC

23

i) Feminist Theory

The main concept of Radical feminist is lsquopatriarchyrsquo that means

the lsquorule of fatherrsquo In feminist theory we can see that there

are two form of patriarchy one is classical form of patriarchy

and another is more loose form of patriarchy But in both of the

patriarchal system women have no say in decision making Even

while they have to go through different types of mental and

physical violence during and after any climate hazard occur they

are not able to make any decision for themselves because

patriarchal society do not allow women to be treated equally as

men while decision making and it also reflects in climate change

policy

Liberal feminists are generally concerned with equal rights In

the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries liberal feminist argued

that women by nature different from men that means climate

vulnerabilities of women are also different from men They also

argued for womenrsquos equality on the grounds that they are capable

of making their personal decision and determine their best

interest which is as rational as men Therefore women should have

equal rights while decision making during any climate hazard The

reproductive chores such as child rearing and bearing water

collection food production and acquisition etc of any household

are mostly done by the female member of the family In this

regard climate hazards increases the burden for women and girls

because they are expected to ensure all this household chores

24

Radical feminist argued that to achieve genuine equality it is

important to share these responsibilities with men and as women

by nature different from men climate change policies also should

be gender sensitive

ii) Dependency Theory

According to dependency theory the core periphery and semi

periphery countryrsquos economy and development are interrelated and

interdependent So climate vulnerabilities of women are not an

internal matter for any particular country Rather it needs

global attention as it will also affect the other country and

their development process both directly and indirectly In this

regard global concern joint decision and gender responsive

climate change policy is required as the whole world is

ultimately dependent on each other

iii) Realist Theory

A very significant quote is important to address here by famous

realist scholar Thucydides is-

ldquoThe strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they mustrdquo

The developed countries as the lsquostrongrsquo power do what they want

to do to boost up their economy without considering climate

issues and the week (developing countries) suffer the effects

caused by climate change Before cold war the concept of

security used to consider as military power but in the

contemporary world climate security become more important rather

25

than military security Powerful states now are more concerned

about their own climate security and try to increase their

economic growth by exploiting the environment of weaker states

State as well as the people and mostly women of the developing

countries are the victim of this exploitation and they have to

bear different types of climate hazards which actually causes by

these developedpowerful states In result as women are the

weaker groups they suffer more than the stronger group of men

during all these climate hazards At the same time the men as

stronger group take every decision over the weaker women whenever

there is any climate hazard

iv) Neo-Liberal Theory

Neo-liberal theory supports the trade liberalization that means

removal of trade barrier opening of state economic enterprise

and privatization of market etc After the cold war the emergence

of globalization and the liberalization of market have increased

the investment of Multinational Corporations in the developing

world that have an adversely affect on their local climate The

waste materials and toxic gases emit during the production

procedure cause different types of climate hazards These

unwanted climate hazards also leave significant effect on women

As neo-liberalism emphasize on lsquoindividualrsquo women should be

consider as a group of individual while designing the policies

for climate change

26

Chapter III

ldquoHow climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

genderrdquo

9Climate Hazard Prone Areas of BangladeshThere are some common climate hazards often seen in Bangladesh

and areas mostly affected by these hazards in Bangladesh

identified to answer the above central research question

Different types of climate changersquos impacts such as flood

cyclone river erosion drought heavy rainfall sea level rise

soil degradation etc mainly seen in Bangladesh Among all these

climate hazards this research is mainly focused on three major

climate hazards of Bangladesh and these are- heavy rainfall and

flood river erosion and drought A quick view of climate

hazards prone areas of Bangladesh are given below

Table-1 (Climate Hazard Prone Areas of Bangladesh)

Climate Hazards Most Affected AreasDrought North-West Bengal districts

Rajshahi Gaibandha etcRiver Erosion Active river channels of the

Ganges the Jamuna and theTista rivers and in the coastaland offshore areas

Heavy Rainfall ndash North-western and western

27

Flood-

Bangladesh Chittagong hills

Central region North-Eastregion Charland South BengalBarisal Bagerhat KhulnaSatkhira etc

This table shows us that drought prone areas are mainly in North-

Western Bengalrsquos districts like Rajshahi Gaibandha etc which

has lower rainfall than the other areas of Bangladesh

(Map-1)

Source NAPA

28

River bank erosion prone areas are more or less around the whole

country but mostly it is being seen in the areas along the active

river channels of the Ganges the Jamuna and the Tista rivers and

in the coastal and offshore areas of Bangladesh13 About 17

million hectares of floodplain areas are prone to riverbank

erosion14

Floods are very common in Bangladesh and it affects almost 80

land of our country Every year Bangladesh has been facing 1 or 2

extreme disasters According to Zayeda Sharmin (2013) there are

different categories of floods in Bangladesh and these are ndash

(i) Monsoon floods it increase slowly and decrease slowly

inundate vast areas and causes huge loss to the life and

property

(ii) Flash floods from sudden torrential flows following a brief

intense rainstorm

(iii) Tidal floods which are of short duration but are generally

around 3 to 6 meter high and

(iv) Rain floods caused by drainage congestion and heavy rain

Flood prone areas are mainly in the south Bengal like Barisal

Bhola Bagerhat Khulna Shatkhira etc

13National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)(2005) Ministry of Environment and Forest Government of the Peoplersquos Republic of Bangladesh pg no-4 Retrieved on November 1 2013 From unfcccintresourcedocsnapaban01pdf14 Ibid

29

(Map-2)

Source NAPA

Lastly heavy rainfall is mainly seen in north-western and western

Bangladesh Chittagong hills and more or less all over the

country But mostly in the southern part than the northern part

of Bangladesh heavy rainfall is quite a common climate hazard

9 Climate Vulnerabilities of Women

As mentioned earlier that women are closely related to the

environmental elements it is obvious that climate change effects

should have impact on women In the context of climate change a

lsquogender analysisrsquo promotes an understanding of the ways that men

30

and women are differently impacted by climate-related hazards and

by adopting adaptation and mitigation strategies15 Now the

effects of climate-related hazards on gender are describing

below

Firstly in the drought prone areas

-the cultivable lands become difficult to produce any crops

Those women who depend on agricultural activities they become

helpless for their daily income In this case they face problem

to find new place for work and if by any chance they are able to

find work then they have to face different physical and mental

harassment at the working place

-On the other hand they have to take extra pressure to manage

their household because they have to go far for earning It also

decays their physical strength and at the same time they have to

face different unexpected challenges

Picture-1 Drought in Bangladesh

15Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh Op cit

31

Source Not Enough Goodcom available at

httpnotenoughgoodcom201208indian-blackoutdrought

-They also have to take care about the drinking and daily useable

water for their family which also bring another responsibility

and additional burden to handle They have to face different

types of sexual harassment as they have to go far to collect the

water

-Further pregnant women are more vulnerable during this type of

situation

Secondly at the period like flood and heavy rainfall

-women have no role in decision making for their future They

have to rely on their male head even the women who earn for their

household has no saying during these types of situation During

the survey the responses of women several times indicated that

those women had to accept what the male member of their family

decided Whether there was any health issue or household issue

women had to depend on the male to take any action

32

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

Migration policies Land Policies inheritance policies water

policies etc

Data Collection Method

Primary data were collected by a small questionnaire (see

appendix) survey of 12 female who suffered different impacts of

climate change (like flood heavy rainfall river erosion) from

three villages (Kharasombol Boyitpur and Fatepur) of Bagerhat

district direct interview of experts and reviewing policies from

different websites

Secondary data were collected from seminar library of Dept of

International Relations Dept of Disaster Management and

Vulnerability Studies Dept of Women and Gender Studies central

library of university of Dhaka British Council Library etc

6Limitations of the StudyEvery research projects have to go through some limitations and

challenges more or less and this research paper is not beyond

that problem Limitations and challenges faced during this

research are the followings

Firstly limitations of time were one of the crucial challenges

for this research because if there were sufficient time then a

lot more has to enrich this research

10

Secondly this research is an individual research which is

another important barrier faced during the whole period

Thirdly there was no funding for this research that excluded

this research from having a sufficient amount of victimrsquos

interview from all over the country which is very significant

while working on policy reformulation

Fourthly expertrsquos interview from Ministry level would have added

value for this research but due to different political

instability it could not be possible

Fifthly during the survey there was a tendency among the women

to lie about the help they got from different organization in

order to get more help in future This was another notable

challenge that made it difficult to find the actual scenario

Sixthly the number of interviewee was too short to reach any

decision about the policy practice as it provides poor

information

This research has huge impacts of these limitations and

challenges

Chapter II

11

7Literature Review

Literature review of this research begins with Cecile Jackson

(1993) who emphasized the affinity of women with the environment

Further he showed the essentialist linkages between women and

environment His analysis is based on different context such as

on the context of Zimbabwe Malaysia Kenya Tanzania etc which

give a distinct view of gender relation with the climate change

in different places But later he summarized that there cannot be

a special relationship between women and environments because

women are not a unitary category and their environmental

relations reflect not only divisions among women but also gender

relations and the dynamics of political economies and agro-

ecosystems4Joan Davidson (2007) in his article analyzed more

precisely the relation of women with land water and forests and

energy He described how changes in agriculture forestry and

water and waste management have affect women which clearly show

the relation of climate change with gender He also explored the

way in which women relate to a number of different natural

resources in both rural and urban areas5Ahsan Uddin Ahmed

Sharmind Neelormi Neelopal Adri et al (2009) showed the

linkages among climate change livelihoods poverty and women in

their research This research included different climate changes

4Jackson C (1993) Doing What Comes naturally Women and Environment in Development World Development Vol 21 Retrieved on August 172013 from josiahberkeleyedu2007FallER275Readingsjackson-GAD-1993pdf5Davidson J (1993) Womens relationship with the environment Gender amp Development Retrieved on August 17 2013 from httpdxdoiorg10108009682869308519944

12

and its effects very precisely to describe the relation of

environmental change and gender For instance they described how

the increased monsoon flows dry season low flows cyclones etc

affect the women children and old people

As this research is on the gender policies regarding climate

change at first the relation between climate change and gender

need to understand The above writers gave a clear knowledge in

there writings to understand the relation and linkages between

climate change and gender

Then for the further advancement the impacts of climate change

upon gender are important to find out to analyze the

authentication of policy practice In this regard Christine Haigh

and Bernadette Vallely (2010) in their report found the distinct

impacts of climate change on women in both developed and

developing countries To describe the impacts of climate change

on gender they included that ldquoClimate change impacts will be

differently distributed among different regions generations age

classes income groups occupations and gendersrdquo6Further they

described the impacts on women during different climate change

such as disasters and extreme weather events forced migration

for climate change water and energy etc using some case studies

which are very significant to have a view over the reality Joan

Davidson (2007) more distinctly added the problems that women

face in urban environments while they migrate from their rural

6Climate Change 2007 Impacts Adaptation and Vulnerability IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change Retrieved on August 17 2013 fromhttpswwwipccchclimate-changes-2001wg2-summary-policymakerspdf

13

areas for environmental degradation He also included that women

do not have ownership of the land that they work so hard for

which cause seasonal unemployment and insecurity He also found

out the scarcity of water and fuel wood led the women to

different physical trauma Later he also evaluated three (the

effects of minimal services the constant danger of industrial

pollution and the cumulative deterioration of the urban

hinterland) kind of environmental degradation women suffer in

urban fringe areas Further Research team of Ahsan Uddin Ahmed

Sharmind Neelormi Neelopal Adri et al (2009) also included

different area basis study to find out authentic data about the

impacts of climate change on women and special vulnerable group

which is very helpful to gather knowledge about real scenario

Their research also provides different distinct climate change

issues and their impacts on gender in different places for

example Cyclonic Storm Surge in Coastal Islands Salinity in

Tala and Shaymnagar Upazilas of Satkhira District Drought in

Manda Upazila of Naogaon District River Erosion in Kurigram and

Faridpur etc Midori Aoyagi Eiko Suda and Tomomi Shinada (2011)

added the effects of climate change upon gender in their working

paper They evaluated that people in poor countries such as

Africa are comparatively more vulnerable to climate change

impacts

These writings provide a clear vision about the mental and

physical impacts do the climate change have on the gender But

these writings are not very recent and to understand the present

14

scenario recent writings will be more helpful Because dealing

with the existing policies require the recent and authentic data

to reach at the goal And it is important to mention here that

the paper of Midori Aoyagi Eiko Suda and Tomomi Shinada (2011)

is mostly focused on disaster recovery the land ownership and

inheritance system which are not much important while finding the

impacts of climate on gender

Having a clear understanding of the climate change and its

effects on gender now it is a matter of concern what policies

exist there to prevent from these obstacles At first

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007)

emphasized on the adverse effect of climate change towards

gender IPCC (2007) recognized that women suffer more than the

men in climate hazards With this point IPCC included gender

mainstreaming and gender equality in its policy On the other

hand Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009) in her research included the

existing International and local institutions that are related to

disaster management and different international conferences that

deal with policies and interventions to prevent violence against

women and for disaster management She added the policies of

climate change adaptation and disaster reduction on gender of

Womenrsquos Human Rights of millennium development goal (MDGs) Hyogo

Framework for Action (2005-2015) World Conference on Disaster

Reduction United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC) SAARC Framework for Action (2006-2015) National Action

Plan (NAP) for Womenrsquos Advancement Relevant laws to curb

15

violence against women like Penal Code 1860 Muslim Family law

Ordinance (1961) etc She also provided the draft of National

Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) and Disaster Management

Regulative Framework which show the future attempts of Bangladesh

for disaster management National Action Plan (2008) of

Bangladesh included different existing projects and Institutions

that Bangladesh have for climate change adaptation such as The

Climate Change Action Plan (2009-2018) National Adaptation

Program of Action (2005) the National Disaster Management

Council (NDMC) National Climate Change Fund The Ministry of

Food and Disaster Management etc

These two are helpful to have an overview of the existing

policies for climate change But Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009)

mentioned in her research that there are several global

conferences and agreements on climate change but still all these

initiatives could not gain much remarkable success Moreover the

gender perspective is not getting much priority in all these

initiatives Similarly from the National Action Plan (2008) it is

also clearly been seen that gender is not consider as a separate

issue of concern while making policies for climate change But

draft of National Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) has

included gender into their policy very distinctly It mentioned

about the advancement of local judiciary system monitoring the

food distribution process advance mechanism for pure drinking

water to prevent different diseases providing training about the

disaster management process and structural violence as well This

16

plan could gain a great success to deal with climate change

considering gender if it is properly implemented

Agnes Otzelbergerrsquos (2011) research described how UNFCCC its

Kyoto Protocol Conference of parties (COP) GenderCC Global

Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA) etc have included and

planning to include the climate change policy considering gender

issue It also added the developing countryrsquos policies on climate

change regarding gender issue such as Hyogo Framework for

Action African Adaptation Program (AAP) This research is

comparatively more valuable to find out the climate change

policies responded to gender issue A report of World Health

Organization ldquoGender Climate Change and Healthrdquo described the

sectors that UNFCCC response for gender policies with the climate

change These responded sectors are health access to energy

transportation early warning systems and hazard management etc

Similarly Emmeline Skinner (2011) also described the policies of

UNFCCC the gender responsive movements of it and the initiatives

taken by the countries to reach Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs) At the same time he also included different countryrsquos

National Adaptation Policy for Action (NAPA) to understand the

gender mainstreaming policies in national level On the other

hand Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-2015) included gender

responsive policies and it recognizes that a gender perspective

should be integrated into all Disaster Risk Reduction policies

plans and decision-making processes including those associated

with existing climate variability and future climate change

17

Ministry of Environment and Forest had developed a Bangladesh

Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) 2009 which

built-in six pillars to implement and among those the first

pillar named lsquofood security social protection and healthrsquo

included women and children as special consideration for food

security safe housing employment access to basic services and

health Further National Water Policy (1999) of Bangladesh gave

emphasis to equal access to safe water and sanitation services

with an affordable cost for everyone It also prioritized on the

improvement of the role of women for decision making and water

management Ministry of Environment and Forest of Bangladesh also

developed another National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)

(2005) to deal with climate hazards Napa has a framework for

action of 2005 which included the actual and potential adverse

effect of climate change Napa prioritized on the urgent and

immediate action policy It also includes different adaptation

policies but excluding the gender issue Napa only emphasizes

gender equality but it does not include gender based policy

Unlike all these institutional policies United Nations

Development Program (UNDP) include gender and adaptation policy

quite precisely From the awareness making before climate hazards

to the post disaster situation they consider gender as a

significant issue while designing policy On the other hand the

draft of SAARC Comprehensive Framework on Disaster Management

(2006-2015) addressed about empowerment and strengthening gender

at the post disaster period They also prioritized on emergency

18

response management providing training and destined to focus on

gender issue with strong emphasis

Reviewing the existing policies the next focus of this research

goes on to find the effectiveness of these existing policies A

report of UNDP (2009) has clarified about the existing gender

responsive policies of UNDP for climate change It also included

the effective gender responsive programs of the UNDP UNFCCC and

NAPArsquos policy for climate change but mostly emphasized on the

policies of UNDP Further Mohammed Abdul Baten and Niaz Ahmed

Khan (2010) included a brief understanding in their writing about

how the gender responsive climate change policies exist in UNDP

UNFCCC NAPA BCCSAP etc and then they evaluated in the failures

of these policies regarding gender in their climate change

policy They provided a concise knowledge about the

ineffectiveness of policies while apply in reality

Effectiveness of the policies leads to understand the gaps

between policies and practices In this point of view Md Rabiul

Islam (2011) recommended in his research to prioritized women in

policies planning and program as he did not found women in

policies during his research He also discovers that women do not

have equal access to development activities of Government and

NGOs Further he finds out the week initiatives of local

administration while there is any judgment on different

unexpected torture on women Apart from these in his research he

also mentioned about women not having access to education and

training programs for adaptation and coping strategies Further

19

in a report of Tahera Akter (2009) evaluate that there are no

timeframe of any action plan to find out the problem in the

national policy She also addressed that the existing policies

are very old and are not capable to cope with changing natural

hazards Revealing these policy gaps she further mentioned that

there is lack of coordination among the organizations to

effectively evaluate the problems of environmentally displaced

people She also added that there is no national estimation or

prediction about environmental displacement World Health

Organization (WHO) also finds out some remarkable gaps between

the policies and practices in one of its report to understand the

issues for urgent action This report is mainly based on gender

climate change and health which evaluated some loopholes of the

overall existing policies

To reduce these loopholes climate change policies require

reformulation of its structure In this regard Sandra Bathge

(2010) concluded with some adaptation and mitigation measures

which can be also used as recommendation for this research as

those measures are related to policy formulation in a new way

This working paper included access to education land ownership

and services markets etc and also provided policies

considering gender about training programs awareness building

ability to generate income etc which lead this paper to design

the reformulation of climate change policies Further Alyson

Brody Justina Demetriades and Emily Esplen (2008) mostly

emphasized on the participation of women in decision making

20

processes around climate change adaptation and mitigation They

also recommended various aspects like identifying gender impacts

and adaptation priorities in both rural and urban areas

identifying gender implications of long term drought and

starvation etc on the other hand Nilufar Ahmad (2012) in her

paper mainly focused on the basis of individual policy

reformulation which is another most important literature for this

research She suggested BCCSAP to prioritize key gender entry

points indicators and annual targets and link these with the

budget She also recommended about accountable environmental

governance a gender informed cross-sectoral monitoring and

evaluation system to monitor construction and rehabilitation of

gender friendly and multi-purpose shelter and also other

important rights of women Emmeline Skinner (2011) also included

a number of notable suggestions for the pro-gender climate change

policy reformulation She added about strong political commitment

to gender equality stronger participation of women in climate

change institutions and processes conduct gender responsive

budgeting link mitigation and adaptation processes etc

These literatures are not much supportive to have a complete view

of the climate change policies on gender perspective and that is

one of the biggest challenges of this research Again reviewing

these important policies it was easy to figure out to a great

extent that the climate change policies need proper reformulation

and thus literature review evaluate the future improvements and

recommendations of gender sensitive climate change policies

21

8Theoretical ExplanationConcepts

My research follows the definition adopted by the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in which

ldquoclimate changerdquo refers to any change in climate over time

whether due to natural variability or as a result of human

activity7 This usage differs from that in the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which defines

ldquoclimate changerdquo as ldquoa change of climate which is attributed

directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the

composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to

natural climate variability observed over comparable time

periodsrdquo8

ldquoGenderrdquo refers to the socially constructed norms roles and

relations that a given society considers appropriate for men and

women Gender determines what is expected permitted and valued

in a woman or a man in a determined context9

A brief of Nandini Oberoi illustrated that Climate change is a

gender issue and that women are particularly vulnerable to

climate change because they are more prone to the adverse impacts

7Gender Climate change and Health World Health Organization pg5 Retrievedon September 23 2013 from wwwwhointglobalchangeGenderClimateChangeHealthfinalpdf8 ibid9 ibid

22

from climate change10 Changes in the climate usually impact on

sectors that are traditionally associated with women such as

paddy cultivation cotton and tea plantations and fishing11

In this research gender analysis is not a special focus on women

but rather an understanding on how discrimination against women

and gender roles interact to shape men and womenrsquos enjoyment of

human dignity rights as well as equality of living12

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) defines

Hazard as ldquoA potentially damaging physical event phenomenon or

human activity that may cause the loss of life or injury

property damage social and economic disruption or environmental

degradation Hazards can include latent conditions that may

represent future threats and can have different origins natural

(geological hydro meteorological and biological) or induced by

human processes (environmental degradation and technological

hazards)rdquo

TheoriesClimate change and gender and the relation between these two

phenomenons can be described with different theory This section

of research is destined to explain climate change and gender

relation with different International Relations theory

10Parikh J Mainstreaming Gender into Climate Change Policies Retrieved on July 8 2013 from wwwdisasterwatchnetclimatechangegndr_climt07pdf11 ibid12Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh GenderCC

23

i) Feminist Theory

The main concept of Radical feminist is lsquopatriarchyrsquo that means

the lsquorule of fatherrsquo In feminist theory we can see that there

are two form of patriarchy one is classical form of patriarchy

and another is more loose form of patriarchy But in both of the

patriarchal system women have no say in decision making Even

while they have to go through different types of mental and

physical violence during and after any climate hazard occur they

are not able to make any decision for themselves because

patriarchal society do not allow women to be treated equally as

men while decision making and it also reflects in climate change

policy

Liberal feminists are generally concerned with equal rights In

the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries liberal feminist argued

that women by nature different from men that means climate

vulnerabilities of women are also different from men They also

argued for womenrsquos equality on the grounds that they are capable

of making their personal decision and determine their best

interest which is as rational as men Therefore women should have

equal rights while decision making during any climate hazard The

reproductive chores such as child rearing and bearing water

collection food production and acquisition etc of any household

are mostly done by the female member of the family In this

regard climate hazards increases the burden for women and girls

because they are expected to ensure all this household chores

24

Radical feminist argued that to achieve genuine equality it is

important to share these responsibilities with men and as women

by nature different from men climate change policies also should

be gender sensitive

ii) Dependency Theory

According to dependency theory the core periphery and semi

periphery countryrsquos economy and development are interrelated and

interdependent So climate vulnerabilities of women are not an

internal matter for any particular country Rather it needs

global attention as it will also affect the other country and

their development process both directly and indirectly In this

regard global concern joint decision and gender responsive

climate change policy is required as the whole world is

ultimately dependent on each other

iii) Realist Theory

A very significant quote is important to address here by famous

realist scholar Thucydides is-

ldquoThe strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they mustrdquo

The developed countries as the lsquostrongrsquo power do what they want

to do to boost up their economy without considering climate

issues and the week (developing countries) suffer the effects

caused by climate change Before cold war the concept of

security used to consider as military power but in the

contemporary world climate security become more important rather

25

than military security Powerful states now are more concerned

about their own climate security and try to increase their

economic growth by exploiting the environment of weaker states

State as well as the people and mostly women of the developing

countries are the victim of this exploitation and they have to

bear different types of climate hazards which actually causes by

these developedpowerful states In result as women are the

weaker groups they suffer more than the stronger group of men

during all these climate hazards At the same time the men as

stronger group take every decision over the weaker women whenever

there is any climate hazard

iv) Neo-Liberal Theory

Neo-liberal theory supports the trade liberalization that means

removal of trade barrier opening of state economic enterprise

and privatization of market etc After the cold war the emergence

of globalization and the liberalization of market have increased

the investment of Multinational Corporations in the developing

world that have an adversely affect on their local climate The

waste materials and toxic gases emit during the production

procedure cause different types of climate hazards These

unwanted climate hazards also leave significant effect on women

As neo-liberalism emphasize on lsquoindividualrsquo women should be

consider as a group of individual while designing the policies

for climate change

26

Chapter III

ldquoHow climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

genderrdquo

9Climate Hazard Prone Areas of BangladeshThere are some common climate hazards often seen in Bangladesh

and areas mostly affected by these hazards in Bangladesh

identified to answer the above central research question

Different types of climate changersquos impacts such as flood

cyclone river erosion drought heavy rainfall sea level rise

soil degradation etc mainly seen in Bangladesh Among all these

climate hazards this research is mainly focused on three major

climate hazards of Bangladesh and these are- heavy rainfall and

flood river erosion and drought A quick view of climate

hazards prone areas of Bangladesh are given below

Table-1 (Climate Hazard Prone Areas of Bangladesh)

Climate Hazards Most Affected AreasDrought North-West Bengal districts

Rajshahi Gaibandha etcRiver Erosion Active river channels of the

Ganges the Jamuna and theTista rivers and in the coastaland offshore areas

Heavy Rainfall ndash North-western and western

27

Flood-

Bangladesh Chittagong hills

Central region North-Eastregion Charland South BengalBarisal Bagerhat KhulnaSatkhira etc

This table shows us that drought prone areas are mainly in North-

Western Bengalrsquos districts like Rajshahi Gaibandha etc which

has lower rainfall than the other areas of Bangladesh

(Map-1)

Source NAPA

28

River bank erosion prone areas are more or less around the whole

country but mostly it is being seen in the areas along the active

river channels of the Ganges the Jamuna and the Tista rivers and

in the coastal and offshore areas of Bangladesh13 About 17

million hectares of floodplain areas are prone to riverbank

erosion14

Floods are very common in Bangladesh and it affects almost 80

land of our country Every year Bangladesh has been facing 1 or 2

extreme disasters According to Zayeda Sharmin (2013) there are

different categories of floods in Bangladesh and these are ndash

(i) Monsoon floods it increase slowly and decrease slowly

inundate vast areas and causes huge loss to the life and

property

(ii) Flash floods from sudden torrential flows following a brief

intense rainstorm

(iii) Tidal floods which are of short duration but are generally

around 3 to 6 meter high and

(iv) Rain floods caused by drainage congestion and heavy rain

Flood prone areas are mainly in the south Bengal like Barisal

Bhola Bagerhat Khulna Shatkhira etc

13National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)(2005) Ministry of Environment and Forest Government of the Peoplersquos Republic of Bangladesh pg no-4 Retrieved on November 1 2013 From unfcccintresourcedocsnapaban01pdf14 Ibid

29

(Map-2)

Source NAPA

Lastly heavy rainfall is mainly seen in north-western and western

Bangladesh Chittagong hills and more or less all over the

country But mostly in the southern part than the northern part

of Bangladesh heavy rainfall is quite a common climate hazard

9 Climate Vulnerabilities of Women

As mentioned earlier that women are closely related to the

environmental elements it is obvious that climate change effects

should have impact on women In the context of climate change a

lsquogender analysisrsquo promotes an understanding of the ways that men

30

and women are differently impacted by climate-related hazards and

by adopting adaptation and mitigation strategies15 Now the

effects of climate-related hazards on gender are describing

below

Firstly in the drought prone areas

-the cultivable lands become difficult to produce any crops

Those women who depend on agricultural activities they become

helpless for their daily income In this case they face problem

to find new place for work and if by any chance they are able to

find work then they have to face different physical and mental

harassment at the working place

-On the other hand they have to take extra pressure to manage

their household because they have to go far for earning It also

decays their physical strength and at the same time they have to

face different unexpected challenges

Picture-1 Drought in Bangladesh

15Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh Op cit

31

Source Not Enough Goodcom available at

httpnotenoughgoodcom201208indian-blackoutdrought

-They also have to take care about the drinking and daily useable

water for their family which also bring another responsibility

and additional burden to handle They have to face different

types of sexual harassment as they have to go far to collect the

water

-Further pregnant women are more vulnerable during this type of

situation

Secondly at the period like flood and heavy rainfall

-women have no role in decision making for their future They

have to rely on their male head even the women who earn for their

household has no saying during these types of situation During

the survey the responses of women several times indicated that

those women had to accept what the male member of their family

decided Whether there was any health issue or household issue

women had to depend on the male to take any action

32

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

Secondly this research is an individual research which is

another important barrier faced during the whole period

Thirdly there was no funding for this research that excluded

this research from having a sufficient amount of victimrsquos

interview from all over the country which is very significant

while working on policy reformulation

Fourthly expertrsquos interview from Ministry level would have added

value for this research but due to different political

instability it could not be possible

Fifthly during the survey there was a tendency among the women

to lie about the help they got from different organization in

order to get more help in future This was another notable

challenge that made it difficult to find the actual scenario

Sixthly the number of interviewee was too short to reach any

decision about the policy practice as it provides poor

information

This research has huge impacts of these limitations and

challenges

Chapter II

11

7Literature Review

Literature review of this research begins with Cecile Jackson

(1993) who emphasized the affinity of women with the environment

Further he showed the essentialist linkages between women and

environment His analysis is based on different context such as

on the context of Zimbabwe Malaysia Kenya Tanzania etc which

give a distinct view of gender relation with the climate change

in different places But later he summarized that there cannot be

a special relationship between women and environments because

women are not a unitary category and their environmental

relations reflect not only divisions among women but also gender

relations and the dynamics of political economies and agro-

ecosystems4Joan Davidson (2007) in his article analyzed more

precisely the relation of women with land water and forests and

energy He described how changes in agriculture forestry and

water and waste management have affect women which clearly show

the relation of climate change with gender He also explored the

way in which women relate to a number of different natural

resources in both rural and urban areas5Ahsan Uddin Ahmed

Sharmind Neelormi Neelopal Adri et al (2009) showed the

linkages among climate change livelihoods poverty and women in

their research This research included different climate changes

4Jackson C (1993) Doing What Comes naturally Women and Environment in Development World Development Vol 21 Retrieved on August 172013 from josiahberkeleyedu2007FallER275Readingsjackson-GAD-1993pdf5Davidson J (1993) Womens relationship with the environment Gender amp Development Retrieved on August 17 2013 from httpdxdoiorg10108009682869308519944

12

and its effects very precisely to describe the relation of

environmental change and gender For instance they described how

the increased monsoon flows dry season low flows cyclones etc

affect the women children and old people

As this research is on the gender policies regarding climate

change at first the relation between climate change and gender

need to understand The above writers gave a clear knowledge in

there writings to understand the relation and linkages between

climate change and gender

Then for the further advancement the impacts of climate change

upon gender are important to find out to analyze the

authentication of policy practice In this regard Christine Haigh

and Bernadette Vallely (2010) in their report found the distinct

impacts of climate change on women in both developed and

developing countries To describe the impacts of climate change

on gender they included that ldquoClimate change impacts will be

differently distributed among different regions generations age

classes income groups occupations and gendersrdquo6Further they

described the impacts on women during different climate change

such as disasters and extreme weather events forced migration

for climate change water and energy etc using some case studies

which are very significant to have a view over the reality Joan

Davidson (2007) more distinctly added the problems that women

face in urban environments while they migrate from their rural

6Climate Change 2007 Impacts Adaptation and Vulnerability IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change Retrieved on August 17 2013 fromhttpswwwipccchclimate-changes-2001wg2-summary-policymakerspdf

13

areas for environmental degradation He also included that women

do not have ownership of the land that they work so hard for

which cause seasonal unemployment and insecurity He also found

out the scarcity of water and fuel wood led the women to

different physical trauma Later he also evaluated three (the

effects of minimal services the constant danger of industrial

pollution and the cumulative deterioration of the urban

hinterland) kind of environmental degradation women suffer in

urban fringe areas Further Research team of Ahsan Uddin Ahmed

Sharmind Neelormi Neelopal Adri et al (2009) also included

different area basis study to find out authentic data about the

impacts of climate change on women and special vulnerable group

which is very helpful to gather knowledge about real scenario

Their research also provides different distinct climate change

issues and their impacts on gender in different places for

example Cyclonic Storm Surge in Coastal Islands Salinity in

Tala and Shaymnagar Upazilas of Satkhira District Drought in

Manda Upazila of Naogaon District River Erosion in Kurigram and

Faridpur etc Midori Aoyagi Eiko Suda and Tomomi Shinada (2011)

added the effects of climate change upon gender in their working

paper They evaluated that people in poor countries such as

Africa are comparatively more vulnerable to climate change

impacts

These writings provide a clear vision about the mental and

physical impacts do the climate change have on the gender But

these writings are not very recent and to understand the present

14

scenario recent writings will be more helpful Because dealing

with the existing policies require the recent and authentic data

to reach at the goal And it is important to mention here that

the paper of Midori Aoyagi Eiko Suda and Tomomi Shinada (2011)

is mostly focused on disaster recovery the land ownership and

inheritance system which are not much important while finding the

impacts of climate on gender

Having a clear understanding of the climate change and its

effects on gender now it is a matter of concern what policies

exist there to prevent from these obstacles At first

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007)

emphasized on the adverse effect of climate change towards

gender IPCC (2007) recognized that women suffer more than the

men in climate hazards With this point IPCC included gender

mainstreaming and gender equality in its policy On the other

hand Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009) in her research included the

existing International and local institutions that are related to

disaster management and different international conferences that

deal with policies and interventions to prevent violence against

women and for disaster management She added the policies of

climate change adaptation and disaster reduction on gender of

Womenrsquos Human Rights of millennium development goal (MDGs) Hyogo

Framework for Action (2005-2015) World Conference on Disaster

Reduction United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC) SAARC Framework for Action (2006-2015) National Action

Plan (NAP) for Womenrsquos Advancement Relevant laws to curb

15

violence against women like Penal Code 1860 Muslim Family law

Ordinance (1961) etc She also provided the draft of National

Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) and Disaster Management

Regulative Framework which show the future attempts of Bangladesh

for disaster management National Action Plan (2008) of

Bangladesh included different existing projects and Institutions

that Bangladesh have for climate change adaptation such as The

Climate Change Action Plan (2009-2018) National Adaptation

Program of Action (2005) the National Disaster Management

Council (NDMC) National Climate Change Fund The Ministry of

Food and Disaster Management etc

These two are helpful to have an overview of the existing

policies for climate change But Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009)

mentioned in her research that there are several global

conferences and agreements on climate change but still all these

initiatives could not gain much remarkable success Moreover the

gender perspective is not getting much priority in all these

initiatives Similarly from the National Action Plan (2008) it is

also clearly been seen that gender is not consider as a separate

issue of concern while making policies for climate change But

draft of National Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) has

included gender into their policy very distinctly It mentioned

about the advancement of local judiciary system monitoring the

food distribution process advance mechanism for pure drinking

water to prevent different diseases providing training about the

disaster management process and structural violence as well This

16

plan could gain a great success to deal with climate change

considering gender if it is properly implemented

Agnes Otzelbergerrsquos (2011) research described how UNFCCC its

Kyoto Protocol Conference of parties (COP) GenderCC Global

Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA) etc have included and

planning to include the climate change policy considering gender

issue It also added the developing countryrsquos policies on climate

change regarding gender issue such as Hyogo Framework for

Action African Adaptation Program (AAP) This research is

comparatively more valuable to find out the climate change

policies responded to gender issue A report of World Health

Organization ldquoGender Climate Change and Healthrdquo described the

sectors that UNFCCC response for gender policies with the climate

change These responded sectors are health access to energy

transportation early warning systems and hazard management etc

Similarly Emmeline Skinner (2011) also described the policies of

UNFCCC the gender responsive movements of it and the initiatives

taken by the countries to reach Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs) At the same time he also included different countryrsquos

National Adaptation Policy for Action (NAPA) to understand the

gender mainstreaming policies in national level On the other

hand Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-2015) included gender

responsive policies and it recognizes that a gender perspective

should be integrated into all Disaster Risk Reduction policies

plans and decision-making processes including those associated

with existing climate variability and future climate change

17

Ministry of Environment and Forest had developed a Bangladesh

Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) 2009 which

built-in six pillars to implement and among those the first

pillar named lsquofood security social protection and healthrsquo

included women and children as special consideration for food

security safe housing employment access to basic services and

health Further National Water Policy (1999) of Bangladesh gave

emphasis to equal access to safe water and sanitation services

with an affordable cost for everyone It also prioritized on the

improvement of the role of women for decision making and water

management Ministry of Environment and Forest of Bangladesh also

developed another National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)

(2005) to deal with climate hazards Napa has a framework for

action of 2005 which included the actual and potential adverse

effect of climate change Napa prioritized on the urgent and

immediate action policy It also includes different adaptation

policies but excluding the gender issue Napa only emphasizes

gender equality but it does not include gender based policy

Unlike all these institutional policies United Nations

Development Program (UNDP) include gender and adaptation policy

quite precisely From the awareness making before climate hazards

to the post disaster situation they consider gender as a

significant issue while designing policy On the other hand the

draft of SAARC Comprehensive Framework on Disaster Management

(2006-2015) addressed about empowerment and strengthening gender

at the post disaster period They also prioritized on emergency

18

response management providing training and destined to focus on

gender issue with strong emphasis

Reviewing the existing policies the next focus of this research

goes on to find the effectiveness of these existing policies A

report of UNDP (2009) has clarified about the existing gender

responsive policies of UNDP for climate change It also included

the effective gender responsive programs of the UNDP UNFCCC and

NAPArsquos policy for climate change but mostly emphasized on the

policies of UNDP Further Mohammed Abdul Baten and Niaz Ahmed

Khan (2010) included a brief understanding in their writing about

how the gender responsive climate change policies exist in UNDP

UNFCCC NAPA BCCSAP etc and then they evaluated in the failures

of these policies regarding gender in their climate change

policy They provided a concise knowledge about the

ineffectiveness of policies while apply in reality

Effectiveness of the policies leads to understand the gaps

between policies and practices In this point of view Md Rabiul

Islam (2011) recommended in his research to prioritized women in

policies planning and program as he did not found women in

policies during his research He also discovers that women do not

have equal access to development activities of Government and

NGOs Further he finds out the week initiatives of local

administration while there is any judgment on different

unexpected torture on women Apart from these in his research he

also mentioned about women not having access to education and

training programs for adaptation and coping strategies Further

19

in a report of Tahera Akter (2009) evaluate that there are no

timeframe of any action plan to find out the problem in the

national policy She also addressed that the existing policies

are very old and are not capable to cope with changing natural

hazards Revealing these policy gaps she further mentioned that

there is lack of coordination among the organizations to

effectively evaluate the problems of environmentally displaced

people She also added that there is no national estimation or

prediction about environmental displacement World Health

Organization (WHO) also finds out some remarkable gaps between

the policies and practices in one of its report to understand the

issues for urgent action This report is mainly based on gender

climate change and health which evaluated some loopholes of the

overall existing policies

To reduce these loopholes climate change policies require

reformulation of its structure In this regard Sandra Bathge

(2010) concluded with some adaptation and mitigation measures

which can be also used as recommendation for this research as

those measures are related to policy formulation in a new way

This working paper included access to education land ownership

and services markets etc and also provided policies

considering gender about training programs awareness building

ability to generate income etc which lead this paper to design

the reformulation of climate change policies Further Alyson

Brody Justina Demetriades and Emily Esplen (2008) mostly

emphasized on the participation of women in decision making

20

processes around climate change adaptation and mitigation They

also recommended various aspects like identifying gender impacts

and adaptation priorities in both rural and urban areas

identifying gender implications of long term drought and

starvation etc on the other hand Nilufar Ahmad (2012) in her

paper mainly focused on the basis of individual policy

reformulation which is another most important literature for this

research She suggested BCCSAP to prioritize key gender entry

points indicators and annual targets and link these with the

budget She also recommended about accountable environmental

governance a gender informed cross-sectoral monitoring and

evaluation system to monitor construction and rehabilitation of

gender friendly and multi-purpose shelter and also other

important rights of women Emmeline Skinner (2011) also included

a number of notable suggestions for the pro-gender climate change

policy reformulation She added about strong political commitment

to gender equality stronger participation of women in climate

change institutions and processes conduct gender responsive

budgeting link mitigation and adaptation processes etc

These literatures are not much supportive to have a complete view

of the climate change policies on gender perspective and that is

one of the biggest challenges of this research Again reviewing

these important policies it was easy to figure out to a great

extent that the climate change policies need proper reformulation

and thus literature review evaluate the future improvements and

recommendations of gender sensitive climate change policies

21

8Theoretical ExplanationConcepts

My research follows the definition adopted by the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in which

ldquoclimate changerdquo refers to any change in climate over time

whether due to natural variability or as a result of human

activity7 This usage differs from that in the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which defines

ldquoclimate changerdquo as ldquoa change of climate which is attributed

directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the

composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to

natural climate variability observed over comparable time

periodsrdquo8

ldquoGenderrdquo refers to the socially constructed norms roles and

relations that a given society considers appropriate for men and

women Gender determines what is expected permitted and valued

in a woman or a man in a determined context9

A brief of Nandini Oberoi illustrated that Climate change is a

gender issue and that women are particularly vulnerable to

climate change because they are more prone to the adverse impacts

7Gender Climate change and Health World Health Organization pg5 Retrievedon September 23 2013 from wwwwhointglobalchangeGenderClimateChangeHealthfinalpdf8 ibid9 ibid

22

from climate change10 Changes in the climate usually impact on

sectors that are traditionally associated with women such as

paddy cultivation cotton and tea plantations and fishing11

In this research gender analysis is not a special focus on women

but rather an understanding on how discrimination against women

and gender roles interact to shape men and womenrsquos enjoyment of

human dignity rights as well as equality of living12

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) defines

Hazard as ldquoA potentially damaging physical event phenomenon or

human activity that may cause the loss of life or injury

property damage social and economic disruption or environmental

degradation Hazards can include latent conditions that may

represent future threats and can have different origins natural

(geological hydro meteorological and biological) or induced by

human processes (environmental degradation and technological

hazards)rdquo

TheoriesClimate change and gender and the relation between these two

phenomenons can be described with different theory This section

of research is destined to explain climate change and gender

relation with different International Relations theory

10Parikh J Mainstreaming Gender into Climate Change Policies Retrieved on July 8 2013 from wwwdisasterwatchnetclimatechangegndr_climt07pdf11 ibid12Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh GenderCC

23

i) Feminist Theory

The main concept of Radical feminist is lsquopatriarchyrsquo that means

the lsquorule of fatherrsquo In feminist theory we can see that there

are two form of patriarchy one is classical form of patriarchy

and another is more loose form of patriarchy But in both of the

patriarchal system women have no say in decision making Even

while they have to go through different types of mental and

physical violence during and after any climate hazard occur they

are not able to make any decision for themselves because

patriarchal society do not allow women to be treated equally as

men while decision making and it also reflects in climate change

policy

Liberal feminists are generally concerned with equal rights In

the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries liberal feminist argued

that women by nature different from men that means climate

vulnerabilities of women are also different from men They also

argued for womenrsquos equality on the grounds that they are capable

of making their personal decision and determine their best

interest which is as rational as men Therefore women should have

equal rights while decision making during any climate hazard The

reproductive chores such as child rearing and bearing water

collection food production and acquisition etc of any household

are mostly done by the female member of the family In this

regard climate hazards increases the burden for women and girls

because they are expected to ensure all this household chores

24

Radical feminist argued that to achieve genuine equality it is

important to share these responsibilities with men and as women

by nature different from men climate change policies also should

be gender sensitive

ii) Dependency Theory

According to dependency theory the core periphery and semi

periphery countryrsquos economy and development are interrelated and

interdependent So climate vulnerabilities of women are not an

internal matter for any particular country Rather it needs

global attention as it will also affect the other country and

their development process both directly and indirectly In this

regard global concern joint decision and gender responsive

climate change policy is required as the whole world is

ultimately dependent on each other

iii) Realist Theory

A very significant quote is important to address here by famous

realist scholar Thucydides is-

ldquoThe strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they mustrdquo

The developed countries as the lsquostrongrsquo power do what they want

to do to boost up their economy without considering climate

issues and the week (developing countries) suffer the effects

caused by climate change Before cold war the concept of

security used to consider as military power but in the

contemporary world climate security become more important rather

25

than military security Powerful states now are more concerned

about their own climate security and try to increase their

economic growth by exploiting the environment of weaker states

State as well as the people and mostly women of the developing

countries are the victim of this exploitation and they have to

bear different types of climate hazards which actually causes by

these developedpowerful states In result as women are the

weaker groups they suffer more than the stronger group of men

during all these climate hazards At the same time the men as

stronger group take every decision over the weaker women whenever

there is any climate hazard

iv) Neo-Liberal Theory

Neo-liberal theory supports the trade liberalization that means

removal of trade barrier opening of state economic enterprise

and privatization of market etc After the cold war the emergence

of globalization and the liberalization of market have increased

the investment of Multinational Corporations in the developing

world that have an adversely affect on their local climate The

waste materials and toxic gases emit during the production

procedure cause different types of climate hazards These

unwanted climate hazards also leave significant effect on women

As neo-liberalism emphasize on lsquoindividualrsquo women should be

consider as a group of individual while designing the policies

for climate change

26

Chapter III

ldquoHow climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

genderrdquo

9Climate Hazard Prone Areas of BangladeshThere are some common climate hazards often seen in Bangladesh

and areas mostly affected by these hazards in Bangladesh

identified to answer the above central research question

Different types of climate changersquos impacts such as flood

cyclone river erosion drought heavy rainfall sea level rise

soil degradation etc mainly seen in Bangladesh Among all these

climate hazards this research is mainly focused on three major

climate hazards of Bangladesh and these are- heavy rainfall and

flood river erosion and drought A quick view of climate

hazards prone areas of Bangladesh are given below

Table-1 (Climate Hazard Prone Areas of Bangladesh)

Climate Hazards Most Affected AreasDrought North-West Bengal districts

Rajshahi Gaibandha etcRiver Erosion Active river channels of the

Ganges the Jamuna and theTista rivers and in the coastaland offshore areas

Heavy Rainfall ndash North-western and western

27

Flood-

Bangladesh Chittagong hills

Central region North-Eastregion Charland South BengalBarisal Bagerhat KhulnaSatkhira etc

This table shows us that drought prone areas are mainly in North-

Western Bengalrsquos districts like Rajshahi Gaibandha etc which

has lower rainfall than the other areas of Bangladesh

(Map-1)

Source NAPA

28

River bank erosion prone areas are more or less around the whole

country but mostly it is being seen in the areas along the active

river channels of the Ganges the Jamuna and the Tista rivers and

in the coastal and offshore areas of Bangladesh13 About 17

million hectares of floodplain areas are prone to riverbank

erosion14

Floods are very common in Bangladesh and it affects almost 80

land of our country Every year Bangladesh has been facing 1 or 2

extreme disasters According to Zayeda Sharmin (2013) there are

different categories of floods in Bangladesh and these are ndash

(i) Monsoon floods it increase slowly and decrease slowly

inundate vast areas and causes huge loss to the life and

property

(ii) Flash floods from sudden torrential flows following a brief

intense rainstorm

(iii) Tidal floods which are of short duration but are generally

around 3 to 6 meter high and

(iv) Rain floods caused by drainage congestion and heavy rain

Flood prone areas are mainly in the south Bengal like Barisal

Bhola Bagerhat Khulna Shatkhira etc

13National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)(2005) Ministry of Environment and Forest Government of the Peoplersquos Republic of Bangladesh pg no-4 Retrieved on November 1 2013 From unfcccintresourcedocsnapaban01pdf14 Ibid

29

(Map-2)

Source NAPA

Lastly heavy rainfall is mainly seen in north-western and western

Bangladesh Chittagong hills and more or less all over the

country But mostly in the southern part than the northern part

of Bangladesh heavy rainfall is quite a common climate hazard

9 Climate Vulnerabilities of Women

As mentioned earlier that women are closely related to the

environmental elements it is obvious that climate change effects

should have impact on women In the context of climate change a

lsquogender analysisrsquo promotes an understanding of the ways that men

30

and women are differently impacted by climate-related hazards and

by adopting adaptation and mitigation strategies15 Now the

effects of climate-related hazards on gender are describing

below

Firstly in the drought prone areas

-the cultivable lands become difficult to produce any crops

Those women who depend on agricultural activities they become

helpless for their daily income In this case they face problem

to find new place for work and if by any chance they are able to

find work then they have to face different physical and mental

harassment at the working place

-On the other hand they have to take extra pressure to manage

their household because they have to go far for earning It also

decays their physical strength and at the same time they have to

face different unexpected challenges

Picture-1 Drought in Bangladesh

15Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh Op cit

31

Source Not Enough Goodcom available at

httpnotenoughgoodcom201208indian-blackoutdrought

-They also have to take care about the drinking and daily useable

water for their family which also bring another responsibility

and additional burden to handle They have to face different

types of sexual harassment as they have to go far to collect the

water

-Further pregnant women are more vulnerable during this type of

situation

Secondly at the period like flood and heavy rainfall

-women have no role in decision making for their future They

have to rely on their male head even the women who earn for their

household has no saying during these types of situation During

the survey the responses of women several times indicated that

those women had to accept what the male member of their family

decided Whether there was any health issue or household issue

women had to depend on the male to take any action

32

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

7Literature Review

Literature review of this research begins with Cecile Jackson

(1993) who emphasized the affinity of women with the environment

Further he showed the essentialist linkages between women and

environment His analysis is based on different context such as

on the context of Zimbabwe Malaysia Kenya Tanzania etc which

give a distinct view of gender relation with the climate change

in different places But later he summarized that there cannot be

a special relationship between women and environments because

women are not a unitary category and their environmental

relations reflect not only divisions among women but also gender

relations and the dynamics of political economies and agro-

ecosystems4Joan Davidson (2007) in his article analyzed more

precisely the relation of women with land water and forests and

energy He described how changes in agriculture forestry and

water and waste management have affect women which clearly show

the relation of climate change with gender He also explored the

way in which women relate to a number of different natural

resources in both rural and urban areas5Ahsan Uddin Ahmed

Sharmind Neelormi Neelopal Adri et al (2009) showed the

linkages among climate change livelihoods poverty and women in

their research This research included different climate changes

4Jackson C (1993) Doing What Comes naturally Women and Environment in Development World Development Vol 21 Retrieved on August 172013 from josiahberkeleyedu2007FallER275Readingsjackson-GAD-1993pdf5Davidson J (1993) Womens relationship with the environment Gender amp Development Retrieved on August 17 2013 from httpdxdoiorg10108009682869308519944

12

and its effects very precisely to describe the relation of

environmental change and gender For instance they described how

the increased monsoon flows dry season low flows cyclones etc

affect the women children and old people

As this research is on the gender policies regarding climate

change at first the relation between climate change and gender

need to understand The above writers gave a clear knowledge in

there writings to understand the relation and linkages between

climate change and gender

Then for the further advancement the impacts of climate change

upon gender are important to find out to analyze the

authentication of policy practice In this regard Christine Haigh

and Bernadette Vallely (2010) in their report found the distinct

impacts of climate change on women in both developed and

developing countries To describe the impacts of climate change

on gender they included that ldquoClimate change impacts will be

differently distributed among different regions generations age

classes income groups occupations and gendersrdquo6Further they

described the impacts on women during different climate change

such as disasters and extreme weather events forced migration

for climate change water and energy etc using some case studies

which are very significant to have a view over the reality Joan

Davidson (2007) more distinctly added the problems that women

face in urban environments while they migrate from their rural

6Climate Change 2007 Impacts Adaptation and Vulnerability IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change Retrieved on August 17 2013 fromhttpswwwipccchclimate-changes-2001wg2-summary-policymakerspdf

13

areas for environmental degradation He also included that women

do not have ownership of the land that they work so hard for

which cause seasonal unemployment and insecurity He also found

out the scarcity of water and fuel wood led the women to

different physical trauma Later he also evaluated three (the

effects of minimal services the constant danger of industrial

pollution and the cumulative deterioration of the urban

hinterland) kind of environmental degradation women suffer in

urban fringe areas Further Research team of Ahsan Uddin Ahmed

Sharmind Neelormi Neelopal Adri et al (2009) also included

different area basis study to find out authentic data about the

impacts of climate change on women and special vulnerable group

which is very helpful to gather knowledge about real scenario

Their research also provides different distinct climate change

issues and their impacts on gender in different places for

example Cyclonic Storm Surge in Coastal Islands Salinity in

Tala and Shaymnagar Upazilas of Satkhira District Drought in

Manda Upazila of Naogaon District River Erosion in Kurigram and

Faridpur etc Midori Aoyagi Eiko Suda and Tomomi Shinada (2011)

added the effects of climate change upon gender in their working

paper They evaluated that people in poor countries such as

Africa are comparatively more vulnerable to climate change

impacts

These writings provide a clear vision about the mental and

physical impacts do the climate change have on the gender But

these writings are not very recent and to understand the present

14

scenario recent writings will be more helpful Because dealing

with the existing policies require the recent and authentic data

to reach at the goal And it is important to mention here that

the paper of Midori Aoyagi Eiko Suda and Tomomi Shinada (2011)

is mostly focused on disaster recovery the land ownership and

inheritance system which are not much important while finding the

impacts of climate on gender

Having a clear understanding of the climate change and its

effects on gender now it is a matter of concern what policies

exist there to prevent from these obstacles At first

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007)

emphasized on the adverse effect of climate change towards

gender IPCC (2007) recognized that women suffer more than the

men in climate hazards With this point IPCC included gender

mainstreaming and gender equality in its policy On the other

hand Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009) in her research included the

existing International and local institutions that are related to

disaster management and different international conferences that

deal with policies and interventions to prevent violence against

women and for disaster management She added the policies of

climate change adaptation and disaster reduction on gender of

Womenrsquos Human Rights of millennium development goal (MDGs) Hyogo

Framework for Action (2005-2015) World Conference on Disaster

Reduction United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC) SAARC Framework for Action (2006-2015) National Action

Plan (NAP) for Womenrsquos Advancement Relevant laws to curb

15

violence against women like Penal Code 1860 Muslim Family law

Ordinance (1961) etc She also provided the draft of National

Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) and Disaster Management

Regulative Framework which show the future attempts of Bangladesh

for disaster management National Action Plan (2008) of

Bangladesh included different existing projects and Institutions

that Bangladesh have for climate change adaptation such as The

Climate Change Action Plan (2009-2018) National Adaptation

Program of Action (2005) the National Disaster Management

Council (NDMC) National Climate Change Fund The Ministry of

Food and Disaster Management etc

These two are helpful to have an overview of the existing

policies for climate change But Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009)

mentioned in her research that there are several global

conferences and agreements on climate change but still all these

initiatives could not gain much remarkable success Moreover the

gender perspective is not getting much priority in all these

initiatives Similarly from the National Action Plan (2008) it is

also clearly been seen that gender is not consider as a separate

issue of concern while making policies for climate change But

draft of National Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) has

included gender into their policy very distinctly It mentioned

about the advancement of local judiciary system monitoring the

food distribution process advance mechanism for pure drinking

water to prevent different diseases providing training about the

disaster management process and structural violence as well This

16

plan could gain a great success to deal with climate change

considering gender if it is properly implemented

Agnes Otzelbergerrsquos (2011) research described how UNFCCC its

Kyoto Protocol Conference of parties (COP) GenderCC Global

Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA) etc have included and

planning to include the climate change policy considering gender

issue It also added the developing countryrsquos policies on climate

change regarding gender issue such as Hyogo Framework for

Action African Adaptation Program (AAP) This research is

comparatively more valuable to find out the climate change

policies responded to gender issue A report of World Health

Organization ldquoGender Climate Change and Healthrdquo described the

sectors that UNFCCC response for gender policies with the climate

change These responded sectors are health access to energy

transportation early warning systems and hazard management etc

Similarly Emmeline Skinner (2011) also described the policies of

UNFCCC the gender responsive movements of it and the initiatives

taken by the countries to reach Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs) At the same time he also included different countryrsquos

National Adaptation Policy for Action (NAPA) to understand the

gender mainstreaming policies in national level On the other

hand Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-2015) included gender

responsive policies and it recognizes that a gender perspective

should be integrated into all Disaster Risk Reduction policies

plans and decision-making processes including those associated

with existing climate variability and future climate change

17

Ministry of Environment and Forest had developed a Bangladesh

Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) 2009 which

built-in six pillars to implement and among those the first

pillar named lsquofood security social protection and healthrsquo

included women and children as special consideration for food

security safe housing employment access to basic services and

health Further National Water Policy (1999) of Bangladesh gave

emphasis to equal access to safe water and sanitation services

with an affordable cost for everyone It also prioritized on the

improvement of the role of women for decision making and water

management Ministry of Environment and Forest of Bangladesh also

developed another National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)

(2005) to deal with climate hazards Napa has a framework for

action of 2005 which included the actual and potential adverse

effect of climate change Napa prioritized on the urgent and

immediate action policy It also includes different adaptation

policies but excluding the gender issue Napa only emphasizes

gender equality but it does not include gender based policy

Unlike all these institutional policies United Nations

Development Program (UNDP) include gender and adaptation policy

quite precisely From the awareness making before climate hazards

to the post disaster situation they consider gender as a

significant issue while designing policy On the other hand the

draft of SAARC Comprehensive Framework on Disaster Management

(2006-2015) addressed about empowerment and strengthening gender

at the post disaster period They also prioritized on emergency

18

response management providing training and destined to focus on

gender issue with strong emphasis

Reviewing the existing policies the next focus of this research

goes on to find the effectiveness of these existing policies A

report of UNDP (2009) has clarified about the existing gender

responsive policies of UNDP for climate change It also included

the effective gender responsive programs of the UNDP UNFCCC and

NAPArsquos policy for climate change but mostly emphasized on the

policies of UNDP Further Mohammed Abdul Baten and Niaz Ahmed

Khan (2010) included a brief understanding in their writing about

how the gender responsive climate change policies exist in UNDP

UNFCCC NAPA BCCSAP etc and then they evaluated in the failures

of these policies regarding gender in their climate change

policy They provided a concise knowledge about the

ineffectiveness of policies while apply in reality

Effectiveness of the policies leads to understand the gaps

between policies and practices In this point of view Md Rabiul

Islam (2011) recommended in his research to prioritized women in

policies planning and program as he did not found women in

policies during his research He also discovers that women do not

have equal access to development activities of Government and

NGOs Further he finds out the week initiatives of local

administration while there is any judgment on different

unexpected torture on women Apart from these in his research he

also mentioned about women not having access to education and

training programs for adaptation and coping strategies Further

19

in a report of Tahera Akter (2009) evaluate that there are no

timeframe of any action plan to find out the problem in the

national policy She also addressed that the existing policies

are very old and are not capable to cope with changing natural

hazards Revealing these policy gaps she further mentioned that

there is lack of coordination among the organizations to

effectively evaluate the problems of environmentally displaced

people She also added that there is no national estimation or

prediction about environmental displacement World Health

Organization (WHO) also finds out some remarkable gaps between

the policies and practices in one of its report to understand the

issues for urgent action This report is mainly based on gender

climate change and health which evaluated some loopholes of the

overall existing policies

To reduce these loopholes climate change policies require

reformulation of its structure In this regard Sandra Bathge

(2010) concluded with some adaptation and mitigation measures

which can be also used as recommendation for this research as

those measures are related to policy formulation in a new way

This working paper included access to education land ownership

and services markets etc and also provided policies

considering gender about training programs awareness building

ability to generate income etc which lead this paper to design

the reformulation of climate change policies Further Alyson

Brody Justina Demetriades and Emily Esplen (2008) mostly

emphasized on the participation of women in decision making

20

processes around climate change adaptation and mitigation They

also recommended various aspects like identifying gender impacts

and adaptation priorities in both rural and urban areas

identifying gender implications of long term drought and

starvation etc on the other hand Nilufar Ahmad (2012) in her

paper mainly focused on the basis of individual policy

reformulation which is another most important literature for this

research She suggested BCCSAP to prioritize key gender entry

points indicators and annual targets and link these with the

budget She also recommended about accountable environmental

governance a gender informed cross-sectoral monitoring and

evaluation system to monitor construction and rehabilitation of

gender friendly and multi-purpose shelter and also other

important rights of women Emmeline Skinner (2011) also included

a number of notable suggestions for the pro-gender climate change

policy reformulation She added about strong political commitment

to gender equality stronger participation of women in climate

change institutions and processes conduct gender responsive

budgeting link mitigation and adaptation processes etc

These literatures are not much supportive to have a complete view

of the climate change policies on gender perspective and that is

one of the biggest challenges of this research Again reviewing

these important policies it was easy to figure out to a great

extent that the climate change policies need proper reformulation

and thus literature review evaluate the future improvements and

recommendations of gender sensitive climate change policies

21

8Theoretical ExplanationConcepts

My research follows the definition adopted by the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in which

ldquoclimate changerdquo refers to any change in climate over time

whether due to natural variability or as a result of human

activity7 This usage differs from that in the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which defines

ldquoclimate changerdquo as ldquoa change of climate which is attributed

directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the

composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to

natural climate variability observed over comparable time

periodsrdquo8

ldquoGenderrdquo refers to the socially constructed norms roles and

relations that a given society considers appropriate for men and

women Gender determines what is expected permitted and valued

in a woman or a man in a determined context9

A brief of Nandini Oberoi illustrated that Climate change is a

gender issue and that women are particularly vulnerable to

climate change because they are more prone to the adverse impacts

7Gender Climate change and Health World Health Organization pg5 Retrievedon September 23 2013 from wwwwhointglobalchangeGenderClimateChangeHealthfinalpdf8 ibid9 ibid

22

from climate change10 Changes in the climate usually impact on

sectors that are traditionally associated with women such as

paddy cultivation cotton and tea plantations and fishing11

In this research gender analysis is not a special focus on women

but rather an understanding on how discrimination against women

and gender roles interact to shape men and womenrsquos enjoyment of

human dignity rights as well as equality of living12

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) defines

Hazard as ldquoA potentially damaging physical event phenomenon or

human activity that may cause the loss of life or injury

property damage social and economic disruption or environmental

degradation Hazards can include latent conditions that may

represent future threats and can have different origins natural

(geological hydro meteorological and biological) or induced by

human processes (environmental degradation and technological

hazards)rdquo

TheoriesClimate change and gender and the relation between these two

phenomenons can be described with different theory This section

of research is destined to explain climate change and gender

relation with different International Relations theory

10Parikh J Mainstreaming Gender into Climate Change Policies Retrieved on July 8 2013 from wwwdisasterwatchnetclimatechangegndr_climt07pdf11 ibid12Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh GenderCC

23

i) Feminist Theory

The main concept of Radical feminist is lsquopatriarchyrsquo that means

the lsquorule of fatherrsquo In feminist theory we can see that there

are two form of patriarchy one is classical form of patriarchy

and another is more loose form of patriarchy But in both of the

patriarchal system women have no say in decision making Even

while they have to go through different types of mental and

physical violence during and after any climate hazard occur they

are not able to make any decision for themselves because

patriarchal society do not allow women to be treated equally as

men while decision making and it also reflects in climate change

policy

Liberal feminists are generally concerned with equal rights In

the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries liberal feminist argued

that women by nature different from men that means climate

vulnerabilities of women are also different from men They also

argued for womenrsquos equality on the grounds that they are capable

of making their personal decision and determine their best

interest which is as rational as men Therefore women should have

equal rights while decision making during any climate hazard The

reproductive chores such as child rearing and bearing water

collection food production and acquisition etc of any household

are mostly done by the female member of the family In this

regard climate hazards increases the burden for women and girls

because they are expected to ensure all this household chores

24

Radical feminist argued that to achieve genuine equality it is

important to share these responsibilities with men and as women

by nature different from men climate change policies also should

be gender sensitive

ii) Dependency Theory

According to dependency theory the core periphery and semi

periphery countryrsquos economy and development are interrelated and

interdependent So climate vulnerabilities of women are not an

internal matter for any particular country Rather it needs

global attention as it will also affect the other country and

their development process both directly and indirectly In this

regard global concern joint decision and gender responsive

climate change policy is required as the whole world is

ultimately dependent on each other

iii) Realist Theory

A very significant quote is important to address here by famous

realist scholar Thucydides is-

ldquoThe strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they mustrdquo

The developed countries as the lsquostrongrsquo power do what they want

to do to boost up their economy without considering climate

issues and the week (developing countries) suffer the effects

caused by climate change Before cold war the concept of

security used to consider as military power but in the

contemporary world climate security become more important rather

25

than military security Powerful states now are more concerned

about their own climate security and try to increase their

economic growth by exploiting the environment of weaker states

State as well as the people and mostly women of the developing

countries are the victim of this exploitation and they have to

bear different types of climate hazards which actually causes by

these developedpowerful states In result as women are the

weaker groups they suffer more than the stronger group of men

during all these climate hazards At the same time the men as

stronger group take every decision over the weaker women whenever

there is any climate hazard

iv) Neo-Liberal Theory

Neo-liberal theory supports the trade liberalization that means

removal of trade barrier opening of state economic enterprise

and privatization of market etc After the cold war the emergence

of globalization and the liberalization of market have increased

the investment of Multinational Corporations in the developing

world that have an adversely affect on their local climate The

waste materials and toxic gases emit during the production

procedure cause different types of climate hazards These

unwanted climate hazards also leave significant effect on women

As neo-liberalism emphasize on lsquoindividualrsquo women should be

consider as a group of individual while designing the policies

for climate change

26

Chapter III

ldquoHow climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

genderrdquo

9Climate Hazard Prone Areas of BangladeshThere are some common climate hazards often seen in Bangladesh

and areas mostly affected by these hazards in Bangladesh

identified to answer the above central research question

Different types of climate changersquos impacts such as flood

cyclone river erosion drought heavy rainfall sea level rise

soil degradation etc mainly seen in Bangladesh Among all these

climate hazards this research is mainly focused on three major

climate hazards of Bangladesh and these are- heavy rainfall and

flood river erosion and drought A quick view of climate

hazards prone areas of Bangladesh are given below

Table-1 (Climate Hazard Prone Areas of Bangladesh)

Climate Hazards Most Affected AreasDrought North-West Bengal districts

Rajshahi Gaibandha etcRiver Erosion Active river channels of the

Ganges the Jamuna and theTista rivers and in the coastaland offshore areas

Heavy Rainfall ndash North-western and western

27

Flood-

Bangladesh Chittagong hills

Central region North-Eastregion Charland South BengalBarisal Bagerhat KhulnaSatkhira etc

This table shows us that drought prone areas are mainly in North-

Western Bengalrsquos districts like Rajshahi Gaibandha etc which

has lower rainfall than the other areas of Bangladesh

(Map-1)

Source NAPA

28

River bank erosion prone areas are more or less around the whole

country but mostly it is being seen in the areas along the active

river channels of the Ganges the Jamuna and the Tista rivers and

in the coastal and offshore areas of Bangladesh13 About 17

million hectares of floodplain areas are prone to riverbank

erosion14

Floods are very common in Bangladesh and it affects almost 80

land of our country Every year Bangladesh has been facing 1 or 2

extreme disasters According to Zayeda Sharmin (2013) there are

different categories of floods in Bangladesh and these are ndash

(i) Monsoon floods it increase slowly and decrease slowly

inundate vast areas and causes huge loss to the life and

property

(ii) Flash floods from sudden torrential flows following a brief

intense rainstorm

(iii) Tidal floods which are of short duration but are generally

around 3 to 6 meter high and

(iv) Rain floods caused by drainage congestion and heavy rain

Flood prone areas are mainly in the south Bengal like Barisal

Bhola Bagerhat Khulna Shatkhira etc

13National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)(2005) Ministry of Environment and Forest Government of the Peoplersquos Republic of Bangladesh pg no-4 Retrieved on November 1 2013 From unfcccintresourcedocsnapaban01pdf14 Ibid

29

(Map-2)

Source NAPA

Lastly heavy rainfall is mainly seen in north-western and western

Bangladesh Chittagong hills and more or less all over the

country But mostly in the southern part than the northern part

of Bangladesh heavy rainfall is quite a common climate hazard

9 Climate Vulnerabilities of Women

As mentioned earlier that women are closely related to the

environmental elements it is obvious that climate change effects

should have impact on women In the context of climate change a

lsquogender analysisrsquo promotes an understanding of the ways that men

30

and women are differently impacted by climate-related hazards and

by adopting adaptation and mitigation strategies15 Now the

effects of climate-related hazards on gender are describing

below

Firstly in the drought prone areas

-the cultivable lands become difficult to produce any crops

Those women who depend on agricultural activities they become

helpless for their daily income In this case they face problem

to find new place for work and if by any chance they are able to

find work then they have to face different physical and mental

harassment at the working place

-On the other hand they have to take extra pressure to manage

their household because they have to go far for earning It also

decays their physical strength and at the same time they have to

face different unexpected challenges

Picture-1 Drought in Bangladesh

15Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh Op cit

31

Source Not Enough Goodcom available at

httpnotenoughgoodcom201208indian-blackoutdrought

-They also have to take care about the drinking and daily useable

water for their family which also bring another responsibility

and additional burden to handle They have to face different

types of sexual harassment as they have to go far to collect the

water

-Further pregnant women are more vulnerable during this type of

situation

Secondly at the period like flood and heavy rainfall

-women have no role in decision making for their future They

have to rely on their male head even the women who earn for their

household has no saying during these types of situation During

the survey the responses of women several times indicated that

those women had to accept what the male member of their family

decided Whether there was any health issue or household issue

women had to depend on the male to take any action

32

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

and its effects very precisely to describe the relation of

environmental change and gender For instance they described how

the increased monsoon flows dry season low flows cyclones etc

affect the women children and old people

As this research is on the gender policies regarding climate

change at first the relation between climate change and gender

need to understand The above writers gave a clear knowledge in

there writings to understand the relation and linkages between

climate change and gender

Then for the further advancement the impacts of climate change

upon gender are important to find out to analyze the

authentication of policy practice In this regard Christine Haigh

and Bernadette Vallely (2010) in their report found the distinct

impacts of climate change on women in both developed and

developing countries To describe the impacts of climate change

on gender they included that ldquoClimate change impacts will be

differently distributed among different regions generations age

classes income groups occupations and gendersrdquo6Further they

described the impacts on women during different climate change

such as disasters and extreme weather events forced migration

for climate change water and energy etc using some case studies

which are very significant to have a view over the reality Joan

Davidson (2007) more distinctly added the problems that women

face in urban environments while they migrate from their rural

6Climate Change 2007 Impacts Adaptation and Vulnerability IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change Retrieved on August 17 2013 fromhttpswwwipccchclimate-changes-2001wg2-summary-policymakerspdf

13

areas for environmental degradation He also included that women

do not have ownership of the land that they work so hard for

which cause seasonal unemployment and insecurity He also found

out the scarcity of water and fuel wood led the women to

different physical trauma Later he also evaluated three (the

effects of minimal services the constant danger of industrial

pollution and the cumulative deterioration of the urban

hinterland) kind of environmental degradation women suffer in

urban fringe areas Further Research team of Ahsan Uddin Ahmed

Sharmind Neelormi Neelopal Adri et al (2009) also included

different area basis study to find out authentic data about the

impacts of climate change on women and special vulnerable group

which is very helpful to gather knowledge about real scenario

Their research also provides different distinct climate change

issues and their impacts on gender in different places for

example Cyclonic Storm Surge in Coastal Islands Salinity in

Tala and Shaymnagar Upazilas of Satkhira District Drought in

Manda Upazila of Naogaon District River Erosion in Kurigram and

Faridpur etc Midori Aoyagi Eiko Suda and Tomomi Shinada (2011)

added the effects of climate change upon gender in their working

paper They evaluated that people in poor countries such as

Africa are comparatively more vulnerable to climate change

impacts

These writings provide a clear vision about the mental and

physical impacts do the climate change have on the gender But

these writings are not very recent and to understand the present

14

scenario recent writings will be more helpful Because dealing

with the existing policies require the recent and authentic data

to reach at the goal And it is important to mention here that

the paper of Midori Aoyagi Eiko Suda and Tomomi Shinada (2011)

is mostly focused on disaster recovery the land ownership and

inheritance system which are not much important while finding the

impacts of climate on gender

Having a clear understanding of the climate change and its

effects on gender now it is a matter of concern what policies

exist there to prevent from these obstacles At first

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007)

emphasized on the adverse effect of climate change towards

gender IPCC (2007) recognized that women suffer more than the

men in climate hazards With this point IPCC included gender

mainstreaming and gender equality in its policy On the other

hand Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009) in her research included the

existing International and local institutions that are related to

disaster management and different international conferences that

deal with policies and interventions to prevent violence against

women and for disaster management She added the policies of

climate change adaptation and disaster reduction on gender of

Womenrsquos Human Rights of millennium development goal (MDGs) Hyogo

Framework for Action (2005-2015) World Conference on Disaster

Reduction United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC) SAARC Framework for Action (2006-2015) National Action

Plan (NAP) for Womenrsquos Advancement Relevant laws to curb

15

violence against women like Penal Code 1860 Muslim Family law

Ordinance (1961) etc She also provided the draft of National

Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) and Disaster Management

Regulative Framework which show the future attempts of Bangladesh

for disaster management National Action Plan (2008) of

Bangladesh included different existing projects and Institutions

that Bangladesh have for climate change adaptation such as The

Climate Change Action Plan (2009-2018) National Adaptation

Program of Action (2005) the National Disaster Management

Council (NDMC) National Climate Change Fund The Ministry of

Food and Disaster Management etc

These two are helpful to have an overview of the existing

policies for climate change But Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009)

mentioned in her research that there are several global

conferences and agreements on climate change but still all these

initiatives could not gain much remarkable success Moreover the

gender perspective is not getting much priority in all these

initiatives Similarly from the National Action Plan (2008) it is

also clearly been seen that gender is not consider as a separate

issue of concern while making policies for climate change But

draft of National Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) has

included gender into their policy very distinctly It mentioned

about the advancement of local judiciary system monitoring the

food distribution process advance mechanism for pure drinking

water to prevent different diseases providing training about the

disaster management process and structural violence as well This

16

plan could gain a great success to deal with climate change

considering gender if it is properly implemented

Agnes Otzelbergerrsquos (2011) research described how UNFCCC its

Kyoto Protocol Conference of parties (COP) GenderCC Global

Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA) etc have included and

planning to include the climate change policy considering gender

issue It also added the developing countryrsquos policies on climate

change regarding gender issue such as Hyogo Framework for

Action African Adaptation Program (AAP) This research is

comparatively more valuable to find out the climate change

policies responded to gender issue A report of World Health

Organization ldquoGender Climate Change and Healthrdquo described the

sectors that UNFCCC response for gender policies with the climate

change These responded sectors are health access to energy

transportation early warning systems and hazard management etc

Similarly Emmeline Skinner (2011) also described the policies of

UNFCCC the gender responsive movements of it and the initiatives

taken by the countries to reach Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs) At the same time he also included different countryrsquos

National Adaptation Policy for Action (NAPA) to understand the

gender mainstreaming policies in national level On the other

hand Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-2015) included gender

responsive policies and it recognizes that a gender perspective

should be integrated into all Disaster Risk Reduction policies

plans and decision-making processes including those associated

with existing climate variability and future climate change

17

Ministry of Environment and Forest had developed a Bangladesh

Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) 2009 which

built-in six pillars to implement and among those the first

pillar named lsquofood security social protection and healthrsquo

included women and children as special consideration for food

security safe housing employment access to basic services and

health Further National Water Policy (1999) of Bangladesh gave

emphasis to equal access to safe water and sanitation services

with an affordable cost for everyone It also prioritized on the

improvement of the role of women for decision making and water

management Ministry of Environment and Forest of Bangladesh also

developed another National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)

(2005) to deal with climate hazards Napa has a framework for

action of 2005 which included the actual and potential adverse

effect of climate change Napa prioritized on the urgent and

immediate action policy It also includes different adaptation

policies but excluding the gender issue Napa only emphasizes

gender equality but it does not include gender based policy

Unlike all these institutional policies United Nations

Development Program (UNDP) include gender and adaptation policy

quite precisely From the awareness making before climate hazards

to the post disaster situation they consider gender as a

significant issue while designing policy On the other hand the

draft of SAARC Comprehensive Framework on Disaster Management

(2006-2015) addressed about empowerment and strengthening gender

at the post disaster period They also prioritized on emergency

18

response management providing training and destined to focus on

gender issue with strong emphasis

Reviewing the existing policies the next focus of this research

goes on to find the effectiveness of these existing policies A

report of UNDP (2009) has clarified about the existing gender

responsive policies of UNDP for climate change It also included

the effective gender responsive programs of the UNDP UNFCCC and

NAPArsquos policy for climate change but mostly emphasized on the

policies of UNDP Further Mohammed Abdul Baten and Niaz Ahmed

Khan (2010) included a brief understanding in their writing about

how the gender responsive climate change policies exist in UNDP

UNFCCC NAPA BCCSAP etc and then they evaluated in the failures

of these policies regarding gender in their climate change

policy They provided a concise knowledge about the

ineffectiveness of policies while apply in reality

Effectiveness of the policies leads to understand the gaps

between policies and practices In this point of view Md Rabiul

Islam (2011) recommended in his research to prioritized women in

policies planning and program as he did not found women in

policies during his research He also discovers that women do not

have equal access to development activities of Government and

NGOs Further he finds out the week initiatives of local

administration while there is any judgment on different

unexpected torture on women Apart from these in his research he

also mentioned about women not having access to education and

training programs for adaptation and coping strategies Further

19

in a report of Tahera Akter (2009) evaluate that there are no

timeframe of any action plan to find out the problem in the

national policy She also addressed that the existing policies

are very old and are not capable to cope with changing natural

hazards Revealing these policy gaps she further mentioned that

there is lack of coordination among the organizations to

effectively evaluate the problems of environmentally displaced

people She also added that there is no national estimation or

prediction about environmental displacement World Health

Organization (WHO) also finds out some remarkable gaps between

the policies and practices in one of its report to understand the

issues for urgent action This report is mainly based on gender

climate change and health which evaluated some loopholes of the

overall existing policies

To reduce these loopholes climate change policies require

reformulation of its structure In this regard Sandra Bathge

(2010) concluded with some adaptation and mitigation measures

which can be also used as recommendation for this research as

those measures are related to policy formulation in a new way

This working paper included access to education land ownership

and services markets etc and also provided policies

considering gender about training programs awareness building

ability to generate income etc which lead this paper to design

the reformulation of climate change policies Further Alyson

Brody Justina Demetriades and Emily Esplen (2008) mostly

emphasized on the participation of women in decision making

20

processes around climate change adaptation and mitigation They

also recommended various aspects like identifying gender impacts

and adaptation priorities in both rural and urban areas

identifying gender implications of long term drought and

starvation etc on the other hand Nilufar Ahmad (2012) in her

paper mainly focused on the basis of individual policy

reformulation which is another most important literature for this

research She suggested BCCSAP to prioritize key gender entry

points indicators and annual targets and link these with the

budget She also recommended about accountable environmental

governance a gender informed cross-sectoral monitoring and

evaluation system to monitor construction and rehabilitation of

gender friendly and multi-purpose shelter and also other

important rights of women Emmeline Skinner (2011) also included

a number of notable suggestions for the pro-gender climate change

policy reformulation She added about strong political commitment

to gender equality stronger participation of women in climate

change institutions and processes conduct gender responsive

budgeting link mitigation and adaptation processes etc

These literatures are not much supportive to have a complete view

of the climate change policies on gender perspective and that is

one of the biggest challenges of this research Again reviewing

these important policies it was easy to figure out to a great

extent that the climate change policies need proper reformulation

and thus literature review evaluate the future improvements and

recommendations of gender sensitive climate change policies

21

8Theoretical ExplanationConcepts

My research follows the definition adopted by the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in which

ldquoclimate changerdquo refers to any change in climate over time

whether due to natural variability or as a result of human

activity7 This usage differs from that in the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which defines

ldquoclimate changerdquo as ldquoa change of climate which is attributed

directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the

composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to

natural climate variability observed over comparable time

periodsrdquo8

ldquoGenderrdquo refers to the socially constructed norms roles and

relations that a given society considers appropriate for men and

women Gender determines what is expected permitted and valued

in a woman or a man in a determined context9

A brief of Nandini Oberoi illustrated that Climate change is a

gender issue and that women are particularly vulnerable to

climate change because they are more prone to the adverse impacts

7Gender Climate change and Health World Health Organization pg5 Retrievedon September 23 2013 from wwwwhointglobalchangeGenderClimateChangeHealthfinalpdf8 ibid9 ibid

22

from climate change10 Changes in the climate usually impact on

sectors that are traditionally associated with women such as

paddy cultivation cotton and tea plantations and fishing11

In this research gender analysis is not a special focus on women

but rather an understanding on how discrimination against women

and gender roles interact to shape men and womenrsquos enjoyment of

human dignity rights as well as equality of living12

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) defines

Hazard as ldquoA potentially damaging physical event phenomenon or

human activity that may cause the loss of life or injury

property damage social and economic disruption or environmental

degradation Hazards can include latent conditions that may

represent future threats and can have different origins natural

(geological hydro meteorological and biological) or induced by

human processes (environmental degradation and technological

hazards)rdquo

TheoriesClimate change and gender and the relation between these two

phenomenons can be described with different theory This section

of research is destined to explain climate change and gender

relation with different International Relations theory

10Parikh J Mainstreaming Gender into Climate Change Policies Retrieved on July 8 2013 from wwwdisasterwatchnetclimatechangegndr_climt07pdf11 ibid12Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh GenderCC

23

i) Feminist Theory

The main concept of Radical feminist is lsquopatriarchyrsquo that means

the lsquorule of fatherrsquo In feminist theory we can see that there

are two form of patriarchy one is classical form of patriarchy

and another is more loose form of patriarchy But in both of the

patriarchal system women have no say in decision making Even

while they have to go through different types of mental and

physical violence during and after any climate hazard occur they

are not able to make any decision for themselves because

patriarchal society do not allow women to be treated equally as

men while decision making and it also reflects in climate change

policy

Liberal feminists are generally concerned with equal rights In

the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries liberal feminist argued

that women by nature different from men that means climate

vulnerabilities of women are also different from men They also

argued for womenrsquos equality on the grounds that they are capable

of making their personal decision and determine their best

interest which is as rational as men Therefore women should have

equal rights while decision making during any climate hazard The

reproductive chores such as child rearing and bearing water

collection food production and acquisition etc of any household

are mostly done by the female member of the family In this

regard climate hazards increases the burden for women and girls

because they are expected to ensure all this household chores

24

Radical feminist argued that to achieve genuine equality it is

important to share these responsibilities with men and as women

by nature different from men climate change policies also should

be gender sensitive

ii) Dependency Theory

According to dependency theory the core periphery and semi

periphery countryrsquos economy and development are interrelated and

interdependent So climate vulnerabilities of women are not an

internal matter for any particular country Rather it needs

global attention as it will also affect the other country and

their development process both directly and indirectly In this

regard global concern joint decision and gender responsive

climate change policy is required as the whole world is

ultimately dependent on each other

iii) Realist Theory

A very significant quote is important to address here by famous

realist scholar Thucydides is-

ldquoThe strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they mustrdquo

The developed countries as the lsquostrongrsquo power do what they want

to do to boost up their economy without considering climate

issues and the week (developing countries) suffer the effects

caused by climate change Before cold war the concept of

security used to consider as military power but in the

contemporary world climate security become more important rather

25

than military security Powerful states now are more concerned

about their own climate security and try to increase their

economic growth by exploiting the environment of weaker states

State as well as the people and mostly women of the developing

countries are the victim of this exploitation and they have to

bear different types of climate hazards which actually causes by

these developedpowerful states In result as women are the

weaker groups they suffer more than the stronger group of men

during all these climate hazards At the same time the men as

stronger group take every decision over the weaker women whenever

there is any climate hazard

iv) Neo-Liberal Theory

Neo-liberal theory supports the trade liberalization that means

removal of trade barrier opening of state economic enterprise

and privatization of market etc After the cold war the emergence

of globalization and the liberalization of market have increased

the investment of Multinational Corporations in the developing

world that have an adversely affect on their local climate The

waste materials and toxic gases emit during the production

procedure cause different types of climate hazards These

unwanted climate hazards also leave significant effect on women

As neo-liberalism emphasize on lsquoindividualrsquo women should be

consider as a group of individual while designing the policies

for climate change

26

Chapter III

ldquoHow climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

genderrdquo

9Climate Hazard Prone Areas of BangladeshThere are some common climate hazards often seen in Bangladesh

and areas mostly affected by these hazards in Bangladesh

identified to answer the above central research question

Different types of climate changersquos impacts such as flood

cyclone river erosion drought heavy rainfall sea level rise

soil degradation etc mainly seen in Bangladesh Among all these

climate hazards this research is mainly focused on three major

climate hazards of Bangladesh and these are- heavy rainfall and

flood river erosion and drought A quick view of climate

hazards prone areas of Bangladesh are given below

Table-1 (Climate Hazard Prone Areas of Bangladesh)

Climate Hazards Most Affected AreasDrought North-West Bengal districts

Rajshahi Gaibandha etcRiver Erosion Active river channels of the

Ganges the Jamuna and theTista rivers and in the coastaland offshore areas

Heavy Rainfall ndash North-western and western

27

Flood-

Bangladesh Chittagong hills

Central region North-Eastregion Charland South BengalBarisal Bagerhat KhulnaSatkhira etc

This table shows us that drought prone areas are mainly in North-

Western Bengalrsquos districts like Rajshahi Gaibandha etc which

has lower rainfall than the other areas of Bangladesh

(Map-1)

Source NAPA

28

River bank erosion prone areas are more or less around the whole

country but mostly it is being seen in the areas along the active

river channels of the Ganges the Jamuna and the Tista rivers and

in the coastal and offshore areas of Bangladesh13 About 17

million hectares of floodplain areas are prone to riverbank

erosion14

Floods are very common in Bangladesh and it affects almost 80

land of our country Every year Bangladesh has been facing 1 or 2

extreme disasters According to Zayeda Sharmin (2013) there are

different categories of floods in Bangladesh and these are ndash

(i) Monsoon floods it increase slowly and decrease slowly

inundate vast areas and causes huge loss to the life and

property

(ii) Flash floods from sudden torrential flows following a brief

intense rainstorm

(iii) Tidal floods which are of short duration but are generally

around 3 to 6 meter high and

(iv) Rain floods caused by drainage congestion and heavy rain

Flood prone areas are mainly in the south Bengal like Barisal

Bhola Bagerhat Khulna Shatkhira etc

13National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)(2005) Ministry of Environment and Forest Government of the Peoplersquos Republic of Bangladesh pg no-4 Retrieved on November 1 2013 From unfcccintresourcedocsnapaban01pdf14 Ibid

29

(Map-2)

Source NAPA

Lastly heavy rainfall is mainly seen in north-western and western

Bangladesh Chittagong hills and more or less all over the

country But mostly in the southern part than the northern part

of Bangladesh heavy rainfall is quite a common climate hazard

9 Climate Vulnerabilities of Women

As mentioned earlier that women are closely related to the

environmental elements it is obvious that climate change effects

should have impact on women In the context of climate change a

lsquogender analysisrsquo promotes an understanding of the ways that men

30

and women are differently impacted by climate-related hazards and

by adopting adaptation and mitigation strategies15 Now the

effects of climate-related hazards on gender are describing

below

Firstly in the drought prone areas

-the cultivable lands become difficult to produce any crops

Those women who depend on agricultural activities they become

helpless for their daily income In this case they face problem

to find new place for work and if by any chance they are able to

find work then they have to face different physical and mental

harassment at the working place

-On the other hand they have to take extra pressure to manage

their household because they have to go far for earning It also

decays their physical strength and at the same time they have to

face different unexpected challenges

Picture-1 Drought in Bangladesh

15Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh Op cit

31

Source Not Enough Goodcom available at

httpnotenoughgoodcom201208indian-blackoutdrought

-They also have to take care about the drinking and daily useable

water for their family which also bring another responsibility

and additional burden to handle They have to face different

types of sexual harassment as they have to go far to collect the

water

-Further pregnant women are more vulnerable during this type of

situation

Secondly at the period like flood and heavy rainfall

-women have no role in decision making for their future They

have to rely on their male head even the women who earn for their

household has no saying during these types of situation During

the survey the responses of women several times indicated that

those women had to accept what the male member of their family

decided Whether there was any health issue or household issue

women had to depend on the male to take any action

32

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

areas for environmental degradation He also included that women

do not have ownership of the land that they work so hard for

which cause seasonal unemployment and insecurity He also found

out the scarcity of water and fuel wood led the women to

different physical trauma Later he also evaluated three (the

effects of minimal services the constant danger of industrial

pollution and the cumulative deterioration of the urban

hinterland) kind of environmental degradation women suffer in

urban fringe areas Further Research team of Ahsan Uddin Ahmed

Sharmind Neelormi Neelopal Adri et al (2009) also included

different area basis study to find out authentic data about the

impacts of climate change on women and special vulnerable group

which is very helpful to gather knowledge about real scenario

Their research also provides different distinct climate change

issues and their impacts on gender in different places for

example Cyclonic Storm Surge in Coastal Islands Salinity in

Tala and Shaymnagar Upazilas of Satkhira District Drought in

Manda Upazila of Naogaon District River Erosion in Kurigram and

Faridpur etc Midori Aoyagi Eiko Suda and Tomomi Shinada (2011)

added the effects of climate change upon gender in their working

paper They evaluated that people in poor countries such as

Africa are comparatively more vulnerable to climate change

impacts

These writings provide a clear vision about the mental and

physical impacts do the climate change have on the gender But

these writings are not very recent and to understand the present

14

scenario recent writings will be more helpful Because dealing

with the existing policies require the recent and authentic data

to reach at the goal And it is important to mention here that

the paper of Midori Aoyagi Eiko Suda and Tomomi Shinada (2011)

is mostly focused on disaster recovery the land ownership and

inheritance system which are not much important while finding the

impacts of climate on gender

Having a clear understanding of the climate change and its

effects on gender now it is a matter of concern what policies

exist there to prevent from these obstacles At first

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007)

emphasized on the adverse effect of climate change towards

gender IPCC (2007) recognized that women suffer more than the

men in climate hazards With this point IPCC included gender

mainstreaming and gender equality in its policy On the other

hand Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009) in her research included the

existing International and local institutions that are related to

disaster management and different international conferences that

deal with policies and interventions to prevent violence against

women and for disaster management She added the policies of

climate change adaptation and disaster reduction on gender of

Womenrsquos Human Rights of millennium development goal (MDGs) Hyogo

Framework for Action (2005-2015) World Conference on Disaster

Reduction United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC) SAARC Framework for Action (2006-2015) National Action

Plan (NAP) for Womenrsquos Advancement Relevant laws to curb

15

violence against women like Penal Code 1860 Muslim Family law

Ordinance (1961) etc She also provided the draft of National

Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) and Disaster Management

Regulative Framework which show the future attempts of Bangladesh

for disaster management National Action Plan (2008) of

Bangladesh included different existing projects and Institutions

that Bangladesh have for climate change adaptation such as The

Climate Change Action Plan (2009-2018) National Adaptation

Program of Action (2005) the National Disaster Management

Council (NDMC) National Climate Change Fund The Ministry of

Food and Disaster Management etc

These two are helpful to have an overview of the existing

policies for climate change But Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009)

mentioned in her research that there are several global

conferences and agreements on climate change but still all these

initiatives could not gain much remarkable success Moreover the

gender perspective is not getting much priority in all these

initiatives Similarly from the National Action Plan (2008) it is

also clearly been seen that gender is not consider as a separate

issue of concern while making policies for climate change But

draft of National Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) has

included gender into their policy very distinctly It mentioned

about the advancement of local judiciary system monitoring the

food distribution process advance mechanism for pure drinking

water to prevent different diseases providing training about the

disaster management process and structural violence as well This

16

plan could gain a great success to deal with climate change

considering gender if it is properly implemented

Agnes Otzelbergerrsquos (2011) research described how UNFCCC its

Kyoto Protocol Conference of parties (COP) GenderCC Global

Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA) etc have included and

planning to include the climate change policy considering gender

issue It also added the developing countryrsquos policies on climate

change regarding gender issue such as Hyogo Framework for

Action African Adaptation Program (AAP) This research is

comparatively more valuable to find out the climate change

policies responded to gender issue A report of World Health

Organization ldquoGender Climate Change and Healthrdquo described the

sectors that UNFCCC response for gender policies with the climate

change These responded sectors are health access to energy

transportation early warning systems and hazard management etc

Similarly Emmeline Skinner (2011) also described the policies of

UNFCCC the gender responsive movements of it and the initiatives

taken by the countries to reach Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs) At the same time he also included different countryrsquos

National Adaptation Policy for Action (NAPA) to understand the

gender mainstreaming policies in national level On the other

hand Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-2015) included gender

responsive policies and it recognizes that a gender perspective

should be integrated into all Disaster Risk Reduction policies

plans and decision-making processes including those associated

with existing climate variability and future climate change

17

Ministry of Environment and Forest had developed a Bangladesh

Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) 2009 which

built-in six pillars to implement and among those the first

pillar named lsquofood security social protection and healthrsquo

included women and children as special consideration for food

security safe housing employment access to basic services and

health Further National Water Policy (1999) of Bangladesh gave

emphasis to equal access to safe water and sanitation services

with an affordable cost for everyone It also prioritized on the

improvement of the role of women for decision making and water

management Ministry of Environment and Forest of Bangladesh also

developed another National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)

(2005) to deal with climate hazards Napa has a framework for

action of 2005 which included the actual and potential adverse

effect of climate change Napa prioritized on the urgent and

immediate action policy It also includes different adaptation

policies but excluding the gender issue Napa only emphasizes

gender equality but it does not include gender based policy

Unlike all these institutional policies United Nations

Development Program (UNDP) include gender and adaptation policy

quite precisely From the awareness making before climate hazards

to the post disaster situation they consider gender as a

significant issue while designing policy On the other hand the

draft of SAARC Comprehensive Framework on Disaster Management

(2006-2015) addressed about empowerment and strengthening gender

at the post disaster period They also prioritized on emergency

18

response management providing training and destined to focus on

gender issue with strong emphasis

Reviewing the existing policies the next focus of this research

goes on to find the effectiveness of these existing policies A

report of UNDP (2009) has clarified about the existing gender

responsive policies of UNDP for climate change It also included

the effective gender responsive programs of the UNDP UNFCCC and

NAPArsquos policy for climate change but mostly emphasized on the

policies of UNDP Further Mohammed Abdul Baten and Niaz Ahmed

Khan (2010) included a brief understanding in their writing about

how the gender responsive climate change policies exist in UNDP

UNFCCC NAPA BCCSAP etc and then they evaluated in the failures

of these policies regarding gender in their climate change

policy They provided a concise knowledge about the

ineffectiveness of policies while apply in reality

Effectiveness of the policies leads to understand the gaps

between policies and practices In this point of view Md Rabiul

Islam (2011) recommended in his research to prioritized women in

policies planning and program as he did not found women in

policies during his research He also discovers that women do not

have equal access to development activities of Government and

NGOs Further he finds out the week initiatives of local

administration while there is any judgment on different

unexpected torture on women Apart from these in his research he

also mentioned about women not having access to education and

training programs for adaptation and coping strategies Further

19

in a report of Tahera Akter (2009) evaluate that there are no

timeframe of any action plan to find out the problem in the

national policy She also addressed that the existing policies

are very old and are not capable to cope with changing natural

hazards Revealing these policy gaps she further mentioned that

there is lack of coordination among the organizations to

effectively evaluate the problems of environmentally displaced

people She also added that there is no national estimation or

prediction about environmental displacement World Health

Organization (WHO) also finds out some remarkable gaps between

the policies and practices in one of its report to understand the

issues for urgent action This report is mainly based on gender

climate change and health which evaluated some loopholes of the

overall existing policies

To reduce these loopholes climate change policies require

reformulation of its structure In this regard Sandra Bathge

(2010) concluded with some adaptation and mitigation measures

which can be also used as recommendation for this research as

those measures are related to policy formulation in a new way

This working paper included access to education land ownership

and services markets etc and also provided policies

considering gender about training programs awareness building

ability to generate income etc which lead this paper to design

the reformulation of climate change policies Further Alyson

Brody Justina Demetriades and Emily Esplen (2008) mostly

emphasized on the participation of women in decision making

20

processes around climate change adaptation and mitigation They

also recommended various aspects like identifying gender impacts

and adaptation priorities in both rural and urban areas

identifying gender implications of long term drought and

starvation etc on the other hand Nilufar Ahmad (2012) in her

paper mainly focused on the basis of individual policy

reformulation which is another most important literature for this

research She suggested BCCSAP to prioritize key gender entry

points indicators and annual targets and link these with the

budget She also recommended about accountable environmental

governance a gender informed cross-sectoral monitoring and

evaluation system to monitor construction and rehabilitation of

gender friendly and multi-purpose shelter and also other

important rights of women Emmeline Skinner (2011) also included

a number of notable suggestions for the pro-gender climate change

policy reformulation She added about strong political commitment

to gender equality stronger participation of women in climate

change institutions and processes conduct gender responsive

budgeting link mitigation and adaptation processes etc

These literatures are not much supportive to have a complete view

of the climate change policies on gender perspective and that is

one of the biggest challenges of this research Again reviewing

these important policies it was easy to figure out to a great

extent that the climate change policies need proper reformulation

and thus literature review evaluate the future improvements and

recommendations of gender sensitive climate change policies

21

8Theoretical ExplanationConcepts

My research follows the definition adopted by the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in which

ldquoclimate changerdquo refers to any change in climate over time

whether due to natural variability or as a result of human

activity7 This usage differs from that in the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which defines

ldquoclimate changerdquo as ldquoa change of climate which is attributed

directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the

composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to

natural climate variability observed over comparable time

periodsrdquo8

ldquoGenderrdquo refers to the socially constructed norms roles and

relations that a given society considers appropriate for men and

women Gender determines what is expected permitted and valued

in a woman or a man in a determined context9

A brief of Nandini Oberoi illustrated that Climate change is a

gender issue and that women are particularly vulnerable to

climate change because they are more prone to the adverse impacts

7Gender Climate change and Health World Health Organization pg5 Retrievedon September 23 2013 from wwwwhointglobalchangeGenderClimateChangeHealthfinalpdf8 ibid9 ibid

22

from climate change10 Changes in the climate usually impact on

sectors that are traditionally associated with women such as

paddy cultivation cotton and tea plantations and fishing11

In this research gender analysis is not a special focus on women

but rather an understanding on how discrimination against women

and gender roles interact to shape men and womenrsquos enjoyment of

human dignity rights as well as equality of living12

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) defines

Hazard as ldquoA potentially damaging physical event phenomenon or

human activity that may cause the loss of life or injury

property damage social and economic disruption or environmental

degradation Hazards can include latent conditions that may

represent future threats and can have different origins natural

(geological hydro meteorological and biological) or induced by

human processes (environmental degradation and technological

hazards)rdquo

TheoriesClimate change and gender and the relation between these two

phenomenons can be described with different theory This section

of research is destined to explain climate change and gender

relation with different International Relations theory

10Parikh J Mainstreaming Gender into Climate Change Policies Retrieved on July 8 2013 from wwwdisasterwatchnetclimatechangegndr_climt07pdf11 ibid12Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh GenderCC

23

i) Feminist Theory

The main concept of Radical feminist is lsquopatriarchyrsquo that means

the lsquorule of fatherrsquo In feminist theory we can see that there

are two form of patriarchy one is classical form of patriarchy

and another is more loose form of patriarchy But in both of the

patriarchal system women have no say in decision making Even

while they have to go through different types of mental and

physical violence during and after any climate hazard occur they

are not able to make any decision for themselves because

patriarchal society do not allow women to be treated equally as

men while decision making and it also reflects in climate change

policy

Liberal feminists are generally concerned with equal rights In

the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries liberal feminist argued

that women by nature different from men that means climate

vulnerabilities of women are also different from men They also

argued for womenrsquos equality on the grounds that they are capable

of making their personal decision and determine their best

interest which is as rational as men Therefore women should have

equal rights while decision making during any climate hazard The

reproductive chores such as child rearing and bearing water

collection food production and acquisition etc of any household

are mostly done by the female member of the family In this

regard climate hazards increases the burden for women and girls

because they are expected to ensure all this household chores

24

Radical feminist argued that to achieve genuine equality it is

important to share these responsibilities with men and as women

by nature different from men climate change policies also should

be gender sensitive

ii) Dependency Theory

According to dependency theory the core periphery and semi

periphery countryrsquos economy and development are interrelated and

interdependent So climate vulnerabilities of women are not an

internal matter for any particular country Rather it needs

global attention as it will also affect the other country and

their development process both directly and indirectly In this

regard global concern joint decision and gender responsive

climate change policy is required as the whole world is

ultimately dependent on each other

iii) Realist Theory

A very significant quote is important to address here by famous

realist scholar Thucydides is-

ldquoThe strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they mustrdquo

The developed countries as the lsquostrongrsquo power do what they want

to do to boost up their economy without considering climate

issues and the week (developing countries) suffer the effects

caused by climate change Before cold war the concept of

security used to consider as military power but in the

contemporary world climate security become more important rather

25

than military security Powerful states now are more concerned

about their own climate security and try to increase their

economic growth by exploiting the environment of weaker states

State as well as the people and mostly women of the developing

countries are the victim of this exploitation and they have to

bear different types of climate hazards which actually causes by

these developedpowerful states In result as women are the

weaker groups they suffer more than the stronger group of men

during all these climate hazards At the same time the men as

stronger group take every decision over the weaker women whenever

there is any climate hazard

iv) Neo-Liberal Theory

Neo-liberal theory supports the trade liberalization that means

removal of trade barrier opening of state economic enterprise

and privatization of market etc After the cold war the emergence

of globalization and the liberalization of market have increased

the investment of Multinational Corporations in the developing

world that have an adversely affect on their local climate The

waste materials and toxic gases emit during the production

procedure cause different types of climate hazards These

unwanted climate hazards also leave significant effect on women

As neo-liberalism emphasize on lsquoindividualrsquo women should be

consider as a group of individual while designing the policies

for climate change

26

Chapter III

ldquoHow climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

genderrdquo

9Climate Hazard Prone Areas of BangladeshThere are some common climate hazards often seen in Bangladesh

and areas mostly affected by these hazards in Bangladesh

identified to answer the above central research question

Different types of climate changersquos impacts such as flood

cyclone river erosion drought heavy rainfall sea level rise

soil degradation etc mainly seen in Bangladesh Among all these

climate hazards this research is mainly focused on three major

climate hazards of Bangladesh and these are- heavy rainfall and

flood river erosion and drought A quick view of climate

hazards prone areas of Bangladesh are given below

Table-1 (Climate Hazard Prone Areas of Bangladesh)

Climate Hazards Most Affected AreasDrought North-West Bengal districts

Rajshahi Gaibandha etcRiver Erosion Active river channels of the

Ganges the Jamuna and theTista rivers and in the coastaland offshore areas

Heavy Rainfall ndash North-western and western

27

Flood-

Bangladesh Chittagong hills

Central region North-Eastregion Charland South BengalBarisal Bagerhat KhulnaSatkhira etc

This table shows us that drought prone areas are mainly in North-

Western Bengalrsquos districts like Rajshahi Gaibandha etc which

has lower rainfall than the other areas of Bangladesh

(Map-1)

Source NAPA

28

River bank erosion prone areas are more or less around the whole

country but mostly it is being seen in the areas along the active

river channels of the Ganges the Jamuna and the Tista rivers and

in the coastal and offshore areas of Bangladesh13 About 17

million hectares of floodplain areas are prone to riverbank

erosion14

Floods are very common in Bangladesh and it affects almost 80

land of our country Every year Bangladesh has been facing 1 or 2

extreme disasters According to Zayeda Sharmin (2013) there are

different categories of floods in Bangladesh and these are ndash

(i) Monsoon floods it increase slowly and decrease slowly

inundate vast areas and causes huge loss to the life and

property

(ii) Flash floods from sudden torrential flows following a brief

intense rainstorm

(iii) Tidal floods which are of short duration but are generally

around 3 to 6 meter high and

(iv) Rain floods caused by drainage congestion and heavy rain

Flood prone areas are mainly in the south Bengal like Barisal

Bhola Bagerhat Khulna Shatkhira etc

13National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)(2005) Ministry of Environment and Forest Government of the Peoplersquos Republic of Bangladesh pg no-4 Retrieved on November 1 2013 From unfcccintresourcedocsnapaban01pdf14 Ibid

29

(Map-2)

Source NAPA

Lastly heavy rainfall is mainly seen in north-western and western

Bangladesh Chittagong hills and more or less all over the

country But mostly in the southern part than the northern part

of Bangladesh heavy rainfall is quite a common climate hazard

9 Climate Vulnerabilities of Women

As mentioned earlier that women are closely related to the

environmental elements it is obvious that climate change effects

should have impact on women In the context of climate change a

lsquogender analysisrsquo promotes an understanding of the ways that men

30

and women are differently impacted by climate-related hazards and

by adopting adaptation and mitigation strategies15 Now the

effects of climate-related hazards on gender are describing

below

Firstly in the drought prone areas

-the cultivable lands become difficult to produce any crops

Those women who depend on agricultural activities they become

helpless for their daily income In this case they face problem

to find new place for work and if by any chance they are able to

find work then they have to face different physical and mental

harassment at the working place

-On the other hand they have to take extra pressure to manage

their household because they have to go far for earning It also

decays their physical strength and at the same time they have to

face different unexpected challenges

Picture-1 Drought in Bangladesh

15Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh Op cit

31

Source Not Enough Goodcom available at

httpnotenoughgoodcom201208indian-blackoutdrought

-They also have to take care about the drinking and daily useable

water for their family which also bring another responsibility

and additional burden to handle They have to face different

types of sexual harassment as they have to go far to collect the

water

-Further pregnant women are more vulnerable during this type of

situation

Secondly at the period like flood and heavy rainfall

-women have no role in decision making for their future They

have to rely on their male head even the women who earn for their

household has no saying during these types of situation During

the survey the responses of women several times indicated that

those women had to accept what the male member of their family

decided Whether there was any health issue or household issue

women had to depend on the male to take any action

32

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

scenario recent writings will be more helpful Because dealing

with the existing policies require the recent and authentic data

to reach at the goal And it is important to mention here that

the paper of Midori Aoyagi Eiko Suda and Tomomi Shinada (2011)

is mostly focused on disaster recovery the land ownership and

inheritance system which are not much important while finding the

impacts of climate on gender

Having a clear understanding of the climate change and its

effects on gender now it is a matter of concern what policies

exist there to prevent from these obstacles At first

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007)

emphasized on the adverse effect of climate change towards

gender IPCC (2007) recognized that women suffer more than the

men in climate hazards With this point IPCC included gender

mainstreaming and gender equality in its policy On the other

hand Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009) in her research included the

existing International and local institutions that are related to

disaster management and different international conferences that

deal with policies and interventions to prevent violence against

women and for disaster management She added the policies of

climate change adaptation and disaster reduction on gender of

Womenrsquos Human Rights of millennium development goal (MDGs) Hyogo

Framework for Action (2005-2015) World Conference on Disaster

Reduction United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC) SAARC Framework for Action (2006-2015) National Action

Plan (NAP) for Womenrsquos Advancement Relevant laws to curb

15

violence against women like Penal Code 1860 Muslim Family law

Ordinance (1961) etc She also provided the draft of National

Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) and Disaster Management

Regulative Framework which show the future attempts of Bangladesh

for disaster management National Action Plan (2008) of

Bangladesh included different existing projects and Institutions

that Bangladesh have for climate change adaptation such as The

Climate Change Action Plan (2009-2018) National Adaptation

Program of Action (2005) the National Disaster Management

Council (NDMC) National Climate Change Fund The Ministry of

Food and Disaster Management etc

These two are helpful to have an overview of the existing

policies for climate change But Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009)

mentioned in her research that there are several global

conferences and agreements on climate change but still all these

initiatives could not gain much remarkable success Moreover the

gender perspective is not getting much priority in all these

initiatives Similarly from the National Action Plan (2008) it is

also clearly been seen that gender is not consider as a separate

issue of concern while making policies for climate change But

draft of National Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) has

included gender into their policy very distinctly It mentioned

about the advancement of local judiciary system monitoring the

food distribution process advance mechanism for pure drinking

water to prevent different diseases providing training about the

disaster management process and structural violence as well This

16

plan could gain a great success to deal with climate change

considering gender if it is properly implemented

Agnes Otzelbergerrsquos (2011) research described how UNFCCC its

Kyoto Protocol Conference of parties (COP) GenderCC Global

Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA) etc have included and

planning to include the climate change policy considering gender

issue It also added the developing countryrsquos policies on climate

change regarding gender issue such as Hyogo Framework for

Action African Adaptation Program (AAP) This research is

comparatively more valuable to find out the climate change

policies responded to gender issue A report of World Health

Organization ldquoGender Climate Change and Healthrdquo described the

sectors that UNFCCC response for gender policies with the climate

change These responded sectors are health access to energy

transportation early warning systems and hazard management etc

Similarly Emmeline Skinner (2011) also described the policies of

UNFCCC the gender responsive movements of it and the initiatives

taken by the countries to reach Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs) At the same time he also included different countryrsquos

National Adaptation Policy for Action (NAPA) to understand the

gender mainstreaming policies in national level On the other

hand Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-2015) included gender

responsive policies and it recognizes that a gender perspective

should be integrated into all Disaster Risk Reduction policies

plans and decision-making processes including those associated

with existing climate variability and future climate change

17

Ministry of Environment and Forest had developed a Bangladesh

Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) 2009 which

built-in six pillars to implement and among those the first

pillar named lsquofood security social protection and healthrsquo

included women and children as special consideration for food

security safe housing employment access to basic services and

health Further National Water Policy (1999) of Bangladesh gave

emphasis to equal access to safe water and sanitation services

with an affordable cost for everyone It also prioritized on the

improvement of the role of women for decision making and water

management Ministry of Environment and Forest of Bangladesh also

developed another National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)

(2005) to deal with climate hazards Napa has a framework for

action of 2005 which included the actual and potential adverse

effect of climate change Napa prioritized on the urgent and

immediate action policy It also includes different adaptation

policies but excluding the gender issue Napa only emphasizes

gender equality but it does not include gender based policy

Unlike all these institutional policies United Nations

Development Program (UNDP) include gender and adaptation policy

quite precisely From the awareness making before climate hazards

to the post disaster situation they consider gender as a

significant issue while designing policy On the other hand the

draft of SAARC Comprehensive Framework on Disaster Management

(2006-2015) addressed about empowerment and strengthening gender

at the post disaster period They also prioritized on emergency

18

response management providing training and destined to focus on

gender issue with strong emphasis

Reviewing the existing policies the next focus of this research

goes on to find the effectiveness of these existing policies A

report of UNDP (2009) has clarified about the existing gender

responsive policies of UNDP for climate change It also included

the effective gender responsive programs of the UNDP UNFCCC and

NAPArsquos policy for climate change but mostly emphasized on the

policies of UNDP Further Mohammed Abdul Baten and Niaz Ahmed

Khan (2010) included a brief understanding in their writing about

how the gender responsive climate change policies exist in UNDP

UNFCCC NAPA BCCSAP etc and then they evaluated in the failures

of these policies regarding gender in their climate change

policy They provided a concise knowledge about the

ineffectiveness of policies while apply in reality

Effectiveness of the policies leads to understand the gaps

between policies and practices In this point of view Md Rabiul

Islam (2011) recommended in his research to prioritized women in

policies planning and program as he did not found women in

policies during his research He also discovers that women do not

have equal access to development activities of Government and

NGOs Further he finds out the week initiatives of local

administration while there is any judgment on different

unexpected torture on women Apart from these in his research he

also mentioned about women not having access to education and

training programs for adaptation and coping strategies Further

19

in a report of Tahera Akter (2009) evaluate that there are no

timeframe of any action plan to find out the problem in the

national policy She also addressed that the existing policies

are very old and are not capable to cope with changing natural

hazards Revealing these policy gaps she further mentioned that

there is lack of coordination among the organizations to

effectively evaluate the problems of environmentally displaced

people She also added that there is no national estimation or

prediction about environmental displacement World Health

Organization (WHO) also finds out some remarkable gaps between

the policies and practices in one of its report to understand the

issues for urgent action This report is mainly based on gender

climate change and health which evaluated some loopholes of the

overall existing policies

To reduce these loopholes climate change policies require

reformulation of its structure In this regard Sandra Bathge

(2010) concluded with some adaptation and mitigation measures

which can be also used as recommendation for this research as

those measures are related to policy formulation in a new way

This working paper included access to education land ownership

and services markets etc and also provided policies

considering gender about training programs awareness building

ability to generate income etc which lead this paper to design

the reformulation of climate change policies Further Alyson

Brody Justina Demetriades and Emily Esplen (2008) mostly

emphasized on the participation of women in decision making

20

processes around climate change adaptation and mitigation They

also recommended various aspects like identifying gender impacts

and adaptation priorities in both rural and urban areas

identifying gender implications of long term drought and

starvation etc on the other hand Nilufar Ahmad (2012) in her

paper mainly focused on the basis of individual policy

reformulation which is another most important literature for this

research She suggested BCCSAP to prioritize key gender entry

points indicators and annual targets and link these with the

budget She also recommended about accountable environmental

governance a gender informed cross-sectoral monitoring and

evaluation system to monitor construction and rehabilitation of

gender friendly and multi-purpose shelter and also other

important rights of women Emmeline Skinner (2011) also included

a number of notable suggestions for the pro-gender climate change

policy reformulation She added about strong political commitment

to gender equality stronger participation of women in climate

change institutions and processes conduct gender responsive

budgeting link mitigation and adaptation processes etc

These literatures are not much supportive to have a complete view

of the climate change policies on gender perspective and that is

one of the biggest challenges of this research Again reviewing

these important policies it was easy to figure out to a great

extent that the climate change policies need proper reformulation

and thus literature review evaluate the future improvements and

recommendations of gender sensitive climate change policies

21

8Theoretical ExplanationConcepts

My research follows the definition adopted by the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in which

ldquoclimate changerdquo refers to any change in climate over time

whether due to natural variability or as a result of human

activity7 This usage differs from that in the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which defines

ldquoclimate changerdquo as ldquoa change of climate which is attributed

directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the

composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to

natural climate variability observed over comparable time

periodsrdquo8

ldquoGenderrdquo refers to the socially constructed norms roles and

relations that a given society considers appropriate for men and

women Gender determines what is expected permitted and valued

in a woman or a man in a determined context9

A brief of Nandini Oberoi illustrated that Climate change is a

gender issue and that women are particularly vulnerable to

climate change because they are more prone to the adverse impacts

7Gender Climate change and Health World Health Organization pg5 Retrievedon September 23 2013 from wwwwhointglobalchangeGenderClimateChangeHealthfinalpdf8 ibid9 ibid

22

from climate change10 Changes in the climate usually impact on

sectors that are traditionally associated with women such as

paddy cultivation cotton and tea plantations and fishing11

In this research gender analysis is not a special focus on women

but rather an understanding on how discrimination against women

and gender roles interact to shape men and womenrsquos enjoyment of

human dignity rights as well as equality of living12

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) defines

Hazard as ldquoA potentially damaging physical event phenomenon or

human activity that may cause the loss of life or injury

property damage social and economic disruption or environmental

degradation Hazards can include latent conditions that may

represent future threats and can have different origins natural

(geological hydro meteorological and biological) or induced by

human processes (environmental degradation and technological

hazards)rdquo

TheoriesClimate change and gender and the relation between these two

phenomenons can be described with different theory This section

of research is destined to explain climate change and gender

relation with different International Relations theory

10Parikh J Mainstreaming Gender into Climate Change Policies Retrieved on July 8 2013 from wwwdisasterwatchnetclimatechangegndr_climt07pdf11 ibid12Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh GenderCC

23

i) Feminist Theory

The main concept of Radical feminist is lsquopatriarchyrsquo that means

the lsquorule of fatherrsquo In feminist theory we can see that there

are two form of patriarchy one is classical form of patriarchy

and another is more loose form of patriarchy But in both of the

patriarchal system women have no say in decision making Even

while they have to go through different types of mental and

physical violence during and after any climate hazard occur they

are not able to make any decision for themselves because

patriarchal society do not allow women to be treated equally as

men while decision making and it also reflects in climate change

policy

Liberal feminists are generally concerned with equal rights In

the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries liberal feminist argued

that women by nature different from men that means climate

vulnerabilities of women are also different from men They also

argued for womenrsquos equality on the grounds that they are capable

of making their personal decision and determine their best

interest which is as rational as men Therefore women should have

equal rights while decision making during any climate hazard The

reproductive chores such as child rearing and bearing water

collection food production and acquisition etc of any household

are mostly done by the female member of the family In this

regard climate hazards increases the burden for women and girls

because they are expected to ensure all this household chores

24

Radical feminist argued that to achieve genuine equality it is

important to share these responsibilities with men and as women

by nature different from men climate change policies also should

be gender sensitive

ii) Dependency Theory

According to dependency theory the core periphery and semi

periphery countryrsquos economy and development are interrelated and

interdependent So climate vulnerabilities of women are not an

internal matter for any particular country Rather it needs

global attention as it will also affect the other country and

their development process both directly and indirectly In this

regard global concern joint decision and gender responsive

climate change policy is required as the whole world is

ultimately dependent on each other

iii) Realist Theory

A very significant quote is important to address here by famous

realist scholar Thucydides is-

ldquoThe strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they mustrdquo

The developed countries as the lsquostrongrsquo power do what they want

to do to boost up their economy without considering climate

issues and the week (developing countries) suffer the effects

caused by climate change Before cold war the concept of

security used to consider as military power but in the

contemporary world climate security become more important rather

25

than military security Powerful states now are more concerned

about their own climate security and try to increase their

economic growth by exploiting the environment of weaker states

State as well as the people and mostly women of the developing

countries are the victim of this exploitation and they have to

bear different types of climate hazards which actually causes by

these developedpowerful states In result as women are the

weaker groups they suffer more than the stronger group of men

during all these climate hazards At the same time the men as

stronger group take every decision over the weaker women whenever

there is any climate hazard

iv) Neo-Liberal Theory

Neo-liberal theory supports the trade liberalization that means

removal of trade barrier opening of state economic enterprise

and privatization of market etc After the cold war the emergence

of globalization and the liberalization of market have increased

the investment of Multinational Corporations in the developing

world that have an adversely affect on their local climate The

waste materials and toxic gases emit during the production

procedure cause different types of climate hazards These

unwanted climate hazards also leave significant effect on women

As neo-liberalism emphasize on lsquoindividualrsquo women should be

consider as a group of individual while designing the policies

for climate change

26

Chapter III

ldquoHow climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

genderrdquo

9Climate Hazard Prone Areas of BangladeshThere are some common climate hazards often seen in Bangladesh

and areas mostly affected by these hazards in Bangladesh

identified to answer the above central research question

Different types of climate changersquos impacts such as flood

cyclone river erosion drought heavy rainfall sea level rise

soil degradation etc mainly seen in Bangladesh Among all these

climate hazards this research is mainly focused on three major

climate hazards of Bangladesh and these are- heavy rainfall and

flood river erosion and drought A quick view of climate

hazards prone areas of Bangladesh are given below

Table-1 (Climate Hazard Prone Areas of Bangladesh)

Climate Hazards Most Affected AreasDrought North-West Bengal districts

Rajshahi Gaibandha etcRiver Erosion Active river channels of the

Ganges the Jamuna and theTista rivers and in the coastaland offshore areas

Heavy Rainfall ndash North-western and western

27

Flood-

Bangladesh Chittagong hills

Central region North-Eastregion Charland South BengalBarisal Bagerhat KhulnaSatkhira etc

This table shows us that drought prone areas are mainly in North-

Western Bengalrsquos districts like Rajshahi Gaibandha etc which

has lower rainfall than the other areas of Bangladesh

(Map-1)

Source NAPA

28

River bank erosion prone areas are more or less around the whole

country but mostly it is being seen in the areas along the active

river channels of the Ganges the Jamuna and the Tista rivers and

in the coastal and offshore areas of Bangladesh13 About 17

million hectares of floodplain areas are prone to riverbank

erosion14

Floods are very common in Bangladesh and it affects almost 80

land of our country Every year Bangladesh has been facing 1 or 2

extreme disasters According to Zayeda Sharmin (2013) there are

different categories of floods in Bangladesh and these are ndash

(i) Monsoon floods it increase slowly and decrease slowly

inundate vast areas and causes huge loss to the life and

property

(ii) Flash floods from sudden torrential flows following a brief

intense rainstorm

(iii) Tidal floods which are of short duration but are generally

around 3 to 6 meter high and

(iv) Rain floods caused by drainage congestion and heavy rain

Flood prone areas are mainly in the south Bengal like Barisal

Bhola Bagerhat Khulna Shatkhira etc

13National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)(2005) Ministry of Environment and Forest Government of the Peoplersquos Republic of Bangladesh pg no-4 Retrieved on November 1 2013 From unfcccintresourcedocsnapaban01pdf14 Ibid

29

(Map-2)

Source NAPA

Lastly heavy rainfall is mainly seen in north-western and western

Bangladesh Chittagong hills and more or less all over the

country But mostly in the southern part than the northern part

of Bangladesh heavy rainfall is quite a common climate hazard

9 Climate Vulnerabilities of Women

As mentioned earlier that women are closely related to the

environmental elements it is obvious that climate change effects

should have impact on women In the context of climate change a

lsquogender analysisrsquo promotes an understanding of the ways that men

30

and women are differently impacted by climate-related hazards and

by adopting adaptation and mitigation strategies15 Now the

effects of climate-related hazards on gender are describing

below

Firstly in the drought prone areas

-the cultivable lands become difficult to produce any crops

Those women who depend on agricultural activities they become

helpless for their daily income In this case they face problem

to find new place for work and if by any chance they are able to

find work then they have to face different physical and mental

harassment at the working place

-On the other hand they have to take extra pressure to manage

their household because they have to go far for earning It also

decays their physical strength and at the same time they have to

face different unexpected challenges

Picture-1 Drought in Bangladesh

15Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh Op cit

31

Source Not Enough Goodcom available at

httpnotenoughgoodcom201208indian-blackoutdrought

-They also have to take care about the drinking and daily useable

water for their family which also bring another responsibility

and additional burden to handle They have to face different

types of sexual harassment as they have to go far to collect the

water

-Further pregnant women are more vulnerable during this type of

situation

Secondly at the period like flood and heavy rainfall

-women have no role in decision making for their future They

have to rely on their male head even the women who earn for their

household has no saying during these types of situation During

the survey the responses of women several times indicated that

those women had to accept what the male member of their family

decided Whether there was any health issue or household issue

women had to depend on the male to take any action

32

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

violence against women like Penal Code 1860 Muslim Family law

Ordinance (1961) etc She also provided the draft of National

Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) and Disaster Management

Regulative Framework which show the future attempts of Bangladesh

for disaster management National Action Plan (2008) of

Bangladesh included different existing projects and Institutions

that Bangladesh have for climate change adaptation such as The

Climate Change Action Plan (2009-2018) National Adaptation

Program of Action (2005) the National Disaster Management

Council (NDMC) National Climate Change Fund The Ministry of

Food and Disaster Management etc

These two are helpful to have an overview of the existing

policies for climate change But Prof Mahbuba Nasreen (2009)

mentioned in her research that there are several global

conferences and agreements on climate change but still all these

initiatives could not gain much remarkable success Moreover the

gender perspective is not getting much priority in all these

initiatives Similarly from the National Action Plan (2008) it is

also clearly been seen that gender is not consider as a separate

issue of concern while making policies for climate change But

draft of National Plan for Disaster Management (2007-2015) has

included gender into their policy very distinctly It mentioned

about the advancement of local judiciary system monitoring the

food distribution process advance mechanism for pure drinking

water to prevent different diseases providing training about the

disaster management process and structural violence as well This

16

plan could gain a great success to deal with climate change

considering gender if it is properly implemented

Agnes Otzelbergerrsquos (2011) research described how UNFCCC its

Kyoto Protocol Conference of parties (COP) GenderCC Global

Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA) etc have included and

planning to include the climate change policy considering gender

issue It also added the developing countryrsquos policies on climate

change regarding gender issue such as Hyogo Framework for

Action African Adaptation Program (AAP) This research is

comparatively more valuable to find out the climate change

policies responded to gender issue A report of World Health

Organization ldquoGender Climate Change and Healthrdquo described the

sectors that UNFCCC response for gender policies with the climate

change These responded sectors are health access to energy

transportation early warning systems and hazard management etc

Similarly Emmeline Skinner (2011) also described the policies of

UNFCCC the gender responsive movements of it and the initiatives

taken by the countries to reach Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs) At the same time he also included different countryrsquos

National Adaptation Policy for Action (NAPA) to understand the

gender mainstreaming policies in national level On the other

hand Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-2015) included gender

responsive policies and it recognizes that a gender perspective

should be integrated into all Disaster Risk Reduction policies

plans and decision-making processes including those associated

with existing climate variability and future climate change

17

Ministry of Environment and Forest had developed a Bangladesh

Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) 2009 which

built-in six pillars to implement and among those the first

pillar named lsquofood security social protection and healthrsquo

included women and children as special consideration for food

security safe housing employment access to basic services and

health Further National Water Policy (1999) of Bangladesh gave

emphasis to equal access to safe water and sanitation services

with an affordable cost for everyone It also prioritized on the

improvement of the role of women for decision making and water

management Ministry of Environment and Forest of Bangladesh also

developed another National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)

(2005) to deal with climate hazards Napa has a framework for

action of 2005 which included the actual and potential adverse

effect of climate change Napa prioritized on the urgent and

immediate action policy It also includes different adaptation

policies but excluding the gender issue Napa only emphasizes

gender equality but it does not include gender based policy

Unlike all these institutional policies United Nations

Development Program (UNDP) include gender and adaptation policy

quite precisely From the awareness making before climate hazards

to the post disaster situation they consider gender as a

significant issue while designing policy On the other hand the

draft of SAARC Comprehensive Framework on Disaster Management

(2006-2015) addressed about empowerment and strengthening gender

at the post disaster period They also prioritized on emergency

18

response management providing training and destined to focus on

gender issue with strong emphasis

Reviewing the existing policies the next focus of this research

goes on to find the effectiveness of these existing policies A

report of UNDP (2009) has clarified about the existing gender

responsive policies of UNDP for climate change It also included

the effective gender responsive programs of the UNDP UNFCCC and

NAPArsquos policy for climate change but mostly emphasized on the

policies of UNDP Further Mohammed Abdul Baten and Niaz Ahmed

Khan (2010) included a brief understanding in their writing about

how the gender responsive climate change policies exist in UNDP

UNFCCC NAPA BCCSAP etc and then they evaluated in the failures

of these policies regarding gender in their climate change

policy They provided a concise knowledge about the

ineffectiveness of policies while apply in reality

Effectiveness of the policies leads to understand the gaps

between policies and practices In this point of view Md Rabiul

Islam (2011) recommended in his research to prioritized women in

policies planning and program as he did not found women in

policies during his research He also discovers that women do not

have equal access to development activities of Government and

NGOs Further he finds out the week initiatives of local

administration while there is any judgment on different

unexpected torture on women Apart from these in his research he

also mentioned about women not having access to education and

training programs for adaptation and coping strategies Further

19

in a report of Tahera Akter (2009) evaluate that there are no

timeframe of any action plan to find out the problem in the

national policy She also addressed that the existing policies

are very old and are not capable to cope with changing natural

hazards Revealing these policy gaps she further mentioned that

there is lack of coordination among the organizations to

effectively evaluate the problems of environmentally displaced

people She also added that there is no national estimation or

prediction about environmental displacement World Health

Organization (WHO) also finds out some remarkable gaps between

the policies and practices in one of its report to understand the

issues for urgent action This report is mainly based on gender

climate change and health which evaluated some loopholes of the

overall existing policies

To reduce these loopholes climate change policies require

reformulation of its structure In this regard Sandra Bathge

(2010) concluded with some adaptation and mitigation measures

which can be also used as recommendation for this research as

those measures are related to policy formulation in a new way

This working paper included access to education land ownership

and services markets etc and also provided policies

considering gender about training programs awareness building

ability to generate income etc which lead this paper to design

the reformulation of climate change policies Further Alyson

Brody Justina Demetriades and Emily Esplen (2008) mostly

emphasized on the participation of women in decision making

20

processes around climate change adaptation and mitigation They

also recommended various aspects like identifying gender impacts

and adaptation priorities in both rural and urban areas

identifying gender implications of long term drought and

starvation etc on the other hand Nilufar Ahmad (2012) in her

paper mainly focused on the basis of individual policy

reformulation which is another most important literature for this

research She suggested BCCSAP to prioritize key gender entry

points indicators and annual targets and link these with the

budget She also recommended about accountable environmental

governance a gender informed cross-sectoral monitoring and

evaluation system to monitor construction and rehabilitation of

gender friendly and multi-purpose shelter and also other

important rights of women Emmeline Skinner (2011) also included

a number of notable suggestions for the pro-gender climate change

policy reformulation She added about strong political commitment

to gender equality stronger participation of women in climate

change institutions and processes conduct gender responsive

budgeting link mitigation and adaptation processes etc

These literatures are not much supportive to have a complete view

of the climate change policies on gender perspective and that is

one of the biggest challenges of this research Again reviewing

these important policies it was easy to figure out to a great

extent that the climate change policies need proper reformulation

and thus literature review evaluate the future improvements and

recommendations of gender sensitive climate change policies

21

8Theoretical ExplanationConcepts

My research follows the definition adopted by the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in which

ldquoclimate changerdquo refers to any change in climate over time

whether due to natural variability or as a result of human

activity7 This usage differs from that in the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which defines

ldquoclimate changerdquo as ldquoa change of climate which is attributed

directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the

composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to

natural climate variability observed over comparable time

periodsrdquo8

ldquoGenderrdquo refers to the socially constructed norms roles and

relations that a given society considers appropriate for men and

women Gender determines what is expected permitted and valued

in a woman or a man in a determined context9

A brief of Nandini Oberoi illustrated that Climate change is a

gender issue and that women are particularly vulnerable to

climate change because they are more prone to the adverse impacts

7Gender Climate change and Health World Health Organization pg5 Retrievedon September 23 2013 from wwwwhointglobalchangeGenderClimateChangeHealthfinalpdf8 ibid9 ibid

22

from climate change10 Changes in the climate usually impact on

sectors that are traditionally associated with women such as

paddy cultivation cotton and tea plantations and fishing11

In this research gender analysis is not a special focus on women

but rather an understanding on how discrimination against women

and gender roles interact to shape men and womenrsquos enjoyment of

human dignity rights as well as equality of living12

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) defines

Hazard as ldquoA potentially damaging physical event phenomenon or

human activity that may cause the loss of life or injury

property damage social and economic disruption or environmental

degradation Hazards can include latent conditions that may

represent future threats and can have different origins natural

(geological hydro meteorological and biological) or induced by

human processes (environmental degradation and technological

hazards)rdquo

TheoriesClimate change and gender and the relation between these two

phenomenons can be described with different theory This section

of research is destined to explain climate change and gender

relation with different International Relations theory

10Parikh J Mainstreaming Gender into Climate Change Policies Retrieved on July 8 2013 from wwwdisasterwatchnetclimatechangegndr_climt07pdf11 ibid12Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh GenderCC

23

i) Feminist Theory

The main concept of Radical feminist is lsquopatriarchyrsquo that means

the lsquorule of fatherrsquo In feminist theory we can see that there

are two form of patriarchy one is classical form of patriarchy

and another is more loose form of patriarchy But in both of the

patriarchal system women have no say in decision making Even

while they have to go through different types of mental and

physical violence during and after any climate hazard occur they

are not able to make any decision for themselves because

patriarchal society do not allow women to be treated equally as

men while decision making and it also reflects in climate change

policy

Liberal feminists are generally concerned with equal rights In

the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries liberal feminist argued

that women by nature different from men that means climate

vulnerabilities of women are also different from men They also

argued for womenrsquos equality on the grounds that they are capable

of making their personal decision and determine their best

interest which is as rational as men Therefore women should have

equal rights while decision making during any climate hazard The

reproductive chores such as child rearing and bearing water

collection food production and acquisition etc of any household

are mostly done by the female member of the family In this

regard climate hazards increases the burden for women and girls

because they are expected to ensure all this household chores

24

Radical feminist argued that to achieve genuine equality it is

important to share these responsibilities with men and as women

by nature different from men climate change policies also should

be gender sensitive

ii) Dependency Theory

According to dependency theory the core periphery and semi

periphery countryrsquos economy and development are interrelated and

interdependent So climate vulnerabilities of women are not an

internal matter for any particular country Rather it needs

global attention as it will also affect the other country and

their development process both directly and indirectly In this

regard global concern joint decision and gender responsive

climate change policy is required as the whole world is

ultimately dependent on each other

iii) Realist Theory

A very significant quote is important to address here by famous

realist scholar Thucydides is-

ldquoThe strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they mustrdquo

The developed countries as the lsquostrongrsquo power do what they want

to do to boost up their economy without considering climate

issues and the week (developing countries) suffer the effects

caused by climate change Before cold war the concept of

security used to consider as military power but in the

contemporary world climate security become more important rather

25

than military security Powerful states now are more concerned

about their own climate security and try to increase their

economic growth by exploiting the environment of weaker states

State as well as the people and mostly women of the developing

countries are the victim of this exploitation and they have to

bear different types of climate hazards which actually causes by

these developedpowerful states In result as women are the

weaker groups they suffer more than the stronger group of men

during all these climate hazards At the same time the men as

stronger group take every decision over the weaker women whenever

there is any climate hazard

iv) Neo-Liberal Theory

Neo-liberal theory supports the trade liberalization that means

removal of trade barrier opening of state economic enterprise

and privatization of market etc After the cold war the emergence

of globalization and the liberalization of market have increased

the investment of Multinational Corporations in the developing

world that have an adversely affect on their local climate The

waste materials and toxic gases emit during the production

procedure cause different types of climate hazards These

unwanted climate hazards also leave significant effect on women

As neo-liberalism emphasize on lsquoindividualrsquo women should be

consider as a group of individual while designing the policies

for climate change

26

Chapter III

ldquoHow climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

genderrdquo

9Climate Hazard Prone Areas of BangladeshThere are some common climate hazards often seen in Bangladesh

and areas mostly affected by these hazards in Bangladesh

identified to answer the above central research question

Different types of climate changersquos impacts such as flood

cyclone river erosion drought heavy rainfall sea level rise

soil degradation etc mainly seen in Bangladesh Among all these

climate hazards this research is mainly focused on three major

climate hazards of Bangladesh and these are- heavy rainfall and

flood river erosion and drought A quick view of climate

hazards prone areas of Bangladesh are given below

Table-1 (Climate Hazard Prone Areas of Bangladesh)

Climate Hazards Most Affected AreasDrought North-West Bengal districts

Rajshahi Gaibandha etcRiver Erosion Active river channels of the

Ganges the Jamuna and theTista rivers and in the coastaland offshore areas

Heavy Rainfall ndash North-western and western

27

Flood-

Bangladesh Chittagong hills

Central region North-Eastregion Charland South BengalBarisal Bagerhat KhulnaSatkhira etc

This table shows us that drought prone areas are mainly in North-

Western Bengalrsquos districts like Rajshahi Gaibandha etc which

has lower rainfall than the other areas of Bangladesh

(Map-1)

Source NAPA

28

River bank erosion prone areas are more or less around the whole

country but mostly it is being seen in the areas along the active

river channels of the Ganges the Jamuna and the Tista rivers and

in the coastal and offshore areas of Bangladesh13 About 17

million hectares of floodplain areas are prone to riverbank

erosion14

Floods are very common in Bangladesh and it affects almost 80

land of our country Every year Bangladesh has been facing 1 or 2

extreme disasters According to Zayeda Sharmin (2013) there are

different categories of floods in Bangladesh and these are ndash

(i) Monsoon floods it increase slowly and decrease slowly

inundate vast areas and causes huge loss to the life and

property

(ii) Flash floods from sudden torrential flows following a brief

intense rainstorm

(iii) Tidal floods which are of short duration but are generally

around 3 to 6 meter high and

(iv) Rain floods caused by drainage congestion and heavy rain

Flood prone areas are mainly in the south Bengal like Barisal

Bhola Bagerhat Khulna Shatkhira etc

13National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)(2005) Ministry of Environment and Forest Government of the Peoplersquos Republic of Bangladesh pg no-4 Retrieved on November 1 2013 From unfcccintresourcedocsnapaban01pdf14 Ibid

29

(Map-2)

Source NAPA

Lastly heavy rainfall is mainly seen in north-western and western

Bangladesh Chittagong hills and more or less all over the

country But mostly in the southern part than the northern part

of Bangladesh heavy rainfall is quite a common climate hazard

9 Climate Vulnerabilities of Women

As mentioned earlier that women are closely related to the

environmental elements it is obvious that climate change effects

should have impact on women In the context of climate change a

lsquogender analysisrsquo promotes an understanding of the ways that men

30

and women are differently impacted by climate-related hazards and

by adopting adaptation and mitigation strategies15 Now the

effects of climate-related hazards on gender are describing

below

Firstly in the drought prone areas

-the cultivable lands become difficult to produce any crops

Those women who depend on agricultural activities they become

helpless for their daily income In this case they face problem

to find new place for work and if by any chance they are able to

find work then they have to face different physical and mental

harassment at the working place

-On the other hand they have to take extra pressure to manage

their household because they have to go far for earning It also

decays their physical strength and at the same time they have to

face different unexpected challenges

Picture-1 Drought in Bangladesh

15Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh Op cit

31

Source Not Enough Goodcom available at

httpnotenoughgoodcom201208indian-blackoutdrought

-They also have to take care about the drinking and daily useable

water for their family which also bring another responsibility

and additional burden to handle They have to face different

types of sexual harassment as they have to go far to collect the

water

-Further pregnant women are more vulnerable during this type of

situation

Secondly at the period like flood and heavy rainfall

-women have no role in decision making for their future They

have to rely on their male head even the women who earn for their

household has no saying during these types of situation During

the survey the responses of women several times indicated that

those women had to accept what the male member of their family

decided Whether there was any health issue or household issue

women had to depend on the male to take any action

32

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

plan could gain a great success to deal with climate change

considering gender if it is properly implemented

Agnes Otzelbergerrsquos (2011) research described how UNFCCC its

Kyoto Protocol Conference of parties (COP) GenderCC Global

Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA) etc have included and

planning to include the climate change policy considering gender

issue It also added the developing countryrsquos policies on climate

change regarding gender issue such as Hyogo Framework for

Action African Adaptation Program (AAP) This research is

comparatively more valuable to find out the climate change

policies responded to gender issue A report of World Health

Organization ldquoGender Climate Change and Healthrdquo described the

sectors that UNFCCC response for gender policies with the climate

change These responded sectors are health access to energy

transportation early warning systems and hazard management etc

Similarly Emmeline Skinner (2011) also described the policies of

UNFCCC the gender responsive movements of it and the initiatives

taken by the countries to reach Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs) At the same time he also included different countryrsquos

National Adaptation Policy for Action (NAPA) to understand the

gender mainstreaming policies in national level On the other

hand Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-2015) included gender

responsive policies and it recognizes that a gender perspective

should be integrated into all Disaster Risk Reduction policies

plans and decision-making processes including those associated

with existing climate variability and future climate change

17

Ministry of Environment and Forest had developed a Bangladesh

Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) 2009 which

built-in six pillars to implement and among those the first

pillar named lsquofood security social protection and healthrsquo

included women and children as special consideration for food

security safe housing employment access to basic services and

health Further National Water Policy (1999) of Bangladesh gave

emphasis to equal access to safe water and sanitation services

with an affordable cost for everyone It also prioritized on the

improvement of the role of women for decision making and water

management Ministry of Environment and Forest of Bangladesh also

developed another National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)

(2005) to deal with climate hazards Napa has a framework for

action of 2005 which included the actual and potential adverse

effect of climate change Napa prioritized on the urgent and

immediate action policy It also includes different adaptation

policies but excluding the gender issue Napa only emphasizes

gender equality but it does not include gender based policy

Unlike all these institutional policies United Nations

Development Program (UNDP) include gender and adaptation policy

quite precisely From the awareness making before climate hazards

to the post disaster situation they consider gender as a

significant issue while designing policy On the other hand the

draft of SAARC Comprehensive Framework on Disaster Management

(2006-2015) addressed about empowerment and strengthening gender

at the post disaster period They also prioritized on emergency

18

response management providing training and destined to focus on

gender issue with strong emphasis

Reviewing the existing policies the next focus of this research

goes on to find the effectiveness of these existing policies A

report of UNDP (2009) has clarified about the existing gender

responsive policies of UNDP for climate change It also included

the effective gender responsive programs of the UNDP UNFCCC and

NAPArsquos policy for climate change but mostly emphasized on the

policies of UNDP Further Mohammed Abdul Baten and Niaz Ahmed

Khan (2010) included a brief understanding in their writing about

how the gender responsive climate change policies exist in UNDP

UNFCCC NAPA BCCSAP etc and then they evaluated in the failures

of these policies regarding gender in their climate change

policy They provided a concise knowledge about the

ineffectiveness of policies while apply in reality

Effectiveness of the policies leads to understand the gaps

between policies and practices In this point of view Md Rabiul

Islam (2011) recommended in his research to prioritized women in

policies planning and program as he did not found women in

policies during his research He also discovers that women do not

have equal access to development activities of Government and

NGOs Further he finds out the week initiatives of local

administration while there is any judgment on different

unexpected torture on women Apart from these in his research he

also mentioned about women not having access to education and

training programs for adaptation and coping strategies Further

19

in a report of Tahera Akter (2009) evaluate that there are no

timeframe of any action plan to find out the problem in the

national policy She also addressed that the existing policies

are very old and are not capable to cope with changing natural

hazards Revealing these policy gaps she further mentioned that

there is lack of coordination among the organizations to

effectively evaluate the problems of environmentally displaced

people She also added that there is no national estimation or

prediction about environmental displacement World Health

Organization (WHO) also finds out some remarkable gaps between

the policies and practices in one of its report to understand the

issues for urgent action This report is mainly based on gender

climate change and health which evaluated some loopholes of the

overall existing policies

To reduce these loopholes climate change policies require

reformulation of its structure In this regard Sandra Bathge

(2010) concluded with some adaptation and mitigation measures

which can be also used as recommendation for this research as

those measures are related to policy formulation in a new way

This working paper included access to education land ownership

and services markets etc and also provided policies

considering gender about training programs awareness building

ability to generate income etc which lead this paper to design

the reformulation of climate change policies Further Alyson

Brody Justina Demetriades and Emily Esplen (2008) mostly

emphasized on the participation of women in decision making

20

processes around climate change adaptation and mitigation They

also recommended various aspects like identifying gender impacts

and adaptation priorities in both rural and urban areas

identifying gender implications of long term drought and

starvation etc on the other hand Nilufar Ahmad (2012) in her

paper mainly focused on the basis of individual policy

reformulation which is another most important literature for this

research She suggested BCCSAP to prioritize key gender entry

points indicators and annual targets and link these with the

budget She also recommended about accountable environmental

governance a gender informed cross-sectoral monitoring and

evaluation system to monitor construction and rehabilitation of

gender friendly and multi-purpose shelter and also other

important rights of women Emmeline Skinner (2011) also included

a number of notable suggestions for the pro-gender climate change

policy reformulation She added about strong political commitment

to gender equality stronger participation of women in climate

change institutions and processes conduct gender responsive

budgeting link mitigation and adaptation processes etc

These literatures are not much supportive to have a complete view

of the climate change policies on gender perspective and that is

one of the biggest challenges of this research Again reviewing

these important policies it was easy to figure out to a great

extent that the climate change policies need proper reformulation

and thus literature review evaluate the future improvements and

recommendations of gender sensitive climate change policies

21

8Theoretical ExplanationConcepts

My research follows the definition adopted by the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in which

ldquoclimate changerdquo refers to any change in climate over time

whether due to natural variability or as a result of human

activity7 This usage differs from that in the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which defines

ldquoclimate changerdquo as ldquoa change of climate which is attributed

directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the

composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to

natural climate variability observed over comparable time

periodsrdquo8

ldquoGenderrdquo refers to the socially constructed norms roles and

relations that a given society considers appropriate for men and

women Gender determines what is expected permitted and valued

in a woman or a man in a determined context9

A brief of Nandini Oberoi illustrated that Climate change is a

gender issue and that women are particularly vulnerable to

climate change because they are more prone to the adverse impacts

7Gender Climate change and Health World Health Organization pg5 Retrievedon September 23 2013 from wwwwhointglobalchangeGenderClimateChangeHealthfinalpdf8 ibid9 ibid

22

from climate change10 Changes in the climate usually impact on

sectors that are traditionally associated with women such as

paddy cultivation cotton and tea plantations and fishing11

In this research gender analysis is not a special focus on women

but rather an understanding on how discrimination against women

and gender roles interact to shape men and womenrsquos enjoyment of

human dignity rights as well as equality of living12

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) defines

Hazard as ldquoA potentially damaging physical event phenomenon or

human activity that may cause the loss of life or injury

property damage social and economic disruption or environmental

degradation Hazards can include latent conditions that may

represent future threats and can have different origins natural

(geological hydro meteorological and biological) or induced by

human processes (environmental degradation and technological

hazards)rdquo

TheoriesClimate change and gender and the relation between these two

phenomenons can be described with different theory This section

of research is destined to explain climate change and gender

relation with different International Relations theory

10Parikh J Mainstreaming Gender into Climate Change Policies Retrieved on July 8 2013 from wwwdisasterwatchnetclimatechangegndr_climt07pdf11 ibid12Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh GenderCC

23

i) Feminist Theory

The main concept of Radical feminist is lsquopatriarchyrsquo that means

the lsquorule of fatherrsquo In feminist theory we can see that there

are two form of patriarchy one is classical form of patriarchy

and another is more loose form of patriarchy But in both of the

patriarchal system women have no say in decision making Even

while they have to go through different types of mental and

physical violence during and after any climate hazard occur they

are not able to make any decision for themselves because

patriarchal society do not allow women to be treated equally as

men while decision making and it also reflects in climate change

policy

Liberal feminists are generally concerned with equal rights In

the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries liberal feminist argued

that women by nature different from men that means climate

vulnerabilities of women are also different from men They also

argued for womenrsquos equality on the grounds that they are capable

of making their personal decision and determine their best

interest which is as rational as men Therefore women should have

equal rights while decision making during any climate hazard The

reproductive chores such as child rearing and bearing water

collection food production and acquisition etc of any household

are mostly done by the female member of the family In this

regard climate hazards increases the burden for women and girls

because they are expected to ensure all this household chores

24

Radical feminist argued that to achieve genuine equality it is

important to share these responsibilities with men and as women

by nature different from men climate change policies also should

be gender sensitive

ii) Dependency Theory

According to dependency theory the core periphery and semi

periphery countryrsquos economy and development are interrelated and

interdependent So climate vulnerabilities of women are not an

internal matter for any particular country Rather it needs

global attention as it will also affect the other country and

their development process both directly and indirectly In this

regard global concern joint decision and gender responsive

climate change policy is required as the whole world is

ultimately dependent on each other

iii) Realist Theory

A very significant quote is important to address here by famous

realist scholar Thucydides is-

ldquoThe strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they mustrdquo

The developed countries as the lsquostrongrsquo power do what they want

to do to boost up their economy without considering climate

issues and the week (developing countries) suffer the effects

caused by climate change Before cold war the concept of

security used to consider as military power but in the

contemporary world climate security become more important rather

25

than military security Powerful states now are more concerned

about their own climate security and try to increase their

economic growth by exploiting the environment of weaker states

State as well as the people and mostly women of the developing

countries are the victim of this exploitation and they have to

bear different types of climate hazards which actually causes by

these developedpowerful states In result as women are the

weaker groups they suffer more than the stronger group of men

during all these climate hazards At the same time the men as

stronger group take every decision over the weaker women whenever

there is any climate hazard

iv) Neo-Liberal Theory

Neo-liberal theory supports the trade liberalization that means

removal of trade barrier opening of state economic enterprise

and privatization of market etc After the cold war the emergence

of globalization and the liberalization of market have increased

the investment of Multinational Corporations in the developing

world that have an adversely affect on their local climate The

waste materials and toxic gases emit during the production

procedure cause different types of climate hazards These

unwanted climate hazards also leave significant effect on women

As neo-liberalism emphasize on lsquoindividualrsquo women should be

consider as a group of individual while designing the policies

for climate change

26

Chapter III

ldquoHow climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

genderrdquo

9Climate Hazard Prone Areas of BangladeshThere are some common climate hazards often seen in Bangladesh

and areas mostly affected by these hazards in Bangladesh

identified to answer the above central research question

Different types of climate changersquos impacts such as flood

cyclone river erosion drought heavy rainfall sea level rise

soil degradation etc mainly seen in Bangladesh Among all these

climate hazards this research is mainly focused on three major

climate hazards of Bangladesh and these are- heavy rainfall and

flood river erosion and drought A quick view of climate

hazards prone areas of Bangladesh are given below

Table-1 (Climate Hazard Prone Areas of Bangladesh)

Climate Hazards Most Affected AreasDrought North-West Bengal districts

Rajshahi Gaibandha etcRiver Erosion Active river channels of the

Ganges the Jamuna and theTista rivers and in the coastaland offshore areas

Heavy Rainfall ndash North-western and western

27

Flood-

Bangladesh Chittagong hills

Central region North-Eastregion Charland South BengalBarisal Bagerhat KhulnaSatkhira etc

This table shows us that drought prone areas are mainly in North-

Western Bengalrsquos districts like Rajshahi Gaibandha etc which

has lower rainfall than the other areas of Bangladesh

(Map-1)

Source NAPA

28

River bank erosion prone areas are more or less around the whole

country but mostly it is being seen in the areas along the active

river channels of the Ganges the Jamuna and the Tista rivers and

in the coastal and offshore areas of Bangladesh13 About 17

million hectares of floodplain areas are prone to riverbank

erosion14

Floods are very common in Bangladesh and it affects almost 80

land of our country Every year Bangladesh has been facing 1 or 2

extreme disasters According to Zayeda Sharmin (2013) there are

different categories of floods in Bangladesh and these are ndash

(i) Monsoon floods it increase slowly and decrease slowly

inundate vast areas and causes huge loss to the life and

property

(ii) Flash floods from sudden torrential flows following a brief

intense rainstorm

(iii) Tidal floods which are of short duration but are generally

around 3 to 6 meter high and

(iv) Rain floods caused by drainage congestion and heavy rain

Flood prone areas are mainly in the south Bengal like Barisal

Bhola Bagerhat Khulna Shatkhira etc

13National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)(2005) Ministry of Environment and Forest Government of the Peoplersquos Republic of Bangladesh pg no-4 Retrieved on November 1 2013 From unfcccintresourcedocsnapaban01pdf14 Ibid

29

(Map-2)

Source NAPA

Lastly heavy rainfall is mainly seen in north-western and western

Bangladesh Chittagong hills and more or less all over the

country But mostly in the southern part than the northern part

of Bangladesh heavy rainfall is quite a common climate hazard

9 Climate Vulnerabilities of Women

As mentioned earlier that women are closely related to the

environmental elements it is obvious that climate change effects

should have impact on women In the context of climate change a

lsquogender analysisrsquo promotes an understanding of the ways that men

30

and women are differently impacted by climate-related hazards and

by adopting adaptation and mitigation strategies15 Now the

effects of climate-related hazards on gender are describing

below

Firstly in the drought prone areas

-the cultivable lands become difficult to produce any crops

Those women who depend on agricultural activities they become

helpless for their daily income In this case they face problem

to find new place for work and if by any chance they are able to

find work then they have to face different physical and mental

harassment at the working place

-On the other hand they have to take extra pressure to manage

their household because they have to go far for earning It also

decays their physical strength and at the same time they have to

face different unexpected challenges

Picture-1 Drought in Bangladesh

15Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh Op cit

31

Source Not Enough Goodcom available at

httpnotenoughgoodcom201208indian-blackoutdrought

-They also have to take care about the drinking and daily useable

water for their family which also bring another responsibility

and additional burden to handle They have to face different

types of sexual harassment as they have to go far to collect the

water

-Further pregnant women are more vulnerable during this type of

situation

Secondly at the period like flood and heavy rainfall

-women have no role in decision making for their future They

have to rely on their male head even the women who earn for their

household has no saying during these types of situation During

the survey the responses of women several times indicated that

those women had to accept what the male member of their family

decided Whether there was any health issue or household issue

women had to depend on the male to take any action

32

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

Ministry of Environment and Forest had developed a Bangladesh

Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) 2009 which

built-in six pillars to implement and among those the first

pillar named lsquofood security social protection and healthrsquo

included women and children as special consideration for food

security safe housing employment access to basic services and

health Further National Water Policy (1999) of Bangladesh gave

emphasis to equal access to safe water and sanitation services

with an affordable cost for everyone It also prioritized on the

improvement of the role of women for decision making and water

management Ministry of Environment and Forest of Bangladesh also

developed another National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)

(2005) to deal with climate hazards Napa has a framework for

action of 2005 which included the actual and potential adverse

effect of climate change Napa prioritized on the urgent and

immediate action policy It also includes different adaptation

policies but excluding the gender issue Napa only emphasizes

gender equality but it does not include gender based policy

Unlike all these institutional policies United Nations

Development Program (UNDP) include gender and adaptation policy

quite precisely From the awareness making before climate hazards

to the post disaster situation they consider gender as a

significant issue while designing policy On the other hand the

draft of SAARC Comprehensive Framework on Disaster Management

(2006-2015) addressed about empowerment and strengthening gender

at the post disaster period They also prioritized on emergency

18

response management providing training and destined to focus on

gender issue with strong emphasis

Reviewing the existing policies the next focus of this research

goes on to find the effectiveness of these existing policies A

report of UNDP (2009) has clarified about the existing gender

responsive policies of UNDP for climate change It also included

the effective gender responsive programs of the UNDP UNFCCC and

NAPArsquos policy for climate change but mostly emphasized on the

policies of UNDP Further Mohammed Abdul Baten and Niaz Ahmed

Khan (2010) included a brief understanding in their writing about

how the gender responsive climate change policies exist in UNDP

UNFCCC NAPA BCCSAP etc and then they evaluated in the failures

of these policies regarding gender in their climate change

policy They provided a concise knowledge about the

ineffectiveness of policies while apply in reality

Effectiveness of the policies leads to understand the gaps

between policies and practices In this point of view Md Rabiul

Islam (2011) recommended in his research to prioritized women in

policies planning and program as he did not found women in

policies during his research He also discovers that women do not

have equal access to development activities of Government and

NGOs Further he finds out the week initiatives of local

administration while there is any judgment on different

unexpected torture on women Apart from these in his research he

also mentioned about women not having access to education and

training programs for adaptation and coping strategies Further

19

in a report of Tahera Akter (2009) evaluate that there are no

timeframe of any action plan to find out the problem in the

national policy She also addressed that the existing policies

are very old and are not capable to cope with changing natural

hazards Revealing these policy gaps she further mentioned that

there is lack of coordination among the organizations to

effectively evaluate the problems of environmentally displaced

people She also added that there is no national estimation or

prediction about environmental displacement World Health

Organization (WHO) also finds out some remarkable gaps between

the policies and practices in one of its report to understand the

issues for urgent action This report is mainly based on gender

climate change and health which evaluated some loopholes of the

overall existing policies

To reduce these loopholes climate change policies require

reformulation of its structure In this regard Sandra Bathge

(2010) concluded with some adaptation and mitigation measures

which can be also used as recommendation for this research as

those measures are related to policy formulation in a new way

This working paper included access to education land ownership

and services markets etc and also provided policies

considering gender about training programs awareness building

ability to generate income etc which lead this paper to design

the reformulation of climate change policies Further Alyson

Brody Justina Demetriades and Emily Esplen (2008) mostly

emphasized on the participation of women in decision making

20

processes around climate change adaptation and mitigation They

also recommended various aspects like identifying gender impacts

and adaptation priorities in both rural and urban areas

identifying gender implications of long term drought and

starvation etc on the other hand Nilufar Ahmad (2012) in her

paper mainly focused on the basis of individual policy

reformulation which is another most important literature for this

research She suggested BCCSAP to prioritize key gender entry

points indicators and annual targets and link these with the

budget She also recommended about accountable environmental

governance a gender informed cross-sectoral monitoring and

evaluation system to monitor construction and rehabilitation of

gender friendly and multi-purpose shelter and also other

important rights of women Emmeline Skinner (2011) also included

a number of notable suggestions for the pro-gender climate change

policy reformulation She added about strong political commitment

to gender equality stronger participation of women in climate

change institutions and processes conduct gender responsive

budgeting link mitigation and adaptation processes etc

These literatures are not much supportive to have a complete view

of the climate change policies on gender perspective and that is

one of the biggest challenges of this research Again reviewing

these important policies it was easy to figure out to a great

extent that the climate change policies need proper reformulation

and thus literature review evaluate the future improvements and

recommendations of gender sensitive climate change policies

21

8Theoretical ExplanationConcepts

My research follows the definition adopted by the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in which

ldquoclimate changerdquo refers to any change in climate over time

whether due to natural variability or as a result of human

activity7 This usage differs from that in the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which defines

ldquoclimate changerdquo as ldquoa change of climate which is attributed

directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the

composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to

natural climate variability observed over comparable time

periodsrdquo8

ldquoGenderrdquo refers to the socially constructed norms roles and

relations that a given society considers appropriate for men and

women Gender determines what is expected permitted and valued

in a woman or a man in a determined context9

A brief of Nandini Oberoi illustrated that Climate change is a

gender issue and that women are particularly vulnerable to

climate change because they are more prone to the adverse impacts

7Gender Climate change and Health World Health Organization pg5 Retrievedon September 23 2013 from wwwwhointglobalchangeGenderClimateChangeHealthfinalpdf8 ibid9 ibid

22

from climate change10 Changes in the climate usually impact on

sectors that are traditionally associated with women such as

paddy cultivation cotton and tea plantations and fishing11

In this research gender analysis is not a special focus on women

but rather an understanding on how discrimination against women

and gender roles interact to shape men and womenrsquos enjoyment of

human dignity rights as well as equality of living12

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) defines

Hazard as ldquoA potentially damaging physical event phenomenon or

human activity that may cause the loss of life or injury

property damage social and economic disruption or environmental

degradation Hazards can include latent conditions that may

represent future threats and can have different origins natural

(geological hydro meteorological and biological) or induced by

human processes (environmental degradation and technological

hazards)rdquo

TheoriesClimate change and gender and the relation between these two

phenomenons can be described with different theory This section

of research is destined to explain climate change and gender

relation with different International Relations theory

10Parikh J Mainstreaming Gender into Climate Change Policies Retrieved on July 8 2013 from wwwdisasterwatchnetclimatechangegndr_climt07pdf11 ibid12Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh GenderCC

23

i) Feminist Theory

The main concept of Radical feminist is lsquopatriarchyrsquo that means

the lsquorule of fatherrsquo In feminist theory we can see that there

are two form of patriarchy one is classical form of patriarchy

and another is more loose form of patriarchy But in both of the

patriarchal system women have no say in decision making Even

while they have to go through different types of mental and

physical violence during and after any climate hazard occur they

are not able to make any decision for themselves because

patriarchal society do not allow women to be treated equally as

men while decision making and it also reflects in climate change

policy

Liberal feminists are generally concerned with equal rights In

the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries liberal feminist argued

that women by nature different from men that means climate

vulnerabilities of women are also different from men They also

argued for womenrsquos equality on the grounds that they are capable

of making their personal decision and determine their best

interest which is as rational as men Therefore women should have

equal rights while decision making during any climate hazard The

reproductive chores such as child rearing and bearing water

collection food production and acquisition etc of any household

are mostly done by the female member of the family In this

regard climate hazards increases the burden for women and girls

because they are expected to ensure all this household chores

24

Radical feminist argued that to achieve genuine equality it is

important to share these responsibilities with men and as women

by nature different from men climate change policies also should

be gender sensitive

ii) Dependency Theory

According to dependency theory the core periphery and semi

periphery countryrsquos economy and development are interrelated and

interdependent So climate vulnerabilities of women are not an

internal matter for any particular country Rather it needs

global attention as it will also affect the other country and

their development process both directly and indirectly In this

regard global concern joint decision and gender responsive

climate change policy is required as the whole world is

ultimately dependent on each other

iii) Realist Theory

A very significant quote is important to address here by famous

realist scholar Thucydides is-

ldquoThe strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they mustrdquo

The developed countries as the lsquostrongrsquo power do what they want

to do to boost up their economy without considering climate

issues and the week (developing countries) suffer the effects

caused by climate change Before cold war the concept of

security used to consider as military power but in the

contemporary world climate security become more important rather

25

than military security Powerful states now are more concerned

about their own climate security and try to increase their

economic growth by exploiting the environment of weaker states

State as well as the people and mostly women of the developing

countries are the victim of this exploitation and they have to

bear different types of climate hazards which actually causes by

these developedpowerful states In result as women are the

weaker groups they suffer more than the stronger group of men

during all these climate hazards At the same time the men as

stronger group take every decision over the weaker women whenever

there is any climate hazard

iv) Neo-Liberal Theory

Neo-liberal theory supports the trade liberalization that means

removal of trade barrier opening of state economic enterprise

and privatization of market etc After the cold war the emergence

of globalization and the liberalization of market have increased

the investment of Multinational Corporations in the developing

world that have an adversely affect on their local climate The

waste materials and toxic gases emit during the production

procedure cause different types of climate hazards These

unwanted climate hazards also leave significant effect on women

As neo-liberalism emphasize on lsquoindividualrsquo women should be

consider as a group of individual while designing the policies

for climate change

26

Chapter III

ldquoHow climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

genderrdquo

9Climate Hazard Prone Areas of BangladeshThere are some common climate hazards often seen in Bangladesh

and areas mostly affected by these hazards in Bangladesh

identified to answer the above central research question

Different types of climate changersquos impacts such as flood

cyclone river erosion drought heavy rainfall sea level rise

soil degradation etc mainly seen in Bangladesh Among all these

climate hazards this research is mainly focused on three major

climate hazards of Bangladesh and these are- heavy rainfall and

flood river erosion and drought A quick view of climate

hazards prone areas of Bangladesh are given below

Table-1 (Climate Hazard Prone Areas of Bangladesh)

Climate Hazards Most Affected AreasDrought North-West Bengal districts

Rajshahi Gaibandha etcRiver Erosion Active river channels of the

Ganges the Jamuna and theTista rivers and in the coastaland offshore areas

Heavy Rainfall ndash North-western and western

27

Flood-

Bangladesh Chittagong hills

Central region North-Eastregion Charland South BengalBarisal Bagerhat KhulnaSatkhira etc

This table shows us that drought prone areas are mainly in North-

Western Bengalrsquos districts like Rajshahi Gaibandha etc which

has lower rainfall than the other areas of Bangladesh

(Map-1)

Source NAPA

28

River bank erosion prone areas are more or less around the whole

country but mostly it is being seen in the areas along the active

river channels of the Ganges the Jamuna and the Tista rivers and

in the coastal and offshore areas of Bangladesh13 About 17

million hectares of floodplain areas are prone to riverbank

erosion14

Floods are very common in Bangladesh and it affects almost 80

land of our country Every year Bangladesh has been facing 1 or 2

extreme disasters According to Zayeda Sharmin (2013) there are

different categories of floods in Bangladesh and these are ndash

(i) Monsoon floods it increase slowly and decrease slowly

inundate vast areas and causes huge loss to the life and

property

(ii) Flash floods from sudden torrential flows following a brief

intense rainstorm

(iii) Tidal floods which are of short duration but are generally

around 3 to 6 meter high and

(iv) Rain floods caused by drainage congestion and heavy rain

Flood prone areas are mainly in the south Bengal like Barisal

Bhola Bagerhat Khulna Shatkhira etc

13National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)(2005) Ministry of Environment and Forest Government of the Peoplersquos Republic of Bangladesh pg no-4 Retrieved on November 1 2013 From unfcccintresourcedocsnapaban01pdf14 Ibid

29

(Map-2)

Source NAPA

Lastly heavy rainfall is mainly seen in north-western and western

Bangladesh Chittagong hills and more or less all over the

country But mostly in the southern part than the northern part

of Bangladesh heavy rainfall is quite a common climate hazard

9 Climate Vulnerabilities of Women

As mentioned earlier that women are closely related to the

environmental elements it is obvious that climate change effects

should have impact on women In the context of climate change a

lsquogender analysisrsquo promotes an understanding of the ways that men

30

and women are differently impacted by climate-related hazards and

by adopting adaptation and mitigation strategies15 Now the

effects of climate-related hazards on gender are describing

below

Firstly in the drought prone areas

-the cultivable lands become difficult to produce any crops

Those women who depend on agricultural activities they become

helpless for their daily income In this case they face problem

to find new place for work and if by any chance they are able to

find work then they have to face different physical and mental

harassment at the working place

-On the other hand they have to take extra pressure to manage

their household because they have to go far for earning It also

decays their physical strength and at the same time they have to

face different unexpected challenges

Picture-1 Drought in Bangladesh

15Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh Op cit

31

Source Not Enough Goodcom available at

httpnotenoughgoodcom201208indian-blackoutdrought

-They also have to take care about the drinking and daily useable

water for their family which also bring another responsibility

and additional burden to handle They have to face different

types of sexual harassment as they have to go far to collect the

water

-Further pregnant women are more vulnerable during this type of

situation

Secondly at the period like flood and heavy rainfall

-women have no role in decision making for their future They

have to rely on their male head even the women who earn for their

household has no saying during these types of situation During

the survey the responses of women several times indicated that

those women had to accept what the male member of their family

decided Whether there was any health issue or household issue

women had to depend on the male to take any action

32

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

response management providing training and destined to focus on

gender issue with strong emphasis

Reviewing the existing policies the next focus of this research

goes on to find the effectiveness of these existing policies A

report of UNDP (2009) has clarified about the existing gender

responsive policies of UNDP for climate change It also included

the effective gender responsive programs of the UNDP UNFCCC and

NAPArsquos policy for climate change but mostly emphasized on the

policies of UNDP Further Mohammed Abdul Baten and Niaz Ahmed

Khan (2010) included a brief understanding in their writing about

how the gender responsive climate change policies exist in UNDP

UNFCCC NAPA BCCSAP etc and then they evaluated in the failures

of these policies regarding gender in their climate change

policy They provided a concise knowledge about the

ineffectiveness of policies while apply in reality

Effectiveness of the policies leads to understand the gaps

between policies and practices In this point of view Md Rabiul

Islam (2011) recommended in his research to prioritized women in

policies planning and program as he did not found women in

policies during his research He also discovers that women do not

have equal access to development activities of Government and

NGOs Further he finds out the week initiatives of local

administration while there is any judgment on different

unexpected torture on women Apart from these in his research he

also mentioned about women not having access to education and

training programs for adaptation and coping strategies Further

19

in a report of Tahera Akter (2009) evaluate that there are no

timeframe of any action plan to find out the problem in the

national policy She also addressed that the existing policies

are very old and are not capable to cope with changing natural

hazards Revealing these policy gaps she further mentioned that

there is lack of coordination among the organizations to

effectively evaluate the problems of environmentally displaced

people She also added that there is no national estimation or

prediction about environmental displacement World Health

Organization (WHO) also finds out some remarkable gaps between

the policies and practices in one of its report to understand the

issues for urgent action This report is mainly based on gender

climate change and health which evaluated some loopholes of the

overall existing policies

To reduce these loopholes climate change policies require

reformulation of its structure In this regard Sandra Bathge

(2010) concluded with some adaptation and mitigation measures

which can be also used as recommendation for this research as

those measures are related to policy formulation in a new way

This working paper included access to education land ownership

and services markets etc and also provided policies

considering gender about training programs awareness building

ability to generate income etc which lead this paper to design

the reformulation of climate change policies Further Alyson

Brody Justina Demetriades and Emily Esplen (2008) mostly

emphasized on the participation of women in decision making

20

processes around climate change adaptation and mitigation They

also recommended various aspects like identifying gender impacts

and adaptation priorities in both rural and urban areas

identifying gender implications of long term drought and

starvation etc on the other hand Nilufar Ahmad (2012) in her

paper mainly focused on the basis of individual policy

reformulation which is another most important literature for this

research She suggested BCCSAP to prioritize key gender entry

points indicators and annual targets and link these with the

budget She also recommended about accountable environmental

governance a gender informed cross-sectoral monitoring and

evaluation system to monitor construction and rehabilitation of

gender friendly and multi-purpose shelter and also other

important rights of women Emmeline Skinner (2011) also included

a number of notable suggestions for the pro-gender climate change

policy reformulation She added about strong political commitment

to gender equality stronger participation of women in climate

change institutions and processes conduct gender responsive

budgeting link mitigation and adaptation processes etc

These literatures are not much supportive to have a complete view

of the climate change policies on gender perspective and that is

one of the biggest challenges of this research Again reviewing

these important policies it was easy to figure out to a great

extent that the climate change policies need proper reformulation

and thus literature review evaluate the future improvements and

recommendations of gender sensitive climate change policies

21

8Theoretical ExplanationConcepts

My research follows the definition adopted by the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in which

ldquoclimate changerdquo refers to any change in climate over time

whether due to natural variability or as a result of human

activity7 This usage differs from that in the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which defines

ldquoclimate changerdquo as ldquoa change of climate which is attributed

directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the

composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to

natural climate variability observed over comparable time

periodsrdquo8

ldquoGenderrdquo refers to the socially constructed norms roles and

relations that a given society considers appropriate for men and

women Gender determines what is expected permitted and valued

in a woman or a man in a determined context9

A brief of Nandini Oberoi illustrated that Climate change is a

gender issue and that women are particularly vulnerable to

climate change because they are more prone to the adverse impacts

7Gender Climate change and Health World Health Organization pg5 Retrievedon September 23 2013 from wwwwhointglobalchangeGenderClimateChangeHealthfinalpdf8 ibid9 ibid

22

from climate change10 Changes in the climate usually impact on

sectors that are traditionally associated with women such as

paddy cultivation cotton and tea plantations and fishing11

In this research gender analysis is not a special focus on women

but rather an understanding on how discrimination against women

and gender roles interact to shape men and womenrsquos enjoyment of

human dignity rights as well as equality of living12

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) defines

Hazard as ldquoA potentially damaging physical event phenomenon or

human activity that may cause the loss of life or injury

property damage social and economic disruption or environmental

degradation Hazards can include latent conditions that may

represent future threats and can have different origins natural

(geological hydro meteorological and biological) or induced by

human processes (environmental degradation and technological

hazards)rdquo

TheoriesClimate change and gender and the relation between these two

phenomenons can be described with different theory This section

of research is destined to explain climate change and gender

relation with different International Relations theory

10Parikh J Mainstreaming Gender into Climate Change Policies Retrieved on July 8 2013 from wwwdisasterwatchnetclimatechangegndr_climt07pdf11 ibid12Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh GenderCC

23

i) Feminist Theory

The main concept of Radical feminist is lsquopatriarchyrsquo that means

the lsquorule of fatherrsquo In feminist theory we can see that there

are two form of patriarchy one is classical form of patriarchy

and another is more loose form of patriarchy But in both of the

patriarchal system women have no say in decision making Even

while they have to go through different types of mental and

physical violence during and after any climate hazard occur they

are not able to make any decision for themselves because

patriarchal society do not allow women to be treated equally as

men while decision making and it also reflects in climate change

policy

Liberal feminists are generally concerned with equal rights In

the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries liberal feminist argued

that women by nature different from men that means climate

vulnerabilities of women are also different from men They also

argued for womenrsquos equality on the grounds that they are capable

of making their personal decision and determine their best

interest which is as rational as men Therefore women should have

equal rights while decision making during any climate hazard The

reproductive chores such as child rearing and bearing water

collection food production and acquisition etc of any household

are mostly done by the female member of the family In this

regard climate hazards increases the burden for women and girls

because they are expected to ensure all this household chores

24

Radical feminist argued that to achieve genuine equality it is

important to share these responsibilities with men and as women

by nature different from men climate change policies also should

be gender sensitive

ii) Dependency Theory

According to dependency theory the core periphery and semi

periphery countryrsquos economy and development are interrelated and

interdependent So climate vulnerabilities of women are not an

internal matter for any particular country Rather it needs

global attention as it will also affect the other country and

their development process both directly and indirectly In this

regard global concern joint decision and gender responsive

climate change policy is required as the whole world is

ultimately dependent on each other

iii) Realist Theory

A very significant quote is important to address here by famous

realist scholar Thucydides is-

ldquoThe strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they mustrdquo

The developed countries as the lsquostrongrsquo power do what they want

to do to boost up their economy without considering climate

issues and the week (developing countries) suffer the effects

caused by climate change Before cold war the concept of

security used to consider as military power but in the

contemporary world climate security become more important rather

25

than military security Powerful states now are more concerned

about their own climate security and try to increase their

economic growth by exploiting the environment of weaker states

State as well as the people and mostly women of the developing

countries are the victim of this exploitation and they have to

bear different types of climate hazards which actually causes by

these developedpowerful states In result as women are the

weaker groups they suffer more than the stronger group of men

during all these climate hazards At the same time the men as

stronger group take every decision over the weaker women whenever

there is any climate hazard

iv) Neo-Liberal Theory

Neo-liberal theory supports the trade liberalization that means

removal of trade barrier opening of state economic enterprise

and privatization of market etc After the cold war the emergence

of globalization and the liberalization of market have increased

the investment of Multinational Corporations in the developing

world that have an adversely affect on their local climate The

waste materials and toxic gases emit during the production

procedure cause different types of climate hazards These

unwanted climate hazards also leave significant effect on women

As neo-liberalism emphasize on lsquoindividualrsquo women should be

consider as a group of individual while designing the policies

for climate change

26

Chapter III

ldquoHow climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

genderrdquo

9Climate Hazard Prone Areas of BangladeshThere are some common climate hazards often seen in Bangladesh

and areas mostly affected by these hazards in Bangladesh

identified to answer the above central research question

Different types of climate changersquos impacts such as flood

cyclone river erosion drought heavy rainfall sea level rise

soil degradation etc mainly seen in Bangladesh Among all these

climate hazards this research is mainly focused on three major

climate hazards of Bangladesh and these are- heavy rainfall and

flood river erosion and drought A quick view of climate

hazards prone areas of Bangladesh are given below

Table-1 (Climate Hazard Prone Areas of Bangladesh)

Climate Hazards Most Affected AreasDrought North-West Bengal districts

Rajshahi Gaibandha etcRiver Erosion Active river channels of the

Ganges the Jamuna and theTista rivers and in the coastaland offshore areas

Heavy Rainfall ndash North-western and western

27

Flood-

Bangladesh Chittagong hills

Central region North-Eastregion Charland South BengalBarisal Bagerhat KhulnaSatkhira etc

This table shows us that drought prone areas are mainly in North-

Western Bengalrsquos districts like Rajshahi Gaibandha etc which

has lower rainfall than the other areas of Bangladesh

(Map-1)

Source NAPA

28

River bank erosion prone areas are more or less around the whole

country but mostly it is being seen in the areas along the active

river channels of the Ganges the Jamuna and the Tista rivers and

in the coastal and offshore areas of Bangladesh13 About 17

million hectares of floodplain areas are prone to riverbank

erosion14

Floods are very common in Bangladesh and it affects almost 80

land of our country Every year Bangladesh has been facing 1 or 2

extreme disasters According to Zayeda Sharmin (2013) there are

different categories of floods in Bangladesh and these are ndash

(i) Monsoon floods it increase slowly and decrease slowly

inundate vast areas and causes huge loss to the life and

property

(ii) Flash floods from sudden torrential flows following a brief

intense rainstorm

(iii) Tidal floods which are of short duration but are generally

around 3 to 6 meter high and

(iv) Rain floods caused by drainage congestion and heavy rain

Flood prone areas are mainly in the south Bengal like Barisal

Bhola Bagerhat Khulna Shatkhira etc

13National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)(2005) Ministry of Environment and Forest Government of the Peoplersquos Republic of Bangladesh pg no-4 Retrieved on November 1 2013 From unfcccintresourcedocsnapaban01pdf14 Ibid

29

(Map-2)

Source NAPA

Lastly heavy rainfall is mainly seen in north-western and western

Bangladesh Chittagong hills and more or less all over the

country But mostly in the southern part than the northern part

of Bangladesh heavy rainfall is quite a common climate hazard

9 Climate Vulnerabilities of Women

As mentioned earlier that women are closely related to the

environmental elements it is obvious that climate change effects

should have impact on women In the context of climate change a

lsquogender analysisrsquo promotes an understanding of the ways that men

30

and women are differently impacted by climate-related hazards and

by adopting adaptation and mitigation strategies15 Now the

effects of climate-related hazards on gender are describing

below

Firstly in the drought prone areas

-the cultivable lands become difficult to produce any crops

Those women who depend on agricultural activities they become

helpless for their daily income In this case they face problem

to find new place for work and if by any chance they are able to

find work then they have to face different physical and mental

harassment at the working place

-On the other hand they have to take extra pressure to manage

their household because they have to go far for earning It also

decays their physical strength and at the same time they have to

face different unexpected challenges

Picture-1 Drought in Bangladesh

15Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh Op cit

31

Source Not Enough Goodcom available at

httpnotenoughgoodcom201208indian-blackoutdrought

-They also have to take care about the drinking and daily useable

water for their family which also bring another responsibility

and additional burden to handle They have to face different

types of sexual harassment as they have to go far to collect the

water

-Further pregnant women are more vulnerable during this type of

situation

Secondly at the period like flood and heavy rainfall

-women have no role in decision making for their future They

have to rely on their male head even the women who earn for their

household has no saying during these types of situation During

the survey the responses of women several times indicated that

those women had to accept what the male member of their family

decided Whether there was any health issue or household issue

women had to depend on the male to take any action

32

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

in a report of Tahera Akter (2009) evaluate that there are no

timeframe of any action plan to find out the problem in the

national policy She also addressed that the existing policies

are very old and are not capable to cope with changing natural

hazards Revealing these policy gaps she further mentioned that

there is lack of coordination among the organizations to

effectively evaluate the problems of environmentally displaced

people She also added that there is no national estimation or

prediction about environmental displacement World Health

Organization (WHO) also finds out some remarkable gaps between

the policies and practices in one of its report to understand the

issues for urgent action This report is mainly based on gender

climate change and health which evaluated some loopholes of the

overall existing policies

To reduce these loopholes climate change policies require

reformulation of its structure In this regard Sandra Bathge

(2010) concluded with some adaptation and mitigation measures

which can be also used as recommendation for this research as

those measures are related to policy formulation in a new way

This working paper included access to education land ownership

and services markets etc and also provided policies

considering gender about training programs awareness building

ability to generate income etc which lead this paper to design

the reformulation of climate change policies Further Alyson

Brody Justina Demetriades and Emily Esplen (2008) mostly

emphasized on the participation of women in decision making

20

processes around climate change adaptation and mitigation They

also recommended various aspects like identifying gender impacts

and adaptation priorities in both rural and urban areas

identifying gender implications of long term drought and

starvation etc on the other hand Nilufar Ahmad (2012) in her

paper mainly focused on the basis of individual policy

reformulation which is another most important literature for this

research She suggested BCCSAP to prioritize key gender entry

points indicators and annual targets and link these with the

budget She also recommended about accountable environmental

governance a gender informed cross-sectoral monitoring and

evaluation system to monitor construction and rehabilitation of

gender friendly and multi-purpose shelter and also other

important rights of women Emmeline Skinner (2011) also included

a number of notable suggestions for the pro-gender climate change

policy reformulation She added about strong political commitment

to gender equality stronger participation of women in climate

change institutions and processes conduct gender responsive

budgeting link mitigation and adaptation processes etc

These literatures are not much supportive to have a complete view

of the climate change policies on gender perspective and that is

one of the biggest challenges of this research Again reviewing

these important policies it was easy to figure out to a great

extent that the climate change policies need proper reformulation

and thus literature review evaluate the future improvements and

recommendations of gender sensitive climate change policies

21

8Theoretical ExplanationConcepts

My research follows the definition adopted by the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in which

ldquoclimate changerdquo refers to any change in climate over time

whether due to natural variability or as a result of human

activity7 This usage differs from that in the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which defines

ldquoclimate changerdquo as ldquoa change of climate which is attributed

directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the

composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to

natural climate variability observed over comparable time

periodsrdquo8

ldquoGenderrdquo refers to the socially constructed norms roles and

relations that a given society considers appropriate for men and

women Gender determines what is expected permitted and valued

in a woman or a man in a determined context9

A brief of Nandini Oberoi illustrated that Climate change is a

gender issue and that women are particularly vulnerable to

climate change because they are more prone to the adverse impacts

7Gender Climate change and Health World Health Organization pg5 Retrievedon September 23 2013 from wwwwhointglobalchangeGenderClimateChangeHealthfinalpdf8 ibid9 ibid

22

from climate change10 Changes in the climate usually impact on

sectors that are traditionally associated with women such as

paddy cultivation cotton and tea plantations and fishing11

In this research gender analysis is not a special focus on women

but rather an understanding on how discrimination against women

and gender roles interact to shape men and womenrsquos enjoyment of

human dignity rights as well as equality of living12

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) defines

Hazard as ldquoA potentially damaging physical event phenomenon or

human activity that may cause the loss of life or injury

property damage social and economic disruption or environmental

degradation Hazards can include latent conditions that may

represent future threats and can have different origins natural

(geological hydro meteorological and biological) or induced by

human processes (environmental degradation and technological

hazards)rdquo

TheoriesClimate change and gender and the relation between these two

phenomenons can be described with different theory This section

of research is destined to explain climate change and gender

relation with different International Relations theory

10Parikh J Mainstreaming Gender into Climate Change Policies Retrieved on July 8 2013 from wwwdisasterwatchnetclimatechangegndr_climt07pdf11 ibid12Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh GenderCC

23

i) Feminist Theory

The main concept of Radical feminist is lsquopatriarchyrsquo that means

the lsquorule of fatherrsquo In feminist theory we can see that there

are two form of patriarchy one is classical form of patriarchy

and another is more loose form of patriarchy But in both of the

patriarchal system women have no say in decision making Even

while they have to go through different types of mental and

physical violence during and after any climate hazard occur they

are not able to make any decision for themselves because

patriarchal society do not allow women to be treated equally as

men while decision making and it also reflects in climate change

policy

Liberal feminists are generally concerned with equal rights In

the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries liberal feminist argued

that women by nature different from men that means climate

vulnerabilities of women are also different from men They also

argued for womenrsquos equality on the grounds that they are capable

of making their personal decision and determine their best

interest which is as rational as men Therefore women should have

equal rights while decision making during any climate hazard The

reproductive chores such as child rearing and bearing water

collection food production and acquisition etc of any household

are mostly done by the female member of the family In this

regard climate hazards increases the burden for women and girls

because they are expected to ensure all this household chores

24

Radical feminist argued that to achieve genuine equality it is

important to share these responsibilities with men and as women

by nature different from men climate change policies also should

be gender sensitive

ii) Dependency Theory

According to dependency theory the core periphery and semi

periphery countryrsquos economy and development are interrelated and

interdependent So climate vulnerabilities of women are not an

internal matter for any particular country Rather it needs

global attention as it will also affect the other country and

their development process both directly and indirectly In this

regard global concern joint decision and gender responsive

climate change policy is required as the whole world is

ultimately dependent on each other

iii) Realist Theory

A very significant quote is important to address here by famous

realist scholar Thucydides is-

ldquoThe strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they mustrdquo

The developed countries as the lsquostrongrsquo power do what they want

to do to boost up their economy without considering climate

issues and the week (developing countries) suffer the effects

caused by climate change Before cold war the concept of

security used to consider as military power but in the

contemporary world climate security become more important rather

25

than military security Powerful states now are more concerned

about their own climate security and try to increase their

economic growth by exploiting the environment of weaker states

State as well as the people and mostly women of the developing

countries are the victim of this exploitation and they have to

bear different types of climate hazards which actually causes by

these developedpowerful states In result as women are the

weaker groups they suffer more than the stronger group of men

during all these climate hazards At the same time the men as

stronger group take every decision over the weaker women whenever

there is any climate hazard

iv) Neo-Liberal Theory

Neo-liberal theory supports the trade liberalization that means

removal of trade barrier opening of state economic enterprise

and privatization of market etc After the cold war the emergence

of globalization and the liberalization of market have increased

the investment of Multinational Corporations in the developing

world that have an adversely affect on their local climate The

waste materials and toxic gases emit during the production

procedure cause different types of climate hazards These

unwanted climate hazards also leave significant effect on women

As neo-liberalism emphasize on lsquoindividualrsquo women should be

consider as a group of individual while designing the policies

for climate change

26

Chapter III

ldquoHow climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

genderrdquo

9Climate Hazard Prone Areas of BangladeshThere are some common climate hazards often seen in Bangladesh

and areas mostly affected by these hazards in Bangladesh

identified to answer the above central research question

Different types of climate changersquos impacts such as flood

cyclone river erosion drought heavy rainfall sea level rise

soil degradation etc mainly seen in Bangladesh Among all these

climate hazards this research is mainly focused on three major

climate hazards of Bangladesh and these are- heavy rainfall and

flood river erosion and drought A quick view of climate

hazards prone areas of Bangladesh are given below

Table-1 (Climate Hazard Prone Areas of Bangladesh)

Climate Hazards Most Affected AreasDrought North-West Bengal districts

Rajshahi Gaibandha etcRiver Erosion Active river channels of the

Ganges the Jamuna and theTista rivers and in the coastaland offshore areas

Heavy Rainfall ndash North-western and western

27

Flood-

Bangladesh Chittagong hills

Central region North-Eastregion Charland South BengalBarisal Bagerhat KhulnaSatkhira etc

This table shows us that drought prone areas are mainly in North-

Western Bengalrsquos districts like Rajshahi Gaibandha etc which

has lower rainfall than the other areas of Bangladesh

(Map-1)

Source NAPA

28

River bank erosion prone areas are more or less around the whole

country but mostly it is being seen in the areas along the active

river channels of the Ganges the Jamuna and the Tista rivers and

in the coastal and offshore areas of Bangladesh13 About 17

million hectares of floodplain areas are prone to riverbank

erosion14

Floods are very common in Bangladesh and it affects almost 80

land of our country Every year Bangladesh has been facing 1 or 2

extreme disasters According to Zayeda Sharmin (2013) there are

different categories of floods in Bangladesh and these are ndash

(i) Monsoon floods it increase slowly and decrease slowly

inundate vast areas and causes huge loss to the life and

property

(ii) Flash floods from sudden torrential flows following a brief

intense rainstorm

(iii) Tidal floods which are of short duration but are generally

around 3 to 6 meter high and

(iv) Rain floods caused by drainage congestion and heavy rain

Flood prone areas are mainly in the south Bengal like Barisal

Bhola Bagerhat Khulna Shatkhira etc

13National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)(2005) Ministry of Environment and Forest Government of the Peoplersquos Republic of Bangladesh pg no-4 Retrieved on November 1 2013 From unfcccintresourcedocsnapaban01pdf14 Ibid

29

(Map-2)

Source NAPA

Lastly heavy rainfall is mainly seen in north-western and western

Bangladesh Chittagong hills and more or less all over the

country But mostly in the southern part than the northern part

of Bangladesh heavy rainfall is quite a common climate hazard

9 Climate Vulnerabilities of Women

As mentioned earlier that women are closely related to the

environmental elements it is obvious that climate change effects

should have impact on women In the context of climate change a

lsquogender analysisrsquo promotes an understanding of the ways that men

30

and women are differently impacted by climate-related hazards and

by adopting adaptation and mitigation strategies15 Now the

effects of climate-related hazards on gender are describing

below

Firstly in the drought prone areas

-the cultivable lands become difficult to produce any crops

Those women who depend on agricultural activities they become

helpless for their daily income In this case they face problem

to find new place for work and if by any chance they are able to

find work then they have to face different physical and mental

harassment at the working place

-On the other hand they have to take extra pressure to manage

their household because they have to go far for earning It also

decays their physical strength and at the same time they have to

face different unexpected challenges

Picture-1 Drought in Bangladesh

15Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh Op cit

31

Source Not Enough Goodcom available at

httpnotenoughgoodcom201208indian-blackoutdrought

-They also have to take care about the drinking and daily useable

water for their family which also bring another responsibility

and additional burden to handle They have to face different

types of sexual harassment as they have to go far to collect the

water

-Further pregnant women are more vulnerable during this type of

situation

Secondly at the period like flood and heavy rainfall

-women have no role in decision making for their future They

have to rely on their male head even the women who earn for their

household has no saying during these types of situation During

the survey the responses of women several times indicated that

those women had to accept what the male member of their family

decided Whether there was any health issue or household issue

women had to depend on the male to take any action

32

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

processes around climate change adaptation and mitigation They

also recommended various aspects like identifying gender impacts

and adaptation priorities in both rural and urban areas

identifying gender implications of long term drought and

starvation etc on the other hand Nilufar Ahmad (2012) in her

paper mainly focused on the basis of individual policy

reformulation which is another most important literature for this

research She suggested BCCSAP to prioritize key gender entry

points indicators and annual targets and link these with the

budget She also recommended about accountable environmental

governance a gender informed cross-sectoral monitoring and

evaluation system to monitor construction and rehabilitation of

gender friendly and multi-purpose shelter and also other

important rights of women Emmeline Skinner (2011) also included

a number of notable suggestions for the pro-gender climate change

policy reformulation She added about strong political commitment

to gender equality stronger participation of women in climate

change institutions and processes conduct gender responsive

budgeting link mitigation and adaptation processes etc

These literatures are not much supportive to have a complete view

of the climate change policies on gender perspective and that is

one of the biggest challenges of this research Again reviewing

these important policies it was easy to figure out to a great

extent that the climate change policies need proper reformulation

and thus literature review evaluate the future improvements and

recommendations of gender sensitive climate change policies

21

8Theoretical ExplanationConcepts

My research follows the definition adopted by the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in which

ldquoclimate changerdquo refers to any change in climate over time

whether due to natural variability or as a result of human

activity7 This usage differs from that in the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which defines

ldquoclimate changerdquo as ldquoa change of climate which is attributed

directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the

composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to

natural climate variability observed over comparable time

periodsrdquo8

ldquoGenderrdquo refers to the socially constructed norms roles and

relations that a given society considers appropriate for men and

women Gender determines what is expected permitted and valued

in a woman or a man in a determined context9

A brief of Nandini Oberoi illustrated that Climate change is a

gender issue and that women are particularly vulnerable to

climate change because they are more prone to the adverse impacts

7Gender Climate change and Health World Health Organization pg5 Retrievedon September 23 2013 from wwwwhointglobalchangeGenderClimateChangeHealthfinalpdf8 ibid9 ibid

22

from climate change10 Changes in the climate usually impact on

sectors that are traditionally associated with women such as

paddy cultivation cotton and tea plantations and fishing11

In this research gender analysis is not a special focus on women

but rather an understanding on how discrimination against women

and gender roles interact to shape men and womenrsquos enjoyment of

human dignity rights as well as equality of living12

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) defines

Hazard as ldquoA potentially damaging physical event phenomenon or

human activity that may cause the loss of life or injury

property damage social and economic disruption or environmental

degradation Hazards can include latent conditions that may

represent future threats and can have different origins natural

(geological hydro meteorological and biological) or induced by

human processes (environmental degradation and technological

hazards)rdquo

TheoriesClimate change and gender and the relation between these two

phenomenons can be described with different theory This section

of research is destined to explain climate change and gender

relation with different International Relations theory

10Parikh J Mainstreaming Gender into Climate Change Policies Retrieved on July 8 2013 from wwwdisasterwatchnetclimatechangegndr_climt07pdf11 ibid12Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh GenderCC

23

i) Feminist Theory

The main concept of Radical feminist is lsquopatriarchyrsquo that means

the lsquorule of fatherrsquo In feminist theory we can see that there

are two form of patriarchy one is classical form of patriarchy

and another is more loose form of patriarchy But in both of the

patriarchal system women have no say in decision making Even

while they have to go through different types of mental and

physical violence during and after any climate hazard occur they

are not able to make any decision for themselves because

patriarchal society do not allow women to be treated equally as

men while decision making and it also reflects in climate change

policy

Liberal feminists are generally concerned with equal rights In

the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries liberal feminist argued

that women by nature different from men that means climate

vulnerabilities of women are also different from men They also

argued for womenrsquos equality on the grounds that they are capable

of making their personal decision and determine their best

interest which is as rational as men Therefore women should have

equal rights while decision making during any climate hazard The

reproductive chores such as child rearing and bearing water

collection food production and acquisition etc of any household

are mostly done by the female member of the family In this

regard climate hazards increases the burden for women and girls

because they are expected to ensure all this household chores

24

Radical feminist argued that to achieve genuine equality it is

important to share these responsibilities with men and as women

by nature different from men climate change policies also should

be gender sensitive

ii) Dependency Theory

According to dependency theory the core periphery and semi

periphery countryrsquos economy and development are interrelated and

interdependent So climate vulnerabilities of women are not an

internal matter for any particular country Rather it needs

global attention as it will also affect the other country and

their development process both directly and indirectly In this

regard global concern joint decision and gender responsive

climate change policy is required as the whole world is

ultimately dependent on each other

iii) Realist Theory

A very significant quote is important to address here by famous

realist scholar Thucydides is-

ldquoThe strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they mustrdquo

The developed countries as the lsquostrongrsquo power do what they want

to do to boost up their economy without considering climate

issues and the week (developing countries) suffer the effects

caused by climate change Before cold war the concept of

security used to consider as military power but in the

contemporary world climate security become more important rather

25

than military security Powerful states now are more concerned

about their own climate security and try to increase their

economic growth by exploiting the environment of weaker states

State as well as the people and mostly women of the developing

countries are the victim of this exploitation and they have to

bear different types of climate hazards which actually causes by

these developedpowerful states In result as women are the

weaker groups they suffer more than the stronger group of men

during all these climate hazards At the same time the men as

stronger group take every decision over the weaker women whenever

there is any climate hazard

iv) Neo-Liberal Theory

Neo-liberal theory supports the trade liberalization that means

removal of trade barrier opening of state economic enterprise

and privatization of market etc After the cold war the emergence

of globalization and the liberalization of market have increased

the investment of Multinational Corporations in the developing

world that have an adversely affect on their local climate The

waste materials and toxic gases emit during the production

procedure cause different types of climate hazards These

unwanted climate hazards also leave significant effect on women

As neo-liberalism emphasize on lsquoindividualrsquo women should be

consider as a group of individual while designing the policies

for climate change

26

Chapter III

ldquoHow climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

genderrdquo

9Climate Hazard Prone Areas of BangladeshThere are some common climate hazards often seen in Bangladesh

and areas mostly affected by these hazards in Bangladesh

identified to answer the above central research question

Different types of climate changersquos impacts such as flood

cyclone river erosion drought heavy rainfall sea level rise

soil degradation etc mainly seen in Bangladesh Among all these

climate hazards this research is mainly focused on three major

climate hazards of Bangladesh and these are- heavy rainfall and

flood river erosion and drought A quick view of climate

hazards prone areas of Bangladesh are given below

Table-1 (Climate Hazard Prone Areas of Bangladesh)

Climate Hazards Most Affected AreasDrought North-West Bengal districts

Rajshahi Gaibandha etcRiver Erosion Active river channels of the

Ganges the Jamuna and theTista rivers and in the coastaland offshore areas

Heavy Rainfall ndash North-western and western

27

Flood-

Bangladesh Chittagong hills

Central region North-Eastregion Charland South BengalBarisal Bagerhat KhulnaSatkhira etc

This table shows us that drought prone areas are mainly in North-

Western Bengalrsquos districts like Rajshahi Gaibandha etc which

has lower rainfall than the other areas of Bangladesh

(Map-1)

Source NAPA

28

River bank erosion prone areas are more or less around the whole

country but mostly it is being seen in the areas along the active

river channels of the Ganges the Jamuna and the Tista rivers and

in the coastal and offshore areas of Bangladesh13 About 17

million hectares of floodplain areas are prone to riverbank

erosion14

Floods are very common in Bangladesh and it affects almost 80

land of our country Every year Bangladesh has been facing 1 or 2

extreme disasters According to Zayeda Sharmin (2013) there are

different categories of floods in Bangladesh and these are ndash

(i) Monsoon floods it increase slowly and decrease slowly

inundate vast areas and causes huge loss to the life and

property

(ii) Flash floods from sudden torrential flows following a brief

intense rainstorm

(iii) Tidal floods which are of short duration but are generally

around 3 to 6 meter high and

(iv) Rain floods caused by drainage congestion and heavy rain

Flood prone areas are mainly in the south Bengal like Barisal

Bhola Bagerhat Khulna Shatkhira etc

13National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)(2005) Ministry of Environment and Forest Government of the Peoplersquos Republic of Bangladesh pg no-4 Retrieved on November 1 2013 From unfcccintresourcedocsnapaban01pdf14 Ibid

29

(Map-2)

Source NAPA

Lastly heavy rainfall is mainly seen in north-western and western

Bangladesh Chittagong hills and more or less all over the

country But mostly in the southern part than the northern part

of Bangladesh heavy rainfall is quite a common climate hazard

9 Climate Vulnerabilities of Women

As mentioned earlier that women are closely related to the

environmental elements it is obvious that climate change effects

should have impact on women In the context of climate change a

lsquogender analysisrsquo promotes an understanding of the ways that men

30

and women are differently impacted by climate-related hazards and

by adopting adaptation and mitigation strategies15 Now the

effects of climate-related hazards on gender are describing

below

Firstly in the drought prone areas

-the cultivable lands become difficult to produce any crops

Those women who depend on agricultural activities they become

helpless for their daily income In this case they face problem

to find new place for work and if by any chance they are able to

find work then they have to face different physical and mental

harassment at the working place

-On the other hand they have to take extra pressure to manage

their household because they have to go far for earning It also

decays their physical strength and at the same time they have to

face different unexpected challenges

Picture-1 Drought in Bangladesh

15Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh Op cit

31

Source Not Enough Goodcom available at

httpnotenoughgoodcom201208indian-blackoutdrought

-They also have to take care about the drinking and daily useable

water for their family which also bring another responsibility

and additional burden to handle They have to face different

types of sexual harassment as they have to go far to collect the

water

-Further pregnant women are more vulnerable during this type of

situation

Secondly at the period like flood and heavy rainfall

-women have no role in decision making for their future They

have to rely on their male head even the women who earn for their

household has no saying during these types of situation During

the survey the responses of women several times indicated that

those women had to accept what the male member of their family

decided Whether there was any health issue or household issue

women had to depend on the male to take any action

32

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

8Theoretical ExplanationConcepts

My research follows the definition adopted by the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in which

ldquoclimate changerdquo refers to any change in climate over time

whether due to natural variability or as a result of human

activity7 This usage differs from that in the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which defines

ldquoclimate changerdquo as ldquoa change of climate which is attributed

directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the

composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to

natural climate variability observed over comparable time

periodsrdquo8

ldquoGenderrdquo refers to the socially constructed norms roles and

relations that a given society considers appropriate for men and

women Gender determines what is expected permitted and valued

in a woman or a man in a determined context9

A brief of Nandini Oberoi illustrated that Climate change is a

gender issue and that women are particularly vulnerable to

climate change because they are more prone to the adverse impacts

7Gender Climate change and Health World Health Organization pg5 Retrievedon September 23 2013 from wwwwhointglobalchangeGenderClimateChangeHealthfinalpdf8 ibid9 ibid

22

from climate change10 Changes in the climate usually impact on

sectors that are traditionally associated with women such as

paddy cultivation cotton and tea plantations and fishing11

In this research gender analysis is not a special focus on women

but rather an understanding on how discrimination against women

and gender roles interact to shape men and womenrsquos enjoyment of

human dignity rights as well as equality of living12

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) defines

Hazard as ldquoA potentially damaging physical event phenomenon or

human activity that may cause the loss of life or injury

property damage social and economic disruption or environmental

degradation Hazards can include latent conditions that may

represent future threats and can have different origins natural

(geological hydro meteorological and biological) or induced by

human processes (environmental degradation and technological

hazards)rdquo

TheoriesClimate change and gender and the relation between these two

phenomenons can be described with different theory This section

of research is destined to explain climate change and gender

relation with different International Relations theory

10Parikh J Mainstreaming Gender into Climate Change Policies Retrieved on July 8 2013 from wwwdisasterwatchnetclimatechangegndr_climt07pdf11 ibid12Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh GenderCC

23

i) Feminist Theory

The main concept of Radical feminist is lsquopatriarchyrsquo that means

the lsquorule of fatherrsquo In feminist theory we can see that there

are two form of patriarchy one is classical form of patriarchy

and another is more loose form of patriarchy But in both of the

patriarchal system women have no say in decision making Even

while they have to go through different types of mental and

physical violence during and after any climate hazard occur they

are not able to make any decision for themselves because

patriarchal society do not allow women to be treated equally as

men while decision making and it also reflects in climate change

policy

Liberal feminists are generally concerned with equal rights In

the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries liberal feminist argued

that women by nature different from men that means climate

vulnerabilities of women are also different from men They also

argued for womenrsquos equality on the grounds that they are capable

of making their personal decision and determine their best

interest which is as rational as men Therefore women should have

equal rights while decision making during any climate hazard The

reproductive chores such as child rearing and bearing water

collection food production and acquisition etc of any household

are mostly done by the female member of the family In this

regard climate hazards increases the burden for women and girls

because they are expected to ensure all this household chores

24

Radical feminist argued that to achieve genuine equality it is

important to share these responsibilities with men and as women

by nature different from men climate change policies also should

be gender sensitive

ii) Dependency Theory

According to dependency theory the core periphery and semi

periphery countryrsquos economy and development are interrelated and

interdependent So climate vulnerabilities of women are not an

internal matter for any particular country Rather it needs

global attention as it will also affect the other country and

their development process both directly and indirectly In this

regard global concern joint decision and gender responsive

climate change policy is required as the whole world is

ultimately dependent on each other

iii) Realist Theory

A very significant quote is important to address here by famous

realist scholar Thucydides is-

ldquoThe strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they mustrdquo

The developed countries as the lsquostrongrsquo power do what they want

to do to boost up their economy without considering climate

issues and the week (developing countries) suffer the effects

caused by climate change Before cold war the concept of

security used to consider as military power but in the

contemporary world climate security become more important rather

25

than military security Powerful states now are more concerned

about their own climate security and try to increase their

economic growth by exploiting the environment of weaker states

State as well as the people and mostly women of the developing

countries are the victim of this exploitation and they have to

bear different types of climate hazards which actually causes by

these developedpowerful states In result as women are the

weaker groups they suffer more than the stronger group of men

during all these climate hazards At the same time the men as

stronger group take every decision over the weaker women whenever

there is any climate hazard

iv) Neo-Liberal Theory

Neo-liberal theory supports the trade liberalization that means

removal of trade barrier opening of state economic enterprise

and privatization of market etc After the cold war the emergence

of globalization and the liberalization of market have increased

the investment of Multinational Corporations in the developing

world that have an adversely affect on their local climate The

waste materials and toxic gases emit during the production

procedure cause different types of climate hazards These

unwanted climate hazards also leave significant effect on women

As neo-liberalism emphasize on lsquoindividualrsquo women should be

consider as a group of individual while designing the policies

for climate change

26

Chapter III

ldquoHow climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

genderrdquo

9Climate Hazard Prone Areas of BangladeshThere are some common climate hazards often seen in Bangladesh

and areas mostly affected by these hazards in Bangladesh

identified to answer the above central research question

Different types of climate changersquos impacts such as flood

cyclone river erosion drought heavy rainfall sea level rise

soil degradation etc mainly seen in Bangladesh Among all these

climate hazards this research is mainly focused on three major

climate hazards of Bangladesh and these are- heavy rainfall and

flood river erosion and drought A quick view of climate

hazards prone areas of Bangladesh are given below

Table-1 (Climate Hazard Prone Areas of Bangladesh)

Climate Hazards Most Affected AreasDrought North-West Bengal districts

Rajshahi Gaibandha etcRiver Erosion Active river channels of the

Ganges the Jamuna and theTista rivers and in the coastaland offshore areas

Heavy Rainfall ndash North-western and western

27

Flood-

Bangladesh Chittagong hills

Central region North-Eastregion Charland South BengalBarisal Bagerhat KhulnaSatkhira etc

This table shows us that drought prone areas are mainly in North-

Western Bengalrsquos districts like Rajshahi Gaibandha etc which

has lower rainfall than the other areas of Bangladesh

(Map-1)

Source NAPA

28

River bank erosion prone areas are more or less around the whole

country but mostly it is being seen in the areas along the active

river channels of the Ganges the Jamuna and the Tista rivers and

in the coastal and offshore areas of Bangladesh13 About 17

million hectares of floodplain areas are prone to riverbank

erosion14

Floods are very common in Bangladesh and it affects almost 80

land of our country Every year Bangladesh has been facing 1 or 2

extreme disasters According to Zayeda Sharmin (2013) there are

different categories of floods in Bangladesh and these are ndash

(i) Monsoon floods it increase slowly and decrease slowly

inundate vast areas and causes huge loss to the life and

property

(ii) Flash floods from sudden torrential flows following a brief

intense rainstorm

(iii) Tidal floods which are of short duration but are generally

around 3 to 6 meter high and

(iv) Rain floods caused by drainage congestion and heavy rain

Flood prone areas are mainly in the south Bengal like Barisal

Bhola Bagerhat Khulna Shatkhira etc

13National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)(2005) Ministry of Environment and Forest Government of the Peoplersquos Republic of Bangladesh pg no-4 Retrieved on November 1 2013 From unfcccintresourcedocsnapaban01pdf14 Ibid

29

(Map-2)

Source NAPA

Lastly heavy rainfall is mainly seen in north-western and western

Bangladesh Chittagong hills and more or less all over the

country But mostly in the southern part than the northern part

of Bangladesh heavy rainfall is quite a common climate hazard

9 Climate Vulnerabilities of Women

As mentioned earlier that women are closely related to the

environmental elements it is obvious that climate change effects

should have impact on women In the context of climate change a

lsquogender analysisrsquo promotes an understanding of the ways that men

30

and women are differently impacted by climate-related hazards and

by adopting adaptation and mitigation strategies15 Now the

effects of climate-related hazards on gender are describing

below

Firstly in the drought prone areas

-the cultivable lands become difficult to produce any crops

Those women who depend on agricultural activities they become

helpless for their daily income In this case they face problem

to find new place for work and if by any chance they are able to

find work then they have to face different physical and mental

harassment at the working place

-On the other hand they have to take extra pressure to manage

their household because they have to go far for earning It also

decays their physical strength and at the same time they have to

face different unexpected challenges

Picture-1 Drought in Bangladesh

15Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh Op cit

31

Source Not Enough Goodcom available at

httpnotenoughgoodcom201208indian-blackoutdrought

-They also have to take care about the drinking and daily useable

water for their family which also bring another responsibility

and additional burden to handle They have to face different

types of sexual harassment as they have to go far to collect the

water

-Further pregnant women are more vulnerable during this type of

situation

Secondly at the period like flood and heavy rainfall

-women have no role in decision making for their future They

have to rely on their male head even the women who earn for their

household has no saying during these types of situation During

the survey the responses of women several times indicated that

those women had to accept what the male member of their family

decided Whether there was any health issue or household issue

women had to depend on the male to take any action

32

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

from climate change10 Changes in the climate usually impact on

sectors that are traditionally associated with women such as

paddy cultivation cotton and tea plantations and fishing11

In this research gender analysis is not a special focus on women

but rather an understanding on how discrimination against women

and gender roles interact to shape men and womenrsquos enjoyment of

human dignity rights as well as equality of living12

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) defines

Hazard as ldquoA potentially damaging physical event phenomenon or

human activity that may cause the loss of life or injury

property damage social and economic disruption or environmental

degradation Hazards can include latent conditions that may

represent future threats and can have different origins natural

(geological hydro meteorological and biological) or induced by

human processes (environmental degradation and technological

hazards)rdquo

TheoriesClimate change and gender and the relation between these two

phenomenons can be described with different theory This section

of research is destined to explain climate change and gender

relation with different International Relations theory

10Parikh J Mainstreaming Gender into Climate Change Policies Retrieved on July 8 2013 from wwwdisasterwatchnetclimatechangegndr_climt07pdf11 ibid12Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh GenderCC

23

i) Feminist Theory

The main concept of Radical feminist is lsquopatriarchyrsquo that means

the lsquorule of fatherrsquo In feminist theory we can see that there

are two form of patriarchy one is classical form of patriarchy

and another is more loose form of patriarchy But in both of the

patriarchal system women have no say in decision making Even

while they have to go through different types of mental and

physical violence during and after any climate hazard occur they

are not able to make any decision for themselves because

patriarchal society do not allow women to be treated equally as

men while decision making and it also reflects in climate change

policy

Liberal feminists are generally concerned with equal rights In

the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries liberal feminist argued

that women by nature different from men that means climate

vulnerabilities of women are also different from men They also

argued for womenrsquos equality on the grounds that they are capable

of making their personal decision and determine their best

interest which is as rational as men Therefore women should have

equal rights while decision making during any climate hazard The

reproductive chores such as child rearing and bearing water

collection food production and acquisition etc of any household

are mostly done by the female member of the family In this

regard climate hazards increases the burden for women and girls

because they are expected to ensure all this household chores

24

Radical feminist argued that to achieve genuine equality it is

important to share these responsibilities with men and as women

by nature different from men climate change policies also should

be gender sensitive

ii) Dependency Theory

According to dependency theory the core periphery and semi

periphery countryrsquos economy and development are interrelated and

interdependent So climate vulnerabilities of women are not an

internal matter for any particular country Rather it needs

global attention as it will also affect the other country and

their development process both directly and indirectly In this

regard global concern joint decision and gender responsive

climate change policy is required as the whole world is

ultimately dependent on each other

iii) Realist Theory

A very significant quote is important to address here by famous

realist scholar Thucydides is-

ldquoThe strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they mustrdquo

The developed countries as the lsquostrongrsquo power do what they want

to do to boost up their economy without considering climate

issues and the week (developing countries) suffer the effects

caused by climate change Before cold war the concept of

security used to consider as military power but in the

contemporary world climate security become more important rather

25

than military security Powerful states now are more concerned

about their own climate security and try to increase their

economic growth by exploiting the environment of weaker states

State as well as the people and mostly women of the developing

countries are the victim of this exploitation and they have to

bear different types of climate hazards which actually causes by

these developedpowerful states In result as women are the

weaker groups they suffer more than the stronger group of men

during all these climate hazards At the same time the men as

stronger group take every decision over the weaker women whenever

there is any climate hazard

iv) Neo-Liberal Theory

Neo-liberal theory supports the trade liberalization that means

removal of trade barrier opening of state economic enterprise

and privatization of market etc After the cold war the emergence

of globalization and the liberalization of market have increased

the investment of Multinational Corporations in the developing

world that have an adversely affect on their local climate The

waste materials and toxic gases emit during the production

procedure cause different types of climate hazards These

unwanted climate hazards also leave significant effect on women

As neo-liberalism emphasize on lsquoindividualrsquo women should be

consider as a group of individual while designing the policies

for climate change

26

Chapter III

ldquoHow climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

genderrdquo

9Climate Hazard Prone Areas of BangladeshThere are some common climate hazards often seen in Bangladesh

and areas mostly affected by these hazards in Bangladesh

identified to answer the above central research question

Different types of climate changersquos impacts such as flood

cyclone river erosion drought heavy rainfall sea level rise

soil degradation etc mainly seen in Bangladesh Among all these

climate hazards this research is mainly focused on three major

climate hazards of Bangladesh and these are- heavy rainfall and

flood river erosion and drought A quick view of climate

hazards prone areas of Bangladesh are given below

Table-1 (Climate Hazard Prone Areas of Bangladesh)

Climate Hazards Most Affected AreasDrought North-West Bengal districts

Rajshahi Gaibandha etcRiver Erosion Active river channels of the

Ganges the Jamuna and theTista rivers and in the coastaland offshore areas

Heavy Rainfall ndash North-western and western

27

Flood-

Bangladesh Chittagong hills

Central region North-Eastregion Charland South BengalBarisal Bagerhat KhulnaSatkhira etc

This table shows us that drought prone areas are mainly in North-

Western Bengalrsquos districts like Rajshahi Gaibandha etc which

has lower rainfall than the other areas of Bangladesh

(Map-1)

Source NAPA

28

River bank erosion prone areas are more or less around the whole

country but mostly it is being seen in the areas along the active

river channels of the Ganges the Jamuna and the Tista rivers and

in the coastal and offshore areas of Bangladesh13 About 17

million hectares of floodplain areas are prone to riverbank

erosion14

Floods are very common in Bangladesh and it affects almost 80

land of our country Every year Bangladesh has been facing 1 or 2

extreme disasters According to Zayeda Sharmin (2013) there are

different categories of floods in Bangladesh and these are ndash

(i) Monsoon floods it increase slowly and decrease slowly

inundate vast areas and causes huge loss to the life and

property

(ii) Flash floods from sudden torrential flows following a brief

intense rainstorm

(iii) Tidal floods which are of short duration but are generally

around 3 to 6 meter high and

(iv) Rain floods caused by drainage congestion and heavy rain

Flood prone areas are mainly in the south Bengal like Barisal

Bhola Bagerhat Khulna Shatkhira etc

13National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)(2005) Ministry of Environment and Forest Government of the Peoplersquos Republic of Bangladesh pg no-4 Retrieved on November 1 2013 From unfcccintresourcedocsnapaban01pdf14 Ibid

29

(Map-2)

Source NAPA

Lastly heavy rainfall is mainly seen in north-western and western

Bangladesh Chittagong hills and more or less all over the

country But mostly in the southern part than the northern part

of Bangladesh heavy rainfall is quite a common climate hazard

9 Climate Vulnerabilities of Women

As mentioned earlier that women are closely related to the

environmental elements it is obvious that climate change effects

should have impact on women In the context of climate change a

lsquogender analysisrsquo promotes an understanding of the ways that men

30

and women are differently impacted by climate-related hazards and

by adopting adaptation and mitigation strategies15 Now the

effects of climate-related hazards on gender are describing

below

Firstly in the drought prone areas

-the cultivable lands become difficult to produce any crops

Those women who depend on agricultural activities they become

helpless for their daily income In this case they face problem

to find new place for work and if by any chance they are able to

find work then they have to face different physical and mental

harassment at the working place

-On the other hand they have to take extra pressure to manage

their household because they have to go far for earning It also

decays their physical strength and at the same time they have to

face different unexpected challenges

Picture-1 Drought in Bangladesh

15Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh Op cit

31

Source Not Enough Goodcom available at

httpnotenoughgoodcom201208indian-blackoutdrought

-They also have to take care about the drinking and daily useable

water for their family which also bring another responsibility

and additional burden to handle They have to face different

types of sexual harassment as they have to go far to collect the

water

-Further pregnant women are more vulnerable during this type of

situation

Secondly at the period like flood and heavy rainfall

-women have no role in decision making for their future They

have to rely on their male head even the women who earn for their

household has no saying during these types of situation During

the survey the responses of women several times indicated that

those women had to accept what the male member of their family

decided Whether there was any health issue or household issue

women had to depend on the male to take any action

32

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

i) Feminist Theory

The main concept of Radical feminist is lsquopatriarchyrsquo that means

the lsquorule of fatherrsquo In feminist theory we can see that there

are two form of patriarchy one is classical form of patriarchy

and another is more loose form of patriarchy But in both of the

patriarchal system women have no say in decision making Even

while they have to go through different types of mental and

physical violence during and after any climate hazard occur they

are not able to make any decision for themselves because

patriarchal society do not allow women to be treated equally as

men while decision making and it also reflects in climate change

policy

Liberal feminists are generally concerned with equal rights In

the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries liberal feminist argued

that women by nature different from men that means climate

vulnerabilities of women are also different from men They also

argued for womenrsquos equality on the grounds that they are capable

of making their personal decision and determine their best

interest which is as rational as men Therefore women should have

equal rights while decision making during any climate hazard The

reproductive chores such as child rearing and bearing water

collection food production and acquisition etc of any household

are mostly done by the female member of the family In this

regard climate hazards increases the burden for women and girls

because they are expected to ensure all this household chores

24

Radical feminist argued that to achieve genuine equality it is

important to share these responsibilities with men and as women

by nature different from men climate change policies also should

be gender sensitive

ii) Dependency Theory

According to dependency theory the core periphery and semi

periphery countryrsquos economy and development are interrelated and

interdependent So climate vulnerabilities of women are not an

internal matter for any particular country Rather it needs

global attention as it will also affect the other country and

their development process both directly and indirectly In this

regard global concern joint decision and gender responsive

climate change policy is required as the whole world is

ultimately dependent on each other

iii) Realist Theory

A very significant quote is important to address here by famous

realist scholar Thucydides is-

ldquoThe strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they mustrdquo

The developed countries as the lsquostrongrsquo power do what they want

to do to boost up their economy without considering climate

issues and the week (developing countries) suffer the effects

caused by climate change Before cold war the concept of

security used to consider as military power but in the

contemporary world climate security become more important rather

25

than military security Powerful states now are more concerned

about their own climate security and try to increase their

economic growth by exploiting the environment of weaker states

State as well as the people and mostly women of the developing

countries are the victim of this exploitation and they have to

bear different types of climate hazards which actually causes by

these developedpowerful states In result as women are the

weaker groups they suffer more than the stronger group of men

during all these climate hazards At the same time the men as

stronger group take every decision over the weaker women whenever

there is any climate hazard

iv) Neo-Liberal Theory

Neo-liberal theory supports the trade liberalization that means

removal of trade barrier opening of state economic enterprise

and privatization of market etc After the cold war the emergence

of globalization and the liberalization of market have increased

the investment of Multinational Corporations in the developing

world that have an adversely affect on their local climate The

waste materials and toxic gases emit during the production

procedure cause different types of climate hazards These

unwanted climate hazards also leave significant effect on women

As neo-liberalism emphasize on lsquoindividualrsquo women should be

consider as a group of individual while designing the policies

for climate change

26

Chapter III

ldquoHow climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

genderrdquo

9Climate Hazard Prone Areas of BangladeshThere are some common climate hazards often seen in Bangladesh

and areas mostly affected by these hazards in Bangladesh

identified to answer the above central research question

Different types of climate changersquos impacts such as flood

cyclone river erosion drought heavy rainfall sea level rise

soil degradation etc mainly seen in Bangladesh Among all these

climate hazards this research is mainly focused on three major

climate hazards of Bangladesh and these are- heavy rainfall and

flood river erosion and drought A quick view of climate

hazards prone areas of Bangladesh are given below

Table-1 (Climate Hazard Prone Areas of Bangladesh)

Climate Hazards Most Affected AreasDrought North-West Bengal districts

Rajshahi Gaibandha etcRiver Erosion Active river channels of the

Ganges the Jamuna and theTista rivers and in the coastaland offshore areas

Heavy Rainfall ndash North-western and western

27

Flood-

Bangladesh Chittagong hills

Central region North-Eastregion Charland South BengalBarisal Bagerhat KhulnaSatkhira etc

This table shows us that drought prone areas are mainly in North-

Western Bengalrsquos districts like Rajshahi Gaibandha etc which

has lower rainfall than the other areas of Bangladesh

(Map-1)

Source NAPA

28

River bank erosion prone areas are more or less around the whole

country but mostly it is being seen in the areas along the active

river channels of the Ganges the Jamuna and the Tista rivers and

in the coastal and offshore areas of Bangladesh13 About 17

million hectares of floodplain areas are prone to riverbank

erosion14

Floods are very common in Bangladesh and it affects almost 80

land of our country Every year Bangladesh has been facing 1 or 2

extreme disasters According to Zayeda Sharmin (2013) there are

different categories of floods in Bangladesh and these are ndash

(i) Monsoon floods it increase slowly and decrease slowly

inundate vast areas and causes huge loss to the life and

property

(ii) Flash floods from sudden torrential flows following a brief

intense rainstorm

(iii) Tidal floods which are of short duration but are generally

around 3 to 6 meter high and

(iv) Rain floods caused by drainage congestion and heavy rain

Flood prone areas are mainly in the south Bengal like Barisal

Bhola Bagerhat Khulna Shatkhira etc

13National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)(2005) Ministry of Environment and Forest Government of the Peoplersquos Republic of Bangladesh pg no-4 Retrieved on November 1 2013 From unfcccintresourcedocsnapaban01pdf14 Ibid

29

(Map-2)

Source NAPA

Lastly heavy rainfall is mainly seen in north-western and western

Bangladesh Chittagong hills and more or less all over the

country But mostly in the southern part than the northern part

of Bangladesh heavy rainfall is quite a common climate hazard

9 Climate Vulnerabilities of Women

As mentioned earlier that women are closely related to the

environmental elements it is obvious that climate change effects

should have impact on women In the context of climate change a

lsquogender analysisrsquo promotes an understanding of the ways that men

30

and women are differently impacted by climate-related hazards and

by adopting adaptation and mitigation strategies15 Now the

effects of climate-related hazards on gender are describing

below

Firstly in the drought prone areas

-the cultivable lands become difficult to produce any crops

Those women who depend on agricultural activities they become

helpless for their daily income In this case they face problem

to find new place for work and if by any chance they are able to

find work then they have to face different physical and mental

harassment at the working place

-On the other hand they have to take extra pressure to manage

their household because they have to go far for earning It also

decays their physical strength and at the same time they have to

face different unexpected challenges

Picture-1 Drought in Bangladesh

15Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh Op cit

31

Source Not Enough Goodcom available at

httpnotenoughgoodcom201208indian-blackoutdrought

-They also have to take care about the drinking and daily useable

water for their family which also bring another responsibility

and additional burden to handle They have to face different

types of sexual harassment as they have to go far to collect the

water

-Further pregnant women are more vulnerable during this type of

situation

Secondly at the period like flood and heavy rainfall

-women have no role in decision making for their future They

have to rely on their male head even the women who earn for their

household has no saying during these types of situation During

the survey the responses of women several times indicated that

those women had to accept what the male member of their family

decided Whether there was any health issue or household issue

women had to depend on the male to take any action

32

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

Radical feminist argued that to achieve genuine equality it is

important to share these responsibilities with men and as women

by nature different from men climate change policies also should

be gender sensitive

ii) Dependency Theory

According to dependency theory the core periphery and semi

periphery countryrsquos economy and development are interrelated and

interdependent So climate vulnerabilities of women are not an

internal matter for any particular country Rather it needs

global attention as it will also affect the other country and

their development process both directly and indirectly In this

regard global concern joint decision and gender responsive

climate change policy is required as the whole world is

ultimately dependent on each other

iii) Realist Theory

A very significant quote is important to address here by famous

realist scholar Thucydides is-

ldquoThe strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they mustrdquo

The developed countries as the lsquostrongrsquo power do what they want

to do to boost up their economy without considering climate

issues and the week (developing countries) suffer the effects

caused by climate change Before cold war the concept of

security used to consider as military power but in the

contemporary world climate security become more important rather

25

than military security Powerful states now are more concerned

about their own climate security and try to increase their

economic growth by exploiting the environment of weaker states

State as well as the people and mostly women of the developing

countries are the victim of this exploitation and they have to

bear different types of climate hazards which actually causes by

these developedpowerful states In result as women are the

weaker groups they suffer more than the stronger group of men

during all these climate hazards At the same time the men as

stronger group take every decision over the weaker women whenever

there is any climate hazard

iv) Neo-Liberal Theory

Neo-liberal theory supports the trade liberalization that means

removal of trade barrier opening of state economic enterprise

and privatization of market etc After the cold war the emergence

of globalization and the liberalization of market have increased

the investment of Multinational Corporations in the developing

world that have an adversely affect on their local climate The

waste materials and toxic gases emit during the production

procedure cause different types of climate hazards These

unwanted climate hazards also leave significant effect on women

As neo-liberalism emphasize on lsquoindividualrsquo women should be

consider as a group of individual while designing the policies

for climate change

26

Chapter III

ldquoHow climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

genderrdquo

9Climate Hazard Prone Areas of BangladeshThere are some common climate hazards often seen in Bangladesh

and areas mostly affected by these hazards in Bangladesh

identified to answer the above central research question

Different types of climate changersquos impacts such as flood

cyclone river erosion drought heavy rainfall sea level rise

soil degradation etc mainly seen in Bangladesh Among all these

climate hazards this research is mainly focused on three major

climate hazards of Bangladesh and these are- heavy rainfall and

flood river erosion and drought A quick view of climate

hazards prone areas of Bangladesh are given below

Table-1 (Climate Hazard Prone Areas of Bangladesh)

Climate Hazards Most Affected AreasDrought North-West Bengal districts

Rajshahi Gaibandha etcRiver Erosion Active river channels of the

Ganges the Jamuna and theTista rivers and in the coastaland offshore areas

Heavy Rainfall ndash North-western and western

27

Flood-

Bangladesh Chittagong hills

Central region North-Eastregion Charland South BengalBarisal Bagerhat KhulnaSatkhira etc

This table shows us that drought prone areas are mainly in North-

Western Bengalrsquos districts like Rajshahi Gaibandha etc which

has lower rainfall than the other areas of Bangladesh

(Map-1)

Source NAPA

28

River bank erosion prone areas are more or less around the whole

country but mostly it is being seen in the areas along the active

river channels of the Ganges the Jamuna and the Tista rivers and

in the coastal and offshore areas of Bangladesh13 About 17

million hectares of floodplain areas are prone to riverbank

erosion14

Floods are very common in Bangladesh and it affects almost 80

land of our country Every year Bangladesh has been facing 1 or 2

extreme disasters According to Zayeda Sharmin (2013) there are

different categories of floods in Bangladesh and these are ndash

(i) Monsoon floods it increase slowly and decrease slowly

inundate vast areas and causes huge loss to the life and

property

(ii) Flash floods from sudden torrential flows following a brief

intense rainstorm

(iii) Tidal floods which are of short duration but are generally

around 3 to 6 meter high and

(iv) Rain floods caused by drainage congestion and heavy rain

Flood prone areas are mainly in the south Bengal like Barisal

Bhola Bagerhat Khulna Shatkhira etc

13National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)(2005) Ministry of Environment and Forest Government of the Peoplersquos Republic of Bangladesh pg no-4 Retrieved on November 1 2013 From unfcccintresourcedocsnapaban01pdf14 Ibid

29

(Map-2)

Source NAPA

Lastly heavy rainfall is mainly seen in north-western and western

Bangladesh Chittagong hills and more or less all over the

country But mostly in the southern part than the northern part

of Bangladesh heavy rainfall is quite a common climate hazard

9 Climate Vulnerabilities of Women

As mentioned earlier that women are closely related to the

environmental elements it is obvious that climate change effects

should have impact on women In the context of climate change a

lsquogender analysisrsquo promotes an understanding of the ways that men

30

and women are differently impacted by climate-related hazards and

by adopting adaptation and mitigation strategies15 Now the

effects of climate-related hazards on gender are describing

below

Firstly in the drought prone areas

-the cultivable lands become difficult to produce any crops

Those women who depend on agricultural activities they become

helpless for their daily income In this case they face problem

to find new place for work and if by any chance they are able to

find work then they have to face different physical and mental

harassment at the working place

-On the other hand they have to take extra pressure to manage

their household because they have to go far for earning It also

decays their physical strength and at the same time they have to

face different unexpected challenges

Picture-1 Drought in Bangladesh

15Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh Op cit

31

Source Not Enough Goodcom available at

httpnotenoughgoodcom201208indian-blackoutdrought

-They also have to take care about the drinking and daily useable

water for their family which also bring another responsibility

and additional burden to handle They have to face different

types of sexual harassment as they have to go far to collect the

water

-Further pregnant women are more vulnerable during this type of

situation

Secondly at the period like flood and heavy rainfall

-women have no role in decision making for their future They

have to rely on their male head even the women who earn for their

household has no saying during these types of situation During

the survey the responses of women several times indicated that

those women had to accept what the male member of their family

decided Whether there was any health issue or household issue

women had to depend on the male to take any action

32

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

than military security Powerful states now are more concerned

about their own climate security and try to increase their

economic growth by exploiting the environment of weaker states

State as well as the people and mostly women of the developing

countries are the victim of this exploitation and they have to

bear different types of climate hazards which actually causes by

these developedpowerful states In result as women are the

weaker groups they suffer more than the stronger group of men

during all these climate hazards At the same time the men as

stronger group take every decision over the weaker women whenever

there is any climate hazard

iv) Neo-Liberal Theory

Neo-liberal theory supports the trade liberalization that means

removal of trade barrier opening of state economic enterprise

and privatization of market etc After the cold war the emergence

of globalization and the liberalization of market have increased

the investment of Multinational Corporations in the developing

world that have an adversely affect on their local climate The

waste materials and toxic gases emit during the production

procedure cause different types of climate hazards These

unwanted climate hazards also leave significant effect on women

As neo-liberalism emphasize on lsquoindividualrsquo women should be

consider as a group of individual while designing the policies

for climate change

26

Chapter III

ldquoHow climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

genderrdquo

9Climate Hazard Prone Areas of BangladeshThere are some common climate hazards often seen in Bangladesh

and areas mostly affected by these hazards in Bangladesh

identified to answer the above central research question

Different types of climate changersquos impacts such as flood

cyclone river erosion drought heavy rainfall sea level rise

soil degradation etc mainly seen in Bangladesh Among all these

climate hazards this research is mainly focused on three major

climate hazards of Bangladesh and these are- heavy rainfall and

flood river erosion and drought A quick view of climate

hazards prone areas of Bangladesh are given below

Table-1 (Climate Hazard Prone Areas of Bangladesh)

Climate Hazards Most Affected AreasDrought North-West Bengal districts

Rajshahi Gaibandha etcRiver Erosion Active river channels of the

Ganges the Jamuna and theTista rivers and in the coastaland offshore areas

Heavy Rainfall ndash North-western and western

27

Flood-

Bangladesh Chittagong hills

Central region North-Eastregion Charland South BengalBarisal Bagerhat KhulnaSatkhira etc

This table shows us that drought prone areas are mainly in North-

Western Bengalrsquos districts like Rajshahi Gaibandha etc which

has lower rainfall than the other areas of Bangladesh

(Map-1)

Source NAPA

28

River bank erosion prone areas are more or less around the whole

country but mostly it is being seen in the areas along the active

river channels of the Ganges the Jamuna and the Tista rivers and

in the coastal and offshore areas of Bangladesh13 About 17

million hectares of floodplain areas are prone to riverbank

erosion14

Floods are very common in Bangladesh and it affects almost 80

land of our country Every year Bangladesh has been facing 1 or 2

extreme disasters According to Zayeda Sharmin (2013) there are

different categories of floods in Bangladesh and these are ndash

(i) Monsoon floods it increase slowly and decrease slowly

inundate vast areas and causes huge loss to the life and

property

(ii) Flash floods from sudden torrential flows following a brief

intense rainstorm

(iii) Tidal floods which are of short duration but are generally

around 3 to 6 meter high and

(iv) Rain floods caused by drainage congestion and heavy rain

Flood prone areas are mainly in the south Bengal like Barisal

Bhola Bagerhat Khulna Shatkhira etc

13National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)(2005) Ministry of Environment and Forest Government of the Peoplersquos Republic of Bangladesh pg no-4 Retrieved on November 1 2013 From unfcccintresourcedocsnapaban01pdf14 Ibid

29

(Map-2)

Source NAPA

Lastly heavy rainfall is mainly seen in north-western and western

Bangladesh Chittagong hills and more or less all over the

country But mostly in the southern part than the northern part

of Bangladesh heavy rainfall is quite a common climate hazard

9 Climate Vulnerabilities of Women

As mentioned earlier that women are closely related to the

environmental elements it is obvious that climate change effects

should have impact on women In the context of climate change a

lsquogender analysisrsquo promotes an understanding of the ways that men

30

and women are differently impacted by climate-related hazards and

by adopting adaptation and mitigation strategies15 Now the

effects of climate-related hazards on gender are describing

below

Firstly in the drought prone areas

-the cultivable lands become difficult to produce any crops

Those women who depend on agricultural activities they become

helpless for their daily income In this case they face problem

to find new place for work and if by any chance they are able to

find work then they have to face different physical and mental

harassment at the working place

-On the other hand they have to take extra pressure to manage

their household because they have to go far for earning It also

decays their physical strength and at the same time they have to

face different unexpected challenges

Picture-1 Drought in Bangladesh

15Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh Op cit

31

Source Not Enough Goodcom available at

httpnotenoughgoodcom201208indian-blackoutdrought

-They also have to take care about the drinking and daily useable

water for their family which also bring another responsibility

and additional burden to handle They have to face different

types of sexual harassment as they have to go far to collect the

water

-Further pregnant women are more vulnerable during this type of

situation

Secondly at the period like flood and heavy rainfall

-women have no role in decision making for their future They

have to rely on their male head even the women who earn for their

household has no saying during these types of situation During

the survey the responses of women several times indicated that

those women had to accept what the male member of their family

decided Whether there was any health issue or household issue

women had to depend on the male to take any action

32

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

Chapter III

ldquoHow climate vulnerabilities of women are different because of

genderrdquo

9Climate Hazard Prone Areas of BangladeshThere are some common climate hazards often seen in Bangladesh

and areas mostly affected by these hazards in Bangladesh

identified to answer the above central research question

Different types of climate changersquos impacts such as flood

cyclone river erosion drought heavy rainfall sea level rise

soil degradation etc mainly seen in Bangladesh Among all these

climate hazards this research is mainly focused on three major

climate hazards of Bangladesh and these are- heavy rainfall and

flood river erosion and drought A quick view of climate

hazards prone areas of Bangladesh are given below

Table-1 (Climate Hazard Prone Areas of Bangladesh)

Climate Hazards Most Affected AreasDrought North-West Bengal districts

Rajshahi Gaibandha etcRiver Erosion Active river channels of the

Ganges the Jamuna and theTista rivers and in the coastaland offshore areas

Heavy Rainfall ndash North-western and western

27

Flood-

Bangladesh Chittagong hills

Central region North-Eastregion Charland South BengalBarisal Bagerhat KhulnaSatkhira etc

This table shows us that drought prone areas are mainly in North-

Western Bengalrsquos districts like Rajshahi Gaibandha etc which

has lower rainfall than the other areas of Bangladesh

(Map-1)

Source NAPA

28

River bank erosion prone areas are more or less around the whole

country but mostly it is being seen in the areas along the active

river channels of the Ganges the Jamuna and the Tista rivers and

in the coastal and offshore areas of Bangladesh13 About 17

million hectares of floodplain areas are prone to riverbank

erosion14

Floods are very common in Bangladesh and it affects almost 80

land of our country Every year Bangladesh has been facing 1 or 2

extreme disasters According to Zayeda Sharmin (2013) there are

different categories of floods in Bangladesh and these are ndash

(i) Monsoon floods it increase slowly and decrease slowly

inundate vast areas and causes huge loss to the life and

property

(ii) Flash floods from sudden torrential flows following a brief

intense rainstorm

(iii) Tidal floods which are of short duration but are generally

around 3 to 6 meter high and

(iv) Rain floods caused by drainage congestion and heavy rain

Flood prone areas are mainly in the south Bengal like Barisal

Bhola Bagerhat Khulna Shatkhira etc

13National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)(2005) Ministry of Environment and Forest Government of the Peoplersquos Republic of Bangladesh pg no-4 Retrieved on November 1 2013 From unfcccintresourcedocsnapaban01pdf14 Ibid

29

(Map-2)

Source NAPA

Lastly heavy rainfall is mainly seen in north-western and western

Bangladesh Chittagong hills and more or less all over the

country But mostly in the southern part than the northern part

of Bangladesh heavy rainfall is quite a common climate hazard

9 Climate Vulnerabilities of Women

As mentioned earlier that women are closely related to the

environmental elements it is obvious that climate change effects

should have impact on women In the context of climate change a

lsquogender analysisrsquo promotes an understanding of the ways that men

30

and women are differently impacted by climate-related hazards and

by adopting adaptation and mitigation strategies15 Now the

effects of climate-related hazards on gender are describing

below

Firstly in the drought prone areas

-the cultivable lands become difficult to produce any crops

Those women who depend on agricultural activities they become

helpless for their daily income In this case they face problem

to find new place for work and if by any chance they are able to

find work then they have to face different physical and mental

harassment at the working place

-On the other hand they have to take extra pressure to manage

their household because they have to go far for earning It also

decays their physical strength and at the same time they have to

face different unexpected challenges

Picture-1 Drought in Bangladesh

15Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh Op cit

31

Source Not Enough Goodcom available at

httpnotenoughgoodcom201208indian-blackoutdrought

-They also have to take care about the drinking and daily useable

water for their family which also bring another responsibility

and additional burden to handle They have to face different

types of sexual harassment as they have to go far to collect the

water

-Further pregnant women are more vulnerable during this type of

situation

Secondly at the period like flood and heavy rainfall

-women have no role in decision making for their future They

have to rely on their male head even the women who earn for their

household has no saying during these types of situation During

the survey the responses of women several times indicated that

those women had to accept what the male member of their family

decided Whether there was any health issue or household issue

women had to depend on the male to take any action

32

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

Flood-

Bangladesh Chittagong hills

Central region North-Eastregion Charland South BengalBarisal Bagerhat KhulnaSatkhira etc

This table shows us that drought prone areas are mainly in North-

Western Bengalrsquos districts like Rajshahi Gaibandha etc which

has lower rainfall than the other areas of Bangladesh

(Map-1)

Source NAPA

28

River bank erosion prone areas are more or less around the whole

country but mostly it is being seen in the areas along the active

river channels of the Ganges the Jamuna and the Tista rivers and

in the coastal and offshore areas of Bangladesh13 About 17

million hectares of floodplain areas are prone to riverbank

erosion14

Floods are very common in Bangladesh and it affects almost 80

land of our country Every year Bangladesh has been facing 1 or 2

extreme disasters According to Zayeda Sharmin (2013) there are

different categories of floods in Bangladesh and these are ndash

(i) Monsoon floods it increase slowly and decrease slowly

inundate vast areas and causes huge loss to the life and

property

(ii) Flash floods from sudden torrential flows following a brief

intense rainstorm

(iii) Tidal floods which are of short duration but are generally

around 3 to 6 meter high and

(iv) Rain floods caused by drainage congestion and heavy rain

Flood prone areas are mainly in the south Bengal like Barisal

Bhola Bagerhat Khulna Shatkhira etc

13National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)(2005) Ministry of Environment and Forest Government of the Peoplersquos Republic of Bangladesh pg no-4 Retrieved on November 1 2013 From unfcccintresourcedocsnapaban01pdf14 Ibid

29

(Map-2)

Source NAPA

Lastly heavy rainfall is mainly seen in north-western and western

Bangladesh Chittagong hills and more or less all over the

country But mostly in the southern part than the northern part

of Bangladesh heavy rainfall is quite a common climate hazard

9 Climate Vulnerabilities of Women

As mentioned earlier that women are closely related to the

environmental elements it is obvious that climate change effects

should have impact on women In the context of climate change a

lsquogender analysisrsquo promotes an understanding of the ways that men

30

and women are differently impacted by climate-related hazards and

by adopting adaptation and mitigation strategies15 Now the

effects of climate-related hazards on gender are describing

below

Firstly in the drought prone areas

-the cultivable lands become difficult to produce any crops

Those women who depend on agricultural activities they become

helpless for their daily income In this case they face problem

to find new place for work and if by any chance they are able to

find work then they have to face different physical and mental

harassment at the working place

-On the other hand they have to take extra pressure to manage

their household because they have to go far for earning It also

decays their physical strength and at the same time they have to

face different unexpected challenges

Picture-1 Drought in Bangladesh

15Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh Op cit

31

Source Not Enough Goodcom available at

httpnotenoughgoodcom201208indian-blackoutdrought

-They also have to take care about the drinking and daily useable

water for their family which also bring another responsibility

and additional burden to handle They have to face different

types of sexual harassment as they have to go far to collect the

water

-Further pregnant women are more vulnerable during this type of

situation

Secondly at the period like flood and heavy rainfall

-women have no role in decision making for their future They

have to rely on their male head even the women who earn for their

household has no saying during these types of situation During

the survey the responses of women several times indicated that

those women had to accept what the male member of their family

decided Whether there was any health issue or household issue

women had to depend on the male to take any action

32

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

River bank erosion prone areas are more or less around the whole

country but mostly it is being seen in the areas along the active

river channels of the Ganges the Jamuna and the Tista rivers and

in the coastal and offshore areas of Bangladesh13 About 17

million hectares of floodplain areas are prone to riverbank

erosion14

Floods are very common in Bangladesh and it affects almost 80

land of our country Every year Bangladesh has been facing 1 or 2

extreme disasters According to Zayeda Sharmin (2013) there are

different categories of floods in Bangladesh and these are ndash

(i) Monsoon floods it increase slowly and decrease slowly

inundate vast areas and causes huge loss to the life and

property

(ii) Flash floods from sudden torrential flows following a brief

intense rainstorm

(iii) Tidal floods which are of short duration but are generally

around 3 to 6 meter high and

(iv) Rain floods caused by drainage congestion and heavy rain

Flood prone areas are mainly in the south Bengal like Barisal

Bhola Bagerhat Khulna Shatkhira etc

13National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)(2005) Ministry of Environment and Forest Government of the Peoplersquos Republic of Bangladesh pg no-4 Retrieved on November 1 2013 From unfcccintresourcedocsnapaban01pdf14 Ibid

29

(Map-2)

Source NAPA

Lastly heavy rainfall is mainly seen in north-western and western

Bangladesh Chittagong hills and more or less all over the

country But mostly in the southern part than the northern part

of Bangladesh heavy rainfall is quite a common climate hazard

9 Climate Vulnerabilities of Women

As mentioned earlier that women are closely related to the

environmental elements it is obvious that climate change effects

should have impact on women In the context of climate change a

lsquogender analysisrsquo promotes an understanding of the ways that men

30

and women are differently impacted by climate-related hazards and

by adopting adaptation and mitigation strategies15 Now the

effects of climate-related hazards on gender are describing

below

Firstly in the drought prone areas

-the cultivable lands become difficult to produce any crops

Those women who depend on agricultural activities they become

helpless for their daily income In this case they face problem

to find new place for work and if by any chance they are able to

find work then they have to face different physical and mental

harassment at the working place

-On the other hand they have to take extra pressure to manage

their household because they have to go far for earning It also

decays their physical strength and at the same time they have to

face different unexpected challenges

Picture-1 Drought in Bangladesh

15Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh Op cit

31

Source Not Enough Goodcom available at

httpnotenoughgoodcom201208indian-blackoutdrought

-They also have to take care about the drinking and daily useable

water for their family which also bring another responsibility

and additional burden to handle They have to face different

types of sexual harassment as they have to go far to collect the

water

-Further pregnant women are more vulnerable during this type of

situation

Secondly at the period like flood and heavy rainfall

-women have no role in decision making for their future They

have to rely on their male head even the women who earn for their

household has no saying during these types of situation During

the survey the responses of women several times indicated that

those women had to accept what the male member of their family

decided Whether there was any health issue or household issue

women had to depend on the male to take any action

32

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

(Map-2)

Source NAPA

Lastly heavy rainfall is mainly seen in north-western and western

Bangladesh Chittagong hills and more or less all over the

country But mostly in the southern part than the northern part

of Bangladesh heavy rainfall is quite a common climate hazard

9 Climate Vulnerabilities of Women

As mentioned earlier that women are closely related to the

environmental elements it is obvious that climate change effects

should have impact on women In the context of climate change a

lsquogender analysisrsquo promotes an understanding of the ways that men

30

and women are differently impacted by climate-related hazards and

by adopting adaptation and mitigation strategies15 Now the

effects of climate-related hazards on gender are describing

below

Firstly in the drought prone areas

-the cultivable lands become difficult to produce any crops

Those women who depend on agricultural activities they become

helpless for their daily income In this case they face problem

to find new place for work and if by any chance they are able to

find work then they have to face different physical and mental

harassment at the working place

-On the other hand they have to take extra pressure to manage

their household because they have to go far for earning It also

decays their physical strength and at the same time they have to

face different unexpected challenges

Picture-1 Drought in Bangladesh

15Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh Op cit

31

Source Not Enough Goodcom available at

httpnotenoughgoodcom201208indian-blackoutdrought

-They also have to take care about the drinking and daily useable

water for their family which also bring another responsibility

and additional burden to handle They have to face different

types of sexual harassment as they have to go far to collect the

water

-Further pregnant women are more vulnerable during this type of

situation

Secondly at the period like flood and heavy rainfall

-women have no role in decision making for their future They

have to rely on their male head even the women who earn for their

household has no saying during these types of situation During

the survey the responses of women several times indicated that

those women had to accept what the male member of their family

decided Whether there was any health issue or household issue

women had to depend on the male to take any action

32

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

and women are differently impacted by climate-related hazards and

by adopting adaptation and mitigation strategies15 Now the

effects of climate-related hazards on gender are describing

below

Firstly in the drought prone areas

-the cultivable lands become difficult to produce any crops

Those women who depend on agricultural activities they become

helpless for their daily income In this case they face problem

to find new place for work and if by any chance they are able to

find work then they have to face different physical and mental

harassment at the working place

-On the other hand they have to take extra pressure to manage

their household because they have to go far for earning It also

decays their physical strength and at the same time they have to

face different unexpected challenges

Picture-1 Drought in Bangladesh

15Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh Op cit

31

Source Not Enough Goodcom available at

httpnotenoughgoodcom201208indian-blackoutdrought

-They also have to take care about the drinking and daily useable

water for their family which also bring another responsibility

and additional burden to handle They have to face different

types of sexual harassment as they have to go far to collect the

water

-Further pregnant women are more vulnerable during this type of

situation

Secondly at the period like flood and heavy rainfall

-women have no role in decision making for their future They

have to rely on their male head even the women who earn for their

household has no saying during these types of situation During

the survey the responses of women several times indicated that

those women had to accept what the male member of their family

decided Whether there was any health issue or household issue

women had to depend on the male to take any action

32

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

Source Not Enough Goodcom available at

httpnotenoughgoodcom201208indian-blackoutdrought

-They also have to take care about the drinking and daily useable

water for their family which also bring another responsibility

and additional burden to handle They have to face different

types of sexual harassment as they have to go far to collect the

water

-Further pregnant women are more vulnerable during this type of

situation

Secondly at the period like flood and heavy rainfall

-women have no role in decision making for their future They

have to rely on their male head even the women who earn for their

household has no saying during these types of situation During

the survey the responses of women several times indicated that

those women had to accept what the male member of their family

decided Whether there was any health issue or household issue

women had to depend on the male to take any action

32

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

Picture- 2 amp 3 Flood Affected Women

Source 2- httpwwwngoforgnrcpagelatestnews359php 3-

httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

-At the post flood situation women mostly suffer from different

types of diseases and malnutrition but it is the male member who

often been seen prioritizing other issue to take care over their

health Local institutional health care services are also poor in

many villages of our country Actually the survey responses of

many of the women reflect that they had not get any type of help

neither from any local health care institution nor from any

International team In this situation women have to rely on

traditional knowledge for their treatment

-On the other hand there are no special arrangements for the

women at the shelter homes like there is no gender-friendly

sanitation facility for the women In this situation many women

have to face physical insecurity which causes loss of dignity In

fact the survey result shows that there are also inadequate

shelter home in our country and during flood and heavy rainfall

33

people have to take shelter at nearly school which is another

problem Some even do not leave for shelter home in order to

protect their remaining house

-Apart from these some women also loss their pregnancy some get

rape premature delivery delivery related complications etc

-Further bearing all these challenges while women collecting

relief they are often been deprived

Picture-4 Heavy Rainfall

Source httpbamauaedu~bsafloodfloodphotoshtml

Thirdly in case of river bank erosion women again are the worst

sufferer

-Many people who live river bank areas loss their property by

river erosion which ultimately cause internal migration

internally displaced and of course poverty All these have a

tremendous impact on women both physically and mentally As they

loss their property there is no chance for them to have any34

inheritance as Bangladesh follow the Muslim customary law to

distribute inheritance and in this type of situation female

member of the family most often are forced to sacrifice their

share to the male members

-Further while they have to migrate for river erosion women

mostly face problem to adapt at the new environment They also

have to find new place and new means to earn their livelihood

which is another challenge for them Most often they have to go

through physical torture and sexual harassment in the new place

All these fear of insecurity also cause mental stress of those

women Sometimes women are forced to do anti-social activities to

earn their livelihoods

-Apart from these whenever the male members cannot manage to earn

they become frustrated and take drugs get drunk and all these

result in vicious domestic violence to the female members of the

family

35

Picture-5 River Erosion in BangladeshSource Issues and Challenges in Fisheries- Bangladesh

available athttpagricultureandfarmingwordpresscomcategorybangla

desh

Here is a table to have a brief idea at a glance about the direct

and indirect effects of climate hazards on women

(Table-2 Direct and Indirect Effects of Climate Change on Women)

Risks Climate Hazardrsquos

Effects on Women

Climate Hazardrsquos

Effects on Women

36

(Direct) (Indirect)

Drought and

water shortage

Women and girls in

developing countries

are often the primary

collectors users and

managers of water

Decreases in water

availability will

-jeopardize their

familiesrsquo livelihoods

-increase their

workloads and may have

secondary effects such

as

-lower school

enrollment figures for

girls or

-less opportunity for

women to engage in

income-generating

activities

-Additional burden and

responsibility

-sense of deprivation

and

- insecurity

Floods

Cyclones

Hurricanes

Heavy Rainfall

A sample of 141

countries over the

period 1981-2002 found

that natural disasters

(and their subsequent

-Loss of property

increase insecurity

and mental weakness -

Domestic violence and

sexual harassment also

37

impact) kill more women

than men on average or

kill women at an

earlier age than men

causes sense of

deprivation

-Loss of dignity

River Bank

Erosion

Go through physical

torture and sexual

harassment in the new

place they migrate and

also become victim of

domestic violence

-Distributing the

share of property

increase insecure

feeling

Source (Katharine Vincent 2010)

Chapter IV

ldquoHow gender responsive policies reflect in different international

regional and national climate change policiesrdquo

10 Policies Regarding Climate Change and Gender

The rationale for integrating gender in climate change policy and

programs has three pillars provided by Agnes Otzelberger

i) promoting gender equality and womenrsquos rights as an end in

itself

ii) gender equality as a condition for poverty reduction and

38

iii) Gender equality as a condition for successful adaptation

and mitigation

Mainly Bangladesh follows the policies of some particular

ministry like Ministry of Environment and Forest (MOEF)

Ministry of Food and Disaster Management Water development

board etc Sharmind Neelromi stated that Bangladesh pursue the

policies of BCCSAP and Water Policy to deal with climate change

This research mainly included policies of some particular

international and national institutions which are mostly followed

to deal with climate change Now the question arises to what

extent do these policies have gender conscious response or not

101 International Policies

Different international organizations like United Nations World

Bank are so much concerned about climate change and its effect

upon the people Particularly these institutions have also

focused on significant sectors like women children and older

people In this regard United Nations Framework Convention on

Climate Change (UNFCCC) United Nations Development Program

(UNDP) Hyogo Framework for Action are mostly remarkable A

framework designed on gender responsive international

institutional policies on climate change are given below

39

(Table-3 International Gender Responsive Climate Change

Policies)

Name of Policies Climate ChangeRelevance

Gender Relevance

UNFCCC Acknowledges humaninterference withthe climate and aimsto stabilizeconcentration ofGHGs in theatmosphere

Absence of anymention of genderexcept genderequality

UNDP Prioritize onsustainabledevelopment processand in this regardemphasize on genderresponsive climatechange policies foradaptation andmitigation

Broader genderresponse fromadaptation tomitigation forempowermentequality healthinformation etcincluded in itsclimate changepolicy

IPCC Provides anauthoritativeinternationalstatement ofscientificunderstanding ofclimate change Italso assesses thecauses impacts andpossible responsestrategies to

Recognize genderequality andmainstreaming andprioritize onwomenrsquosparticipation

40

climate change Hyogo Framework forAction

The firstinternationallyaccepted frameworkon disaster riskreduction (DRR)setting outobjectives andpriorities forpolicies and atnational level overtwo decade

Recognizes that agender perspectiveshould be integratedinto all DisasterRisk Reductionpolicies plans anddecision-makingprocesses includingthose associatedwith existingclimate variabilityand future climatechange

Source (Skinner 2011)

Letrsquos have a description how different international policies

include gender responsive program in their policies

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Changersquos Policies

(UNFCCC)

UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol and Conference of parties (COP)

have already included and planning to include the climate change

policy regarding gender UNFCCC response gender policies with the

climate related changes and hazards and these responded sectors41

are mainly health access to energy transportation early

warning systems and hazard management etc

Article 4f of UNFCCC (1992) gives importance to consider

health and other social implications including gender equality

the 7th Conference of Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC called for

increased participation of women in UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol

bodies and tasked the UNFCCC Secretariat with determining a quota

and disclosing data on womenrsquos participation at each COP

A binding agreement on climate change issued in 2009 the

gender dimensions of information awareness-raising and knowledge

on climate change capacity-building consumption employment

generation climate change impacts climate funding cooperation

with the UN system and youth participation

the 9th Conference of Parties (COP) included some strategies

and those are i) Closing knowledge gaps relating to gender

aspects of climate change (research and gender-disaggregated

data)

ii) Including more women and gender experts in climate policy

decision-making at all levels

iii) Integrating gender-related knowledge into policymaking

implementation monitoring and communication strategies and

materials

United Nations Development Programrsquos (UNDP) Policies

42

UNDP mainly target on sustainable development process and for

this reason they emphasize on climate change as well as gender

conscious policies UNDP designed some steps for gender

mainstreaming in disaster risk reduction and those are the

followings-

Include gender perspectives into disaster reduction efforts at

the national regional and international levels including

policies strategies action plans and programs

Analyze climate change data (such as desertification floods

drought and deforestation) from a gender-sensitive perspective

Take gender-conscious steps to reduce the negative impacts of

natural disasters on women particularly in relation to their

critical roles in rural areas in the provision of water food and

energy

Increase the participation and representation of women at all

levels of the decision-making process

Include the traditional knowledge and perspectives of women in

the analysis and evaluate the characteristics of key disaster

risks

Ensure that women are visible agents of change at all levels of

disaster preparedness including early warning systems

education communication information and networking

opportunities

Build the capacity of national and local womenrsquos groups and

provide them with a platform to be heard and to engage optimally

43

Consider the level of womenrsquos access to technology and finance

in times of disaster

Include gender-specific indicators to monitor and track progress

on gender equality targets

UNDP also have some designed steps for Gender mainstreaming in

adaptation and those are given below-

Analyze the effects of climate change from both men and womenrsquos

perspective

Ensure disaggregation of qualitative and quantitative data by

sex in all assessments and stocktaking

Incorporate a womenrsquos perspective when designing and

implementing projects

Capitalize on the talents and contributions of both women and

men

Set targets for womenrsquos participation in different activities

Ensure that women are adequately represented in all decision-

making processes at all levels

Ensure that gender expertise is involved and consulted

throughout the project implementation process

Make womenrsquos equal access to information economic resources and

education a priority

Address gender differences in capabilities to cope with climate

change adaptation and mitigation

Develop and apply gender-sensitive criteria and indicators for

progress monitoring and evaluation of results

44

Undertake a gender analysis of applicable budget lines and

financial instruments to determine the differentiated impact on

women and men of the budget

Consider reallocation of resources if relevant to achieve

gender equality outcomes from the actions planned

Develop and apply gender-sensitive criteria and indicators in

climate change policy

In total UNDP has set clear gender specific goals and gender

equality performance targets to integrate climate change impacts

in its focus areas16 UNDP (2008) has also created a website for

gender issues which included a section that is dedicated to

climate change It is an instructive tool to academic and

nonacademic papers and reports activities and organizations

related to climate change and gender issues17

Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2007

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was

established by the World Meteorological Organization and the

United Nations Environment Program in 198818

16 Gender And Climate Change Impact and Adaptation (2009) United Nations Development program Pg no-19 Retrieved on August 8 2013 from httpwwwundpccorgundpccfilesdocspublicationssubmitedlook20at20forword20for20summary20UNDP20REP-colombopdf17Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion in Climate Change Adaptation Asian Development Bank Institute Retrieved on August 27 2013 from httpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf18Baten M A amp Khan N A (2010) Gender issue in climate change discoursetheory versus reality Unnayan Onneshan-The Innovators Retrieved on September

45

Picture-5 River Erosion in BangladeshSource Issues and Challenges in Fisheries- Bangladesh

available athttpagricultureandfarmingwordpresscomcategorybangla

desh

Here is a table to have a brief idea at a glance about the direct

and indirect effects of climate hazards on women

(Table-2 Direct and Indirect Effects of Climate Change on Women)

Risks Climate Hazardrsquos

Effects on Women

Climate Hazardrsquos

Effects on Women

36

(Direct) (Indirect)

Drought and

water shortage

Women and girls in

developing countries

are often the primary

collectors users and

managers of water

Decreases in water

availability will

-jeopardize their

familiesrsquo livelihoods

-increase their

workloads and may have

secondary effects such

as

-lower school

enrollment figures for

girls or

-less opportunity for

women to engage in

income-generating

activities

-Additional burden and

responsibility

-sense of deprivation

and

- insecurity

Floods

Cyclones

Hurricanes

Heavy Rainfall

A sample of 141

countries over the

period 1981-2002 found

that natural disasters

(and their subsequent

-Loss of property

increase insecurity

and mental weakness -

Domestic violence and

sexual harassment also

37

impact) kill more women

than men on average or

kill women at an

earlier age than men

causes sense of

deprivation

-Loss of dignity

River Bank

Erosion

Go through physical

torture and sexual

harassment in the new

place they migrate and

also become victim of

domestic violence

-Distributing the

share of property

increase insecure

feeling

Source (Katharine Vincent 2010)

Chapter IV

ldquoHow gender responsive policies reflect in different international

regional and national climate change policiesrdquo

10 Policies Regarding Climate Change and Gender

The rationale for integrating gender in climate change policy and

programs has three pillars provided by Agnes Otzelberger

i) promoting gender equality and womenrsquos rights as an end in

itself

ii) gender equality as a condition for poverty reduction and

38

iii) Gender equality as a condition for successful adaptation

and mitigation

Mainly Bangladesh follows the policies of some particular

ministry like Ministry of Environment and Forest (MOEF)

Ministry of Food and Disaster Management Water development

board etc Sharmind Neelromi stated that Bangladesh pursue the

policies of BCCSAP and Water Policy to deal with climate change

This research mainly included policies of some particular

international and national institutions which are mostly followed

to deal with climate change Now the question arises to what

extent do these policies have gender conscious response or not

101 International Policies

Different international organizations like United Nations World

Bank are so much concerned about climate change and its effect

upon the people Particularly these institutions have also

focused on significant sectors like women children and older

people In this regard United Nations Framework Convention on

Climate Change (UNFCCC) United Nations Development Program

(UNDP) Hyogo Framework for Action are mostly remarkable A

framework designed on gender responsive international

institutional policies on climate change are given below

39

(Table-3 International Gender Responsive Climate Change

Policies)

Name of Policies Climate ChangeRelevance

Gender Relevance

UNFCCC Acknowledges humaninterference withthe climate and aimsto stabilizeconcentration ofGHGs in theatmosphere

Absence of anymention of genderexcept genderequality

UNDP Prioritize onsustainabledevelopment processand in this regardemphasize on genderresponsive climatechange policies foradaptation andmitigation

Broader genderresponse fromadaptation tomitigation forempowermentequality healthinformation etcincluded in itsclimate changepolicy

IPCC Provides anauthoritativeinternationalstatement ofscientificunderstanding ofclimate change Italso assesses thecauses impacts andpossible responsestrategies to

Recognize genderequality andmainstreaming andprioritize onwomenrsquosparticipation

40

climate change Hyogo Framework forAction

The firstinternationallyaccepted frameworkon disaster riskreduction (DRR)setting outobjectives andpriorities forpolicies and atnational level overtwo decade

Recognizes that agender perspectiveshould be integratedinto all DisasterRisk Reductionpolicies plans anddecision-makingprocesses includingthose associatedwith existingclimate variabilityand future climatechange

Source (Skinner 2011)

Letrsquos have a description how different international policies

include gender responsive program in their policies

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Changersquos Policies

(UNFCCC)

UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol and Conference of parties (COP)

have already included and planning to include the climate change

policy regarding gender UNFCCC response gender policies with the

climate related changes and hazards and these responded sectors41

are mainly health access to energy transportation early

warning systems and hazard management etc

Article 4f of UNFCCC (1992) gives importance to consider

health and other social implications including gender equality

the 7th Conference of Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC called for

increased participation of women in UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol

bodies and tasked the UNFCCC Secretariat with determining a quota

and disclosing data on womenrsquos participation at each COP

A binding agreement on climate change issued in 2009 the

gender dimensions of information awareness-raising and knowledge

on climate change capacity-building consumption employment

generation climate change impacts climate funding cooperation

with the UN system and youth participation

the 9th Conference of Parties (COP) included some strategies

and those are i) Closing knowledge gaps relating to gender

aspects of climate change (research and gender-disaggregated

data)

ii) Including more women and gender experts in climate policy

decision-making at all levels

iii) Integrating gender-related knowledge into policymaking

implementation monitoring and communication strategies and

materials

United Nations Development Programrsquos (UNDP) Policies

42

UNDP mainly target on sustainable development process and for

this reason they emphasize on climate change as well as gender

conscious policies UNDP designed some steps for gender

mainstreaming in disaster risk reduction and those are the

followings-

Include gender perspectives into disaster reduction efforts at

the national regional and international levels including

policies strategies action plans and programs

Analyze climate change data (such as desertification floods

drought and deforestation) from a gender-sensitive perspective

Take gender-conscious steps to reduce the negative impacts of

natural disasters on women particularly in relation to their

critical roles in rural areas in the provision of water food and

energy

Increase the participation and representation of women at all

levels of the decision-making process

Include the traditional knowledge and perspectives of women in

the analysis and evaluate the characteristics of key disaster

risks

Ensure that women are visible agents of change at all levels of

disaster preparedness including early warning systems

education communication information and networking

opportunities

Build the capacity of national and local womenrsquos groups and

provide them with a platform to be heard and to engage optimally

43

Consider the level of womenrsquos access to technology and finance

in times of disaster

Include gender-specific indicators to monitor and track progress

on gender equality targets

UNDP also have some designed steps for Gender mainstreaming in

adaptation and those are given below-

Analyze the effects of climate change from both men and womenrsquos

perspective

Ensure disaggregation of qualitative and quantitative data by

sex in all assessments and stocktaking

Incorporate a womenrsquos perspective when designing and

implementing projects

Capitalize on the talents and contributions of both women and

men

Set targets for womenrsquos participation in different activities

Ensure that women are adequately represented in all decision-

making processes at all levels

Ensure that gender expertise is involved and consulted

throughout the project implementation process

Make womenrsquos equal access to information economic resources and

education a priority

Address gender differences in capabilities to cope with climate

change adaptation and mitigation

Develop and apply gender-sensitive criteria and indicators for

progress monitoring and evaluation of results

44

Undertake a gender analysis of applicable budget lines and

financial instruments to determine the differentiated impact on

women and men of the budget

Consider reallocation of resources if relevant to achieve

gender equality outcomes from the actions planned

Develop and apply gender-sensitive criteria and indicators in

climate change policy

In total UNDP has set clear gender specific goals and gender

equality performance targets to integrate climate change impacts

in its focus areas16 UNDP (2008) has also created a website for

gender issues which included a section that is dedicated to

climate change It is an instructive tool to academic and

nonacademic papers and reports activities and organizations

related to climate change and gender issues17

Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2007

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was

established by the World Meteorological Organization and the

United Nations Environment Program in 198818

16 Gender And Climate Change Impact and Adaptation (2009) United Nations Development program Pg no-19 Retrieved on August 8 2013 from httpwwwundpccorgundpccfilesdocspublicationssubmitedlook20at20forword20for20summary20UNDP20REP-colombopdf17Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion in Climate Change Adaptation Asian Development Bank Institute Retrieved on August 27 2013 from httpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf18Baten M A amp Khan N A (2010) Gender issue in climate change discoursetheory versus reality Unnayan Onneshan-The Innovators Retrieved on September

45

(Direct) (Indirect)

Drought and

water shortage

Women and girls in

developing countries

are often the primary

collectors users and

managers of water

Decreases in water

availability will

-jeopardize their

familiesrsquo livelihoods

-increase their

workloads and may have

secondary effects such

as

-lower school

enrollment figures for

girls or

-less opportunity for

women to engage in

income-generating

activities

-Additional burden and

responsibility

-sense of deprivation

and

- insecurity

Floods

Cyclones

Hurricanes

Heavy Rainfall

A sample of 141

countries over the

period 1981-2002 found

that natural disasters

(and their subsequent

-Loss of property

increase insecurity

and mental weakness -

Domestic violence and

sexual harassment also

37

impact) kill more women

than men on average or

kill women at an

earlier age than men

causes sense of

deprivation

-Loss of dignity

River Bank

Erosion

Go through physical

torture and sexual

harassment in the new

place they migrate and

also become victim of

domestic violence

-Distributing the

share of property

increase insecure

feeling

Source (Katharine Vincent 2010)

Chapter IV

ldquoHow gender responsive policies reflect in different international

regional and national climate change policiesrdquo

10 Policies Regarding Climate Change and Gender

The rationale for integrating gender in climate change policy and

programs has three pillars provided by Agnes Otzelberger

i) promoting gender equality and womenrsquos rights as an end in

itself

ii) gender equality as a condition for poverty reduction and

38

iii) Gender equality as a condition for successful adaptation

and mitigation

Mainly Bangladesh follows the policies of some particular

ministry like Ministry of Environment and Forest (MOEF)

Ministry of Food and Disaster Management Water development

board etc Sharmind Neelromi stated that Bangladesh pursue the

policies of BCCSAP and Water Policy to deal with climate change

This research mainly included policies of some particular

international and national institutions which are mostly followed

to deal with climate change Now the question arises to what

extent do these policies have gender conscious response or not

101 International Policies

Different international organizations like United Nations World

Bank are so much concerned about climate change and its effect

upon the people Particularly these institutions have also

focused on significant sectors like women children and older

people In this regard United Nations Framework Convention on

Climate Change (UNFCCC) United Nations Development Program

(UNDP) Hyogo Framework for Action are mostly remarkable A

framework designed on gender responsive international

institutional policies on climate change are given below

39

(Table-3 International Gender Responsive Climate Change

Policies)

Name of Policies Climate ChangeRelevance

Gender Relevance

UNFCCC Acknowledges humaninterference withthe climate and aimsto stabilizeconcentration ofGHGs in theatmosphere

Absence of anymention of genderexcept genderequality

UNDP Prioritize onsustainabledevelopment processand in this regardemphasize on genderresponsive climatechange policies foradaptation andmitigation

Broader genderresponse fromadaptation tomitigation forempowermentequality healthinformation etcincluded in itsclimate changepolicy

IPCC Provides anauthoritativeinternationalstatement ofscientificunderstanding ofclimate change Italso assesses thecauses impacts andpossible responsestrategies to

Recognize genderequality andmainstreaming andprioritize onwomenrsquosparticipation

40

climate change Hyogo Framework forAction

The firstinternationallyaccepted frameworkon disaster riskreduction (DRR)setting outobjectives andpriorities forpolicies and atnational level overtwo decade

Recognizes that agender perspectiveshould be integratedinto all DisasterRisk Reductionpolicies plans anddecision-makingprocesses includingthose associatedwith existingclimate variabilityand future climatechange

Source (Skinner 2011)

Letrsquos have a description how different international policies

include gender responsive program in their policies

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Changersquos Policies

(UNFCCC)

UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol and Conference of parties (COP)

have already included and planning to include the climate change

policy regarding gender UNFCCC response gender policies with the

climate related changes and hazards and these responded sectors41

are mainly health access to energy transportation early

warning systems and hazard management etc

Article 4f of UNFCCC (1992) gives importance to consider

health and other social implications including gender equality

the 7th Conference of Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC called for

increased participation of women in UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol

bodies and tasked the UNFCCC Secretariat with determining a quota

and disclosing data on womenrsquos participation at each COP

A binding agreement on climate change issued in 2009 the

gender dimensions of information awareness-raising and knowledge

on climate change capacity-building consumption employment

generation climate change impacts climate funding cooperation

with the UN system and youth participation

the 9th Conference of Parties (COP) included some strategies

and those are i) Closing knowledge gaps relating to gender

aspects of climate change (research and gender-disaggregated

data)

ii) Including more women and gender experts in climate policy

decision-making at all levels

iii) Integrating gender-related knowledge into policymaking

implementation monitoring and communication strategies and

materials

United Nations Development Programrsquos (UNDP) Policies

42

UNDP mainly target on sustainable development process and for

this reason they emphasize on climate change as well as gender

conscious policies UNDP designed some steps for gender

mainstreaming in disaster risk reduction and those are the

followings-

Include gender perspectives into disaster reduction efforts at

the national regional and international levels including

policies strategies action plans and programs

Analyze climate change data (such as desertification floods

drought and deforestation) from a gender-sensitive perspective

Take gender-conscious steps to reduce the negative impacts of

natural disasters on women particularly in relation to their

critical roles in rural areas in the provision of water food and

energy

Increase the participation and representation of women at all

levels of the decision-making process

Include the traditional knowledge and perspectives of women in

the analysis and evaluate the characteristics of key disaster

risks

Ensure that women are visible agents of change at all levels of

disaster preparedness including early warning systems

education communication information and networking

opportunities

Build the capacity of national and local womenrsquos groups and

provide them with a platform to be heard and to engage optimally

43

Consider the level of womenrsquos access to technology and finance

in times of disaster

Include gender-specific indicators to monitor and track progress

on gender equality targets

UNDP also have some designed steps for Gender mainstreaming in

adaptation and those are given below-

Analyze the effects of climate change from both men and womenrsquos

perspective

Ensure disaggregation of qualitative and quantitative data by

sex in all assessments and stocktaking

Incorporate a womenrsquos perspective when designing and

implementing projects

Capitalize on the talents and contributions of both women and

men

Set targets for womenrsquos participation in different activities

Ensure that women are adequately represented in all decision-

making processes at all levels

Ensure that gender expertise is involved and consulted

throughout the project implementation process

Make womenrsquos equal access to information economic resources and

education a priority

Address gender differences in capabilities to cope with climate

change adaptation and mitigation

Develop and apply gender-sensitive criteria and indicators for

progress monitoring and evaluation of results

44

Undertake a gender analysis of applicable budget lines and

financial instruments to determine the differentiated impact on

women and men of the budget

Consider reallocation of resources if relevant to achieve

gender equality outcomes from the actions planned

Develop and apply gender-sensitive criteria and indicators in

climate change policy

In total UNDP has set clear gender specific goals and gender

equality performance targets to integrate climate change impacts

in its focus areas16 UNDP (2008) has also created a website for

gender issues which included a section that is dedicated to

climate change It is an instructive tool to academic and

nonacademic papers and reports activities and organizations

related to climate change and gender issues17

Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2007

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was

established by the World Meteorological Organization and the

United Nations Environment Program in 198818

16 Gender And Climate Change Impact and Adaptation (2009) United Nations Development program Pg no-19 Retrieved on August 8 2013 from httpwwwundpccorgundpccfilesdocspublicationssubmitedlook20at20forword20for20summary20UNDP20REP-colombopdf17Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion in Climate Change Adaptation Asian Development Bank Institute Retrieved on August 27 2013 from httpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf18Baten M A amp Khan N A (2010) Gender issue in climate change discoursetheory versus reality Unnayan Onneshan-The Innovators Retrieved on September

45

impact) kill more women

than men on average or

kill women at an

earlier age than men

causes sense of

deprivation

-Loss of dignity

River Bank

Erosion

Go through physical

torture and sexual

harassment in the new

place they migrate and

also become victim of

domestic violence

-Distributing the

share of property

increase insecure

feeling

Source (Katharine Vincent 2010)

Chapter IV

ldquoHow gender responsive policies reflect in different international

regional and national climate change policiesrdquo

10 Policies Regarding Climate Change and Gender

The rationale for integrating gender in climate change policy and

programs has three pillars provided by Agnes Otzelberger

i) promoting gender equality and womenrsquos rights as an end in

itself

ii) gender equality as a condition for poverty reduction and

38

iii) Gender equality as a condition for successful adaptation

and mitigation

Mainly Bangladesh follows the policies of some particular

ministry like Ministry of Environment and Forest (MOEF)

Ministry of Food and Disaster Management Water development

board etc Sharmind Neelromi stated that Bangladesh pursue the

policies of BCCSAP and Water Policy to deal with climate change

This research mainly included policies of some particular

international and national institutions which are mostly followed

to deal with climate change Now the question arises to what

extent do these policies have gender conscious response or not

101 International Policies

Different international organizations like United Nations World

Bank are so much concerned about climate change and its effect

upon the people Particularly these institutions have also

focused on significant sectors like women children and older

people In this regard United Nations Framework Convention on

Climate Change (UNFCCC) United Nations Development Program

(UNDP) Hyogo Framework for Action are mostly remarkable A

framework designed on gender responsive international

institutional policies on climate change are given below

39

(Table-3 International Gender Responsive Climate Change

Policies)

Name of Policies Climate ChangeRelevance

Gender Relevance

UNFCCC Acknowledges humaninterference withthe climate and aimsto stabilizeconcentration ofGHGs in theatmosphere

Absence of anymention of genderexcept genderequality

UNDP Prioritize onsustainabledevelopment processand in this regardemphasize on genderresponsive climatechange policies foradaptation andmitigation

Broader genderresponse fromadaptation tomitigation forempowermentequality healthinformation etcincluded in itsclimate changepolicy

IPCC Provides anauthoritativeinternationalstatement ofscientificunderstanding ofclimate change Italso assesses thecauses impacts andpossible responsestrategies to

Recognize genderequality andmainstreaming andprioritize onwomenrsquosparticipation

40

climate change Hyogo Framework forAction

The firstinternationallyaccepted frameworkon disaster riskreduction (DRR)setting outobjectives andpriorities forpolicies and atnational level overtwo decade

Recognizes that agender perspectiveshould be integratedinto all DisasterRisk Reductionpolicies plans anddecision-makingprocesses includingthose associatedwith existingclimate variabilityand future climatechange

Source (Skinner 2011)

Letrsquos have a description how different international policies

include gender responsive program in their policies

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Changersquos Policies

(UNFCCC)

UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol and Conference of parties (COP)

have already included and planning to include the climate change

policy regarding gender UNFCCC response gender policies with the

climate related changes and hazards and these responded sectors41

are mainly health access to energy transportation early

warning systems and hazard management etc

Article 4f of UNFCCC (1992) gives importance to consider

health and other social implications including gender equality

the 7th Conference of Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC called for

increased participation of women in UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol

bodies and tasked the UNFCCC Secretariat with determining a quota

and disclosing data on womenrsquos participation at each COP

A binding agreement on climate change issued in 2009 the

gender dimensions of information awareness-raising and knowledge

on climate change capacity-building consumption employment

generation climate change impacts climate funding cooperation

with the UN system and youth participation

the 9th Conference of Parties (COP) included some strategies

and those are i) Closing knowledge gaps relating to gender

aspects of climate change (research and gender-disaggregated

data)

ii) Including more women and gender experts in climate policy

decision-making at all levels

iii) Integrating gender-related knowledge into policymaking

implementation monitoring and communication strategies and

materials

United Nations Development Programrsquos (UNDP) Policies

42

UNDP mainly target on sustainable development process and for

this reason they emphasize on climate change as well as gender

conscious policies UNDP designed some steps for gender

mainstreaming in disaster risk reduction and those are the

followings-

Include gender perspectives into disaster reduction efforts at

the national regional and international levels including

policies strategies action plans and programs

Analyze climate change data (such as desertification floods

drought and deforestation) from a gender-sensitive perspective

Take gender-conscious steps to reduce the negative impacts of

natural disasters on women particularly in relation to their

critical roles in rural areas in the provision of water food and

energy

Increase the participation and representation of women at all

levels of the decision-making process

Include the traditional knowledge and perspectives of women in

the analysis and evaluate the characteristics of key disaster

risks

Ensure that women are visible agents of change at all levels of

disaster preparedness including early warning systems

education communication information and networking

opportunities

Build the capacity of national and local womenrsquos groups and

provide them with a platform to be heard and to engage optimally

43

Consider the level of womenrsquos access to technology and finance

in times of disaster

Include gender-specific indicators to monitor and track progress

on gender equality targets

UNDP also have some designed steps for Gender mainstreaming in

adaptation and those are given below-

Analyze the effects of climate change from both men and womenrsquos

perspective

Ensure disaggregation of qualitative and quantitative data by

sex in all assessments and stocktaking

Incorporate a womenrsquos perspective when designing and

implementing projects

Capitalize on the talents and contributions of both women and

men

Set targets for womenrsquos participation in different activities

Ensure that women are adequately represented in all decision-

making processes at all levels

Ensure that gender expertise is involved and consulted

throughout the project implementation process

Make womenrsquos equal access to information economic resources and

education a priority

Address gender differences in capabilities to cope with climate

change adaptation and mitigation

Develop and apply gender-sensitive criteria and indicators for

progress monitoring and evaluation of results

44

Undertake a gender analysis of applicable budget lines and

financial instruments to determine the differentiated impact on

women and men of the budget

Consider reallocation of resources if relevant to achieve

gender equality outcomes from the actions planned

Develop and apply gender-sensitive criteria and indicators in

climate change policy

In total UNDP has set clear gender specific goals and gender

equality performance targets to integrate climate change impacts

in its focus areas16 UNDP (2008) has also created a website for

gender issues which included a section that is dedicated to

climate change It is an instructive tool to academic and

nonacademic papers and reports activities and organizations

related to climate change and gender issues17

Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2007

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was

established by the World Meteorological Organization and the

United Nations Environment Program in 198818

16 Gender And Climate Change Impact and Adaptation (2009) United Nations Development program Pg no-19 Retrieved on August 8 2013 from httpwwwundpccorgundpccfilesdocspublicationssubmitedlook20at20forword20for20summary20UNDP20REP-colombopdf17Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion in Climate Change Adaptation Asian Development Bank Institute Retrieved on August 27 2013 from httpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf18Baten M A amp Khan N A (2010) Gender issue in climate change discoursetheory versus reality Unnayan Onneshan-The Innovators Retrieved on September

45

iii) Gender equality as a condition for successful adaptation

and mitigation

Mainly Bangladesh follows the policies of some particular

ministry like Ministry of Environment and Forest (MOEF)

Ministry of Food and Disaster Management Water development

board etc Sharmind Neelromi stated that Bangladesh pursue the

policies of BCCSAP and Water Policy to deal with climate change

This research mainly included policies of some particular

international and national institutions which are mostly followed

to deal with climate change Now the question arises to what

extent do these policies have gender conscious response or not

101 International Policies

Different international organizations like United Nations World

Bank are so much concerned about climate change and its effect

upon the people Particularly these institutions have also

focused on significant sectors like women children and older

people In this regard United Nations Framework Convention on

Climate Change (UNFCCC) United Nations Development Program

(UNDP) Hyogo Framework for Action are mostly remarkable A

framework designed on gender responsive international

institutional policies on climate change are given below

39

(Table-3 International Gender Responsive Climate Change

Policies)

Name of Policies Climate ChangeRelevance

Gender Relevance

UNFCCC Acknowledges humaninterference withthe climate and aimsto stabilizeconcentration ofGHGs in theatmosphere

Absence of anymention of genderexcept genderequality

UNDP Prioritize onsustainabledevelopment processand in this regardemphasize on genderresponsive climatechange policies foradaptation andmitigation

Broader genderresponse fromadaptation tomitigation forempowermentequality healthinformation etcincluded in itsclimate changepolicy

IPCC Provides anauthoritativeinternationalstatement ofscientificunderstanding ofclimate change Italso assesses thecauses impacts andpossible responsestrategies to

Recognize genderequality andmainstreaming andprioritize onwomenrsquosparticipation

40

climate change Hyogo Framework forAction

The firstinternationallyaccepted frameworkon disaster riskreduction (DRR)setting outobjectives andpriorities forpolicies and atnational level overtwo decade

Recognizes that agender perspectiveshould be integratedinto all DisasterRisk Reductionpolicies plans anddecision-makingprocesses includingthose associatedwith existingclimate variabilityand future climatechange

Source (Skinner 2011)

Letrsquos have a description how different international policies

include gender responsive program in their policies

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Changersquos Policies

(UNFCCC)

UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol and Conference of parties (COP)

have already included and planning to include the climate change

policy regarding gender UNFCCC response gender policies with the

climate related changes and hazards and these responded sectors41

are mainly health access to energy transportation early

warning systems and hazard management etc

Article 4f of UNFCCC (1992) gives importance to consider

health and other social implications including gender equality

the 7th Conference of Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC called for

increased participation of women in UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol

bodies and tasked the UNFCCC Secretariat with determining a quota

and disclosing data on womenrsquos participation at each COP

A binding agreement on climate change issued in 2009 the

gender dimensions of information awareness-raising and knowledge

on climate change capacity-building consumption employment

generation climate change impacts climate funding cooperation

with the UN system and youth participation

the 9th Conference of Parties (COP) included some strategies

and those are i) Closing knowledge gaps relating to gender

aspects of climate change (research and gender-disaggregated

data)

ii) Including more women and gender experts in climate policy

decision-making at all levels

iii) Integrating gender-related knowledge into policymaking

implementation monitoring and communication strategies and

materials

United Nations Development Programrsquos (UNDP) Policies

42

UNDP mainly target on sustainable development process and for

this reason they emphasize on climate change as well as gender

conscious policies UNDP designed some steps for gender

mainstreaming in disaster risk reduction and those are the

followings-

Include gender perspectives into disaster reduction efforts at

the national regional and international levels including

policies strategies action plans and programs

Analyze climate change data (such as desertification floods

drought and deforestation) from a gender-sensitive perspective

Take gender-conscious steps to reduce the negative impacts of

natural disasters on women particularly in relation to their

critical roles in rural areas in the provision of water food and

energy

Increase the participation and representation of women at all

levels of the decision-making process

Include the traditional knowledge and perspectives of women in

the analysis and evaluate the characteristics of key disaster

risks

Ensure that women are visible agents of change at all levels of

disaster preparedness including early warning systems

education communication information and networking

opportunities

Build the capacity of national and local womenrsquos groups and

provide them with a platform to be heard and to engage optimally

43

Consider the level of womenrsquos access to technology and finance

in times of disaster

Include gender-specific indicators to monitor and track progress

on gender equality targets

UNDP also have some designed steps for Gender mainstreaming in

adaptation and those are given below-

Analyze the effects of climate change from both men and womenrsquos

perspective

Ensure disaggregation of qualitative and quantitative data by

sex in all assessments and stocktaking

Incorporate a womenrsquos perspective when designing and

implementing projects

Capitalize on the talents and contributions of both women and

men

Set targets for womenrsquos participation in different activities

Ensure that women are adequately represented in all decision-

making processes at all levels

Ensure that gender expertise is involved and consulted

throughout the project implementation process

Make womenrsquos equal access to information economic resources and

education a priority

Address gender differences in capabilities to cope with climate

change adaptation and mitigation

Develop and apply gender-sensitive criteria and indicators for

progress monitoring and evaluation of results

44

Undertake a gender analysis of applicable budget lines and

financial instruments to determine the differentiated impact on

women and men of the budget

Consider reallocation of resources if relevant to achieve

gender equality outcomes from the actions planned

Develop and apply gender-sensitive criteria and indicators in

climate change policy

In total UNDP has set clear gender specific goals and gender

equality performance targets to integrate climate change impacts

in its focus areas16 UNDP (2008) has also created a website for

gender issues which included a section that is dedicated to

climate change It is an instructive tool to academic and

nonacademic papers and reports activities and organizations

related to climate change and gender issues17

Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2007

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was

established by the World Meteorological Organization and the

United Nations Environment Program in 198818

16 Gender And Climate Change Impact and Adaptation (2009) United Nations Development program Pg no-19 Retrieved on August 8 2013 from httpwwwundpccorgundpccfilesdocspublicationssubmitedlook20at20forword20for20summary20UNDP20REP-colombopdf17Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion in Climate Change Adaptation Asian Development Bank Institute Retrieved on August 27 2013 from httpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf18Baten M A amp Khan N A (2010) Gender issue in climate change discoursetheory versus reality Unnayan Onneshan-The Innovators Retrieved on September

45

(Table-3 International Gender Responsive Climate Change

Policies)

Name of Policies Climate ChangeRelevance

Gender Relevance

UNFCCC Acknowledges humaninterference withthe climate and aimsto stabilizeconcentration ofGHGs in theatmosphere

Absence of anymention of genderexcept genderequality

UNDP Prioritize onsustainabledevelopment processand in this regardemphasize on genderresponsive climatechange policies foradaptation andmitigation

Broader genderresponse fromadaptation tomitigation forempowermentequality healthinformation etcincluded in itsclimate changepolicy

IPCC Provides anauthoritativeinternationalstatement ofscientificunderstanding ofclimate change Italso assesses thecauses impacts andpossible responsestrategies to

Recognize genderequality andmainstreaming andprioritize onwomenrsquosparticipation

40

climate change Hyogo Framework forAction

The firstinternationallyaccepted frameworkon disaster riskreduction (DRR)setting outobjectives andpriorities forpolicies and atnational level overtwo decade

Recognizes that agender perspectiveshould be integratedinto all DisasterRisk Reductionpolicies plans anddecision-makingprocesses includingthose associatedwith existingclimate variabilityand future climatechange

Source (Skinner 2011)

Letrsquos have a description how different international policies

include gender responsive program in their policies

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Changersquos Policies

(UNFCCC)

UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol and Conference of parties (COP)

have already included and planning to include the climate change

policy regarding gender UNFCCC response gender policies with the

climate related changes and hazards and these responded sectors41

are mainly health access to energy transportation early

warning systems and hazard management etc

Article 4f of UNFCCC (1992) gives importance to consider

health and other social implications including gender equality

the 7th Conference of Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC called for

increased participation of women in UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol

bodies and tasked the UNFCCC Secretariat with determining a quota

and disclosing data on womenrsquos participation at each COP

A binding agreement on climate change issued in 2009 the

gender dimensions of information awareness-raising and knowledge

on climate change capacity-building consumption employment

generation climate change impacts climate funding cooperation

with the UN system and youth participation

the 9th Conference of Parties (COP) included some strategies

and those are i) Closing knowledge gaps relating to gender

aspects of climate change (research and gender-disaggregated

data)

ii) Including more women and gender experts in climate policy

decision-making at all levels

iii) Integrating gender-related knowledge into policymaking

implementation monitoring and communication strategies and

materials

United Nations Development Programrsquos (UNDP) Policies

42

UNDP mainly target on sustainable development process and for

this reason they emphasize on climate change as well as gender

conscious policies UNDP designed some steps for gender

mainstreaming in disaster risk reduction and those are the

followings-

Include gender perspectives into disaster reduction efforts at

the national regional and international levels including

policies strategies action plans and programs

Analyze climate change data (such as desertification floods

drought and deforestation) from a gender-sensitive perspective

Take gender-conscious steps to reduce the negative impacts of

natural disasters on women particularly in relation to their

critical roles in rural areas in the provision of water food and

energy

Increase the participation and representation of women at all

levels of the decision-making process

Include the traditional knowledge and perspectives of women in

the analysis and evaluate the characteristics of key disaster

risks

Ensure that women are visible agents of change at all levels of

disaster preparedness including early warning systems

education communication information and networking

opportunities

Build the capacity of national and local womenrsquos groups and

provide them with a platform to be heard and to engage optimally

43

Consider the level of womenrsquos access to technology and finance

in times of disaster

Include gender-specific indicators to monitor and track progress

on gender equality targets

UNDP also have some designed steps for Gender mainstreaming in

adaptation and those are given below-

Analyze the effects of climate change from both men and womenrsquos

perspective

Ensure disaggregation of qualitative and quantitative data by

sex in all assessments and stocktaking

Incorporate a womenrsquos perspective when designing and

implementing projects

Capitalize on the talents and contributions of both women and

men

Set targets for womenrsquos participation in different activities

Ensure that women are adequately represented in all decision-

making processes at all levels

Ensure that gender expertise is involved and consulted

throughout the project implementation process

Make womenrsquos equal access to information economic resources and

education a priority

Address gender differences in capabilities to cope with climate

change adaptation and mitigation

Develop and apply gender-sensitive criteria and indicators for

progress monitoring and evaluation of results

44

Undertake a gender analysis of applicable budget lines and

financial instruments to determine the differentiated impact on

women and men of the budget

Consider reallocation of resources if relevant to achieve

gender equality outcomes from the actions planned

Develop and apply gender-sensitive criteria and indicators in

climate change policy

In total UNDP has set clear gender specific goals and gender

equality performance targets to integrate climate change impacts

in its focus areas16 UNDP (2008) has also created a website for

gender issues which included a section that is dedicated to

climate change It is an instructive tool to academic and

nonacademic papers and reports activities and organizations

related to climate change and gender issues17

Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2007

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was

established by the World Meteorological Organization and the

United Nations Environment Program in 198818

16 Gender And Climate Change Impact and Adaptation (2009) United Nations Development program Pg no-19 Retrieved on August 8 2013 from httpwwwundpccorgundpccfilesdocspublicationssubmitedlook20at20forword20for20summary20UNDP20REP-colombopdf17Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion in Climate Change Adaptation Asian Development Bank Institute Retrieved on August 27 2013 from httpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf18Baten M A amp Khan N A (2010) Gender issue in climate change discoursetheory versus reality Unnayan Onneshan-The Innovators Retrieved on September

45

climate change Hyogo Framework forAction

The firstinternationallyaccepted frameworkon disaster riskreduction (DRR)setting outobjectives andpriorities forpolicies and atnational level overtwo decade

Recognizes that agender perspectiveshould be integratedinto all DisasterRisk Reductionpolicies plans anddecision-makingprocesses includingthose associatedwith existingclimate variabilityand future climatechange

Source (Skinner 2011)

Letrsquos have a description how different international policies

include gender responsive program in their policies

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Changersquos Policies

(UNFCCC)

UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol and Conference of parties (COP)

have already included and planning to include the climate change

policy regarding gender UNFCCC response gender policies with the

climate related changes and hazards and these responded sectors41

are mainly health access to energy transportation early

warning systems and hazard management etc

Article 4f of UNFCCC (1992) gives importance to consider

health and other social implications including gender equality

the 7th Conference of Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC called for

increased participation of women in UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol

bodies and tasked the UNFCCC Secretariat with determining a quota

and disclosing data on womenrsquos participation at each COP

A binding agreement on climate change issued in 2009 the

gender dimensions of information awareness-raising and knowledge

on climate change capacity-building consumption employment

generation climate change impacts climate funding cooperation

with the UN system and youth participation

the 9th Conference of Parties (COP) included some strategies

and those are i) Closing knowledge gaps relating to gender

aspects of climate change (research and gender-disaggregated

data)

ii) Including more women and gender experts in climate policy

decision-making at all levels

iii) Integrating gender-related knowledge into policymaking

implementation monitoring and communication strategies and

materials

United Nations Development Programrsquos (UNDP) Policies

42

UNDP mainly target on sustainable development process and for

this reason they emphasize on climate change as well as gender

conscious policies UNDP designed some steps for gender

mainstreaming in disaster risk reduction and those are the

followings-

Include gender perspectives into disaster reduction efforts at

the national regional and international levels including

policies strategies action plans and programs

Analyze climate change data (such as desertification floods

drought and deforestation) from a gender-sensitive perspective

Take gender-conscious steps to reduce the negative impacts of

natural disasters on women particularly in relation to their

critical roles in rural areas in the provision of water food and

energy

Increase the participation and representation of women at all

levels of the decision-making process

Include the traditional knowledge and perspectives of women in

the analysis and evaluate the characteristics of key disaster

risks

Ensure that women are visible agents of change at all levels of

disaster preparedness including early warning systems

education communication information and networking

opportunities

Build the capacity of national and local womenrsquos groups and

provide them with a platform to be heard and to engage optimally

43

Consider the level of womenrsquos access to technology and finance

in times of disaster

Include gender-specific indicators to monitor and track progress

on gender equality targets

UNDP also have some designed steps for Gender mainstreaming in

adaptation and those are given below-

Analyze the effects of climate change from both men and womenrsquos

perspective

Ensure disaggregation of qualitative and quantitative data by

sex in all assessments and stocktaking

Incorporate a womenrsquos perspective when designing and

implementing projects

Capitalize on the talents and contributions of both women and

men

Set targets for womenrsquos participation in different activities

Ensure that women are adequately represented in all decision-

making processes at all levels

Ensure that gender expertise is involved and consulted

throughout the project implementation process

Make womenrsquos equal access to information economic resources and

education a priority

Address gender differences in capabilities to cope with climate

change adaptation and mitigation

Develop and apply gender-sensitive criteria and indicators for

progress monitoring and evaluation of results

44

Undertake a gender analysis of applicable budget lines and

financial instruments to determine the differentiated impact on

women and men of the budget

Consider reallocation of resources if relevant to achieve

gender equality outcomes from the actions planned

Develop and apply gender-sensitive criteria and indicators in

climate change policy

In total UNDP has set clear gender specific goals and gender

equality performance targets to integrate climate change impacts

in its focus areas16 UNDP (2008) has also created a website for

gender issues which included a section that is dedicated to

climate change It is an instructive tool to academic and

nonacademic papers and reports activities and organizations

related to climate change and gender issues17

Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2007

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was

established by the World Meteorological Organization and the

United Nations Environment Program in 198818

16 Gender And Climate Change Impact and Adaptation (2009) United Nations Development program Pg no-19 Retrieved on August 8 2013 from httpwwwundpccorgundpccfilesdocspublicationssubmitedlook20at20forword20for20summary20UNDP20REP-colombopdf17Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion in Climate Change Adaptation Asian Development Bank Institute Retrieved on August 27 2013 from httpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf18Baten M A amp Khan N A (2010) Gender issue in climate change discoursetheory versus reality Unnayan Onneshan-The Innovators Retrieved on September

45

are mainly health access to energy transportation early

warning systems and hazard management etc

Article 4f of UNFCCC (1992) gives importance to consider

health and other social implications including gender equality

the 7th Conference of Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC called for

increased participation of women in UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol

bodies and tasked the UNFCCC Secretariat with determining a quota

and disclosing data on womenrsquos participation at each COP

A binding agreement on climate change issued in 2009 the

gender dimensions of information awareness-raising and knowledge

on climate change capacity-building consumption employment

generation climate change impacts climate funding cooperation

with the UN system and youth participation

the 9th Conference of Parties (COP) included some strategies

and those are i) Closing knowledge gaps relating to gender

aspects of climate change (research and gender-disaggregated

data)

ii) Including more women and gender experts in climate policy

decision-making at all levels

iii) Integrating gender-related knowledge into policymaking

implementation monitoring and communication strategies and

materials

United Nations Development Programrsquos (UNDP) Policies

42

UNDP mainly target on sustainable development process and for

this reason they emphasize on climate change as well as gender

conscious policies UNDP designed some steps for gender

mainstreaming in disaster risk reduction and those are the

followings-

Include gender perspectives into disaster reduction efforts at

the national regional and international levels including

policies strategies action plans and programs

Analyze climate change data (such as desertification floods

drought and deforestation) from a gender-sensitive perspective

Take gender-conscious steps to reduce the negative impacts of

natural disasters on women particularly in relation to their

critical roles in rural areas in the provision of water food and

energy

Increase the participation and representation of women at all

levels of the decision-making process

Include the traditional knowledge and perspectives of women in

the analysis and evaluate the characteristics of key disaster

risks

Ensure that women are visible agents of change at all levels of

disaster preparedness including early warning systems

education communication information and networking

opportunities

Build the capacity of national and local womenrsquos groups and

provide them with a platform to be heard and to engage optimally

43

Consider the level of womenrsquos access to technology and finance

in times of disaster

Include gender-specific indicators to monitor and track progress

on gender equality targets

UNDP also have some designed steps for Gender mainstreaming in

adaptation and those are given below-

Analyze the effects of climate change from both men and womenrsquos

perspective

Ensure disaggregation of qualitative and quantitative data by

sex in all assessments and stocktaking

Incorporate a womenrsquos perspective when designing and

implementing projects

Capitalize on the talents and contributions of both women and

men

Set targets for womenrsquos participation in different activities

Ensure that women are adequately represented in all decision-

making processes at all levels

Ensure that gender expertise is involved and consulted

throughout the project implementation process

Make womenrsquos equal access to information economic resources and

education a priority

Address gender differences in capabilities to cope with climate

change adaptation and mitigation

Develop and apply gender-sensitive criteria and indicators for

progress monitoring and evaluation of results

44

Undertake a gender analysis of applicable budget lines and

financial instruments to determine the differentiated impact on

women and men of the budget

Consider reallocation of resources if relevant to achieve

gender equality outcomes from the actions planned

Develop and apply gender-sensitive criteria and indicators in

climate change policy

In total UNDP has set clear gender specific goals and gender

equality performance targets to integrate climate change impacts

in its focus areas16 UNDP (2008) has also created a website for

gender issues which included a section that is dedicated to

climate change It is an instructive tool to academic and

nonacademic papers and reports activities and organizations

related to climate change and gender issues17

Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2007

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was

established by the World Meteorological Organization and the

United Nations Environment Program in 198818

16 Gender And Climate Change Impact and Adaptation (2009) United Nations Development program Pg no-19 Retrieved on August 8 2013 from httpwwwundpccorgundpccfilesdocspublicationssubmitedlook20at20forword20for20summary20UNDP20REP-colombopdf17Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion in Climate Change Adaptation Asian Development Bank Institute Retrieved on August 27 2013 from httpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf18Baten M A amp Khan N A (2010) Gender issue in climate change discoursetheory versus reality Unnayan Onneshan-The Innovators Retrieved on September

45

UNDP mainly target on sustainable development process and for

this reason they emphasize on climate change as well as gender

conscious policies UNDP designed some steps for gender

mainstreaming in disaster risk reduction and those are the

followings-

Include gender perspectives into disaster reduction efforts at

the national regional and international levels including

policies strategies action plans and programs

Analyze climate change data (such as desertification floods

drought and deforestation) from a gender-sensitive perspective

Take gender-conscious steps to reduce the negative impacts of

natural disasters on women particularly in relation to their

critical roles in rural areas in the provision of water food and

energy

Increase the participation and representation of women at all

levels of the decision-making process

Include the traditional knowledge and perspectives of women in

the analysis and evaluate the characteristics of key disaster

risks

Ensure that women are visible agents of change at all levels of

disaster preparedness including early warning systems

education communication information and networking

opportunities

Build the capacity of national and local womenrsquos groups and

provide them with a platform to be heard and to engage optimally

43

Consider the level of womenrsquos access to technology and finance

in times of disaster

Include gender-specific indicators to monitor and track progress

on gender equality targets

UNDP also have some designed steps for Gender mainstreaming in

adaptation and those are given below-

Analyze the effects of climate change from both men and womenrsquos

perspective

Ensure disaggregation of qualitative and quantitative data by

sex in all assessments and stocktaking

Incorporate a womenrsquos perspective when designing and

implementing projects

Capitalize on the talents and contributions of both women and

men

Set targets for womenrsquos participation in different activities

Ensure that women are adequately represented in all decision-

making processes at all levels

Ensure that gender expertise is involved and consulted

throughout the project implementation process

Make womenrsquos equal access to information economic resources and

education a priority

Address gender differences in capabilities to cope with climate

change adaptation and mitigation

Develop and apply gender-sensitive criteria and indicators for

progress monitoring and evaluation of results

44

Undertake a gender analysis of applicable budget lines and

financial instruments to determine the differentiated impact on

women and men of the budget

Consider reallocation of resources if relevant to achieve

gender equality outcomes from the actions planned

Develop and apply gender-sensitive criteria and indicators in

climate change policy

In total UNDP has set clear gender specific goals and gender

equality performance targets to integrate climate change impacts

in its focus areas16 UNDP (2008) has also created a website for

gender issues which included a section that is dedicated to

climate change It is an instructive tool to academic and

nonacademic papers and reports activities and organizations

related to climate change and gender issues17

Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2007

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was

established by the World Meteorological Organization and the

United Nations Environment Program in 198818

16 Gender And Climate Change Impact and Adaptation (2009) United Nations Development program Pg no-19 Retrieved on August 8 2013 from httpwwwundpccorgundpccfilesdocspublicationssubmitedlook20at20forword20for20summary20UNDP20REP-colombopdf17Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion in Climate Change Adaptation Asian Development Bank Institute Retrieved on August 27 2013 from httpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf18Baten M A amp Khan N A (2010) Gender issue in climate change discoursetheory versus reality Unnayan Onneshan-The Innovators Retrieved on September

45

Consider the level of womenrsquos access to technology and finance

in times of disaster

Include gender-specific indicators to monitor and track progress

on gender equality targets

UNDP also have some designed steps for Gender mainstreaming in

adaptation and those are given below-

Analyze the effects of climate change from both men and womenrsquos

perspective

Ensure disaggregation of qualitative and quantitative data by

sex in all assessments and stocktaking

Incorporate a womenrsquos perspective when designing and

implementing projects

Capitalize on the talents and contributions of both women and

men

Set targets for womenrsquos participation in different activities

Ensure that women are adequately represented in all decision-

making processes at all levels

Ensure that gender expertise is involved and consulted

throughout the project implementation process

Make womenrsquos equal access to information economic resources and

education a priority

Address gender differences in capabilities to cope with climate

change adaptation and mitigation

Develop and apply gender-sensitive criteria and indicators for

progress monitoring and evaluation of results

44

Undertake a gender analysis of applicable budget lines and

financial instruments to determine the differentiated impact on

women and men of the budget

Consider reallocation of resources if relevant to achieve

gender equality outcomes from the actions planned

Develop and apply gender-sensitive criteria and indicators in

climate change policy

In total UNDP has set clear gender specific goals and gender

equality performance targets to integrate climate change impacts

in its focus areas16 UNDP (2008) has also created a website for

gender issues which included a section that is dedicated to

climate change It is an instructive tool to academic and

nonacademic papers and reports activities and organizations

related to climate change and gender issues17

Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2007

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was

established by the World Meteorological Organization and the

United Nations Environment Program in 198818

16 Gender And Climate Change Impact and Adaptation (2009) United Nations Development program Pg no-19 Retrieved on August 8 2013 from httpwwwundpccorgundpccfilesdocspublicationssubmitedlook20at20forword20for20summary20UNDP20REP-colombopdf17Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion in Climate Change Adaptation Asian Development Bank Institute Retrieved on August 27 2013 from httpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf18Baten M A amp Khan N A (2010) Gender issue in climate change discoursetheory versus reality Unnayan Onneshan-The Innovators Retrieved on September

45

Undertake a gender analysis of applicable budget lines and

financial instruments to determine the differentiated impact on

women and men of the budget

Consider reallocation of resources if relevant to achieve

gender equality outcomes from the actions planned

Develop and apply gender-sensitive criteria and indicators in

climate change policy

In total UNDP has set clear gender specific goals and gender

equality performance targets to integrate climate change impacts

in its focus areas16 UNDP (2008) has also created a website for

gender issues which included a section that is dedicated to

climate change It is an instructive tool to academic and

nonacademic papers and reports activities and organizations

related to climate change and gender issues17

Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2007

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was

established by the World Meteorological Organization and the

United Nations Environment Program in 198818

16 Gender And Climate Change Impact and Adaptation (2009) United Nations Development program Pg no-19 Retrieved on August 8 2013 from httpwwwundpccorgundpccfilesdocspublicationssubmitedlook20at20forword20for20summary20UNDP20REP-colombopdf17Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion in Climate Change Adaptation Asian Development Bank Institute Retrieved on August 27 2013 from httpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf18Baten M A amp Khan N A (2010) Gender issue in climate change discoursetheory versus reality Unnayan Onneshan-The Innovators Retrieved on September

45

It include policy that focus on gender mainstreaming at the post

disaster period

IPCC policy emphasize on gender equality in policy making for

climate change

It also prioritize on womenrsquos participation in decision making

and other activities

Hyogo Framework for Actionrsquos (2005-2015) Policies

World Conference on Disaster Reduction (2005) is mainly the

source of emergence of Hyogo Framework for Action The gender

conscious climate change policies of Hyogo Framework for Action

(2005-2015) are the followings-

A gender perspective should be integrated into all disaster risk

management policies plans and decision-making processes

including those related to risk assessment early warning

information management and education and training

Develop early warning systems that are people centered in

particular systems whose warnings are timely and understandable

to those at risk which take into account the demographic

gender cultural and livelihood characteristics of the target

audiences including guidance on how to act upon warnings and

that support effective operations by disaster managers and other

decision makers

13 2013 from wwwunnayanorgreportsgenissuepdf

46

Ensure equal access to appropriate training and educational

opportunities for women and vulnerable constituencies promote

gender and cultural sensitivity training as integral components

of education and training for disaster risk reduction

102 Regional Policy

South Asian region mainly do not have any remarkable policy or

joint institution other than SAARC To deal with climate change

SAARC has proposed a framework and this framework include gender

sensitive policy like this

(Table-4 Regional Gender Responsive Climate Change Policy)

Name of Policy Climate Change

Relevance

Gender Relevance

SAARC Framework For

Action (2006-2015)

Establish and

strengthen regional

disaster management

system share best

practices establish

regional system of

information

exchange regional

response mechanism

etc

Women empowerment

SAARC Framework for Action (2006-2015)

47

This framework is an alliance to Hyogo Framework for Action It

provides a platform for the south Asian countries SAARC

Framework for Action is a draft action plan for 2005-2015 It

includes diverse sectors in its policy but it have only one

gender based policy and that is-

It include policy regarding empowering community at risk

particularly women the poor and the disadvantaged

Apart from this SAARC Framework for Action included a wide arena

of climate change policy unlike the other institutional policies

103 National Policies

A framework on national governmental policies is given here

(Table-5 National Gender Responsive Climate Change Policies)

Name of Policies Climate Changerelevance

Gender Relevance

NAPA 2005 Provide urgent andimmediate needs ofadaptation includedthe actual andpotential adverseeffect of climatechange to design thepolicy

Gender equality andsecurity oflivelihoods forgender

BCCSAP 2009 Formulate a strategyfor pro-poorclimate resilientand low carbondevelopment basedon four buildingblocks of Bali

Include gender inthe policies of foodsecurity healthsafe housingemployment andaccess to basicservices

48

Action plan(adaptationmitigation techtransfer andadequate as well astimely flow of newand additionalfunds) within aframework of foodenergy waterlivelihoods andhealth security

National WaterPolicy 1999

Available of waterto everyone developknowledge andcapability for watermanagement andimprove the climate

Gender equitywomenrsquosparticipation inwater managementattend needs ofwomen etc

National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA) 2005

It is a program of Ministry of Environment and Forest

Bangladesh For disaster management and to deal with climate

change this action plan is being used often National Adaptation

Program of Action includes gender in its policy like below

poverty reduction and security of livelihoods with a gender

perspective has been ranked as the most important set of

criteria

Gender equality is defined here as cross-cutting criteria

Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP)

2009

49

It is the main basis to deal with climate change in Bangladesh

and it is also a program by Ministry of Environment and Forest

The way BCCSAP includes gender in its policy to handle climate

hazards are the following

ensure that the poorest and most vulnerable in society

including women and children are protected from climate change

and that all programs focus on the needs of this group for food

security safe housing employment and access to basic services

including health

BCCSAP also nowadays consider special sanitation service for

women in shelter homes but it is not included in their policy19

National Water Policy 1999

National Water Policy of Bangladesh aims-

To ensure the availability of water to all elements of the

society including the poor and the underprivileged and to take

into account the particular needs of women and children

To bring institutional changes that will help decentralize the

management of water resources and enhance the role of women in

water management

To develop a state of knowledge and capability that will enable

the country to design future water resources management plans by

itself with economic efficiency gender equity social justice

and environmental awareness to facilitate achievement of the

water management objectives through broad public participation

19Quoted by Sharmind Neelromi Assistant Professor Dept of Economics Jahangir Nagar University

50

Enabling environment will be created for women to play a key

role in local community organizations for management of water

resources

Ensure the interests of low-income water users and that of

women are adequately protected in water resource management

ldquoTo what extent do these policies are effective comparing to real

scenariordquo

11 Policy in Practice and its Effectiveness

As we can see that there are different international regional

and national policies to deal with climate change and which also

consider gender issue more or less in their policy papers Now

the question arise that whether these policies are helpful or not

in the real scenario And it is also need to find out whether

these policies are properly implemented during any climate

hazards or not

UNFCCC only focus on mitigating carbon emission and only a few

years ago they shifted their policy from climate financing to

other issues It has not succeeded to uphold a gender-sensitive

move This failure creates concerns for gender equity and also

guides to inadequacy in the efficiency and efficacy of climate-

related adaptation and mitigation measures and instruments20 But

the annual Gender CoP meeting acknowledged the existing

20Gender and Climate Change Impact and Adaptation (2009) op cit

51

challenges to mainstreaming gender within climate change

projects as well as the opportunities for future work21

GenderCC is now actively participating in UNFCCC conferences and

advocating for upholding womenrsquos rights in climate change

policies22

UNDP has started to establish clear gender specific goals and

performance targets for integrating climate change impacts It

supports governments and stakeholders to evaluate and classify

gender-specific impacts and protection measures by actively

upholding adaptation to climate change Furthermore it advanced

the regional cooperation to implement gender programs and assist

with the development strategies to strengthen and expand these

activities in initiatives on climate change It has been also a

dynamic actor in its work on governance gender corporate social

responsibility and capacity development strengthens the capacity

of national and local institutions in building resilience to

climate change since the early 1990rsquos It also intends to deliver

guidance on gender-specific concerns to intergovernmental bodies

to develop further policies and programs in climate change

Further UNDP in its MDG Carbon Facility projects is committed

for safeguarding gender goals and values235

21 ibid22Baten M A ampKhan N A (2010) op cit23 Summarized Gender and Climate Change Impact and Adaptation (2009)

52

Although IPCC addressed the gender specific impact of climate

change more precisely their policy formation does not reflect

this concern In policy process of the Intergovernmental Panel on

Climate Change (IPCC) gender mainstreaming is needed to be more

prioritized They do not posses any intergovernmental training or

research projects to find out the gender specific impacts and to

provide any solution

National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA) (2005) acknowledges

women as one of the most vulnerable groups to the climate change

but the information about causes and solutions regarding climate

induced gender disparities are missing24

Ministry of Environment and Forest also prepared Bangladesh

Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP 2008) that

acknowledges womenrsquos vulnerability to the climate change also

This plan proposed to protect livelihood of vulnerable socio-

economic groups including women Monju Ara Begum (50) said that

she got only 1000tk from government after she lost her all

belongings in the river bank erosion But it is not enough to

reduce womenrsquos vulnerability as many gender activists assumed25

There is also no attempt in its plan to include gender as a

cross-cutting issue into broader development policy frameworks

rather some disperse initiatives is unlikely to ensure gender

equity in every sector of the economy2624 ibid25Summarized Baten M A ampKhan N A (2010) Op cit26 ibid

53

Therefore it is very clear to understand that whatever out there

in the policies is not properly being implemented in reality

There are a lot of consciousness but lack of sincerity while

applying the policies Further experts affirmed that there is

lack for coordination lack of expert opinion and lack of

foresight exist in the policies which reflect while applying in

reality

12 Loopholes between the Policies and PracticesAs it is mentioned several times that lot of policy is out there

but there is no reflection of these existing policies while we

compare with real scenario This section of research is aim at

find out the loopholes between existing policies and real life

practice of those policies

Firstly it is easily noticeable that the existing policies just

mention about gender in adaptation and disaster risk mitigation

programs But they hardly include any possible method to reach at

the root level problems that come in front during gender

adaptation Some policies are only remain in the papers and never

been seen applying while there is any climate hazard The survey

result shows that there is not enough shelter home to reduce the

affects of disaster and for gender adaptation during the climate

hazards

54

Secondly some policies include gender empowerment initiatives as

climate hazards causes unemployment and sense of insecurity among

the women But whenever we go through any climate hazards there

are barely any programs for women empowerment For example

during the survey a number of women asked for income source to

deal with the loss of climate hazards

ldquoGhorbari haraner por polapainder kaj kamer sujog koira dile subidha hoito Sob

bekar hoiya jayrdquo (After losing the house managing income source

will be very helpful as they do not have any source to earn their

livelihood) - Monju Ara Begum (50)

It shows that gender empowerment policies are also not applied as

it mentioned in the policies

Thirdly policies include gender participation in decision making

and risk management process But the consent of this research is

there is lack of womenrsquos participation while any decision making

whether to migrate from one place or to take shelter during the

natural disasters

ldquodurjoger somoy johon amra center a jaite chaisi tohon bape jaite dey nai sobai

ghorei asilamrdquo (Our father did not allow us to take shelter in

Cyclone center during the disaster so we stayed at home)-

Priyanka Saha (19)

Fourthly policies include a separate gender budget but there is

hardly any remarkable example to spend this budget on womenrsquos

55

need of health food sanitation or others Monju Ara Begum (50)

informed that being women did not benefit them to get any

separate financial support after they lost their all belonging

from river bank erosion

Fifthly as mentioned in the policies about equity and social

justice it is not possible to achieve except recognizing the

differences of vulnerability of men and women Asmani (40) said

that after SIDR her husband flew away from the house because of

the fear of extra financial burden But her neighbor used to

accuse her fault as the reason of her husband flew away and

denied to help her She ended up earning from a small tea-stall

to survive and since then she have been living alone renting a

corridor of a house

Sixthly policies referred about the health services on gender

basis but there is lack of research on sex and gender differences

in vulnerability Thus the health services are not ultimately

gender responsive for the absence of research about health

impacts on gender basis During survey Shanti Bela Saha (50)

informed that she and her family have not got any health service

from both government and non-governmental health care services

after the devastating flood SIDR and Aila

Seventhly policies often seen to emphasize on providing

education and training to women but the survey of this research

56

discover that women are not getting any type of training about

disaster management or to deal with climate changersquos effects nor

any education program are there for the women For instance

during survey Shila Rani Saha (35) said that she never heard about

any training program to adapt with the situation during climate

hazards Whereas the policies include different training program

for gender adaptation in climate change

Eighthly policies also consist of early warning system but women

in the rural areas are not very close to any mechanism that

provides information or caution about any climate hazard Survey

result shows that the women or the member of their family had no

idea about SIDR

Ninthly NAPA and BCCSAP talk about the environmentally displaced

people but there is no clear and distinct policy to solve the

problems of climate change related displaced women Monju Ara

Begum (50) had to rebuild her house with her own money and had

not got any help in this regard from government or NGOs

Lastly but not the least water management of our country are not

in the stage as it is destined in its policy Still there are

lack of safe and affordable water supply and healthy sanitation

system in the rural areas as well as in the urban areas

57

So these are some easily visible loopholes between climate

change policies and its practice found from the survey and

literatures It shows that proper reformation of these policies

is required for the betterment of women as human being

Chapter V

58

ldquoWhat modifications do these policies required to prevent the climate

change impacts on women of our countryrdquo

13 Required Improvements for the PoliciesAlthough government have taken so much initiatives to respond to

climate change considering gender issue there is still lack of

coordination among the institutional bodies to supervise its

policies and action plan Therefore lots of improvement is needed

to meet the future challenges For future advancement of the

climate change policies regarding gender this research included

two section of recommendation which will include both expertrsquos

suggestion and overall realization of the research

Expertrsquos Suggestions

Bushra H Chowdhury suggested the following steps-

i) Union parishad and local level official should

participate in the policy making process as they have

deeper understanding about their local environments and

problems faced by women during climate hazards

ii) NGOrsquos can also raise awareness among the people as well

as among the policy makers to formulate more efficient

policy

iii) Government as well as NGOrsquos should negotiate with the

foreign investor as there is lack of fund regarding

gender in climate change

59

iv) More experts and government NGOs and academics should

come along with the policy makers and increase

cooperation among them for policy implications

v) Pre-planning for towns and village separately is also

needed for effective policy implication

vi) Disaster management department as well as the water

development board should combine their works to form more

efficient gender responsive climate change policy

vii) Short term and long term policies should be distinguished

for priority setting during climate hazards

Sharmind Neelromi also recommended some important steps-

viii) The climate hazards should be defined as slow onset or

quick onset and then the policies should be following

that category of hazard

ix) Before policy design for any climate hazard policy makers

need to understand whether the hazards caused by climate

change or other environmental politics For instance the

water damn imposed by India causes flood in our country

x) An analytical framework and a goal point should be

prepared by the policy makers so that the target seems

clearer to reach

14 Recommendation from Research Findings

60

Throughout the research there are different issues catching our

concentration to develop in future In this regard a list of

recommendation founded by the research is specified below

Firstly from the survey result it can be easily realized that

income source should be arranged for the women and their family

member whenever they suffer any climate hazards

Secondly proper shelter home should be build instead of using

schools as shelter home which has not proper sanitation and other

arrangements

Thirdly there should be proper helping hand and income source

for those women who are victimized by river bank erosion for

their resettlement Mechanism to protect their physical and

mental security is also necessary Fourthly only NAPA has adopted immediate action policy for

climate hazards Therefore it is significant to ensure that other

policies should also adopt immediate action mechanism to reduce

the vulnerability rate

Fifthly proper monitoring of local government like chairman is

another important requirement of the interviewees while

distributing the foods and other services Nurzahan (48) informed

that

61

ldquotaka poisa ja ase sob chairman nije ar tar logjon er moddhe vagavagi koira ney

amago kichui dey nardquo(Chairman distributes all the funds among his

near and dear ones and deprive us from everything)

Sixthly arrangement of local volunteer to distribute the foods

and reliefs among the women of vulnerable areas as the local

people are much acknowledged about the actual sufferer

Seventhly setting priority is also another requirement of the

interviewed victims as they do not get help or relief according

to their needs For instance when families need to repair their

roof they are getting fund for foods or health services and the

amount of the fund is very low that it can hardly help the

sufferers

Eighthly a helping card system should be imposed to collect the

relief so that one family cannot enjoy the relief more than once

while other do not even get chance to get any relief

Ninthly the policy makers should address gender in every section

of its policy so that women can at least ask for their rights

mentioned in the policy If the policy do not include gender

perspective then it will be hard to ask for womenrsquos rights during

and after climate changersquos effects

62

Tenthly local administration system should be more liberal

towards women after any natural disaster because most women often

avoid the judgment in fear of losing their dignity honor and

reputation All their information should be kept confidential and

they should not get scolded for being women instead of getting

justice If possible then the judgment process should be arranged

with female judge and in confidential premises

Besides a regional cooperation like SAARC Framework for Action

should be more active in climate change as well as gender issue

Also the international and national institutions should jointly

design the climate change policies for better output

Further participation of women during the policy making and

strategy setting should also be increased for better

understanding about gender specific vulnerability

Additionally awareness among the women of our country should be

build through mechanisms like conducting research projects on the

improvement of gender issue in climate change policy

Moreover awareness building through broadcasting different

programs related to climate change and its effects on gender can

also be much helpful

63

Finally and most importantly reducing corruption from every

level to implement fair policies is very much important to ensure

gender right in climate change policies

In the end it is important to address that suggesting and

recommending is easier than working in the ground level Experts

and academicians should break this boundary of just giving advice

sitting in a comfortable atmosphere and come out to the ground to

work with policy makers

15 Concluding Remarks In conclusion again it is important to add that although there

are so many national regional and international policies as well

as organizations working on climate change issue considering

gender they are hardly able to enforce those policies in real

aspect UNDP UNFCCC BCCSAP NAPA and government itself is

working on gender sensitive policy making for climate change but

it is well-known already that the most crucial part is the proper

implementation of the policies at the time of climate change

related hazards Forming successful gender responsive frame in

climate change policy is important but more important is to

impose them with what they actually need for their long survival

Creating awareness among the victim women wonrsquot work in this

regard because they are so helpless poor and liable to their

families that their realization is fruitless till they get enough

financial and fundamental support Successfully providing the

64

supports to the victims during climate hazards has become very

difficult because of corruption at different level of

distribution Government need to reshape its distribution system

to reduce chance of corruption Government and other concerned

NGOs need to distinguish the factors where women are more

vulnerable than men The policies should be made and reshaped

focusing on dealing with those areas At the very end it must be

included that the climate change policies are much more aware

about gender issue than it was before and hoping for more

advancement of these gender supportive climate change policies in

real scenario

65

The End

Annexes Annex 1- Questionnaire

Basic Information

DatePlaceNameAgeMarital StatusFamily MemberIncome Source

1 What type of natural hazards did u face

i) Flood and

Heavy

ii) drought iii) river

erosion

iv) Others

66

Rainfall2 Have you ever received any kind of training to deal with the

challenge of these natural hazards

i)Yes ii) No3 Did any NGO help you in the post-disaster period

i)Yes ii) No4 Have you got any financial support from any organization or

foreign aid

i)Yes ii) No5 In case of your losing shelter what support did you get for

instant accommodation

rarr

6 Did you receive any permanent or long term support or

alternative earning source in case of losing livelihood due

to that disaster

i)Yes ii) No7 Did that disaster forced you to stop your childrenrsquos

schooling

i) Yes ii) No8 In case of women losing their earning or having physical

damage what problems did you face for livelihoods

rarr

9 In case of physical damage did they receive proper

treatment and financial recovery

67

i)Yes ii) No10 Aged women who are incapable of working did they

receive enoughextra support

i)Yes ii) No11 Did you receive any hygienic food and water support to

prevent disease from unhygienic

i)Yes ii) No12 While receiving a foreign aid do you feel deprived of

comparing to men In which ways

rarr

13 At the post-disaster period had you ever seek for the

support of the local settlementgovernmental arbitration

process for any kind of domestic violence

i)Yes ii) No14 If yes then do you think that the judgment deprived

you because of your gender

i)Yes ii) No15 Did any NGO or international organization support you

to get fair judgment

i)Yes ii) No16 In post disaster situation how did your family

distribute the inheritance (if any) among the female member

of your family

68

rarr

17 Did the female member of your family had any

sayingrole in the decision making process regarding the

distribution of inheritance

i)Yes ii) No18 According to you what type of program can government

or NGO take to assist you to recover during and after the

climate hazards

rarr

Annenx 2 Expert Interviews

i) Bushra H Chowdhury

Water is mostly important in womenrsquos life So water policy is

needed to be gender responsive Department of disaster management

should combine their ideas with water management board In

climate change policies there are lack of farsightedness expert

opinion cooperation coordination among experts and policy

makers etc Corruption in every level is the main barrier to

success in this regard Local government NGOs government

policy makers and experts should combine their ideas and

experiences to reach any conclusion Policy formulation is a long

process so long term and short term goal should be arranged

More experts are needed in policy making process It is important

69

to evaluate why NGOs are less corrupted than government

officials Pre-planning for town and village is important NGOs

and government should arrange annual reporting system to evaluate

their progress

ii) Sharmind Neelromi

The reason behind climate change is very important to understand

Whether it is because of global warming environmental

degradation environmental pollution through human activities or

it is a result of environmental politics There are two types of

climate hazards such as slow on-set (water logging drought sea

level rise etc) and quick on-set (flood cyclone etc) We also

have to understand that the vulnerabilities of women are because

of climate change or something else Climate change adaptation is

a pro-active approach and a development issue In this regard an

analytical framework is important to design to reach any targeted

goal

70

16 Bibliography

Ahmed A U Neelormi S Adri N et Al (2009) Climate ChangeGender and Vulnerable Groups in Bangladesh Climate Change CellDepartment of Environment Ministry of Environment and ForestsRetrieved on September 7 2013 from httpwwwCCGenderVG_Jan09pdf

Ahmed N (2012) Gender and Climate Change in Bangladesh TheRole of Institutions in Reducing Gender Gaps in AdaptationProgram The World BankRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwww-wdsworldbankorgexternaldefaultWDSContentServerWDSPIB20120404000333038_20120404010647RenderedPDF678200NWP0P1250C0in0Bangladesh0web2pdf

Akter T (2009) Climate Change and Flow of EnvironmentalDisplacement in Bangladesh Unnayan Onneshan-The InnovatorsRetrieved on September 28 2013 fromhttpswwwunnayanorgclimate_change_flow_environmental_displacementpdf

Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion inClimate Change Adaptation ADBI Working Paper 309 Tokyo AsianDevelopment Bank InstituteRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf

Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009 Ministryof Environment and Forest Government of the Peoples Republic ofBangladesh Dhaka Bangladesh

71

Ensure equal access to appropriate training and educational

opportunities for women and vulnerable constituencies promote

gender and cultural sensitivity training as integral components

of education and training for disaster risk reduction

102 Regional Policy

South Asian region mainly do not have any remarkable policy or

joint institution other than SAARC To deal with climate change

SAARC has proposed a framework and this framework include gender

sensitive policy like this

(Table-4 Regional Gender Responsive Climate Change Policy)

Name of Policy Climate Change

Relevance

Gender Relevance

SAARC Framework For

Action (2006-2015)

Establish and

strengthen regional

disaster management

system share best

practices establish

regional system of

information

exchange regional

response mechanism

etc

Women empowerment

SAARC Framework for Action (2006-2015)

47

This framework is an alliance to Hyogo Framework for Action It

provides a platform for the south Asian countries SAARC

Framework for Action is a draft action plan for 2005-2015 It

includes diverse sectors in its policy but it have only one

gender based policy and that is-

It include policy regarding empowering community at risk

particularly women the poor and the disadvantaged

Apart from this SAARC Framework for Action included a wide arena

of climate change policy unlike the other institutional policies

103 National Policies

A framework on national governmental policies is given here

(Table-5 National Gender Responsive Climate Change Policies)

Name of Policies Climate Changerelevance

Gender Relevance

NAPA 2005 Provide urgent andimmediate needs ofadaptation includedthe actual andpotential adverseeffect of climatechange to design thepolicy

Gender equality andsecurity oflivelihoods forgender

BCCSAP 2009 Formulate a strategyfor pro-poorclimate resilientand low carbondevelopment basedon four buildingblocks of Bali

Include gender inthe policies of foodsecurity healthsafe housingemployment andaccess to basicservices

48

Action plan(adaptationmitigation techtransfer andadequate as well astimely flow of newand additionalfunds) within aframework of foodenergy waterlivelihoods andhealth security

National WaterPolicy 1999

Available of waterto everyone developknowledge andcapability for watermanagement andimprove the climate

Gender equitywomenrsquosparticipation inwater managementattend needs ofwomen etc

National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA) 2005

It is a program of Ministry of Environment and Forest

Bangladesh For disaster management and to deal with climate

change this action plan is being used often National Adaptation

Program of Action includes gender in its policy like below

poverty reduction and security of livelihoods with a gender

perspective has been ranked as the most important set of

criteria

Gender equality is defined here as cross-cutting criteria

Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP)

2009

49

It is the main basis to deal with climate change in Bangladesh

and it is also a program by Ministry of Environment and Forest

The way BCCSAP includes gender in its policy to handle climate

hazards are the following

ensure that the poorest and most vulnerable in society

including women and children are protected from climate change

and that all programs focus on the needs of this group for food

security safe housing employment and access to basic services

including health

BCCSAP also nowadays consider special sanitation service for

women in shelter homes but it is not included in their policy19

National Water Policy 1999

National Water Policy of Bangladesh aims-

To ensure the availability of water to all elements of the

society including the poor and the underprivileged and to take

into account the particular needs of women and children

To bring institutional changes that will help decentralize the

management of water resources and enhance the role of women in

water management

To develop a state of knowledge and capability that will enable

the country to design future water resources management plans by

itself with economic efficiency gender equity social justice

and environmental awareness to facilitate achievement of the

water management objectives through broad public participation

19Quoted by Sharmind Neelromi Assistant Professor Dept of Economics Jahangir Nagar University

50

Enabling environment will be created for women to play a key

role in local community organizations for management of water

resources

Ensure the interests of low-income water users and that of

women are adequately protected in water resource management

ldquoTo what extent do these policies are effective comparing to real

scenariordquo

11 Policy in Practice and its Effectiveness

As we can see that there are different international regional

and national policies to deal with climate change and which also

consider gender issue more or less in their policy papers Now

the question arise that whether these policies are helpful or not

in the real scenario And it is also need to find out whether

these policies are properly implemented during any climate

hazards or not

UNFCCC only focus on mitigating carbon emission and only a few

years ago they shifted their policy from climate financing to

other issues It has not succeeded to uphold a gender-sensitive

move This failure creates concerns for gender equity and also

guides to inadequacy in the efficiency and efficacy of climate-

related adaptation and mitigation measures and instruments20 But

the annual Gender CoP meeting acknowledged the existing

20Gender and Climate Change Impact and Adaptation (2009) op cit

51

challenges to mainstreaming gender within climate change

projects as well as the opportunities for future work21

GenderCC is now actively participating in UNFCCC conferences and

advocating for upholding womenrsquos rights in climate change

policies22

UNDP has started to establish clear gender specific goals and

performance targets for integrating climate change impacts It

supports governments and stakeholders to evaluate and classify

gender-specific impacts and protection measures by actively

upholding adaptation to climate change Furthermore it advanced

the regional cooperation to implement gender programs and assist

with the development strategies to strengthen and expand these

activities in initiatives on climate change It has been also a

dynamic actor in its work on governance gender corporate social

responsibility and capacity development strengthens the capacity

of national and local institutions in building resilience to

climate change since the early 1990rsquos It also intends to deliver

guidance on gender-specific concerns to intergovernmental bodies

to develop further policies and programs in climate change

Further UNDP in its MDG Carbon Facility projects is committed

for safeguarding gender goals and values235

21 ibid22Baten M A ampKhan N A (2010) op cit23 Summarized Gender and Climate Change Impact and Adaptation (2009)

52

Although IPCC addressed the gender specific impact of climate

change more precisely their policy formation does not reflect

this concern In policy process of the Intergovernmental Panel on

Climate Change (IPCC) gender mainstreaming is needed to be more

prioritized They do not posses any intergovernmental training or

research projects to find out the gender specific impacts and to

provide any solution

National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA) (2005) acknowledges

women as one of the most vulnerable groups to the climate change

but the information about causes and solutions regarding climate

induced gender disparities are missing24

Ministry of Environment and Forest also prepared Bangladesh

Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP 2008) that

acknowledges womenrsquos vulnerability to the climate change also

This plan proposed to protect livelihood of vulnerable socio-

economic groups including women Monju Ara Begum (50) said that

she got only 1000tk from government after she lost her all

belongings in the river bank erosion But it is not enough to

reduce womenrsquos vulnerability as many gender activists assumed25

There is also no attempt in its plan to include gender as a

cross-cutting issue into broader development policy frameworks

rather some disperse initiatives is unlikely to ensure gender

equity in every sector of the economy2624 ibid25Summarized Baten M A ampKhan N A (2010) Op cit26 ibid

53

Therefore it is very clear to understand that whatever out there

in the policies is not properly being implemented in reality

There are a lot of consciousness but lack of sincerity while

applying the policies Further experts affirmed that there is

lack for coordination lack of expert opinion and lack of

foresight exist in the policies which reflect while applying in

reality

12 Loopholes between the Policies and PracticesAs it is mentioned several times that lot of policy is out there

but there is no reflection of these existing policies while we

compare with real scenario This section of research is aim at

find out the loopholes between existing policies and real life

practice of those policies

Firstly it is easily noticeable that the existing policies just

mention about gender in adaptation and disaster risk mitigation

programs But they hardly include any possible method to reach at

the root level problems that come in front during gender

adaptation Some policies are only remain in the papers and never

been seen applying while there is any climate hazard The survey

result shows that there is not enough shelter home to reduce the

affects of disaster and for gender adaptation during the climate

hazards

54

Secondly some policies include gender empowerment initiatives as

climate hazards causes unemployment and sense of insecurity among

the women But whenever we go through any climate hazards there

are barely any programs for women empowerment For example

during the survey a number of women asked for income source to

deal with the loss of climate hazards

ldquoGhorbari haraner por polapainder kaj kamer sujog koira dile subidha hoito Sob

bekar hoiya jayrdquo (After losing the house managing income source

will be very helpful as they do not have any source to earn their

livelihood) - Monju Ara Begum (50)

It shows that gender empowerment policies are also not applied as

it mentioned in the policies

Thirdly policies include gender participation in decision making

and risk management process But the consent of this research is

there is lack of womenrsquos participation while any decision making

whether to migrate from one place or to take shelter during the

natural disasters

ldquodurjoger somoy johon amra center a jaite chaisi tohon bape jaite dey nai sobai

ghorei asilamrdquo (Our father did not allow us to take shelter in

Cyclone center during the disaster so we stayed at home)-

Priyanka Saha (19)

Fourthly policies include a separate gender budget but there is

hardly any remarkable example to spend this budget on womenrsquos

55

need of health food sanitation or others Monju Ara Begum (50)

informed that being women did not benefit them to get any

separate financial support after they lost their all belonging

from river bank erosion

Fifthly as mentioned in the policies about equity and social

justice it is not possible to achieve except recognizing the

differences of vulnerability of men and women Asmani (40) said

that after SIDR her husband flew away from the house because of

the fear of extra financial burden But her neighbor used to

accuse her fault as the reason of her husband flew away and

denied to help her She ended up earning from a small tea-stall

to survive and since then she have been living alone renting a

corridor of a house

Sixthly policies referred about the health services on gender

basis but there is lack of research on sex and gender differences

in vulnerability Thus the health services are not ultimately

gender responsive for the absence of research about health

impacts on gender basis During survey Shanti Bela Saha (50)

informed that she and her family have not got any health service

from both government and non-governmental health care services

after the devastating flood SIDR and Aila

Seventhly policies often seen to emphasize on providing

education and training to women but the survey of this research

56

discover that women are not getting any type of training about

disaster management or to deal with climate changersquos effects nor

any education program are there for the women For instance

during survey Shila Rani Saha (35) said that she never heard about

any training program to adapt with the situation during climate

hazards Whereas the policies include different training program

for gender adaptation in climate change

Eighthly policies also consist of early warning system but women

in the rural areas are not very close to any mechanism that

provides information or caution about any climate hazard Survey

result shows that the women or the member of their family had no

idea about SIDR

Ninthly NAPA and BCCSAP talk about the environmentally displaced

people but there is no clear and distinct policy to solve the

problems of climate change related displaced women Monju Ara

Begum (50) had to rebuild her house with her own money and had

not got any help in this regard from government or NGOs

Lastly but not the least water management of our country are not

in the stage as it is destined in its policy Still there are

lack of safe and affordable water supply and healthy sanitation

system in the rural areas as well as in the urban areas

57

So these are some easily visible loopholes between climate

change policies and its practice found from the survey and

literatures It shows that proper reformation of these policies

is required for the betterment of women as human being

Chapter V

58

ldquoWhat modifications do these policies required to prevent the climate

change impacts on women of our countryrdquo

13 Required Improvements for the PoliciesAlthough government have taken so much initiatives to respond to

climate change considering gender issue there is still lack of

coordination among the institutional bodies to supervise its

policies and action plan Therefore lots of improvement is needed

to meet the future challenges For future advancement of the

climate change policies regarding gender this research included

two section of recommendation which will include both expertrsquos

suggestion and overall realization of the research

Expertrsquos Suggestions

Bushra H Chowdhury suggested the following steps-

i) Union parishad and local level official should

participate in the policy making process as they have

deeper understanding about their local environments and

problems faced by women during climate hazards

ii) NGOrsquos can also raise awareness among the people as well

as among the policy makers to formulate more efficient

policy

iii) Government as well as NGOrsquos should negotiate with the

foreign investor as there is lack of fund regarding

gender in climate change

59

iv) More experts and government NGOs and academics should

come along with the policy makers and increase

cooperation among them for policy implications

v) Pre-planning for towns and village separately is also

needed for effective policy implication

vi) Disaster management department as well as the water

development board should combine their works to form more

efficient gender responsive climate change policy

vii) Short term and long term policies should be distinguished

for priority setting during climate hazards

Sharmind Neelromi also recommended some important steps-

viii) The climate hazards should be defined as slow onset or

quick onset and then the policies should be following

that category of hazard

ix) Before policy design for any climate hazard policy makers

need to understand whether the hazards caused by climate

change or other environmental politics For instance the

water damn imposed by India causes flood in our country

x) An analytical framework and a goal point should be

prepared by the policy makers so that the target seems

clearer to reach

14 Recommendation from Research Findings

60

Throughout the research there are different issues catching our

concentration to develop in future In this regard a list of

recommendation founded by the research is specified below

Firstly from the survey result it can be easily realized that

income source should be arranged for the women and their family

member whenever they suffer any climate hazards

Secondly proper shelter home should be build instead of using

schools as shelter home which has not proper sanitation and other

arrangements

Thirdly there should be proper helping hand and income source

for those women who are victimized by river bank erosion for

their resettlement Mechanism to protect their physical and

mental security is also necessary Fourthly only NAPA has adopted immediate action policy for

climate hazards Therefore it is significant to ensure that other

policies should also adopt immediate action mechanism to reduce

the vulnerability rate

Fifthly proper monitoring of local government like chairman is

another important requirement of the interviewees while

distributing the foods and other services Nurzahan (48) informed

that

61

ldquotaka poisa ja ase sob chairman nije ar tar logjon er moddhe vagavagi koira ney

amago kichui dey nardquo(Chairman distributes all the funds among his

near and dear ones and deprive us from everything)

Sixthly arrangement of local volunteer to distribute the foods

and reliefs among the women of vulnerable areas as the local

people are much acknowledged about the actual sufferer

Seventhly setting priority is also another requirement of the

interviewed victims as they do not get help or relief according

to their needs For instance when families need to repair their

roof they are getting fund for foods or health services and the

amount of the fund is very low that it can hardly help the

sufferers

Eighthly a helping card system should be imposed to collect the

relief so that one family cannot enjoy the relief more than once

while other do not even get chance to get any relief

Ninthly the policy makers should address gender in every section

of its policy so that women can at least ask for their rights

mentioned in the policy If the policy do not include gender

perspective then it will be hard to ask for womenrsquos rights during

and after climate changersquos effects

62

Tenthly local administration system should be more liberal

towards women after any natural disaster because most women often

avoid the judgment in fear of losing their dignity honor and

reputation All their information should be kept confidential and

they should not get scolded for being women instead of getting

justice If possible then the judgment process should be arranged

with female judge and in confidential premises

Besides a regional cooperation like SAARC Framework for Action

should be more active in climate change as well as gender issue

Also the international and national institutions should jointly

design the climate change policies for better output

Further participation of women during the policy making and

strategy setting should also be increased for better

understanding about gender specific vulnerability

Additionally awareness among the women of our country should be

build through mechanisms like conducting research projects on the

improvement of gender issue in climate change policy

Moreover awareness building through broadcasting different

programs related to climate change and its effects on gender can

also be much helpful

63

Finally and most importantly reducing corruption from every

level to implement fair policies is very much important to ensure

gender right in climate change policies

In the end it is important to address that suggesting and

recommending is easier than working in the ground level Experts

and academicians should break this boundary of just giving advice

sitting in a comfortable atmosphere and come out to the ground to

work with policy makers

15 Concluding Remarks In conclusion again it is important to add that although there

are so many national regional and international policies as well

as organizations working on climate change issue considering

gender they are hardly able to enforce those policies in real

aspect UNDP UNFCCC BCCSAP NAPA and government itself is

working on gender sensitive policy making for climate change but

it is well-known already that the most crucial part is the proper

implementation of the policies at the time of climate change

related hazards Forming successful gender responsive frame in

climate change policy is important but more important is to

impose them with what they actually need for their long survival

Creating awareness among the victim women wonrsquot work in this

regard because they are so helpless poor and liable to their

families that their realization is fruitless till they get enough

financial and fundamental support Successfully providing the

64

supports to the victims during climate hazards has become very

difficult because of corruption at different level of

distribution Government need to reshape its distribution system

to reduce chance of corruption Government and other concerned

NGOs need to distinguish the factors where women are more

vulnerable than men The policies should be made and reshaped

focusing on dealing with those areas At the very end it must be

included that the climate change policies are much more aware

about gender issue than it was before and hoping for more

advancement of these gender supportive climate change policies in

real scenario

65

The End

Annexes Annex 1- Questionnaire

Basic Information

DatePlaceNameAgeMarital StatusFamily MemberIncome Source

1 What type of natural hazards did u face

i) Flood and

Heavy

ii) drought iii) river

erosion

iv) Others

66

Rainfall2 Have you ever received any kind of training to deal with the

challenge of these natural hazards

i)Yes ii) No3 Did any NGO help you in the post-disaster period

i)Yes ii) No4 Have you got any financial support from any organization or

foreign aid

i)Yes ii) No5 In case of your losing shelter what support did you get for

instant accommodation

rarr

6 Did you receive any permanent or long term support or

alternative earning source in case of losing livelihood due

to that disaster

i)Yes ii) No7 Did that disaster forced you to stop your childrenrsquos

schooling

i) Yes ii) No8 In case of women losing their earning or having physical

damage what problems did you face for livelihoods

rarr

9 In case of physical damage did they receive proper

treatment and financial recovery

67

i)Yes ii) No10 Aged women who are incapable of working did they

receive enoughextra support

i)Yes ii) No11 Did you receive any hygienic food and water support to

prevent disease from unhygienic

i)Yes ii) No12 While receiving a foreign aid do you feel deprived of

comparing to men In which ways

rarr

13 At the post-disaster period had you ever seek for the

support of the local settlementgovernmental arbitration

process for any kind of domestic violence

i)Yes ii) No14 If yes then do you think that the judgment deprived

you because of your gender

i)Yes ii) No15 Did any NGO or international organization support you

to get fair judgment

i)Yes ii) No16 In post disaster situation how did your family

distribute the inheritance (if any) among the female member

of your family

68

rarr

17 Did the female member of your family had any

sayingrole in the decision making process regarding the

distribution of inheritance

i)Yes ii) No18 According to you what type of program can government

or NGO take to assist you to recover during and after the

climate hazards

rarr

Annenx 2 Expert Interviews

i) Bushra H Chowdhury

Water is mostly important in womenrsquos life So water policy is

needed to be gender responsive Department of disaster management

should combine their ideas with water management board In

climate change policies there are lack of farsightedness expert

opinion cooperation coordination among experts and policy

makers etc Corruption in every level is the main barrier to

success in this regard Local government NGOs government

policy makers and experts should combine their ideas and

experiences to reach any conclusion Policy formulation is a long

process so long term and short term goal should be arranged

More experts are needed in policy making process It is important

69

to evaluate why NGOs are less corrupted than government

officials Pre-planning for town and village is important NGOs

and government should arrange annual reporting system to evaluate

their progress

ii) Sharmind Neelromi

The reason behind climate change is very important to understand

Whether it is because of global warming environmental

degradation environmental pollution through human activities or

it is a result of environmental politics There are two types of

climate hazards such as slow on-set (water logging drought sea

level rise etc) and quick on-set (flood cyclone etc) We also

have to understand that the vulnerabilities of women are because

of climate change or something else Climate change adaptation is

a pro-active approach and a development issue In this regard an

analytical framework is important to design to reach any targeted

goal

70

16 Bibliography

Ahmed A U Neelormi S Adri N et Al (2009) Climate ChangeGender and Vulnerable Groups in Bangladesh Climate Change CellDepartment of Environment Ministry of Environment and ForestsRetrieved on September 7 2013 from httpwwwCCGenderVG_Jan09pdf

Ahmed N (2012) Gender and Climate Change in Bangladesh TheRole of Institutions in Reducing Gender Gaps in AdaptationProgram The World BankRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwww-wdsworldbankorgexternaldefaultWDSContentServerWDSPIB20120404000333038_20120404010647RenderedPDF678200NWP0P1250C0in0Bangladesh0web2pdf

Akter T (2009) Climate Change and Flow of EnvironmentalDisplacement in Bangladesh Unnayan Onneshan-The InnovatorsRetrieved on September 28 2013 fromhttpswwwunnayanorgclimate_change_flow_environmental_displacementpdf

Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion inClimate Change Adaptation ADBI Working Paper 309 Tokyo AsianDevelopment Bank InstituteRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf

Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009 Ministryof Environment and Forest Government of the Peoples Republic ofBangladesh Dhaka Bangladesh

71

This framework is an alliance to Hyogo Framework for Action It

provides a platform for the south Asian countries SAARC

Framework for Action is a draft action plan for 2005-2015 It

includes diverse sectors in its policy but it have only one

gender based policy and that is-

It include policy regarding empowering community at risk

particularly women the poor and the disadvantaged

Apart from this SAARC Framework for Action included a wide arena

of climate change policy unlike the other institutional policies

103 National Policies

A framework on national governmental policies is given here

(Table-5 National Gender Responsive Climate Change Policies)

Name of Policies Climate Changerelevance

Gender Relevance

NAPA 2005 Provide urgent andimmediate needs ofadaptation includedthe actual andpotential adverseeffect of climatechange to design thepolicy

Gender equality andsecurity oflivelihoods forgender

BCCSAP 2009 Formulate a strategyfor pro-poorclimate resilientand low carbondevelopment basedon four buildingblocks of Bali

Include gender inthe policies of foodsecurity healthsafe housingemployment andaccess to basicservices

48

Action plan(adaptationmitigation techtransfer andadequate as well astimely flow of newand additionalfunds) within aframework of foodenergy waterlivelihoods andhealth security

National WaterPolicy 1999

Available of waterto everyone developknowledge andcapability for watermanagement andimprove the climate

Gender equitywomenrsquosparticipation inwater managementattend needs ofwomen etc

National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA) 2005

It is a program of Ministry of Environment and Forest

Bangladesh For disaster management and to deal with climate

change this action plan is being used often National Adaptation

Program of Action includes gender in its policy like below

poverty reduction and security of livelihoods with a gender

perspective has been ranked as the most important set of

criteria

Gender equality is defined here as cross-cutting criteria

Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP)

2009

49

It is the main basis to deal with climate change in Bangladesh

and it is also a program by Ministry of Environment and Forest

The way BCCSAP includes gender in its policy to handle climate

hazards are the following

ensure that the poorest and most vulnerable in society

including women and children are protected from climate change

and that all programs focus on the needs of this group for food

security safe housing employment and access to basic services

including health

BCCSAP also nowadays consider special sanitation service for

women in shelter homes but it is not included in their policy19

National Water Policy 1999

National Water Policy of Bangladesh aims-

To ensure the availability of water to all elements of the

society including the poor and the underprivileged and to take

into account the particular needs of women and children

To bring institutional changes that will help decentralize the

management of water resources and enhance the role of women in

water management

To develop a state of knowledge and capability that will enable

the country to design future water resources management plans by

itself with economic efficiency gender equity social justice

and environmental awareness to facilitate achievement of the

water management objectives through broad public participation

19Quoted by Sharmind Neelromi Assistant Professor Dept of Economics Jahangir Nagar University

50

Enabling environment will be created for women to play a key

role in local community organizations for management of water

resources

Ensure the interests of low-income water users and that of

women are adequately protected in water resource management

ldquoTo what extent do these policies are effective comparing to real

scenariordquo

11 Policy in Practice and its Effectiveness

As we can see that there are different international regional

and national policies to deal with climate change and which also

consider gender issue more or less in their policy papers Now

the question arise that whether these policies are helpful or not

in the real scenario And it is also need to find out whether

these policies are properly implemented during any climate

hazards or not

UNFCCC only focus on mitigating carbon emission and only a few

years ago they shifted their policy from climate financing to

other issues It has not succeeded to uphold a gender-sensitive

move This failure creates concerns for gender equity and also

guides to inadequacy in the efficiency and efficacy of climate-

related adaptation and mitigation measures and instruments20 But

the annual Gender CoP meeting acknowledged the existing

20Gender and Climate Change Impact and Adaptation (2009) op cit

51

challenges to mainstreaming gender within climate change

projects as well as the opportunities for future work21

GenderCC is now actively participating in UNFCCC conferences and

advocating for upholding womenrsquos rights in climate change

policies22

UNDP has started to establish clear gender specific goals and

performance targets for integrating climate change impacts It

supports governments and stakeholders to evaluate and classify

gender-specific impacts and protection measures by actively

upholding adaptation to climate change Furthermore it advanced

the regional cooperation to implement gender programs and assist

with the development strategies to strengthen and expand these

activities in initiatives on climate change It has been also a

dynamic actor in its work on governance gender corporate social

responsibility and capacity development strengthens the capacity

of national and local institutions in building resilience to

climate change since the early 1990rsquos It also intends to deliver

guidance on gender-specific concerns to intergovernmental bodies

to develop further policies and programs in climate change

Further UNDP in its MDG Carbon Facility projects is committed

for safeguarding gender goals and values235

21 ibid22Baten M A ampKhan N A (2010) op cit23 Summarized Gender and Climate Change Impact and Adaptation (2009)

52

Although IPCC addressed the gender specific impact of climate

change more precisely their policy formation does not reflect

this concern In policy process of the Intergovernmental Panel on

Climate Change (IPCC) gender mainstreaming is needed to be more

prioritized They do not posses any intergovernmental training or

research projects to find out the gender specific impacts and to

provide any solution

National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA) (2005) acknowledges

women as one of the most vulnerable groups to the climate change

but the information about causes and solutions regarding climate

induced gender disparities are missing24

Ministry of Environment and Forest also prepared Bangladesh

Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP 2008) that

acknowledges womenrsquos vulnerability to the climate change also

This plan proposed to protect livelihood of vulnerable socio-

economic groups including women Monju Ara Begum (50) said that

she got only 1000tk from government after she lost her all

belongings in the river bank erosion But it is not enough to

reduce womenrsquos vulnerability as many gender activists assumed25

There is also no attempt in its plan to include gender as a

cross-cutting issue into broader development policy frameworks

rather some disperse initiatives is unlikely to ensure gender

equity in every sector of the economy2624 ibid25Summarized Baten M A ampKhan N A (2010) Op cit26 ibid

53

Therefore it is very clear to understand that whatever out there

in the policies is not properly being implemented in reality

There are a lot of consciousness but lack of sincerity while

applying the policies Further experts affirmed that there is

lack for coordination lack of expert opinion and lack of

foresight exist in the policies which reflect while applying in

reality

12 Loopholes between the Policies and PracticesAs it is mentioned several times that lot of policy is out there

but there is no reflection of these existing policies while we

compare with real scenario This section of research is aim at

find out the loopholes between existing policies and real life

practice of those policies

Firstly it is easily noticeable that the existing policies just

mention about gender in adaptation and disaster risk mitigation

programs But they hardly include any possible method to reach at

the root level problems that come in front during gender

adaptation Some policies are only remain in the papers and never

been seen applying while there is any climate hazard The survey

result shows that there is not enough shelter home to reduce the

affects of disaster and for gender adaptation during the climate

hazards

54

Secondly some policies include gender empowerment initiatives as

climate hazards causes unemployment and sense of insecurity among

the women But whenever we go through any climate hazards there

are barely any programs for women empowerment For example

during the survey a number of women asked for income source to

deal with the loss of climate hazards

ldquoGhorbari haraner por polapainder kaj kamer sujog koira dile subidha hoito Sob

bekar hoiya jayrdquo (After losing the house managing income source

will be very helpful as they do not have any source to earn their

livelihood) - Monju Ara Begum (50)

It shows that gender empowerment policies are also not applied as

it mentioned in the policies

Thirdly policies include gender participation in decision making

and risk management process But the consent of this research is

there is lack of womenrsquos participation while any decision making

whether to migrate from one place or to take shelter during the

natural disasters

ldquodurjoger somoy johon amra center a jaite chaisi tohon bape jaite dey nai sobai

ghorei asilamrdquo (Our father did not allow us to take shelter in

Cyclone center during the disaster so we stayed at home)-

Priyanka Saha (19)

Fourthly policies include a separate gender budget but there is

hardly any remarkable example to spend this budget on womenrsquos

55

need of health food sanitation or others Monju Ara Begum (50)

informed that being women did not benefit them to get any

separate financial support after they lost their all belonging

from river bank erosion

Fifthly as mentioned in the policies about equity and social

justice it is not possible to achieve except recognizing the

differences of vulnerability of men and women Asmani (40) said

that after SIDR her husband flew away from the house because of

the fear of extra financial burden But her neighbor used to

accuse her fault as the reason of her husband flew away and

denied to help her She ended up earning from a small tea-stall

to survive and since then she have been living alone renting a

corridor of a house

Sixthly policies referred about the health services on gender

basis but there is lack of research on sex and gender differences

in vulnerability Thus the health services are not ultimately

gender responsive for the absence of research about health

impacts on gender basis During survey Shanti Bela Saha (50)

informed that she and her family have not got any health service

from both government and non-governmental health care services

after the devastating flood SIDR and Aila

Seventhly policies often seen to emphasize on providing

education and training to women but the survey of this research

56

discover that women are not getting any type of training about

disaster management or to deal with climate changersquos effects nor

any education program are there for the women For instance

during survey Shila Rani Saha (35) said that she never heard about

any training program to adapt with the situation during climate

hazards Whereas the policies include different training program

for gender adaptation in climate change

Eighthly policies also consist of early warning system but women

in the rural areas are not very close to any mechanism that

provides information or caution about any climate hazard Survey

result shows that the women or the member of their family had no

idea about SIDR

Ninthly NAPA and BCCSAP talk about the environmentally displaced

people but there is no clear and distinct policy to solve the

problems of climate change related displaced women Monju Ara

Begum (50) had to rebuild her house with her own money and had

not got any help in this regard from government or NGOs

Lastly but not the least water management of our country are not

in the stage as it is destined in its policy Still there are

lack of safe and affordable water supply and healthy sanitation

system in the rural areas as well as in the urban areas

57

So these are some easily visible loopholes between climate

change policies and its practice found from the survey and

literatures It shows that proper reformation of these policies

is required for the betterment of women as human being

Chapter V

58

ldquoWhat modifications do these policies required to prevent the climate

change impacts on women of our countryrdquo

13 Required Improvements for the PoliciesAlthough government have taken so much initiatives to respond to

climate change considering gender issue there is still lack of

coordination among the institutional bodies to supervise its

policies and action plan Therefore lots of improvement is needed

to meet the future challenges For future advancement of the

climate change policies regarding gender this research included

two section of recommendation which will include both expertrsquos

suggestion and overall realization of the research

Expertrsquos Suggestions

Bushra H Chowdhury suggested the following steps-

i) Union parishad and local level official should

participate in the policy making process as they have

deeper understanding about their local environments and

problems faced by women during climate hazards

ii) NGOrsquos can also raise awareness among the people as well

as among the policy makers to formulate more efficient

policy

iii) Government as well as NGOrsquos should negotiate with the

foreign investor as there is lack of fund regarding

gender in climate change

59

iv) More experts and government NGOs and academics should

come along with the policy makers and increase

cooperation among them for policy implications

v) Pre-planning for towns and village separately is also

needed for effective policy implication

vi) Disaster management department as well as the water

development board should combine their works to form more

efficient gender responsive climate change policy

vii) Short term and long term policies should be distinguished

for priority setting during climate hazards

Sharmind Neelromi also recommended some important steps-

viii) The climate hazards should be defined as slow onset or

quick onset and then the policies should be following

that category of hazard

ix) Before policy design for any climate hazard policy makers

need to understand whether the hazards caused by climate

change or other environmental politics For instance the

water damn imposed by India causes flood in our country

x) An analytical framework and a goal point should be

prepared by the policy makers so that the target seems

clearer to reach

14 Recommendation from Research Findings

60

Throughout the research there are different issues catching our

concentration to develop in future In this regard a list of

recommendation founded by the research is specified below

Firstly from the survey result it can be easily realized that

income source should be arranged for the women and their family

member whenever they suffer any climate hazards

Secondly proper shelter home should be build instead of using

schools as shelter home which has not proper sanitation and other

arrangements

Thirdly there should be proper helping hand and income source

for those women who are victimized by river bank erosion for

their resettlement Mechanism to protect their physical and

mental security is also necessary Fourthly only NAPA has adopted immediate action policy for

climate hazards Therefore it is significant to ensure that other

policies should also adopt immediate action mechanism to reduce

the vulnerability rate

Fifthly proper monitoring of local government like chairman is

another important requirement of the interviewees while

distributing the foods and other services Nurzahan (48) informed

that

61

ldquotaka poisa ja ase sob chairman nije ar tar logjon er moddhe vagavagi koira ney

amago kichui dey nardquo(Chairman distributes all the funds among his

near and dear ones and deprive us from everything)

Sixthly arrangement of local volunteer to distribute the foods

and reliefs among the women of vulnerable areas as the local

people are much acknowledged about the actual sufferer

Seventhly setting priority is also another requirement of the

interviewed victims as they do not get help or relief according

to their needs For instance when families need to repair their

roof they are getting fund for foods or health services and the

amount of the fund is very low that it can hardly help the

sufferers

Eighthly a helping card system should be imposed to collect the

relief so that one family cannot enjoy the relief more than once

while other do not even get chance to get any relief

Ninthly the policy makers should address gender in every section

of its policy so that women can at least ask for their rights

mentioned in the policy If the policy do not include gender

perspective then it will be hard to ask for womenrsquos rights during

and after climate changersquos effects

62

Tenthly local administration system should be more liberal

towards women after any natural disaster because most women often

avoid the judgment in fear of losing their dignity honor and

reputation All their information should be kept confidential and

they should not get scolded for being women instead of getting

justice If possible then the judgment process should be arranged

with female judge and in confidential premises

Besides a regional cooperation like SAARC Framework for Action

should be more active in climate change as well as gender issue

Also the international and national institutions should jointly

design the climate change policies for better output

Further participation of women during the policy making and

strategy setting should also be increased for better

understanding about gender specific vulnerability

Additionally awareness among the women of our country should be

build through mechanisms like conducting research projects on the

improvement of gender issue in climate change policy

Moreover awareness building through broadcasting different

programs related to climate change and its effects on gender can

also be much helpful

63

Finally and most importantly reducing corruption from every

level to implement fair policies is very much important to ensure

gender right in climate change policies

In the end it is important to address that suggesting and

recommending is easier than working in the ground level Experts

and academicians should break this boundary of just giving advice

sitting in a comfortable atmosphere and come out to the ground to

work with policy makers

15 Concluding Remarks In conclusion again it is important to add that although there

are so many national regional and international policies as well

as organizations working on climate change issue considering

gender they are hardly able to enforce those policies in real

aspect UNDP UNFCCC BCCSAP NAPA and government itself is

working on gender sensitive policy making for climate change but

it is well-known already that the most crucial part is the proper

implementation of the policies at the time of climate change

related hazards Forming successful gender responsive frame in

climate change policy is important but more important is to

impose them with what they actually need for their long survival

Creating awareness among the victim women wonrsquot work in this

regard because they are so helpless poor and liable to their

families that their realization is fruitless till they get enough

financial and fundamental support Successfully providing the

64

supports to the victims during climate hazards has become very

difficult because of corruption at different level of

distribution Government need to reshape its distribution system

to reduce chance of corruption Government and other concerned

NGOs need to distinguish the factors where women are more

vulnerable than men The policies should be made and reshaped

focusing on dealing with those areas At the very end it must be

included that the climate change policies are much more aware

about gender issue than it was before and hoping for more

advancement of these gender supportive climate change policies in

real scenario

65

The End

Annexes Annex 1- Questionnaire

Basic Information

DatePlaceNameAgeMarital StatusFamily MemberIncome Source

1 What type of natural hazards did u face

i) Flood and

Heavy

ii) drought iii) river

erosion

iv) Others

66

Rainfall2 Have you ever received any kind of training to deal with the

challenge of these natural hazards

i)Yes ii) No3 Did any NGO help you in the post-disaster period

i)Yes ii) No4 Have you got any financial support from any organization or

foreign aid

i)Yes ii) No5 In case of your losing shelter what support did you get for

instant accommodation

rarr

6 Did you receive any permanent or long term support or

alternative earning source in case of losing livelihood due

to that disaster

i)Yes ii) No7 Did that disaster forced you to stop your childrenrsquos

schooling

i) Yes ii) No8 In case of women losing their earning or having physical

damage what problems did you face for livelihoods

rarr

9 In case of physical damage did they receive proper

treatment and financial recovery

67

i)Yes ii) No10 Aged women who are incapable of working did they

receive enoughextra support

i)Yes ii) No11 Did you receive any hygienic food and water support to

prevent disease from unhygienic

i)Yes ii) No12 While receiving a foreign aid do you feel deprived of

comparing to men In which ways

rarr

13 At the post-disaster period had you ever seek for the

support of the local settlementgovernmental arbitration

process for any kind of domestic violence

i)Yes ii) No14 If yes then do you think that the judgment deprived

you because of your gender

i)Yes ii) No15 Did any NGO or international organization support you

to get fair judgment

i)Yes ii) No16 In post disaster situation how did your family

distribute the inheritance (if any) among the female member

of your family

68

rarr

17 Did the female member of your family had any

sayingrole in the decision making process regarding the

distribution of inheritance

i)Yes ii) No18 According to you what type of program can government

or NGO take to assist you to recover during and after the

climate hazards

rarr

Annenx 2 Expert Interviews

i) Bushra H Chowdhury

Water is mostly important in womenrsquos life So water policy is

needed to be gender responsive Department of disaster management

should combine their ideas with water management board In

climate change policies there are lack of farsightedness expert

opinion cooperation coordination among experts and policy

makers etc Corruption in every level is the main barrier to

success in this regard Local government NGOs government

policy makers and experts should combine their ideas and

experiences to reach any conclusion Policy formulation is a long

process so long term and short term goal should be arranged

More experts are needed in policy making process It is important

69

to evaluate why NGOs are less corrupted than government

officials Pre-planning for town and village is important NGOs

and government should arrange annual reporting system to evaluate

their progress

ii) Sharmind Neelromi

The reason behind climate change is very important to understand

Whether it is because of global warming environmental

degradation environmental pollution through human activities or

it is a result of environmental politics There are two types of

climate hazards such as slow on-set (water logging drought sea

level rise etc) and quick on-set (flood cyclone etc) We also

have to understand that the vulnerabilities of women are because

of climate change or something else Climate change adaptation is

a pro-active approach and a development issue In this regard an

analytical framework is important to design to reach any targeted

goal

70

16 Bibliography

Ahmed A U Neelormi S Adri N et Al (2009) Climate ChangeGender and Vulnerable Groups in Bangladesh Climate Change CellDepartment of Environment Ministry of Environment and ForestsRetrieved on September 7 2013 from httpwwwCCGenderVG_Jan09pdf

Ahmed N (2012) Gender and Climate Change in Bangladesh TheRole of Institutions in Reducing Gender Gaps in AdaptationProgram The World BankRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwww-wdsworldbankorgexternaldefaultWDSContentServerWDSPIB20120404000333038_20120404010647RenderedPDF678200NWP0P1250C0in0Bangladesh0web2pdf

Akter T (2009) Climate Change and Flow of EnvironmentalDisplacement in Bangladesh Unnayan Onneshan-The InnovatorsRetrieved on September 28 2013 fromhttpswwwunnayanorgclimate_change_flow_environmental_displacementpdf

Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion inClimate Change Adaptation ADBI Working Paper 309 Tokyo AsianDevelopment Bank InstituteRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf

Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009 Ministryof Environment and Forest Government of the Peoples Republic ofBangladesh Dhaka Bangladesh

71

Action plan(adaptationmitigation techtransfer andadequate as well astimely flow of newand additionalfunds) within aframework of foodenergy waterlivelihoods andhealth security

National WaterPolicy 1999

Available of waterto everyone developknowledge andcapability for watermanagement andimprove the climate

Gender equitywomenrsquosparticipation inwater managementattend needs ofwomen etc

National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA) 2005

It is a program of Ministry of Environment and Forest

Bangladesh For disaster management and to deal with climate

change this action plan is being used often National Adaptation

Program of Action includes gender in its policy like below

poverty reduction and security of livelihoods with a gender

perspective has been ranked as the most important set of

criteria

Gender equality is defined here as cross-cutting criteria

Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP)

2009

49

It is the main basis to deal with climate change in Bangladesh

and it is also a program by Ministry of Environment and Forest

The way BCCSAP includes gender in its policy to handle climate

hazards are the following

ensure that the poorest and most vulnerable in society

including women and children are protected from climate change

and that all programs focus on the needs of this group for food

security safe housing employment and access to basic services

including health

BCCSAP also nowadays consider special sanitation service for

women in shelter homes but it is not included in their policy19

National Water Policy 1999

National Water Policy of Bangladesh aims-

To ensure the availability of water to all elements of the

society including the poor and the underprivileged and to take

into account the particular needs of women and children

To bring institutional changes that will help decentralize the

management of water resources and enhance the role of women in

water management

To develop a state of knowledge and capability that will enable

the country to design future water resources management plans by

itself with economic efficiency gender equity social justice

and environmental awareness to facilitate achievement of the

water management objectives through broad public participation

19Quoted by Sharmind Neelromi Assistant Professor Dept of Economics Jahangir Nagar University

50

Enabling environment will be created for women to play a key

role in local community organizations for management of water

resources

Ensure the interests of low-income water users and that of

women are adequately protected in water resource management

ldquoTo what extent do these policies are effective comparing to real

scenariordquo

11 Policy in Practice and its Effectiveness

As we can see that there are different international regional

and national policies to deal with climate change and which also

consider gender issue more or less in their policy papers Now

the question arise that whether these policies are helpful or not

in the real scenario And it is also need to find out whether

these policies are properly implemented during any climate

hazards or not

UNFCCC only focus on mitigating carbon emission and only a few

years ago they shifted their policy from climate financing to

other issues It has not succeeded to uphold a gender-sensitive

move This failure creates concerns for gender equity and also

guides to inadequacy in the efficiency and efficacy of climate-

related adaptation and mitigation measures and instruments20 But

the annual Gender CoP meeting acknowledged the existing

20Gender and Climate Change Impact and Adaptation (2009) op cit

51

challenges to mainstreaming gender within climate change

projects as well as the opportunities for future work21

GenderCC is now actively participating in UNFCCC conferences and

advocating for upholding womenrsquos rights in climate change

policies22

UNDP has started to establish clear gender specific goals and

performance targets for integrating climate change impacts It

supports governments and stakeholders to evaluate and classify

gender-specific impacts and protection measures by actively

upholding adaptation to climate change Furthermore it advanced

the regional cooperation to implement gender programs and assist

with the development strategies to strengthen and expand these

activities in initiatives on climate change It has been also a

dynamic actor in its work on governance gender corporate social

responsibility and capacity development strengthens the capacity

of national and local institutions in building resilience to

climate change since the early 1990rsquos It also intends to deliver

guidance on gender-specific concerns to intergovernmental bodies

to develop further policies and programs in climate change

Further UNDP in its MDG Carbon Facility projects is committed

for safeguarding gender goals and values235

21 ibid22Baten M A ampKhan N A (2010) op cit23 Summarized Gender and Climate Change Impact and Adaptation (2009)

52

Although IPCC addressed the gender specific impact of climate

change more precisely their policy formation does not reflect

this concern In policy process of the Intergovernmental Panel on

Climate Change (IPCC) gender mainstreaming is needed to be more

prioritized They do not posses any intergovernmental training or

research projects to find out the gender specific impacts and to

provide any solution

National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA) (2005) acknowledges

women as one of the most vulnerable groups to the climate change

but the information about causes and solutions regarding climate

induced gender disparities are missing24

Ministry of Environment and Forest also prepared Bangladesh

Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP 2008) that

acknowledges womenrsquos vulnerability to the climate change also

This plan proposed to protect livelihood of vulnerable socio-

economic groups including women Monju Ara Begum (50) said that

she got only 1000tk from government after she lost her all

belongings in the river bank erosion But it is not enough to

reduce womenrsquos vulnerability as many gender activists assumed25

There is also no attempt in its plan to include gender as a

cross-cutting issue into broader development policy frameworks

rather some disperse initiatives is unlikely to ensure gender

equity in every sector of the economy2624 ibid25Summarized Baten M A ampKhan N A (2010) Op cit26 ibid

53

Therefore it is very clear to understand that whatever out there

in the policies is not properly being implemented in reality

There are a lot of consciousness but lack of sincerity while

applying the policies Further experts affirmed that there is

lack for coordination lack of expert opinion and lack of

foresight exist in the policies which reflect while applying in

reality

12 Loopholes between the Policies and PracticesAs it is mentioned several times that lot of policy is out there

but there is no reflection of these existing policies while we

compare with real scenario This section of research is aim at

find out the loopholes between existing policies and real life

practice of those policies

Firstly it is easily noticeable that the existing policies just

mention about gender in adaptation and disaster risk mitigation

programs But they hardly include any possible method to reach at

the root level problems that come in front during gender

adaptation Some policies are only remain in the papers and never

been seen applying while there is any climate hazard The survey

result shows that there is not enough shelter home to reduce the

affects of disaster and for gender adaptation during the climate

hazards

54

Secondly some policies include gender empowerment initiatives as

climate hazards causes unemployment and sense of insecurity among

the women But whenever we go through any climate hazards there

are barely any programs for women empowerment For example

during the survey a number of women asked for income source to

deal with the loss of climate hazards

ldquoGhorbari haraner por polapainder kaj kamer sujog koira dile subidha hoito Sob

bekar hoiya jayrdquo (After losing the house managing income source

will be very helpful as they do not have any source to earn their

livelihood) - Monju Ara Begum (50)

It shows that gender empowerment policies are also not applied as

it mentioned in the policies

Thirdly policies include gender participation in decision making

and risk management process But the consent of this research is

there is lack of womenrsquos participation while any decision making

whether to migrate from one place or to take shelter during the

natural disasters

ldquodurjoger somoy johon amra center a jaite chaisi tohon bape jaite dey nai sobai

ghorei asilamrdquo (Our father did not allow us to take shelter in

Cyclone center during the disaster so we stayed at home)-

Priyanka Saha (19)

Fourthly policies include a separate gender budget but there is

hardly any remarkable example to spend this budget on womenrsquos

55

need of health food sanitation or others Monju Ara Begum (50)

informed that being women did not benefit them to get any

separate financial support after they lost their all belonging

from river bank erosion

Fifthly as mentioned in the policies about equity and social

justice it is not possible to achieve except recognizing the

differences of vulnerability of men and women Asmani (40) said

that after SIDR her husband flew away from the house because of

the fear of extra financial burden But her neighbor used to

accuse her fault as the reason of her husband flew away and

denied to help her She ended up earning from a small tea-stall

to survive and since then she have been living alone renting a

corridor of a house

Sixthly policies referred about the health services on gender

basis but there is lack of research on sex and gender differences

in vulnerability Thus the health services are not ultimately

gender responsive for the absence of research about health

impacts on gender basis During survey Shanti Bela Saha (50)

informed that she and her family have not got any health service

from both government and non-governmental health care services

after the devastating flood SIDR and Aila

Seventhly policies often seen to emphasize on providing

education and training to women but the survey of this research

56

discover that women are not getting any type of training about

disaster management or to deal with climate changersquos effects nor

any education program are there for the women For instance

during survey Shila Rani Saha (35) said that she never heard about

any training program to adapt with the situation during climate

hazards Whereas the policies include different training program

for gender adaptation in climate change

Eighthly policies also consist of early warning system but women

in the rural areas are not very close to any mechanism that

provides information or caution about any climate hazard Survey

result shows that the women or the member of their family had no

idea about SIDR

Ninthly NAPA and BCCSAP talk about the environmentally displaced

people but there is no clear and distinct policy to solve the

problems of climate change related displaced women Monju Ara

Begum (50) had to rebuild her house with her own money and had

not got any help in this regard from government or NGOs

Lastly but not the least water management of our country are not

in the stage as it is destined in its policy Still there are

lack of safe and affordable water supply and healthy sanitation

system in the rural areas as well as in the urban areas

57

So these are some easily visible loopholes between climate

change policies and its practice found from the survey and

literatures It shows that proper reformation of these policies

is required for the betterment of women as human being

Chapter V

58

ldquoWhat modifications do these policies required to prevent the climate

change impacts on women of our countryrdquo

13 Required Improvements for the PoliciesAlthough government have taken so much initiatives to respond to

climate change considering gender issue there is still lack of

coordination among the institutional bodies to supervise its

policies and action plan Therefore lots of improvement is needed

to meet the future challenges For future advancement of the

climate change policies regarding gender this research included

two section of recommendation which will include both expertrsquos

suggestion and overall realization of the research

Expertrsquos Suggestions

Bushra H Chowdhury suggested the following steps-

i) Union parishad and local level official should

participate in the policy making process as they have

deeper understanding about their local environments and

problems faced by women during climate hazards

ii) NGOrsquos can also raise awareness among the people as well

as among the policy makers to formulate more efficient

policy

iii) Government as well as NGOrsquos should negotiate with the

foreign investor as there is lack of fund regarding

gender in climate change

59

iv) More experts and government NGOs and academics should

come along with the policy makers and increase

cooperation among them for policy implications

v) Pre-planning for towns and village separately is also

needed for effective policy implication

vi) Disaster management department as well as the water

development board should combine their works to form more

efficient gender responsive climate change policy

vii) Short term and long term policies should be distinguished

for priority setting during climate hazards

Sharmind Neelromi also recommended some important steps-

viii) The climate hazards should be defined as slow onset or

quick onset and then the policies should be following

that category of hazard

ix) Before policy design for any climate hazard policy makers

need to understand whether the hazards caused by climate

change or other environmental politics For instance the

water damn imposed by India causes flood in our country

x) An analytical framework and a goal point should be

prepared by the policy makers so that the target seems

clearer to reach

14 Recommendation from Research Findings

60

Throughout the research there are different issues catching our

concentration to develop in future In this regard a list of

recommendation founded by the research is specified below

Firstly from the survey result it can be easily realized that

income source should be arranged for the women and their family

member whenever they suffer any climate hazards

Secondly proper shelter home should be build instead of using

schools as shelter home which has not proper sanitation and other

arrangements

Thirdly there should be proper helping hand and income source

for those women who are victimized by river bank erosion for

their resettlement Mechanism to protect their physical and

mental security is also necessary Fourthly only NAPA has adopted immediate action policy for

climate hazards Therefore it is significant to ensure that other

policies should also adopt immediate action mechanism to reduce

the vulnerability rate

Fifthly proper monitoring of local government like chairman is

another important requirement of the interviewees while

distributing the foods and other services Nurzahan (48) informed

that

61

ldquotaka poisa ja ase sob chairman nije ar tar logjon er moddhe vagavagi koira ney

amago kichui dey nardquo(Chairman distributes all the funds among his

near and dear ones and deprive us from everything)

Sixthly arrangement of local volunteer to distribute the foods

and reliefs among the women of vulnerable areas as the local

people are much acknowledged about the actual sufferer

Seventhly setting priority is also another requirement of the

interviewed victims as they do not get help or relief according

to their needs For instance when families need to repair their

roof they are getting fund for foods or health services and the

amount of the fund is very low that it can hardly help the

sufferers

Eighthly a helping card system should be imposed to collect the

relief so that one family cannot enjoy the relief more than once

while other do not even get chance to get any relief

Ninthly the policy makers should address gender in every section

of its policy so that women can at least ask for their rights

mentioned in the policy If the policy do not include gender

perspective then it will be hard to ask for womenrsquos rights during

and after climate changersquos effects

62

Tenthly local administration system should be more liberal

towards women after any natural disaster because most women often

avoid the judgment in fear of losing their dignity honor and

reputation All their information should be kept confidential and

they should not get scolded for being women instead of getting

justice If possible then the judgment process should be arranged

with female judge and in confidential premises

Besides a regional cooperation like SAARC Framework for Action

should be more active in climate change as well as gender issue

Also the international and national institutions should jointly

design the climate change policies for better output

Further participation of women during the policy making and

strategy setting should also be increased for better

understanding about gender specific vulnerability

Additionally awareness among the women of our country should be

build through mechanisms like conducting research projects on the

improvement of gender issue in climate change policy

Moreover awareness building through broadcasting different

programs related to climate change and its effects on gender can

also be much helpful

63

Finally and most importantly reducing corruption from every

level to implement fair policies is very much important to ensure

gender right in climate change policies

In the end it is important to address that suggesting and

recommending is easier than working in the ground level Experts

and academicians should break this boundary of just giving advice

sitting in a comfortable atmosphere and come out to the ground to

work with policy makers

15 Concluding Remarks In conclusion again it is important to add that although there

are so many national regional and international policies as well

as organizations working on climate change issue considering

gender they are hardly able to enforce those policies in real

aspect UNDP UNFCCC BCCSAP NAPA and government itself is

working on gender sensitive policy making for climate change but

it is well-known already that the most crucial part is the proper

implementation of the policies at the time of climate change

related hazards Forming successful gender responsive frame in

climate change policy is important but more important is to

impose them with what they actually need for their long survival

Creating awareness among the victim women wonrsquot work in this

regard because they are so helpless poor and liable to their

families that their realization is fruitless till they get enough

financial and fundamental support Successfully providing the

64

supports to the victims during climate hazards has become very

difficult because of corruption at different level of

distribution Government need to reshape its distribution system

to reduce chance of corruption Government and other concerned

NGOs need to distinguish the factors where women are more

vulnerable than men The policies should be made and reshaped

focusing on dealing with those areas At the very end it must be

included that the climate change policies are much more aware

about gender issue than it was before and hoping for more

advancement of these gender supportive climate change policies in

real scenario

65

The End

Annexes Annex 1- Questionnaire

Basic Information

DatePlaceNameAgeMarital StatusFamily MemberIncome Source

1 What type of natural hazards did u face

i) Flood and

Heavy

ii) drought iii) river

erosion

iv) Others

66

Rainfall2 Have you ever received any kind of training to deal with the

challenge of these natural hazards

i)Yes ii) No3 Did any NGO help you in the post-disaster period

i)Yes ii) No4 Have you got any financial support from any organization or

foreign aid

i)Yes ii) No5 In case of your losing shelter what support did you get for

instant accommodation

rarr

6 Did you receive any permanent or long term support or

alternative earning source in case of losing livelihood due

to that disaster

i)Yes ii) No7 Did that disaster forced you to stop your childrenrsquos

schooling

i) Yes ii) No8 In case of women losing their earning or having physical

damage what problems did you face for livelihoods

rarr

9 In case of physical damage did they receive proper

treatment and financial recovery

67

i)Yes ii) No10 Aged women who are incapable of working did they

receive enoughextra support

i)Yes ii) No11 Did you receive any hygienic food and water support to

prevent disease from unhygienic

i)Yes ii) No12 While receiving a foreign aid do you feel deprived of

comparing to men In which ways

rarr

13 At the post-disaster period had you ever seek for the

support of the local settlementgovernmental arbitration

process for any kind of domestic violence

i)Yes ii) No14 If yes then do you think that the judgment deprived

you because of your gender

i)Yes ii) No15 Did any NGO or international organization support you

to get fair judgment

i)Yes ii) No16 In post disaster situation how did your family

distribute the inheritance (if any) among the female member

of your family

68

rarr

17 Did the female member of your family had any

sayingrole in the decision making process regarding the

distribution of inheritance

i)Yes ii) No18 According to you what type of program can government

or NGO take to assist you to recover during and after the

climate hazards

rarr

Annenx 2 Expert Interviews

i) Bushra H Chowdhury

Water is mostly important in womenrsquos life So water policy is

needed to be gender responsive Department of disaster management

should combine their ideas with water management board In

climate change policies there are lack of farsightedness expert

opinion cooperation coordination among experts and policy

makers etc Corruption in every level is the main barrier to

success in this regard Local government NGOs government

policy makers and experts should combine their ideas and

experiences to reach any conclusion Policy formulation is a long

process so long term and short term goal should be arranged

More experts are needed in policy making process It is important

69

to evaluate why NGOs are less corrupted than government

officials Pre-planning for town and village is important NGOs

and government should arrange annual reporting system to evaluate

their progress

ii) Sharmind Neelromi

The reason behind climate change is very important to understand

Whether it is because of global warming environmental

degradation environmental pollution through human activities or

it is a result of environmental politics There are two types of

climate hazards such as slow on-set (water logging drought sea

level rise etc) and quick on-set (flood cyclone etc) We also

have to understand that the vulnerabilities of women are because

of climate change or something else Climate change adaptation is

a pro-active approach and a development issue In this regard an

analytical framework is important to design to reach any targeted

goal

70

16 Bibliography

Ahmed A U Neelormi S Adri N et Al (2009) Climate ChangeGender and Vulnerable Groups in Bangladesh Climate Change CellDepartment of Environment Ministry of Environment and ForestsRetrieved on September 7 2013 from httpwwwCCGenderVG_Jan09pdf

Ahmed N (2012) Gender and Climate Change in Bangladesh TheRole of Institutions in Reducing Gender Gaps in AdaptationProgram The World BankRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwww-wdsworldbankorgexternaldefaultWDSContentServerWDSPIB20120404000333038_20120404010647RenderedPDF678200NWP0P1250C0in0Bangladesh0web2pdf

Akter T (2009) Climate Change and Flow of EnvironmentalDisplacement in Bangladesh Unnayan Onneshan-The InnovatorsRetrieved on September 28 2013 fromhttpswwwunnayanorgclimate_change_flow_environmental_displacementpdf

Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion inClimate Change Adaptation ADBI Working Paper 309 Tokyo AsianDevelopment Bank InstituteRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf

Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009 Ministryof Environment and Forest Government of the Peoples Republic ofBangladesh Dhaka Bangladesh

71

It is the main basis to deal with climate change in Bangladesh

and it is also a program by Ministry of Environment and Forest

The way BCCSAP includes gender in its policy to handle climate

hazards are the following

ensure that the poorest and most vulnerable in society

including women and children are protected from climate change

and that all programs focus on the needs of this group for food

security safe housing employment and access to basic services

including health

BCCSAP also nowadays consider special sanitation service for

women in shelter homes but it is not included in their policy19

National Water Policy 1999

National Water Policy of Bangladesh aims-

To ensure the availability of water to all elements of the

society including the poor and the underprivileged and to take

into account the particular needs of women and children

To bring institutional changes that will help decentralize the

management of water resources and enhance the role of women in

water management

To develop a state of knowledge and capability that will enable

the country to design future water resources management plans by

itself with economic efficiency gender equity social justice

and environmental awareness to facilitate achievement of the

water management objectives through broad public participation

19Quoted by Sharmind Neelromi Assistant Professor Dept of Economics Jahangir Nagar University

50

Enabling environment will be created for women to play a key

role in local community organizations for management of water

resources

Ensure the interests of low-income water users and that of

women are adequately protected in water resource management

ldquoTo what extent do these policies are effective comparing to real

scenariordquo

11 Policy in Practice and its Effectiveness

As we can see that there are different international regional

and national policies to deal with climate change and which also

consider gender issue more or less in their policy papers Now

the question arise that whether these policies are helpful or not

in the real scenario And it is also need to find out whether

these policies are properly implemented during any climate

hazards or not

UNFCCC only focus on mitigating carbon emission and only a few

years ago they shifted their policy from climate financing to

other issues It has not succeeded to uphold a gender-sensitive

move This failure creates concerns for gender equity and also

guides to inadequacy in the efficiency and efficacy of climate-

related adaptation and mitigation measures and instruments20 But

the annual Gender CoP meeting acknowledged the existing

20Gender and Climate Change Impact and Adaptation (2009) op cit

51

challenges to mainstreaming gender within climate change

projects as well as the opportunities for future work21

GenderCC is now actively participating in UNFCCC conferences and

advocating for upholding womenrsquos rights in climate change

policies22

UNDP has started to establish clear gender specific goals and

performance targets for integrating climate change impacts It

supports governments and stakeholders to evaluate and classify

gender-specific impacts and protection measures by actively

upholding adaptation to climate change Furthermore it advanced

the regional cooperation to implement gender programs and assist

with the development strategies to strengthen and expand these

activities in initiatives on climate change It has been also a

dynamic actor in its work on governance gender corporate social

responsibility and capacity development strengthens the capacity

of national and local institutions in building resilience to

climate change since the early 1990rsquos It also intends to deliver

guidance on gender-specific concerns to intergovernmental bodies

to develop further policies and programs in climate change

Further UNDP in its MDG Carbon Facility projects is committed

for safeguarding gender goals and values235

21 ibid22Baten M A ampKhan N A (2010) op cit23 Summarized Gender and Climate Change Impact and Adaptation (2009)

52

Although IPCC addressed the gender specific impact of climate

change more precisely their policy formation does not reflect

this concern In policy process of the Intergovernmental Panel on

Climate Change (IPCC) gender mainstreaming is needed to be more

prioritized They do not posses any intergovernmental training or

research projects to find out the gender specific impacts and to

provide any solution

National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA) (2005) acknowledges

women as one of the most vulnerable groups to the climate change

but the information about causes and solutions regarding climate

induced gender disparities are missing24

Ministry of Environment and Forest also prepared Bangladesh

Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP 2008) that

acknowledges womenrsquos vulnerability to the climate change also

This plan proposed to protect livelihood of vulnerable socio-

economic groups including women Monju Ara Begum (50) said that

she got only 1000tk from government after she lost her all

belongings in the river bank erosion But it is not enough to

reduce womenrsquos vulnerability as many gender activists assumed25

There is also no attempt in its plan to include gender as a

cross-cutting issue into broader development policy frameworks

rather some disperse initiatives is unlikely to ensure gender

equity in every sector of the economy2624 ibid25Summarized Baten M A ampKhan N A (2010) Op cit26 ibid

53

Therefore it is very clear to understand that whatever out there

in the policies is not properly being implemented in reality

There are a lot of consciousness but lack of sincerity while

applying the policies Further experts affirmed that there is

lack for coordination lack of expert opinion and lack of

foresight exist in the policies which reflect while applying in

reality

12 Loopholes between the Policies and PracticesAs it is mentioned several times that lot of policy is out there

but there is no reflection of these existing policies while we

compare with real scenario This section of research is aim at

find out the loopholes between existing policies and real life

practice of those policies

Firstly it is easily noticeable that the existing policies just

mention about gender in adaptation and disaster risk mitigation

programs But they hardly include any possible method to reach at

the root level problems that come in front during gender

adaptation Some policies are only remain in the papers and never

been seen applying while there is any climate hazard The survey

result shows that there is not enough shelter home to reduce the

affects of disaster and for gender adaptation during the climate

hazards

54

Secondly some policies include gender empowerment initiatives as

climate hazards causes unemployment and sense of insecurity among

the women But whenever we go through any climate hazards there

are barely any programs for women empowerment For example

during the survey a number of women asked for income source to

deal with the loss of climate hazards

ldquoGhorbari haraner por polapainder kaj kamer sujog koira dile subidha hoito Sob

bekar hoiya jayrdquo (After losing the house managing income source

will be very helpful as they do not have any source to earn their

livelihood) - Monju Ara Begum (50)

It shows that gender empowerment policies are also not applied as

it mentioned in the policies

Thirdly policies include gender participation in decision making

and risk management process But the consent of this research is

there is lack of womenrsquos participation while any decision making

whether to migrate from one place or to take shelter during the

natural disasters

ldquodurjoger somoy johon amra center a jaite chaisi tohon bape jaite dey nai sobai

ghorei asilamrdquo (Our father did not allow us to take shelter in

Cyclone center during the disaster so we stayed at home)-

Priyanka Saha (19)

Fourthly policies include a separate gender budget but there is

hardly any remarkable example to spend this budget on womenrsquos

55

need of health food sanitation or others Monju Ara Begum (50)

informed that being women did not benefit them to get any

separate financial support after they lost their all belonging

from river bank erosion

Fifthly as mentioned in the policies about equity and social

justice it is not possible to achieve except recognizing the

differences of vulnerability of men and women Asmani (40) said

that after SIDR her husband flew away from the house because of

the fear of extra financial burden But her neighbor used to

accuse her fault as the reason of her husband flew away and

denied to help her She ended up earning from a small tea-stall

to survive and since then she have been living alone renting a

corridor of a house

Sixthly policies referred about the health services on gender

basis but there is lack of research on sex and gender differences

in vulnerability Thus the health services are not ultimately

gender responsive for the absence of research about health

impacts on gender basis During survey Shanti Bela Saha (50)

informed that she and her family have not got any health service

from both government and non-governmental health care services

after the devastating flood SIDR and Aila

Seventhly policies often seen to emphasize on providing

education and training to women but the survey of this research

56

discover that women are not getting any type of training about

disaster management or to deal with climate changersquos effects nor

any education program are there for the women For instance

during survey Shila Rani Saha (35) said that she never heard about

any training program to adapt with the situation during climate

hazards Whereas the policies include different training program

for gender adaptation in climate change

Eighthly policies also consist of early warning system but women

in the rural areas are not very close to any mechanism that

provides information or caution about any climate hazard Survey

result shows that the women or the member of their family had no

idea about SIDR

Ninthly NAPA and BCCSAP talk about the environmentally displaced

people but there is no clear and distinct policy to solve the

problems of climate change related displaced women Monju Ara

Begum (50) had to rebuild her house with her own money and had

not got any help in this regard from government or NGOs

Lastly but not the least water management of our country are not

in the stage as it is destined in its policy Still there are

lack of safe and affordable water supply and healthy sanitation

system in the rural areas as well as in the urban areas

57

So these are some easily visible loopholes between climate

change policies and its practice found from the survey and

literatures It shows that proper reformation of these policies

is required for the betterment of women as human being

Chapter V

58

ldquoWhat modifications do these policies required to prevent the climate

change impacts on women of our countryrdquo

13 Required Improvements for the PoliciesAlthough government have taken so much initiatives to respond to

climate change considering gender issue there is still lack of

coordination among the institutional bodies to supervise its

policies and action plan Therefore lots of improvement is needed

to meet the future challenges For future advancement of the

climate change policies regarding gender this research included

two section of recommendation which will include both expertrsquos

suggestion and overall realization of the research

Expertrsquos Suggestions

Bushra H Chowdhury suggested the following steps-

i) Union parishad and local level official should

participate in the policy making process as they have

deeper understanding about their local environments and

problems faced by women during climate hazards

ii) NGOrsquos can also raise awareness among the people as well

as among the policy makers to formulate more efficient

policy

iii) Government as well as NGOrsquos should negotiate with the

foreign investor as there is lack of fund regarding

gender in climate change

59

iv) More experts and government NGOs and academics should

come along with the policy makers and increase

cooperation among them for policy implications

v) Pre-planning for towns and village separately is also

needed for effective policy implication

vi) Disaster management department as well as the water

development board should combine their works to form more

efficient gender responsive climate change policy

vii) Short term and long term policies should be distinguished

for priority setting during climate hazards

Sharmind Neelromi also recommended some important steps-

viii) The climate hazards should be defined as slow onset or

quick onset and then the policies should be following

that category of hazard

ix) Before policy design for any climate hazard policy makers

need to understand whether the hazards caused by climate

change or other environmental politics For instance the

water damn imposed by India causes flood in our country

x) An analytical framework and a goal point should be

prepared by the policy makers so that the target seems

clearer to reach

14 Recommendation from Research Findings

60

Throughout the research there are different issues catching our

concentration to develop in future In this regard a list of

recommendation founded by the research is specified below

Firstly from the survey result it can be easily realized that

income source should be arranged for the women and their family

member whenever they suffer any climate hazards

Secondly proper shelter home should be build instead of using

schools as shelter home which has not proper sanitation and other

arrangements

Thirdly there should be proper helping hand and income source

for those women who are victimized by river bank erosion for

their resettlement Mechanism to protect their physical and

mental security is also necessary Fourthly only NAPA has adopted immediate action policy for

climate hazards Therefore it is significant to ensure that other

policies should also adopt immediate action mechanism to reduce

the vulnerability rate

Fifthly proper monitoring of local government like chairman is

another important requirement of the interviewees while

distributing the foods and other services Nurzahan (48) informed

that

61

ldquotaka poisa ja ase sob chairman nije ar tar logjon er moddhe vagavagi koira ney

amago kichui dey nardquo(Chairman distributes all the funds among his

near and dear ones and deprive us from everything)

Sixthly arrangement of local volunteer to distribute the foods

and reliefs among the women of vulnerable areas as the local

people are much acknowledged about the actual sufferer

Seventhly setting priority is also another requirement of the

interviewed victims as they do not get help or relief according

to their needs For instance when families need to repair their

roof they are getting fund for foods or health services and the

amount of the fund is very low that it can hardly help the

sufferers

Eighthly a helping card system should be imposed to collect the

relief so that one family cannot enjoy the relief more than once

while other do not even get chance to get any relief

Ninthly the policy makers should address gender in every section

of its policy so that women can at least ask for their rights

mentioned in the policy If the policy do not include gender

perspective then it will be hard to ask for womenrsquos rights during

and after climate changersquos effects

62

Tenthly local administration system should be more liberal

towards women after any natural disaster because most women often

avoid the judgment in fear of losing their dignity honor and

reputation All their information should be kept confidential and

they should not get scolded for being women instead of getting

justice If possible then the judgment process should be arranged

with female judge and in confidential premises

Besides a regional cooperation like SAARC Framework for Action

should be more active in climate change as well as gender issue

Also the international and national institutions should jointly

design the climate change policies for better output

Further participation of women during the policy making and

strategy setting should also be increased for better

understanding about gender specific vulnerability

Additionally awareness among the women of our country should be

build through mechanisms like conducting research projects on the

improvement of gender issue in climate change policy

Moreover awareness building through broadcasting different

programs related to climate change and its effects on gender can

also be much helpful

63

Finally and most importantly reducing corruption from every

level to implement fair policies is very much important to ensure

gender right in climate change policies

In the end it is important to address that suggesting and

recommending is easier than working in the ground level Experts

and academicians should break this boundary of just giving advice

sitting in a comfortable atmosphere and come out to the ground to

work with policy makers

15 Concluding Remarks In conclusion again it is important to add that although there

are so many national regional and international policies as well

as organizations working on climate change issue considering

gender they are hardly able to enforce those policies in real

aspect UNDP UNFCCC BCCSAP NAPA and government itself is

working on gender sensitive policy making for climate change but

it is well-known already that the most crucial part is the proper

implementation of the policies at the time of climate change

related hazards Forming successful gender responsive frame in

climate change policy is important but more important is to

impose them with what they actually need for their long survival

Creating awareness among the victim women wonrsquot work in this

regard because they are so helpless poor and liable to their

families that their realization is fruitless till they get enough

financial and fundamental support Successfully providing the

64

supports to the victims during climate hazards has become very

difficult because of corruption at different level of

distribution Government need to reshape its distribution system

to reduce chance of corruption Government and other concerned

NGOs need to distinguish the factors where women are more

vulnerable than men The policies should be made and reshaped

focusing on dealing with those areas At the very end it must be

included that the climate change policies are much more aware

about gender issue than it was before and hoping for more

advancement of these gender supportive climate change policies in

real scenario

65

The End

Annexes Annex 1- Questionnaire

Basic Information

DatePlaceNameAgeMarital StatusFamily MemberIncome Source

1 What type of natural hazards did u face

i) Flood and

Heavy

ii) drought iii) river

erosion

iv) Others

66

Rainfall2 Have you ever received any kind of training to deal with the

challenge of these natural hazards

i)Yes ii) No3 Did any NGO help you in the post-disaster period

i)Yes ii) No4 Have you got any financial support from any organization or

foreign aid

i)Yes ii) No5 In case of your losing shelter what support did you get for

instant accommodation

rarr

6 Did you receive any permanent or long term support or

alternative earning source in case of losing livelihood due

to that disaster

i)Yes ii) No7 Did that disaster forced you to stop your childrenrsquos

schooling

i) Yes ii) No8 In case of women losing their earning or having physical

damage what problems did you face for livelihoods

rarr

9 In case of physical damage did they receive proper

treatment and financial recovery

67

i)Yes ii) No10 Aged women who are incapable of working did they

receive enoughextra support

i)Yes ii) No11 Did you receive any hygienic food and water support to

prevent disease from unhygienic

i)Yes ii) No12 While receiving a foreign aid do you feel deprived of

comparing to men In which ways

rarr

13 At the post-disaster period had you ever seek for the

support of the local settlementgovernmental arbitration

process for any kind of domestic violence

i)Yes ii) No14 If yes then do you think that the judgment deprived

you because of your gender

i)Yes ii) No15 Did any NGO or international organization support you

to get fair judgment

i)Yes ii) No16 In post disaster situation how did your family

distribute the inheritance (if any) among the female member

of your family

68

rarr

17 Did the female member of your family had any

sayingrole in the decision making process regarding the

distribution of inheritance

i)Yes ii) No18 According to you what type of program can government

or NGO take to assist you to recover during and after the

climate hazards

rarr

Annenx 2 Expert Interviews

i) Bushra H Chowdhury

Water is mostly important in womenrsquos life So water policy is

needed to be gender responsive Department of disaster management

should combine their ideas with water management board In

climate change policies there are lack of farsightedness expert

opinion cooperation coordination among experts and policy

makers etc Corruption in every level is the main barrier to

success in this regard Local government NGOs government

policy makers and experts should combine their ideas and

experiences to reach any conclusion Policy formulation is a long

process so long term and short term goal should be arranged

More experts are needed in policy making process It is important

69

to evaluate why NGOs are less corrupted than government

officials Pre-planning for town and village is important NGOs

and government should arrange annual reporting system to evaluate

their progress

ii) Sharmind Neelromi

The reason behind climate change is very important to understand

Whether it is because of global warming environmental

degradation environmental pollution through human activities or

it is a result of environmental politics There are two types of

climate hazards such as slow on-set (water logging drought sea

level rise etc) and quick on-set (flood cyclone etc) We also

have to understand that the vulnerabilities of women are because

of climate change or something else Climate change adaptation is

a pro-active approach and a development issue In this regard an

analytical framework is important to design to reach any targeted

goal

70

16 Bibliography

Ahmed A U Neelormi S Adri N et Al (2009) Climate ChangeGender and Vulnerable Groups in Bangladesh Climate Change CellDepartment of Environment Ministry of Environment and ForestsRetrieved on September 7 2013 from httpwwwCCGenderVG_Jan09pdf

Ahmed N (2012) Gender and Climate Change in Bangladesh TheRole of Institutions in Reducing Gender Gaps in AdaptationProgram The World BankRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwww-wdsworldbankorgexternaldefaultWDSContentServerWDSPIB20120404000333038_20120404010647RenderedPDF678200NWP0P1250C0in0Bangladesh0web2pdf

Akter T (2009) Climate Change and Flow of EnvironmentalDisplacement in Bangladesh Unnayan Onneshan-The InnovatorsRetrieved on September 28 2013 fromhttpswwwunnayanorgclimate_change_flow_environmental_displacementpdf

Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion inClimate Change Adaptation ADBI Working Paper 309 Tokyo AsianDevelopment Bank InstituteRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf

Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009 Ministryof Environment and Forest Government of the Peoples Republic ofBangladesh Dhaka Bangladesh

71

Enabling environment will be created for women to play a key

role in local community organizations for management of water

resources

Ensure the interests of low-income water users and that of

women are adequately protected in water resource management

ldquoTo what extent do these policies are effective comparing to real

scenariordquo

11 Policy in Practice and its Effectiveness

As we can see that there are different international regional

and national policies to deal with climate change and which also

consider gender issue more or less in their policy papers Now

the question arise that whether these policies are helpful or not

in the real scenario And it is also need to find out whether

these policies are properly implemented during any climate

hazards or not

UNFCCC only focus on mitigating carbon emission and only a few

years ago they shifted their policy from climate financing to

other issues It has not succeeded to uphold a gender-sensitive

move This failure creates concerns for gender equity and also

guides to inadequacy in the efficiency and efficacy of climate-

related adaptation and mitigation measures and instruments20 But

the annual Gender CoP meeting acknowledged the existing

20Gender and Climate Change Impact and Adaptation (2009) op cit

51

challenges to mainstreaming gender within climate change

projects as well as the opportunities for future work21

GenderCC is now actively participating in UNFCCC conferences and

advocating for upholding womenrsquos rights in climate change

policies22

UNDP has started to establish clear gender specific goals and

performance targets for integrating climate change impacts It

supports governments and stakeholders to evaluate and classify

gender-specific impacts and protection measures by actively

upholding adaptation to climate change Furthermore it advanced

the regional cooperation to implement gender programs and assist

with the development strategies to strengthen and expand these

activities in initiatives on climate change It has been also a

dynamic actor in its work on governance gender corporate social

responsibility and capacity development strengthens the capacity

of national and local institutions in building resilience to

climate change since the early 1990rsquos It also intends to deliver

guidance on gender-specific concerns to intergovernmental bodies

to develop further policies and programs in climate change

Further UNDP in its MDG Carbon Facility projects is committed

for safeguarding gender goals and values235

21 ibid22Baten M A ampKhan N A (2010) op cit23 Summarized Gender and Climate Change Impact and Adaptation (2009)

52

Although IPCC addressed the gender specific impact of climate

change more precisely their policy formation does not reflect

this concern In policy process of the Intergovernmental Panel on

Climate Change (IPCC) gender mainstreaming is needed to be more

prioritized They do not posses any intergovernmental training or

research projects to find out the gender specific impacts and to

provide any solution

National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA) (2005) acknowledges

women as one of the most vulnerable groups to the climate change

but the information about causes and solutions regarding climate

induced gender disparities are missing24

Ministry of Environment and Forest also prepared Bangladesh

Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP 2008) that

acknowledges womenrsquos vulnerability to the climate change also

This plan proposed to protect livelihood of vulnerable socio-

economic groups including women Monju Ara Begum (50) said that

she got only 1000tk from government after she lost her all

belongings in the river bank erosion But it is not enough to

reduce womenrsquos vulnerability as many gender activists assumed25

There is also no attempt in its plan to include gender as a

cross-cutting issue into broader development policy frameworks

rather some disperse initiatives is unlikely to ensure gender

equity in every sector of the economy2624 ibid25Summarized Baten M A ampKhan N A (2010) Op cit26 ibid

53

Therefore it is very clear to understand that whatever out there

in the policies is not properly being implemented in reality

There are a lot of consciousness but lack of sincerity while

applying the policies Further experts affirmed that there is

lack for coordination lack of expert opinion and lack of

foresight exist in the policies which reflect while applying in

reality

12 Loopholes between the Policies and PracticesAs it is mentioned several times that lot of policy is out there

but there is no reflection of these existing policies while we

compare with real scenario This section of research is aim at

find out the loopholes between existing policies and real life

practice of those policies

Firstly it is easily noticeable that the existing policies just

mention about gender in adaptation and disaster risk mitigation

programs But they hardly include any possible method to reach at

the root level problems that come in front during gender

adaptation Some policies are only remain in the papers and never

been seen applying while there is any climate hazard The survey

result shows that there is not enough shelter home to reduce the

affects of disaster and for gender adaptation during the climate

hazards

54

Secondly some policies include gender empowerment initiatives as

climate hazards causes unemployment and sense of insecurity among

the women But whenever we go through any climate hazards there

are barely any programs for women empowerment For example

during the survey a number of women asked for income source to

deal with the loss of climate hazards

ldquoGhorbari haraner por polapainder kaj kamer sujog koira dile subidha hoito Sob

bekar hoiya jayrdquo (After losing the house managing income source

will be very helpful as they do not have any source to earn their

livelihood) - Monju Ara Begum (50)

It shows that gender empowerment policies are also not applied as

it mentioned in the policies

Thirdly policies include gender participation in decision making

and risk management process But the consent of this research is

there is lack of womenrsquos participation while any decision making

whether to migrate from one place or to take shelter during the

natural disasters

ldquodurjoger somoy johon amra center a jaite chaisi tohon bape jaite dey nai sobai

ghorei asilamrdquo (Our father did not allow us to take shelter in

Cyclone center during the disaster so we stayed at home)-

Priyanka Saha (19)

Fourthly policies include a separate gender budget but there is

hardly any remarkable example to spend this budget on womenrsquos

55

need of health food sanitation or others Monju Ara Begum (50)

informed that being women did not benefit them to get any

separate financial support after they lost their all belonging

from river bank erosion

Fifthly as mentioned in the policies about equity and social

justice it is not possible to achieve except recognizing the

differences of vulnerability of men and women Asmani (40) said

that after SIDR her husband flew away from the house because of

the fear of extra financial burden But her neighbor used to

accuse her fault as the reason of her husband flew away and

denied to help her She ended up earning from a small tea-stall

to survive and since then she have been living alone renting a

corridor of a house

Sixthly policies referred about the health services on gender

basis but there is lack of research on sex and gender differences

in vulnerability Thus the health services are not ultimately

gender responsive for the absence of research about health

impacts on gender basis During survey Shanti Bela Saha (50)

informed that she and her family have not got any health service

from both government and non-governmental health care services

after the devastating flood SIDR and Aila

Seventhly policies often seen to emphasize on providing

education and training to women but the survey of this research

56

discover that women are not getting any type of training about

disaster management or to deal with climate changersquos effects nor

any education program are there for the women For instance

during survey Shila Rani Saha (35) said that she never heard about

any training program to adapt with the situation during climate

hazards Whereas the policies include different training program

for gender adaptation in climate change

Eighthly policies also consist of early warning system but women

in the rural areas are not very close to any mechanism that

provides information or caution about any climate hazard Survey

result shows that the women or the member of their family had no

idea about SIDR

Ninthly NAPA and BCCSAP talk about the environmentally displaced

people but there is no clear and distinct policy to solve the

problems of climate change related displaced women Monju Ara

Begum (50) had to rebuild her house with her own money and had

not got any help in this regard from government or NGOs

Lastly but not the least water management of our country are not

in the stage as it is destined in its policy Still there are

lack of safe and affordable water supply and healthy sanitation

system in the rural areas as well as in the urban areas

57

So these are some easily visible loopholes between climate

change policies and its practice found from the survey and

literatures It shows that proper reformation of these policies

is required for the betterment of women as human being

Chapter V

58

ldquoWhat modifications do these policies required to prevent the climate

change impacts on women of our countryrdquo

13 Required Improvements for the PoliciesAlthough government have taken so much initiatives to respond to

climate change considering gender issue there is still lack of

coordination among the institutional bodies to supervise its

policies and action plan Therefore lots of improvement is needed

to meet the future challenges For future advancement of the

climate change policies regarding gender this research included

two section of recommendation which will include both expertrsquos

suggestion and overall realization of the research

Expertrsquos Suggestions

Bushra H Chowdhury suggested the following steps-

i) Union parishad and local level official should

participate in the policy making process as they have

deeper understanding about their local environments and

problems faced by women during climate hazards

ii) NGOrsquos can also raise awareness among the people as well

as among the policy makers to formulate more efficient

policy

iii) Government as well as NGOrsquos should negotiate with the

foreign investor as there is lack of fund regarding

gender in climate change

59

iv) More experts and government NGOs and academics should

come along with the policy makers and increase

cooperation among them for policy implications

v) Pre-planning for towns and village separately is also

needed for effective policy implication

vi) Disaster management department as well as the water

development board should combine their works to form more

efficient gender responsive climate change policy

vii) Short term and long term policies should be distinguished

for priority setting during climate hazards

Sharmind Neelromi also recommended some important steps-

viii) The climate hazards should be defined as slow onset or

quick onset and then the policies should be following

that category of hazard

ix) Before policy design for any climate hazard policy makers

need to understand whether the hazards caused by climate

change or other environmental politics For instance the

water damn imposed by India causes flood in our country

x) An analytical framework and a goal point should be

prepared by the policy makers so that the target seems

clearer to reach

14 Recommendation from Research Findings

60

Throughout the research there are different issues catching our

concentration to develop in future In this regard a list of

recommendation founded by the research is specified below

Firstly from the survey result it can be easily realized that

income source should be arranged for the women and their family

member whenever they suffer any climate hazards

Secondly proper shelter home should be build instead of using

schools as shelter home which has not proper sanitation and other

arrangements

Thirdly there should be proper helping hand and income source

for those women who are victimized by river bank erosion for

their resettlement Mechanism to protect their physical and

mental security is also necessary Fourthly only NAPA has adopted immediate action policy for

climate hazards Therefore it is significant to ensure that other

policies should also adopt immediate action mechanism to reduce

the vulnerability rate

Fifthly proper monitoring of local government like chairman is

another important requirement of the interviewees while

distributing the foods and other services Nurzahan (48) informed

that

61

ldquotaka poisa ja ase sob chairman nije ar tar logjon er moddhe vagavagi koira ney

amago kichui dey nardquo(Chairman distributes all the funds among his

near and dear ones and deprive us from everything)

Sixthly arrangement of local volunteer to distribute the foods

and reliefs among the women of vulnerable areas as the local

people are much acknowledged about the actual sufferer

Seventhly setting priority is also another requirement of the

interviewed victims as they do not get help or relief according

to their needs For instance when families need to repair their

roof they are getting fund for foods or health services and the

amount of the fund is very low that it can hardly help the

sufferers

Eighthly a helping card system should be imposed to collect the

relief so that one family cannot enjoy the relief more than once

while other do not even get chance to get any relief

Ninthly the policy makers should address gender in every section

of its policy so that women can at least ask for their rights

mentioned in the policy If the policy do not include gender

perspective then it will be hard to ask for womenrsquos rights during

and after climate changersquos effects

62

Tenthly local administration system should be more liberal

towards women after any natural disaster because most women often

avoid the judgment in fear of losing their dignity honor and

reputation All their information should be kept confidential and

they should not get scolded for being women instead of getting

justice If possible then the judgment process should be arranged

with female judge and in confidential premises

Besides a regional cooperation like SAARC Framework for Action

should be more active in climate change as well as gender issue

Also the international and national institutions should jointly

design the climate change policies for better output

Further participation of women during the policy making and

strategy setting should also be increased for better

understanding about gender specific vulnerability

Additionally awareness among the women of our country should be

build through mechanisms like conducting research projects on the

improvement of gender issue in climate change policy

Moreover awareness building through broadcasting different

programs related to climate change and its effects on gender can

also be much helpful

63

Finally and most importantly reducing corruption from every

level to implement fair policies is very much important to ensure

gender right in climate change policies

In the end it is important to address that suggesting and

recommending is easier than working in the ground level Experts

and academicians should break this boundary of just giving advice

sitting in a comfortable atmosphere and come out to the ground to

work with policy makers

15 Concluding Remarks In conclusion again it is important to add that although there

are so many national regional and international policies as well

as organizations working on climate change issue considering

gender they are hardly able to enforce those policies in real

aspect UNDP UNFCCC BCCSAP NAPA and government itself is

working on gender sensitive policy making for climate change but

it is well-known already that the most crucial part is the proper

implementation of the policies at the time of climate change

related hazards Forming successful gender responsive frame in

climate change policy is important but more important is to

impose them with what they actually need for their long survival

Creating awareness among the victim women wonrsquot work in this

regard because they are so helpless poor and liable to their

families that their realization is fruitless till they get enough

financial and fundamental support Successfully providing the

64

supports to the victims during climate hazards has become very

difficult because of corruption at different level of

distribution Government need to reshape its distribution system

to reduce chance of corruption Government and other concerned

NGOs need to distinguish the factors where women are more

vulnerable than men The policies should be made and reshaped

focusing on dealing with those areas At the very end it must be

included that the climate change policies are much more aware

about gender issue than it was before and hoping for more

advancement of these gender supportive climate change policies in

real scenario

65

The End

Annexes Annex 1- Questionnaire

Basic Information

DatePlaceNameAgeMarital StatusFamily MemberIncome Source

1 What type of natural hazards did u face

i) Flood and

Heavy

ii) drought iii) river

erosion

iv) Others

66

Rainfall2 Have you ever received any kind of training to deal with the

challenge of these natural hazards

i)Yes ii) No3 Did any NGO help you in the post-disaster period

i)Yes ii) No4 Have you got any financial support from any organization or

foreign aid

i)Yes ii) No5 In case of your losing shelter what support did you get for

instant accommodation

rarr

6 Did you receive any permanent or long term support or

alternative earning source in case of losing livelihood due

to that disaster

i)Yes ii) No7 Did that disaster forced you to stop your childrenrsquos

schooling

i) Yes ii) No8 In case of women losing their earning or having physical

damage what problems did you face for livelihoods

rarr

9 In case of physical damage did they receive proper

treatment and financial recovery

67

i)Yes ii) No10 Aged women who are incapable of working did they

receive enoughextra support

i)Yes ii) No11 Did you receive any hygienic food and water support to

prevent disease from unhygienic

i)Yes ii) No12 While receiving a foreign aid do you feel deprived of

comparing to men In which ways

rarr

13 At the post-disaster period had you ever seek for the

support of the local settlementgovernmental arbitration

process for any kind of domestic violence

i)Yes ii) No14 If yes then do you think that the judgment deprived

you because of your gender

i)Yes ii) No15 Did any NGO or international organization support you

to get fair judgment

i)Yes ii) No16 In post disaster situation how did your family

distribute the inheritance (if any) among the female member

of your family

68

rarr

17 Did the female member of your family had any

sayingrole in the decision making process regarding the

distribution of inheritance

i)Yes ii) No18 According to you what type of program can government

or NGO take to assist you to recover during and after the

climate hazards

rarr

Annenx 2 Expert Interviews

i) Bushra H Chowdhury

Water is mostly important in womenrsquos life So water policy is

needed to be gender responsive Department of disaster management

should combine their ideas with water management board In

climate change policies there are lack of farsightedness expert

opinion cooperation coordination among experts and policy

makers etc Corruption in every level is the main barrier to

success in this regard Local government NGOs government

policy makers and experts should combine their ideas and

experiences to reach any conclusion Policy formulation is a long

process so long term and short term goal should be arranged

More experts are needed in policy making process It is important

69

to evaluate why NGOs are less corrupted than government

officials Pre-planning for town and village is important NGOs

and government should arrange annual reporting system to evaluate

their progress

ii) Sharmind Neelromi

The reason behind climate change is very important to understand

Whether it is because of global warming environmental

degradation environmental pollution through human activities or

it is a result of environmental politics There are two types of

climate hazards such as slow on-set (water logging drought sea

level rise etc) and quick on-set (flood cyclone etc) We also

have to understand that the vulnerabilities of women are because

of climate change or something else Climate change adaptation is

a pro-active approach and a development issue In this regard an

analytical framework is important to design to reach any targeted

goal

70

16 Bibliography

Ahmed A U Neelormi S Adri N et Al (2009) Climate ChangeGender and Vulnerable Groups in Bangladesh Climate Change CellDepartment of Environment Ministry of Environment and ForestsRetrieved on September 7 2013 from httpwwwCCGenderVG_Jan09pdf

Ahmed N (2012) Gender and Climate Change in Bangladesh TheRole of Institutions in Reducing Gender Gaps in AdaptationProgram The World BankRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwww-wdsworldbankorgexternaldefaultWDSContentServerWDSPIB20120404000333038_20120404010647RenderedPDF678200NWP0P1250C0in0Bangladesh0web2pdf

Akter T (2009) Climate Change and Flow of EnvironmentalDisplacement in Bangladesh Unnayan Onneshan-The InnovatorsRetrieved on September 28 2013 fromhttpswwwunnayanorgclimate_change_flow_environmental_displacementpdf

Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion inClimate Change Adaptation ADBI Working Paper 309 Tokyo AsianDevelopment Bank InstituteRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf

Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009 Ministryof Environment and Forest Government of the Peoples Republic ofBangladesh Dhaka Bangladesh

71

challenges to mainstreaming gender within climate change

projects as well as the opportunities for future work21

GenderCC is now actively participating in UNFCCC conferences and

advocating for upholding womenrsquos rights in climate change

policies22

UNDP has started to establish clear gender specific goals and

performance targets for integrating climate change impacts It

supports governments and stakeholders to evaluate and classify

gender-specific impacts and protection measures by actively

upholding adaptation to climate change Furthermore it advanced

the regional cooperation to implement gender programs and assist

with the development strategies to strengthen and expand these

activities in initiatives on climate change It has been also a

dynamic actor in its work on governance gender corporate social

responsibility and capacity development strengthens the capacity

of national and local institutions in building resilience to

climate change since the early 1990rsquos It also intends to deliver

guidance on gender-specific concerns to intergovernmental bodies

to develop further policies and programs in climate change

Further UNDP in its MDG Carbon Facility projects is committed

for safeguarding gender goals and values235

21 ibid22Baten M A ampKhan N A (2010) op cit23 Summarized Gender and Climate Change Impact and Adaptation (2009)

52

Although IPCC addressed the gender specific impact of climate

change more precisely their policy formation does not reflect

this concern In policy process of the Intergovernmental Panel on

Climate Change (IPCC) gender mainstreaming is needed to be more

prioritized They do not posses any intergovernmental training or

research projects to find out the gender specific impacts and to

provide any solution

National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA) (2005) acknowledges

women as one of the most vulnerable groups to the climate change

but the information about causes and solutions regarding climate

induced gender disparities are missing24

Ministry of Environment and Forest also prepared Bangladesh

Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP 2008) that

acknowledges womenrsquos vulnerability to the climate change also

This plan proposed to protect livelihood of vulnerable socio-

economic groups including women Monju Ara Begum (50) said that

she got only 1000tk from government after she lost her all

belongings in the river bank erosion But it is not enough to

reduce womenrsquos vulnerability as many gender activists assumed25

There is also no attempt in its plan to include gender as a

cross-cutting issue into broader development policy frameworks

rather some disperse initiatives is unlikely to ensure gender

equity in every sector of the economy2624 ibid25Summarized Baten M A ampKhan N A (2010) Op cit26 ibid

53

Therefore it is very clear to understand that whatever out there

in the policies is not properly being implemented in reality

There are a lot of consciousness but lack of sincerity while

applying the policies Further experts affirmed that there is

lack for coordination lack of expert opinion and lack of

foresight exist in the policies which reflect while applying in

reality

12 Loopholes between the Policies and PracticesAs it is mentioned several times that lot of policy is out there

but there is no reflection of these existing policies while we

compare with real scenario This section of research is aim at

find out the loopholes between existing policies and real life

practice of those policies

Firstly it is easily noticeable that the existing policies just

mention about gender in adaptation and disaster risk mitigation

programs But they hardly include any possible method to reach at

the root level problems that come in front during gender

adaptation Some policies are only remain in the papers and never

been seen applying while there is any climate hazard The survey

result shows that there is not enough shelter home to reduce the

affects of disaster and for gender adaptation during the climate

hazards

54

Secondly some policies include gender empowerment initiatives as

climate hazards causes unemployment and sense of insecurity among

the women But whenever we go through any climate hazards there

are barely any programs for women empowerment For example

during the survey a number of women asked for income source to

deal with the loss of climate hazards

ldquoGhorbari haraner por polapainder kaj kamer sujog koira dile subidha hoito Sob

bekar hoiya jayrdquo (After losing the house managing income source

will be very helpful as they do not have any source to earn their

livelihood) - Monju Ara Begum (50)

It shows that gender empowerment policies are also not applied as

it mentioned in the policies

Thirdly policies include gender participation in decision making

and risk management process But the consent of this research is

there is lack of womenrsquos participation while any decision making

whether to migrate from one place or to take shelter during the

natural disasters

ldquodurjoger somoy johon amra center a jaite chaisi tohon bape jaite dey nai sobai

ghorei asilamrdquo (Our father did not allow us to take shelter in

Cyclone center during the disaster so we stayed at home)-

Priyanka Saha (19)

Fourthly policies include a separate gender budget but there is

hardly any remarkable example to spend this budget on womenrsquos

55

need of health food sanitation or others Monju Ara Begum (50)

informed that being women did not benefit them to get any

separate financial support after they lost their all belonging

from river bank erosion

Fifthly as mentioned in the policies about equity and social

justice it is not possible to achieve except recognizing the

differences of vulnerability of men and women Asmani (40) said

that after SIDR her husband flew away from the house because of

the fear of extra financial burden But her neighbor used to

accuse her fault as the reason of her husband flew away and

denied to help her She ended up earning from a small tea-stall

to survive and since then she have been living alone renting a

corridor of a house

Sixthly policies referred about the health services on gender

basis but there is lack of research on sex and gender differences

in vulnerability Thus the health services are not ultimately

gender responsive for the absence of research about health

impacts on gender basis During survey Shanti Bela Saha (50)

informed that she and her family have not got any health service

from both government and non-governmental health care services

after the devastating flood SIDR and Aila

Seventhly policies often seen to emphasize on providing

education and training to women but the survey of this research

56

discover that women are not getting any type of training about

disaster management or to deal with climate changersquos effects nor

any education program are there for the women For instance

during survey Shila Rani Saha (35) said that she never heard about

any training program to adapt with the situation during climate

hazards Whereas the policies include different training program

for gender adaptation in climate change

Eighthly policies also consist of early warning system but women

in the rural areas are not very close to any mechanism that

provides information or caution about any climate hazard Survey

result shows that the women or the member of their family had no

idea about SIDR

Ninthly NAPA and BCCSAP talk about the environmentally displaced

people but there is no clear and distinct policy to solve the

problems of climate change related displaced women Monju Ara

Begum (50) had to rebuild her house with her own money and had

not got any help in this regard from government or NGOs

Lastly but not the least water management of our country are not

in the stage as it is destined in its policy Still there are

lack of safe and affordable water supply and healthy sanitation

system in the rural areas as well as in the urban areas

57

So these are some easily visible loopholes between climate

change policies and its practice found from the survey and

literatures It shows that proper reformation of these policies

is required for the betterment of women as human being

Chapter V

58

ldquoWhat modifications do these policies required to prevent the climate

change impacts on women of our countryrdquo

13 Required Improvements for the PoliciesAlthough government have taken so much initiatives to respond to

climate change considering gender issue there is still lack of

coordination among the institutional bodies to supervise its

policies and action plan Therefore lots of improvement is needed

to meet the future challenges For future advancement of the

climate change policies regarding gender this research included

two section of recommendation which will include both expertrsquos

suggestion and overall realization of the research

Expertrsquos Suggestions

Bushra H Chowdhury suggested the following steps-

i) Union parishad and local level official should

participate in the policy making process as they have

deeper understanding about their local environments and

problems faced by women during climate hazards

ii) NGOrsquos can also raise awareness among the people as well

as among the policy makers to formulate more efficient

policy

iii) Government as well as NGOrsquos should negotiate with the

foreign investor as there is lack of fund regarding

gender in climate change

59

iv) More experts and government NGOs and academics should

come along with the policy makers and increase

cooperation among them for policy implications

v) Pre-planning for towns and village separately is also

needed for effective policy implication

vi) Disaster management department as well as the water

development board should combine their works to form more

efficient gender responsive climate change policy

vii) Short term and long term policies should be distinguished

for priority setting during climate hazards

Sharmind Neelromi also recommended some important steps-

viii) The climate hazards should be defined as slow onset or

quick onset and then the policies should be following

that category of hazard

ix) Before policy design for any climate hazard policy makers

need to understand whether the hazards caused by climate

change or other environmental politics For instance the

water damn imposed by India causes flood in our country

x) An analytical framework and a goal point should be

prepared by the policy makers so that the target seems

clearer to reach

14 Recommendation from Research Findings

60

Throughout the research there are different issues catching our

concentration to develop in future In this regard a list of

recommendation founded by the research is specified below

Firstly from the survey result it can be easily realized that

income source should be arranged for the women and their family

member whenever they suffer any climate hazards

Secondly proper shelter home should be build instead of using

schools as shelter home which has not proper sanitation and other

arrangements

Thirdly there should be proper helping hand and income source

for those women who are victimized by river bank erosion for

their resettlement Mechanism to protect their physical and

mental security is also necessary Fourthly only NAPA has adopted immediate action policy for

climate hazards Therefore it is significant to ensure that other

policies should also adopt immediate action mechanism to reduce

the vulnerability rate

Fifthly proper monitoring of local government like chairman is

another important requirement of the interviewees while

distributing the foods and other services Nurzahan (48) informed

that

61

ldquotaka poisa ja ase sob chairman nije ar tar logjon er moddhe vagavagi koira ney

amago kichui dey nardquo(Chairman distributes all the funds among his

near and dear ones and deprive us from everything)

Sixthly arrangement of local volunteer to distribute the foods

and reliefs among the women of vulnerable areas as the local

people are much acknowledged about the actual sufferer

Seventhly setting priority is also another requirement of the

interviewed victims as they do not get help or relief according

to their needs For instance when families need to repair their

roof they are getting fund for foods or health services and the

amount of the fund is very low that it can hardly help the

sufferers

Eighthly a helping card system should be imposed to collect the

relief so that one family cannot enjoy the relief more than once

while other do not even get chance to get any relief

Ninthly the policy makers should address gender in every section

of its policy so that women can at least ask for their rights

mentioned in the policy If the policy do not include gender

perspective then it will be hard to ask for womenrsquos rights during

and after climate changersquos effects

62

Tenthly local administration system should be more liberal

towards women after any natural disaster because most women often

avoid the judgment in fear of losing their dignity honor and

reputation All their information should be kept confidential and

they should not get scolded for being women instead of getting

justice If possible then the judgment process should be arranged

with female judge and in confidential premises

Besides a regional cooperation like SAARC Framework for Action

should be more active in climate change as well as gender issue

Also the international and national institutions should jointly

design the climate change policies for better output

Further participation of women during the policy making and

strategy setting should also be increased for better

understanding about gender specific vulnerability

Additionally awareness among the women of our country should be

build through mechanisms like conducting research projects on the

improvement of gender issue in climate change policy

Moreover awareness building through broadcasting different

programs related to climate change and its effects on gender can

also be much helpful

63

Finally and most importantly reducing corruption from every

level to implement fair policies is very much important to ensure

gender right in climate change policies

In the end it is important to address that suggesting and

recommending is easier than working in the ground level Experts

and academicians should break this boundary of just giving advice

sitting in a comfortable atmosphere and come out to the ground to

work with policy makers

15 Concluding Remarks In conclusion again it is important to add that although there

are so many national regional and international policies as well

as organizations working on climate change issue considering

gender they are hardly able to enforce those policies in real

aspect UNDP UNFCCC BCCSAP NAPA and government itself is

working on gender sensitive policy making for climate change but

it is well-known already that the most crucial part is the proper

implementation of the policies at the time of climate change

related hazards Forming successful gender responsive frame in

climate change policy is important but more important is to

impose them with what they actually need for their long survival

Creating awareness among the victim women wonrsquot work in this

regard because they are so helpless poor and liable to their

families that their realization is fruitless till they get enough

financial and fundamental support Successfully providing the

64

supports to the victims during climate hazards has become very

difficult because of corruption at different level of

distribution Government need to reshape its distribution system

to reduce chance of corruption Government and other concerned

NGOs need to distinguish the factors where women are more

vulnerable than men The policies should be made and reshaped

focusing on dealing with those areas At the very end it must be

included that the climate change policies are much more aware

about gender issue than it was before and hoping for more

advancement of these gender supportive climate change policies in

real scenario

65

The End

Annexes Annex 1- Questionnaire

Basic Information

DatePlaceNameAgeMarital StatusFamily MemberIncome Source

1 What type of natural hazards did u face

i) Flood and

Heavy

ii) drought iii) river

erosion

iv) Others

66

Rainfall2 Have you ever received any kind of training to deal with the

challenge of these natural hazards

i)Yes ii) No3 Did any NGO help you in the post-disaster period

i)Yes ii) No4 Have you got any financial support from any organization or

foreign aid

i)Yes ii) No5 In case of your losing shelter what support did you get for

instant accommodation

rarr

6 Did you receive any permanent or long term support or

alternative earning source in case of losing livelihood due

to that disaster

i)Yes ii) No7 Did that disaster forced you to stop your childrenrsquos

schooling

i) Yes ii) No8 In case of women losing their earning or having physical

damage what problems did you face for livelihoods

rarr

9 In case of physical damage did they receive proper

treatment and financial recovery

67

i)Yes ii) No10 Aged women who are incapable of working did they

receive enoughextra support

i)Yes ii) No11 Did you receive any hygienic food and water support to

prevent disease from unhygienic

i)Yes ii) No12 While receiving a foreign aid do you feel deprived of

comparing to men In which ways

rarr

13 At the post-disaster period had you ever seek for the

support of the local settlementgovernmental arbitration

process for any kind of domestic violence

i)Yes ii) No14 If yes then do you think that the judgment deprived

you because of your gender

i)Yes ii) No15 Did any NGO or international organization support you

to get fair judgment

i)Yes ii) No16 In post disaster situation how did your family

distribute the inheritance (if any) among the female member

of your family

68

rarr

17 Did the female member of your family had any

sayingrole in the decision making process regarding the

distribution of inheritance

i)Yes ii) No18 According to you what type of program can government

or NGO take to assist you to recover during and after the

climate hazards

rarr

Annenx 2 Expert Interviews

i) Bushra H Chowdhury

Water is mostly important in womenrsquos life So water policy is

needed to be gender responsive Department of disaster management

should combine their ideas with water management board In

climate change policies there are lack of farsightedness expert

opinion cooperation coordination among experts and policy

makers etc Corruption in every level is the main barrier to

success in this regard Local government NGOs government

policy makers and experts should combine their ideas and

experiences to reach any conclusion Policy formulation is a long

process so long term and short term goal should be arranged

More experts are needed in policy making process It is important

69

to evaluate why NGOs are less corrupted than government

officials Pre-planning for town and village is important NGOs

and government should arrange annual reporting system to evaluate

their progress

ii) Sharmind Neelromi

The reason behind climate change is very important to understand

Whether it is because of global warming environmental

degradation environmental pollution through human activities or

it is a result of environmental politics There are two types of

climate hazards such as slow on-set (water logging drought sea

level rise etc) and quick on-set (flood cyclone etc) We also

have to understand that the vulnerabilities of women are because

of climate change or something else Climate change adaptation is

a pro-active approach and a development issue In this regard an

analytical framework is important to design to reach any targeted

goal

70

16 Bibliography

Ahmed A U Neelormi S Adri N et Al (2009) Climate ChangeGender and Vulnerable Groups in Bangladesh Climate Change CellDepartment of Environment Ministry of Environment and ForestsRetrieved on September 7 2013 from httpwwwCCGenderVG_Jan09pdf

Ahmed N (2012) Gender and Climate Change in Bangladesh TheRole of Institutions in Reducing Gender Gaps in AdaptationProgram The World BankRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwww-wdsworldbankorgexternaldefaultWDSContentServerWDSPIB20120404000333038_20120404010647RenderedPDF678200NWP0P1250C0in0Bangladesh0web2pdf

Akter T (2009) Climate Change and Flow of EnvironmentalDisplacement in Bangladesh Unnayan Onneshan-The InnovatorsRetrieved on September 28 2013 fromhttpswwwunnayanorgclimate_change_flow_environmental_displacementpdf

Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion inClimate Change Adaptation ADBI Working Paper 309 Tokyo AsianDevelopment Bank InstituteRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf

Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009 Ministryof Environment and Forest Government of the Peoples Republic ofBangladesh Dhaka Bangladesh

71

Although IPCC addressed the gender specific impact of climate

change more precisely their policy formation does not reflect

this concern In policy process of the Intergovernmental Panel on

Climate Change (IPCC) gender mainstreaming is needed to be more

prioritized They do not posses any intergovernmental training or

research projects to find out the gender specific impacts and to

provide any solution

National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA) (2005) acknowledges

women as one of the most vulnerable groups to the climate change

but the information about causes and solutions regarding climate

induced gender disparities are missing24

Ministry of Environment and Forest also prepared Bangladesh

Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP 2008) that

acknowledges womenrsquos vulnerability to the climate change also

This plan proposed to protect livelihood of vulnerable socio-

economic groups including women Monju Ara Begum (50) said that

she got only 1000tk from government after she lost her all

belongings in the river bank erosion But it is not enough to

reduce womenrsquos vulnerability as many gender activists assumed25

There is also no attempt in its plan to include gender as a

cross-cutting issue into broader development policy frameworks

rather some disperse initiatives is unlikely to ensure gender

equity in every sector of the economy2624 ibid25Summarized Baten M A ampKhan N A (2010) Op cit26 ibid

53

Therefore it is very clear to understand that whatever out there

in the policies is not properly being implemented in reality

There are a lot of consciousness but lack of sincerity while

applying the policies Further experts affirmed that there is

lack for coordination lack of expert opinion and lack of

foresight exist in the policies which reflect while applying in

reality

12 Loopholes between the Policies and PracticesAs it is mentioned several times that lot of policy is out there

but there is no reflection of these existing policies while we

compare with real scenario This section of research is aim at

find out the loopholes between existing policies and real life

practice of those policies

Firstly it is easily noticeable that the existing policies just

mention about gender in adaptation and disaster risk mitigation

programs But they hardly include any possible method to reach at

the root level problems that come in front during gender

adaptation Some policies are only remain in the papers and never

been seen applying while there is any climate hazard The survey

result shows that there is not enough shelter home to reduce the

affects of disaster and for gender adaptation during the climate

hazards

54

Secondly some policies include gender empowerment initiatives as

climate hazards causes unemployment and sense of insecurity among

the women But whenever we go through any climate hazards there

are barely any programs for women empowerment For example

during the survey a number of women asked for income source to

deal with the loss of climate hazards

ldquoGhorbari haraner por polapainder kaj kamer sujog koira dile subidha hoito Sob

bekar hoiya jayrdquo (After losing the house managing income source

will be very helpful as they do not have any source to earn their

livelihood) - Monju Ara Begum (50)

It shows that gender empowerment policies are also not applied as

it mentioned in the policies

Thirdly policies include gender participation in decision making

and risk management process But the consent of this research is

there is lack of womenrsquos participation while any decision making

whether to migrate from one place or to take shelter during the

natural disasters

ldquodurjoger somoy johon amra center a jaite chaisi tohon bape jaite dey nai sobai

ghorei asilamrdquo (Our father did not allow us to take shelter in

Cyclone center during the disaster so we stayed at home)-

Priyanka Saha (19)

Fourthly policies include a separate gender budget but there is

hardly any remarkable example to spend this budget on womenrsquos

55

need of health food sanitation or others Monju Ara Begum (50)

informed that being women did not benefit them to get any

separate financial support after they lost their all belonging

from river bank erosion

Fifthly as mentioned in the policies about equity and social

justice it is not possible to achieve except recognizing the

differences of vulnerability of men and women Asmani (40) said

that after SIDR her husband flew away from the house because of

the fear of extra financial burden But her neighbor used to

accuse her fault as the reason of her husband flew away and

denied to help her She ended up earning from a small tea-stall

to survive and since then she have been living alone renting a

corridor of a house

Sixthly policies referred about the health services on gender

basis but there is lack of research on sex and gender differences

in vulnerability Thus the health services are not ultimately

gender responsive for the absence of research about health

impacts on gender basis During survey Shanti Bela Saha (50)

informed that she and her family have not got any health service

from both government and non-governmental health care services

after the devastating flood SIDR and Aila

Seventhly policies often seen to emphasize on providing

education and training to women but the survey of this research

56

discover that women are not getting any type of training about

disaster management or to deal with climate changersquos effects nor

any education program are there for the women For instance

during survey Shila Rani Saha (35) said that she never heard about

any training program to adapt with the situation during climate

hazards Whereas the policies include different training program

for gender adaptation in climate change

Eighthly policies also consist of early warning system but women

in the rural areas are not very close to any mechanism that

provides information or caution about any climate hazard Survey

result shows that the women or the member of their family had no

idea about SIDR

Ninthly NAPA and BCCSAP talk about the environmentally displaced

people but there is no clear and distinct policy to solve the

problems of climate change related displaced women Monju Ara

Begum (50) had to rebuild her house with her own money and had

not got any help in this regard from government or NGOs

Lastly but not the least water management of our country are not

in the stage as it is destined in its policy Still there are

lack of safe and affordable water supply and healthy sanitation

system in the rural areas as well as in the urban areas

57

So these are some easily visible loopholes between climate

change policies and its practice found from the survey and

literatures It shows that proper reformation of these policies

is required for the betterment of women as human being

Chapter V

58

ldquoWhat modifications do these policies required to prevent the climate

change impacts on women of our countryrdquo

13 Required Improvements for the PoliciesAlthough government have taken so much initiatives to respond to

climate change considering gender issue there is still lack of

coordination among the institutional bodies to supervise its

policies and action plan Therefore lots of improvement is needed

to meet the future challenges For future advancement of the

climate change policies regarding gender this research included

two section of recommendation which will include both expertrsquos

suggestion and overall realization of the research

Expertrsquos Suggestions

Bushra H Chowdhury suggested the following steps-

i) Union parishad and local level official should

participate in the policy making process as they have

deeper understanding about their local environments and

problems faced by women during climate hazards

ii) NGOrsquos can also raise awareness among the people as well

as among the policy makers to formulate more efficient

policy

iii) Government as well as NGOrsquos should negotiate with the

foreign investor as there is lack of fund regarding

gender in climate change

59

iv) More experts and government NGOs and academics should

come along with the policy makers and increase

cooperation among them for policy implications

v) Pre-planning for towns and village separately is also

needed for effective policy implication

vi) Disaster management department as well as the water

development board should combine their works to form more

efficient gender responsive climate change policy

vii) Short term and long term policies should be distinguished

for priority setting during climate hazards

Sharmind Neelromi also recommended some important steps-

viii) The climate hazards should be defined as slow onset or

quick onset and then the policies should be following

that category of hazard

ix) Before policy design for any climate hazard policy makers

need to understand whether the hazards caused by climate

change or other environmental politics For instance the

water damn imposed by India causes flood in our country

x) An analytical framework and a goal point should be

prepared by the policy makers so that the target seems

clearer to reach

14 Recommendation from Research Findings

60

Throughout the research there are different issues catching our

concentration to develop in future In this regard a list of

recommendation founded by the research is specified below

Firstly from the survey result it can be easily realized that

income source should be arranged for the women and their family

member whenever they suffer any climate hazards

Secondly proper shelter home should be build instead of using

schools as shelter home which has not proper sanitation and other

arrangements

Thirdly there should be proper helping hand and income source

for those women who are victimized by river bank erosion for

their resettlement Mechanism to protect their physical and

mental security is also necessary Fourthly only NAPA has adopted immediate action policy for

climate hazards Therefore it is significant to ensure that other

policies should also adopt immediate action mechanism to reduce

the vulnerability rate

Fifthly proper monitoring of local government like chairman is

another important requirement of the interviewees while

distributing the foods and other services Nurzahan (48) informed

that

61

ldquotaka poisa ja ase sob chairman nije ar tar logjon er moddhe vagavagi koira ney

amago kichui dey nardquo(Chairman distributes all the funds among his

near and dear ones and deprive us from everything)

Sixthly arrangement of local volunteer to distribute the foods

and reliefs among the women of vulnerable areas as the local

people are much acknowledged about the actual sufferer

Seventhly setting priority is also another requirement of the

interviewed victims as they do not get help or relief according

to their needs For instance when families need to repair their

roof they are getting fund for foods or health services and the

amount of the fund is very low that it can hardly help the

sufferers

Eighthly a helping card system should be imposed to collect the

relief so that one family cannot enjoy the relief more than once

while other do not even get chance to get any relief

Ninthly the policy makers should address gender in every section

of its policy so that women can at least ask for their rights

mentioned in the policy If the policy do not include gender

perspective then it will be hard to ask for womenrsquos rights during

and after climate changersquos effects

62

Tenthly local administration system should be more liberal

towards women after any natural disaster because most women often

avoid the judgment in fear of losing their dignity honor and

reputation All their information should be kept confidential and

they should not get scolded for being women instead of getting

justice If possible then the judgment process should be arranged

with female judge and in confidential premises

Besides a regional cooperation like SAARC Framework for Action

should be more active in climate change as well as gender issue

Also the international and national institutions should jointly

design the climate change policies for better output

Further participation of women during the policy making and

strategy setting should also be increased for better

understanding about gender specific vulnerability

Additionally awareness among the women of our country should be

build through mechanisms like conducting research projects on the

improvement of gender issue in climate change policy

Moreover awareness building through broadcasting different

programs related to climate change and its effects on gender can

also be much helpful

63

Finally and most importantly reducing corruption from every

level to implement fair policies is very much important to ensure

gender right in climate change policies

In the end it is important to address that suggesting and

recommending is easier than working in the ground level Experts

and academicians should break this boundary of just giving advice

sitting in a comfortable atmosphere and come out to the ground to

work with policy makers

15 Concluding Remarks In conclusion again it is important to add that although there

are so many national regional and international policies as well

as organizations working on climate change issue considering

gender they are hardly able to enforce those policies in real

aspect UNDP UNFCCC BCCSAP NAPA and government itself is

working on gender sensitive policy making for climate change but

it is well-known already that the most crucial part is the proper

implementation of the policies at the time of climate change

related hazards Forming successful gender responsive frame in

climate change policy is important but more important is to

impose them with what they actually need for their long survival

Creating awareness among the victim women wonrsquot work in this

regard because they are so helpless poor and liable to their

families that their realization is fruitless till they get enough

financial and fundamental support Successfully providing the

64

supports to the victims during climate hazards has become very

difficult because of corruption at different level of

distribution Government need to reshape its distribution system

to reduce chance of corruption Government and other concerned

NGOs need to distinguish the factors where women are more

vulnerable than men The policies should be made and reshaped

focusing on dealing with those areas At the very end it must be

included that the climate change policies are much more aware

about gender issue than it was before and hoping for more

advancement of these gender supportive climate change policies in

real scenario

65

The End

Annexes Annex 1- Questionnaire

Basic Information

DatePlaceNameAgeMarital StatusFamily MemberIncome Source

1 What type of natural hazards did u face

i) Flood and

Heavy

ii) drought iii) river

erosion

iv) Others

66

Rainfall2 Have you ever received any kind of training to deal with the

challenge of these natural hazards

i)Yes ii) No3 Did any NGO help you in the post-disaster period

i)Yes ii) No4 Have you got any financial support from any organization or

foreign aid

i)Yes ii) No5 In case of your losing shelter what support did you get for

instant accommodation

rarr

6 Did you receive any permanent or long term support or

alternative earning source in case of losing livelihood due

to that disaster

i)Yes ii) No7 Did that disaster forced you to stop your childrenrsquos

schooling

i) Yes ii) No8 In case of women losing their earning or having physical

damage what problems did you face for livelihoods

rarr

9 In case of physical damage did they receive proper

treatment and financial recovery

67

i)Yes ii) No10 Aged women who are incapable of working did they

receive enoughextra support

i)Yes ii) No11 Did you receive any hygienic food and water support to

prevent disease from unhygienic

i)Yes ii) No12 While receiving a foreign aid do you feel deprived of

comparing to men In which ways

rarr

13 At the post-disaster period had you ever seek for the

support of the local settlementgovernmental arbitration

process for any kind of domestic violence

i)Yes ii) No14 If yes then do you think that the judgment deprived

you because of your gender

i)Yes ii) No15 Did any NGO or international organization support you

to get fair judgment

i)Yes ii) No16 In post disaster situation how did your family

distribute the inheritance (if any) among the female member

of your family

68

rarr

17 Did the female member of your family had any

sayingrole in the decision making process regarding the

distribution of inheritance

i)Yes ii) No18 According to you what type of program can government

or NGO take to assist you to recover during and after the

climate hazards

rarr

Annenx 2 Expert Interviews

i) Bushra H Chowdhury

Water is mostly important in womenrsquos life So water policy is

needed to be gender responsive Department of disaster management

should combine their ideas with water management board In

climate change policies there are lack of farsightedness expert

opinion cooperation coordination among experts and policy

makers etc Corruption in every level is the main barrier to

success in this regard Local government NGOs government

policy makers and experts should combine their ideas and

experiences to reach any conclusion Policy formulation is a long

process so long term and short term goal should be arranged

More experts are needed in policy making process It is important

69

to evaluate why NGOs are less corrupted than government

officials Pre-planning for town and village is important NGOs

and government should arrange annual reporting system to evaluate

their progress

ii) Sharmind Neelromi

The reason behind climate change is very important to understand

Whether it is because of global warming environmental

degradation environmental pollution through human activities or

it is a result of environmental politics There are two types of

climate hazards such as slow on-set (water logging drought sea

level rise etc) and quick on-set (flood cyclone etc) We also

have to understand that the vulnerabilities of women are because

of climate change or something else Climate change adaptation is

a pro-active approach and a development issue In this regard an

analytical framework is important to design to reach any targeted

goal

70

16 Bibliography

Ahmed A U Neelormi S Adri N et Al (2009) Climate ChangeGender and Vulnerable Groups in Bangladesh Climate Change CellDepartment of Environment Ministry of Environment and ForestsRetrieved on September 7 2013 from httpwwwCCGenderVG_Jan09pdf

Ahmed N (2012) Gender and Climate Change in Bangladesh TheRole of Institutions in Reducing Gender Gaps in AdaptationProgram The World BankRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwww-wdsworldbankorgexternaldefaultWDSContentServerWDSPIB20120404000333038_20120404010647RenderedPDF678200NWP0P1250C0in0Bangladesh0web2pdf

Akter T (2009) Climate Change and Flow of EnvironmentalDisplacement in Bangladesh Unnayan Onneshan-The InnovatorsRetrieved on September 28 2013 fromhttpswwwunnayanorgclimate_change_flow_environmental_displacementpdf

Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion inClimate Change Adaptation ADBI Working Paper 309 Tokyo AsianDevelopment Bank InstituteRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf

Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009 Ministryof Environment and Forest Government of the Peoples Republic ofBangladesh Dhaka Bangladesh

71

Therefore it is very clear to understand that whatever out there

in the policies is not properly being implemented in reality

There are a lot of consciousness but lack of sincerity while

applying the policies Further experts affirmed that there is

lack for coordination lack of expert opinion and lack of

foresight exist in the policies which reflect while applying in

reality

12 Loopholes between the Policies and PracticesAs it is mentioned several times that lot of policy is out there

but there is no reflection of these existing policies while we

compare with real scenario This section of research is aim at

find out the loopholes between existing policies and real life

practice of those policies

Firstly it is easily noticeable that the existing policies just

mention about gender in adaptation and disaster risk mitigation

programs But they hardly include any possible method to reach at

the root level problems that come in front during gender

adaptation Some policies are only remain in the papers and never

been seen applying while there is any climate hazard The survey

result shows that there is not enough shelter home to reduce the

affects of disaster and for gender adaptation during the climate

hazards

54

Secondly some policies include gender empowerment initiatives as

climate hazards causes unemployment and sense of insecurity among

the women But whenever we go through any climate hazards there

are barely any programs for women empowerment For example

during the survey a number of women asked for income source to

deal with the loss of climate hazards

ldquoGhorbari haraner por polapainder kaj kamer sujog koira dile subidha hoito Sob

bekar hoiya jayrdquo (After losing the house managing income source

will be very helpful as they do not have any source to earn their

livelihood) - Monju Ara Begum (50)

It shows that gender empowerment policies are also not applied as

it mentioned in the policies

Thirdly policies include gender participation in decision making

and risk management process But the consent of this research is

there is lack of womenrsquos participation while any decision making

whether to migrate from one place or to take shelter during the

natural disasters

ldquodurjoger somoy johon amra center a jaite chaisi tohon bape jaite dey nai sobai

ghorei asilamrdquo (Our father did not allow us to take shelter in

Cyclone center during the disaster so we stayed at home)-

Priyanka Saha (19)

Fourthly policies include a separate gender budget but there is

hardly any remarkable example to spend this budget on womenrsquos

55

need of health food sanitation or others Monju Ara Begum (50)

informed that being women did not benefit them to get any

separate financial support after they lost their all belonging

from river bank erosion

Fifthly as mentioned in the policies about equity and social

justice it is not possible to achieve except recognizing the

differences of vulnerability of men and women Asmani (40) said

that after SIDR her husband flew away from the house because of

the fear of extra financial burden But her neighbor used to

accuse her fault as the reason of her husband flew away and

denied to help her She ended up earning from a small tea-stall

to survive and since then she have been living alone renting a

corridor of a house

Sixthly policies referred about the health services on gender

basis but there is lack of research on sex and gender differences

in vulnerability Thus the health services are not ultimately

gender responsive for the absence of research about health

impacts on gender basis During survey Shanti Bela Saha (50)

informed that she and her family have not got any health service

from both government and non-governmental health care services

after the devastating flood SIDR and Aila

Seventhly policies often seen to emphasize on providing

education and training to women but the survey of this research

56

discover that women are not getting any type of training about

disaster management or to deal with climate changersquos effects nor

any education program are there for the women For instance

during survey Shila Rani Saha (35) said that she never heard about

any training program to adapt with the situation during climate

hazards Whereas the policies include different training program

for gender adaptation in climate change

Eighthly policies also consist of early warning system but women

in the rural areas are not very close to any mechanism that

provides information or caution about any climate hazard Survey

result shows that the women or the member of their family had no

idea about SIDR

Ninthly NAPA and BCCSAP talk about the environmentally displaced

people but there is no clear and distinct policy to solve the

problems of climate change related displaced women Monju Ara

Begum (50) had to rebuild her house with her own money and had

not got any help in this regard from government or NGOs

Lastly but not the least water management of our country are not

in the stage as it is destined in its policy Still there are

lack of safe and affordable water supply and healthy sanitation

system in the rural areas as well as in the urban areas

57

So these are some easily visible loopholes between climate

change policies and its practice found from the survey and

literatures It shows that proper reformation of these policies

is required for the betterment of women as human being

Chapter V

58

ldquoWhat modifications do these policies required to prevent the climate

change impacts on women of our countryrdquo

13 Required Improvements for the PoliciesAlthough government have taken so much initiatives to respond to

climate change considering gender issue there is still lack of

coordination among the institutional bodies to supervise its

policies and action plan Therefore lots of improvement is needed

to meet the future challenges For future advancement of the

climate change policies regarding gender this research included

two section of recommendation which will include both expertrsquos

suggestion and overall realization of the research

Expertrsquos Suggestions

Bushra H Chowdhury suggested the following steps-

i) Union parishad and local level official should

participate in the policy making process as they have

deeper understanding about their local environments and

problems faced by women during climate hazards

ii) NGOrsquos can also raise awareness among the people as well

as among the policy makers to formulate more efficient

policy

iii) Government as well as NGOrsquos should negotiate with the

foreign investor as there is lack of fund regarding

gender in climate change

59

iv) More experts and government NGOs and academics should

come along with the policy makers and increase

cooperation among them for policy implications

v) Pre-planning for towns and village separately is also

needed for effective policy implication

vi) Disaster management department as well as the water

development board should combine their works to form more

efficient gender responsive climate change policy

vii) Short term and long term policies should be distinguished

for priority setting during climate hazards

Sharmind Neelromi also recommended some important steps-

viii) The climate hazards should be defined as slow onset or

quick onset and then the policies should be following

that category of hazard

ix) Before policy design for any climate hazard policy makers

need to understand whether the hazards caused by climate

change or other environmental politics For instance the

water damn imposed by India causes flood in our country

x) An analytical framework and a goal point should be

prepared by the policy makers so that the target seems

clearer to reach

14 Recommendation from Research Findings

60

Throughout the research there are different issues catching our

concentration to develop in future In this regard a list of

recommendation founded by the research is specified below

Firstly from the survey result it can be easily realized that

income source should be arranged for the women and their family

member whenever they suffer any climate hazards

Secondly proper shelter home should be build instead of using

schools as shelter home which has not proper sanitation and other

arrangements

Thirdly there should be proper helping hand and income source

for those women who are victimized by river bank erosion for

their resettlement Mechanism to protect their physical and

mental security is also necessary Fourthly only NAPA has adopted immediate action policy for

climate hazards Therefore it is significant to ensure that other

policies should also adopt immediate action mechanism to reduce

the vulnerability rate

Fifthly proper monitoring of local government like chairman is

another important requirement of the interviewees while

distributing the foods and other services Nurzahan (48) informed

that

61

ldquotaka poisa ja ase sob chairman nije ar tar logjon er moddhe vagavagi koira ney

amago kichui dey nardquo(Chairman distributes all the funds among his

near and dear ones and deprive us from everything)

Sixthly arrangement of local volunteer to distribute the foods

and reliefs among the women of vulnerable areas as the local

people are much acknowledged about the actual sufferer

Seventhly setting priority is also another requirement of the

interviewed victims as they do not get help or relief according

to their needs For instance when families need to repair their

roof they are getting fund for foods or health services and the

amount of the fund is very low that it can hardly help the

sufferers

Eighthly a helping card system should be imposed to collect the

relief so that one family cannot enjoy the relief more than once

while other do not even get chance to get any relief

Ninthly the policy makers should address gender in every section

of its policy so that women can at least ask for their rights

mentioned in the policy If the policy do not include gender

perspective then it will be hard to ask for womenrsquos rights during

and after climate changersquos effects

62

Tenthly local administration system should be more liberal

towards women after any natural disaster because most women often

avoid the judgment in fear of losing their dignity honor and

reputation All their information should be kept confidential and

they should not get scolded for being women instead of getting

justice If possible then the judgment process should be arranged

with female judge and in confidential premises

Besides a regional cooperation like SAARC Framework for Action

should be more active in climate change as well as gender issue

Also the international and national institutions should jointly

design the climate change policies for better output

Further participation of women during the policy making and

strategy setting should also be increased for better

understanding about gender specific vulnerability

Additionally awareness among the women of our country should be

build through mechanisms like conducting research projects on the

improvement of gender issue in climate change policy

Moreover awareness building through broadcasting different

programs related to climate change and its effects on gender can

also be much helpful

63

Finally and most importantly reducing corruption from every

level to implement fair policies is very much important to ensure

gender right in climate change policies

In the end it is important to address that suggesting and

recommending is easier than working in the ground level Experts

and academicians should break this boundary of just giving advice

sitting in a comfortable atmosphere and come out to the ground to

work with policy makers

15 Concluding Remarks In conclusion again it is important to add that although there

are so many national regional and international policies as well

as organizations working on climate change issue considering

gender they are hardly able to enforce those policies in real

aspect UNDP UNFCCC BCCSAP NAPA and government itself is

working on gender sensitive policy making for climate change but

it is well-known already that the most crucial part is the proper

implementation of the policies at the time of climate change

related hazards Forming successful gender responsive frame in

climate change policy is important but more important is to

impose them with what they actually need for their long survival

Creating awareness among the victim women wonrsquot work in this

regard because they are so helpless poor and liable to their

families that their realization is fruitless till they get enough

financial and fundamental support Successfully providing the

64

supports to the victims during climate hazards has become very

difficult because of corruption at different level of

distribution Government need to reshape its distribution system

to reduce chance of corruption Government and other concerned

NGOs need to distinguish the factors where women are more

vulnerable than men The policies should be made and reshaped

focusing on dealing with those areas At the very end it must be

included that the climate change policies are much more aware

about gender issue than it was before and hoping for more

advancement of these gender supportive climate change policies in

real scenario

65

The End

Annexes Annex 1- Questionnaire

Basic Information

DatePlaceNameAgeMarital StatusFamily MemberIncome Source

1 What type of natural hazards did u face

i) Flood and

Heavy

ii) drought iii) river

erosion

iv) Others

66

Rainfall2 Have you ever received any kind of training to deal with the

challenge of these natural hazards

i)Yes ii) No3 Did any NGO help you in the post-disaster period

i)Yes ii) No4 Have you got any financial support from any organization or

foreign aid

i)Yes ii) No5 In case of your losing shelter what support did you get for

instant accommodation

rarr

6 Did you receive any permanent or long term support or

alternative earning source in case of losing livelihood due

to that disaster

i)Yes ii) No7 Did that disaster forced you to stop your childrenrsquos

schooling

i) Yes ii) No8 In case of women losing their earning or having physical

damage what problems did you face for livelihoods

rarr

9 In case of physical damage did they receive proper

treatment and financial recovery

67

i)Yes ii) No10 Aged women who are incapable of working did they

receive enoughextra support

i)Yes ii) No11 Did you receive any hygienic food and water support to

prevent disease from unhygienic

i)Yes ii) No12 While receiving a foreign aid do you feel deprived of

comparing to men In which ways

rarr

13 At the post-disaster period had you ever seek for the

support of the local settlementgovernmental arbitration

process for any kind of domestic violence

i)Yes ii) No14 If yes then do you think that the judgment deprived

you because of your gender

i)Yes ii) No15 Did any NGO or international organization support you

to get fair judgment

i)Yes ii) No16 In post disaster situation how did your family

distribute the inheritance (if any) among the female member

of your family

68

rarr

17 Did the female member of your family had any

sayingrole in the decision making process regarding the

distribution of inheritance

i)Yes ii) No18 According to you what type of program can government

or NGO take to assist you to recover during and after the

climate hazards

rarr

Annenx 2 Expert Interviews

i) Bushra H Chowdhury

Water is mostly important in womenrsquos life So water policy is

needed to be gender responsive Department of disaster management

should combine their ideas with water management board In

climate change policies there are lack of farsightedness expert

opinion cooperation coordination among experts and policy

makers etc Corruption in every level is the main barrier to

success in this regard Local government NGOs government

policy makers and experts should combine their ideas and

experiences to reach any conclusion Policy formulation is a long

process so long term and short term goal should be arranged

More experts are needed in policy making process It is important

69

to evaluate why NGOs are less corrupted than government

officials Pre-planning for town and village is important NGOs

and government should arrange annual reporting system to evaluate

their progress

ii) Sharmind Neelromi

The reason behind climate change is very important to understand

Whether it is because of global warming environmental

degradation environmental pollution through human activities or

it is a result of environmental politics There are two types of

climate hazards such as slow on-set (water logging drought sea

level rise etc) and quick on-set (flood cyclone etc) We also

have to understand that the vulnerabilities of women are because

of climate change or something else Climate change adaptation is

a pro-active approach and a development issue In this regard an

analytical framework is important to design to reach any targeted

goal

70

16 Bibliography

Ahmed A U Neelormi S Adri N et Al (2009) Climate ChangeGender and Vulnerable Groups in Bangladesh Climate Change CellDepartment of Environment Ministry of Environment and ForestsRetrieved on September 7 2013 from httpwwwCCGenderVG_Jan09pdf

Ahmed N (2012) Gender and Climate Change in Bangladesh TheRole of Institutions in Reducing Gender Gaps in AdaptationProgram The World BankRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwww-wdsworldbankorgexternaldefaultWDSContentServerWDSPIB20120404000333038_20120404010647RenderedPDF678200NWP0P1250C0in0Bangladesh0web2pdf

Akter T (2009) Climate Change and Flow of EnvironmentalDisplacement in Bangladesh Unnayan Onneshan-The InnovatorsRetrieved on September 28 2013 fromhttpswwwunnayanorgclimate_change_flow_environmental_displacementpdf

Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion inClimate Change Adaptation ADBI Working Paper 309 Tokyo AsianDevelopment Bank InstituteRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf

Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009 Ministryof Environment and Forest Government of the Peoples Republic ofBangladesh Dhaka Bangladesh

71

Secondly some policies include gender empowerment initiatives as

climate hazards causes unemployment and sense of insecurity among

the women But whenever we go through any climate hazards there

are barely any programs for women empowerment For example

during the survey a number of women asked for income source to

deal with the loss of climate hazards

ldquoGhorbari haraner por polapainder kaj kamer sujog koira dile subidha hoito Sob

bekar hoiya jayrdquo (After losing the house managing income source

will be very helpful as they do not have any source to earn their

livelihood) - Monju Ara Begum (50)

It shows that gender empowerment policies are also not applied as

it mentioned in the policies

Thirdly policies include gender participation in decision making

and risk management process But the consent of this research is

there is lack of womenrsquos participation while any decision making

whether to migrate from one place or to take shelter during the

natural disasters

ldquodurjoger somoy johon amra center a jaite chaisi tohon bape jaite dey nai sobai

ghorei asilamrdquo (Our father did not allow us to take shelter in

Cyclone center during the disaster so we stayed at home)-

Priyanka Saha (19)

Fourthly policies include a separate gender budget but there is

hardly any remarkable example to spend this budget on womenrsquos

55

need of health food sanitation or others Monju Ara Begum (50)

informed that being women did not benefit them to get any

separate financial support after they lost their all belonging

from river bank erosion

Fifthly as mentioned in the policies about equity and social

justice it is not possible to achieve except recognizing the

differences of vulnerability of men and women Asmani (40) said

that after SIDR her husband flew away from the house because of

the fear of extra financial burden But her neighbor used to

accuse her fault as the reason of her husband flew away and

denied to help her She ended up earning from a small tea-stall

to survive and since then she have been living alone renting a

corridor of a house

Sixthly policies referred about the health services on gender

basis but there is lack of research on sex and gender differences

in vulnerability Thus the health services are not ultimately

gender responsive for the absence of research about health

impacts on gender basis During survey Shanti Bela Saha (50)

informed that she and her family have not got any health service

from both government and non-governmental health care services

after the devastating flood SIDR and Aila

Seventhly policies often seen to emphasize on providing

education and training to women but the survey of this research

56

discover that women are not getting any type of training about

disaster management or to deal with climate changersquos effects nor

any education program are there for the women For instance

during survey Shila Rani Saha (35) said that she never heard about

any training program to adapt with the situation during climate

hazards Whereas the policies include different training program

for gender adaptation in climate change

Eighthly policies also consist of early warning system but women

in the rural areas are not very close to any mechanism that

provides information or caution about any climate hazard Survey

result shows that the women or the member of their family had no

idea about SIDR

Ninthly NAPA and BCCSAP talk about the environmentally displaced

people but there is no clear and distinct policy to solve the

problems of climate change related displaced women Monju Ara

Begum (50) had to rebuild her house with her own money and had

not got any help in this regard from government or NGOs

Lastly but not the least water management of our country are not

in the stage as it is destined in its policy Still there are

lack of safe and affordable water supply and healthy sanitation

system in the rural areas as well as in the urban areas

57

So these are some easily visible loopholes between climate

change policies and its practice found from the survey and

literatures It shows that proper reformation of these policies

is required for the betterment of women as human being

Chapter V

58

ldquoWhat modifications do these policies required to prevent the climate

change impacts on women of our countryrdquo

13 Required Improvements for the PoliciesAlthough government have taken so much initiatives to respond to

climate change considering gender issue there is still lack of

coordination among the institutional bodies to supervise its

policies and action plan Therefore lots of improvement is needed

to meet the future challenges For future advancement of the

climate change policies regarding gender this research included

two section of recommendation which will include both expertrsquos

suggestion and overall realization of the research

Expertrsquos Suggestions

Bushra H Chowdhury suggested the following steps-

i) Union parishad and local level official should

participate in the policy making process as they have

deeper understanding about their local environments and

problems faced by women during climate hazards

ii) NGOrsquos can also raise awareness among the people as well

as among the policy makers to formulate more efficient

policy

iii) Government as well as NGOrsquos should negotiate with the

foreign investor as there is lack of fund regarding

gender in climate change

59

iv) More experts and government NGOs and academics should

come along with the policy makers and increase

cooperation among them for policy implications

v) Pre-planning for towns and village separately is also

needed for effective policy implication

vi) Disaster management department as well as the water

development board should combine their works to form more

efficient gender responsive climate change policy

vii) Short term and long term policies should be distinguished

for priority setting during climate hazards

Sharmind Neelromi also recommended some important steps-

viii) The climate hazards should be defined as slow onset or

quick onset and then the policies should be following

that category of hazard

ix) Before policy design for any climate hazard policy makers

need to understand whether the hazards caused by climate

change or other environmental politics For instance the

water damn imposed by India causes flood in our country

x) An analytical framework and a goal point should be

prepared by the policy makers so that the target seems

clearer to reach

14 Recommendation from Research Findings

60

Throughout the research there are different issues catching our

concentration to develop in future In this regard a list of

recommendation founded by the research is specified below

Firstly from the survey result it can be easily realized that

income source should be arranged for the women and their family

member whenever they suffer any climate hazards

Secondly proper shelter home should be build instead of using

schools as shelter home which has not proper sanitation and other

arrangements

Thirdly there should be proper helping hand and income source

for those women who are victimized by river bank erosion for

their resettlement Mechanism to protect their physical and

mental security is also necessary Fourthly only NAPA has adopted immediate action policy for

climate hazards Therefore it is significant to ensure that other

policies should also adopt immediate action mechanism to reduce

the vulnerability rate

Fifthly proper monitoring of local government like chairman is

another important requirement of the interviewees while

distributing the foods and other services Nurzahan (48) informed

that

61

ldquotaka poisa ja ase sob chairman nije ar tar logjon er moddhe vagavagi koira ney

amago kichui dey nardquo(Chairman distributes all the funds among his

near and dear ones and deprive us from everything)

Sixthly arrangement of local volunteer to distribute the foods

and reliefs among the women of vulnerable areas as the local

people are much acknowledged about the actual sufferer

Seventhly setting priority is also another requirement of the

interviewed victims as they do not get help or relief according

to their needs For instance when families need to repair their

roof they are getting fund for foods or health services and the

amount of the fund is very low that it can hardly help the

sufferers

Eighthly a helping card system should be imposed to collect the

relief so that one family cannot enjoy the relief more than once

while other do not even get chance to get any relief

Ninthly the policy makers should address gender in every section

of its policy so that women can at least ask for their rights

mentioned in the policy If the policy do not include gender

perspective then it will be hard to ask for womenrsquos rights during

and after climate changersquos effects

62

Tenthly local administration system should be more liberal

towards women after any natural disaster because most women often

avoid the judgment in fear of losing their dignity honor and

reputation All their information should be kept confidential and

they should not get scolded for being women instead of getting

justice If possible then the judgment process should be arranged

with female judge and in confidential premises

Besides a regional cooperation like SAARC Framework for Action

should be more active in climate change as well as gender issue

Also the international and national institutions should jointly

design the climate change policies for better output

Further participation of women during the policy making and

strategy setting should also be increased for better

understanding about gender specific vulnerability

Additionally awareness among the women of our country should be

build through mechanisms like conducting research projects on the

improvement of gender issue in climate change policy

Moreover awareness building through broadcasting different

programs related to climate change and its effects on gender can

also be much helpful

63

Finally and most importantly reducing corruption from every

level to implement fair policies is very much important to ensure

gender right in climate change policies

In the end it is important to address that suggesting and

recommending is easier than working in the ground level Experts

and academicians should break this boundary of just giving advice

sitting in a comfortable atmosphere and come out to the ground to

work with policy makers

15 Concluding Remarks In conclusion again it is important to add that although there

are so many national regional and international policies as well

as organizations working on climate change issue considering

gender they are hardly able to enforce those policies in real

aspect UNDP UNFCCC BCCSAP NAPA and government itself is

working on gender sensitive policy making for climate change but

it is well-known already that the most crucial part is the proper

implementation of the policies at the time of climate change

related hazards Forming successful gender responsive frame in

climate change policy is important but more important is to

impose them with what they actually need for their long survival

Creating awareness among the victim women wonrsquot work in this

regard because they are so helpless poor and liable to their

families that their realization is fruitless till they get enough

financial and fundamental support Successfully providing the

64

supports to the victims during climate hazards has become very

difficult because of corruption at different level of

distribution Government need to reshape its distribution system

to reduce chance of corruption Government and other concerned

NGOs need to distinguish the factors where women are more

vulnerable than men The policies should be made and reshaped

focusing on dealing with those areas At the very end it must be

included that the climate change policies are much more aware

about gender issue than it was before and hoping for more

advancement of these gender supportive climate change policies in

real scenario

65

The End

Annexes Annex 1- Questionnaire

Basic Information

DatePlaceNameAgeMarital StatusFamily MemberIncome Source

1 What type of natural hazards did u face

i) Flood and

Heavy

ii) drought iii) river

erosion

iv) Others

66

Rainfall2 Have you ever received any kind of training to deal with the

challenge of these natural hazards

i)Yes ii) No3 Did any NGO help you in the post-disaster period

i)Yes ii) No4 Have you got any financial support from any organization or

foreign aid

i)Yes ii) No5 In case of your losing shelter what support did you get for

instant accommodation

rarr

6 Did you receive any permanent or long term support or

alternative earning source in case of losing livelihood due

to that disaster

i)Yes ii) No7 Did that disaster forced you to stop your childrenrsquos

schooling

i) Yes ii) No8 In case of women losing their earning or having physical

damage what problems did you face for livelihoods

rarr

9 In case of physical damage did they receive proper

treatment and financial recovery

67

i)Yes ii) No10 Aged women who are incapable of working did they

receive enoughextra support

i)Yes ii) No11 Did you receive any hygienic food and water support to

prevent disease from unhygienic

i)Yes ii) No12 While receiving a foreign aid do you feel deprived of

comparing to men In which ways

rarr

13 At the post-disaster period had you ever seek for the

support of the local settlementgovernmental arbitration

process for any kind of domestic violence

i)Yes ii) No14 If yes then do you think that the judgment deprived

you because of your gender

i)Yes ii) No15 Did any NGO or international organization support you

to get fair judgment

i)Yes ii) No16 In post disaster situation how did your family

distribute the inheritance (if any) among the female member

of your family

68

rarr

17 Did the female member of your family had any

sayingrole in the decision making process regarding the

distribution of inheritance

i)Yes ii) No18 According to you what type of program can government

or NGO take to assist you to recover during and after the

climate hazards

rarr

Annenx 2 Expert Interviews

i) Bushra H Chowdhury

Water is mostly important in womenrsquos life So water policy is

needed to be gender responsive Department of disaster management

should combine their ideas with water management board In

climate change policies there are lack of farsightedness expert

opinion cooperation coordination among experts and policy

makers etc Corruption in every level is the main barrier to

success in this regard Local government NGOs government

policy makers and experts should combine their ideas and

experiences to reach any conclusion Policy formulation is a long

process so long term and short term goal should be arranged

More experts are needed in policy making process It is important

69

to evaluate why NGOs are less corrupted than government

officials Pre-planning for town and village is important NGOs

and government should arrange annual reporting system to evaluate

their progress

ii) Sharmind Neelromi

The reason behind climate change is very important to understand

Whether it is because of global warming environmental

degradation environmental pollution through human activities or

it is a result of environmental politics There are two types of

climate hazards such as slow on-set (water logging drought sea

level rise etc) and quick on-set (flood cyclone etc) We also

have to understand that the vulnerabilities of women are because

of climate change or something else Climate change adaptation is

a pro-active approach and a development issue In this regard an

analytical framework is important to design to reach any targeted

goal

70

16 Bibliography

Ahmed A U Neelormi S Adri N et Al (2009) Climate ChangeGender and Vulnerable Groups in Bangladesh Climate Change CellDepartment of Environment Ministry of Environment and ForestsRetrieved on September 7 2013 from httpwwwCCGenderVG_Jan09pdf

Ahmed N (2012) Gender and Climate Change in Bangladesh TheRole of Institutions in Reducing Gender Gaps in AdaptationProgram The World BankRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwww-wdsworldbankorgexternaldefaultWDSContentServerWDSPIB20120404000333038_20120404010647RenderedPDF678200NWP0P1250C0in0Bangladesh0web2pdf

Akter T (2009) Climate Change and Flow of EnvironmentalDisplacement in Bangladesh Unnayan Onneshan-The InnovatorsRetrieved on September 28 2013 fromhttpswwwunnayanorgclimate_change_flow_environmental_displacementpdf

Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion inClimate Change Adaptation ADBI Working Paper 309 Tokyo AsianDevelopment Bank InstituteRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf

Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009 Ministryof Environment and Forest Government of the Peoples Republic ofBangladesh Dhaka Bangladesh

71

need of health food sanitation or others Monju Ara Begum (50)

informed that being women did not benefit them to get any

separate financial support after they lost their all belonging

from river bank erosion

Fifthly as mentioned in the policies about equity and social

justice it is not possible to achieve except recognizing the

differences of vulnerability of men and women Asmani (40) said

that after SIDR her husband flew away from the house because of

the fear of extra financial burden But her neighbor used to

accuse her fault as the reason of her husband flew away and

denied to help her She ended up earning from a small tea-stall

to survive and since then she have been living alone renting a

corridor of a house

Sixthly policies referred about the health services on gender

basis but there is lack of research on sex and gender differences

in vulnerability Thus the health services are not ultimately

gender responsive for the absence of research about health

impacts on gender basis During survey Shanti Bela Saha (50)

informed that she and her family have not got any health service

from both government and non-governmental health care services

after the devastating flood SIDR and Aila

Seventhly policies often seen to emphasize on providing

education and training to women but the survey of this research

56

discover that women are not getting any type of training about

disaster management or to deal with climate changersquos effects nor

any education program are there for the women For instance

during survey Shila Rani Saha (35) said that she never heard about

any training program to adapt with the situation during climate

hazards Whereas the policies include different training program

for gender adaptation in climate change

Eighthly policies also consist of early warning system but women

in the rural areas are not very close to any mechanism that

provides information or caution about any climate hazard Survey

result shows that the women or the member of their family had no

idea about SIDR

Ninthly NAPA and BCCSAP talk about the environmentally displaced

people but there is no clear and distinct policy to solve the

problems of climate change related displaced women Monju Ara

Begum (50) had to rebuild her house with her own money and had

not got any help in this regard from government or NGOs

Lastly but not the least water management of our country are not

in the stage as it is destined in its policy Still there are

lack of safe and affordable water supply and healthy sanitation

system in the rural areas as well as in the urban areas

57

So these are some easily visible loopholes between climate

change policies and its practice found from the survey and

literatures It shows that proper reformation of these policies

is required for the betterment of women as human being

Chapter V

58

ldquoWhat modifications do these policies required to prevent the climate

change impacts on women of our countryrdquo

13 Required Improvements for the PoliciesAlthough government have taken so much initiatives to respond to

climate change considering gender issue there is still lack of

coordination among the institutional bodies to supervise its

policies and action plan Therefore lots of improvement is needed

to meet the future challenges For future advancement of the

climate change policies regarding gender this research included

two section of recommendation which will include both expertrsquos

suggestion and overall realization of the research

Expertrsquos Suggestions

Bushra H Chowdhury suggested the following steps-

i) Union parishad and local level official should

participate in the policy making process as they have

deeper understanding about their local environments and

problems faced by women during climate hazards

ii) NGOrsquos can also raise awareness among the people as well

as among the policy makers to formulate more efficient

policy

iii) Government as well as NGOrsquos should negotiate with the

foreign investor as there is lack of fund regarding

gender in climate change

59

iv) More experts and government NGOs and academics should

come along with the policy makers and increase

cooperation among them for policy implications

v) Pre-planning for towns and village separately is also

needed for effective policy implication

vi) Disaster management department as well as the water

development board should combine their works to form more

efficient gender responsive climate change policy

vii) Short term and long term policies should be distinguished

for priority setting during climate hazards

Sharmind Neelromi also recommended some important steps-

viii) The climate hazards should be defined as slow onset or

quick onset and then the policies should be following

that category of hazard

ix) Before policy design for any climate hazard policy makers

need to understand whether the hazards caused by climate

change or other environmental politics For instance the

water damn imposed by India causes flood in our country

x) An analytical framework and a goal point should be

prepared by the policy makers so that the target seems

clearer to reach

14 Recommendation from Research Findings

60

Throughout the research there are different issues catching our

concentration to develop in future In this regard a list of

recommendation founded by the research is specified below

Firstly from the survey result it can be easily realized that

income source should be arranged for the women and their family

member whenever they suffer any climate hazards

Secondly proper shelter home should be build instead of using

schools as shelter home which has not proper sanitation and other

arrangements

Thirdly there should be proper helping hand and income source

for those women who are victimized by river bank erosion for

their resettlement Mechanism to protect their physical and

mental security is also necessary Fourthly only NAPA has adopted immediate action policy for

climate hazards Therefore it is significant to ensure that other

policies should also adopt immediate action mechanism to reduce

the vulnerability rate

Fifthly proper monitoring of local government like chairman is

another important requirement of the interviewees while

distributing the foods and other services Nurzahan (48) informed

that

61

ldquotaka poisa ja ase sob chairman nije ar tar logjon er moddhe vagavagi koira ney

amago kichui dey nardquo(Chairman distributes all the funds among his

near and dear ones and deprive us from everything)

Sixthly arrangement of local volunteer to distribute the foods

and reliefs among the women of vulnerable areas as the local

people are much acknowledged about the actual sufferer

Seventhly setting priority is also another requirement of the

interviewed victims as they do not get help or relief according

to their needs For instance when families need to repair their

roof they are getting fund for foods or health services and the

amount of the fund is very low that it can hardly help the

sufferers

Eighthly a helping card system should be imposed to collect the

relief so that one family cannot enjoy the relief more than once

while other do not even get chance to get any relief

Ninthly the policy makers should address gender in every section

of its policy so that women can at least ask for their rights

mentioned in the policy If the policy do not include gender

perspective then it will be hard to ask for womenrsquos rights during

and after climate changersquos effects

62

Tenthly local administration system should be more liberal

towards women after any natural disaster because most women often

avoid the judgment in fear of losing their dignity honor and

reputation All their information should be kept confidential and

they should not get scolded for being women instead of getting

justice If possible then the judgment process should be arranged

with female judge and in confidential premises

Besides a regional cooperation like SAARC Framework for Action

should be more active in climate change as well as gender issue

Also the international and national institutions should jointly

design the climate change policies for better output

Further participation of women during the policy making and

strategy setting should also be increased for better

understanding about gender specific vulnerability

Additionally awareness among the women of our country should be

build through mechanisms like conducting research projects on the

improvement of gender issue in climate change policy

Moreover awareness building through broadcasting different

programs related to climate change and its effects on gender can

also be much helpful

63

Finally and most importantly reducing corruption from every

level to implement fair policies is very much important to ensure

gender right in climate change policies

In the end it is important to address that suggesting and

recommending is easier than working in the ground level Experts

and academicians should break this boundary of just giving advice

sitting in a comfortable atmosphere and come out to the ground to

work with policy makers

15 Concluding Remarks In conclusion again it is important to add that although there

are so many national regional and international policies as well

as organizations working on climate change issue considering

gender they are hardly able to enforce those policies in real

aspect UNDP UNFCCC BCCSAP NAPA and government itself is

working on gender sensitive policy making for climate change but

it is well-known already that the most crucial part is the proper

implementation of the policies at the time of climate change

related hazards Forming successful gender responsive frame in

climate change policy is important but more important is to

impose them with what they actually need for their long survival

Creating awareness among the victim women wonrsquot work in this

regard because they are so helpless poor and liable to their

families that their realization is fruitless till they get enough

financial and fundamental support Successfully providing the

64

supports to the victims during climate hazards has become very

difficult because of corruption at different level of

distribution Government need to reshape its distribution system

to reduce chance of corruption Government and other concerned

NGOs need to distinguish the factors where women are more

vulnerable than men The policies should be made and reshaped

focusing on dealing with those areas At the very end it must be

included that the climate change policies are much more aware

about gender issue than it was before and hoping for more

advancement of these gender supportive climate change policies in

real scenario

65

The End

Annexes Annex 1- Questionnaire

Basic Information

DatePlaceNameAgeMarital StatusFamily MemberIncome Source

1 What type of natural hazards did u face

i) Flood and

Heavy

ii) drought iii) river

erosion

iv) Others

66

Rainfall2 Have you ever received any kind of training to deal with the

challenge of these natural hazards

i)Yes ii) No3 Did any NGO help you in the post-disaster period

i)Yes ii) No4 Have you got any financial support from any organization or

foreign aid

i)Yes ii) No5 In case of your losing shelter what support did you get for

instant accommodation

rarr

6 Did you receive any permanent or long term support or

alternative earning source in case of losing livelihood due

to that disaster

i)Yes ii) No7 Did that disaster forced you to stop your childrenrsquos

schooling

i) Yes ii) No8 In case of women losing their earning or having physical

damage what problems did you face for livelihoods

rarr

9 In case of physical damage did they receive proper

treatment and financial recovery

67

i)Yes ii) No10 Aged women who are incapable of working did they

receive enoughextra support

i)Yes ii) No11 Did you receive any hygienic food and water support to

prevent disease from unhygienic

i)Yes ii) No12 While receiving a foreign aid do you feel deprived of

comparing to men In which ways

rarr

13 At the post-disaster period had you ever seek for the

support of the local settlementgovernmental arbitration

process for any kind of domestic violence

i)Yes ii) No14 If yes then do you think that the judgment deprived

you because of your gender

i)Yes ii) No15 Did any NGO or international organization support you

to get fair judgment

i)Yes ii) No16 In post disaster situation how did your family

distribute the inheritance (if any) among the female member

of your family

68

rarr

17 Did the female member of your family had any

sayingrole in the decision making process regarding the

distribution of inheritance

i)Yes ii) No18 According to you what type of program can government

or NGO take to assist you to recover during and after the

climate hazards

rarr

Annenx 2 Expert Interviews

i) Bushra H Chowdhury

Water is mostly important in womenrsquos life So water policy is

needed to be gender responsive Department of disaster management

should combine their ideas with water management board In

climate change policies there are lack of farsightedness expert

opinion cooperation coordination among experts and policy

makers etc Corruption in every level is the main barrier to

success in this regard Local government NGOs government

policy makers and experts should combine their ideas and

experiences to reach any conclusion Policy formulation is a long

process so long term and short term goal should be arranged

More experts are needed in policy making process It is important

69

to evaluate why NGOs are less corrupted than government

officials Pre-planning for town and village is important NGOs

and government should arrange annual reporting system to evaluate

their progress

ii) Sharmind Neelromi

The reason behind climate change is very important to understand

Whether it is because of global warming environmental

degradation environmental pollution through human activities or

it is a result of environmental politics There are two types of

climate hazards such as slow on-set (water logging drought sea

level rise etc) and quick on-set (flood cyclone etc) We also

have to understand that the vulnerabilities of women are because

of climate change or something else Climate change adaptation is

a pro-active approach and a development issue In this regard an

analytical framework is important to design to reach any targeted

goal

70

16 Bibliography

Ahmed A U Neelormi S Adri N et Al (2009) Climate ChangeGender and Vulnerable Groups in Bangladesh Climate Change CellDepartment of Environment Ministry of Environment and ForestsRetrieved on September 7 2013 from httpwwwCCGenderVG_Jan09pdf

Ahmed N (2012) Gender and Climate Change in Bangladesh TheRole of Institutions in Reducing Gender Gaps in AdaptationProgram The World BankRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwww-wdsworldbankorgexternaldefaultWDSContentServerWDSPIB20120404000333038_20120404010647RenderedPDF678200NWP0P1250C0in0Bangladesh0web2pdf

Akter T (2009) Climate Change and Flow of EnvironmentalDisplacement in Bangladesh Unnayan Onneshan-The InnovatorsRetrieved on September 28 2013 fromhttpswwwunnayanorgclimate_change_flow_environmental_displacementpdf

Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion inClimate Change Adaptation ADBI Working Paper 309 Tokyo AsianDevelopment Bank InstituteRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf

Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009 Ministryof Environment and Forest Government of the Peoples Republic ofBangladesh Dhaka Bangladesh

71

discover that women are not getting any type of training about

disaster management or to deal with climate changersquos effects nor

any education program are there for the women For instance

during survey Shila Rani Saha (35) said that she never heard about

any training program to adapt with the situation during climate

hazards Whereas the policies include different training program

for gender adaptation in climate change

Eighthly policies also consist of early warning system but women

in the rural areas are not very close to any mechanism that

provides information or caution about any climate hazard Survey

result shows that the women or the member of their family had no

idea about SIDR

Ninthly NAPA and BCCSAP talk about the environmentally displaced

people but there is no clear and distinct policy to solve the

problems of climate change related displaced women Monju Ara

Begum (50) had to rebuild her house with her own money and had

not got any help in this regard from government or NGOs

Lastly but not the least water management of our country are not

in the stage as it is destined in its policy Still there are

lack of safe and affordable water supply and healthy sanitation

system in the rural areas as well as in the urban areas

57

So these are some easily visible loopholes between climate

change policies and its practice found from the survey and

literatures It shows that proper reformation of these policies

is required for the betterment of women as human being

Chapter V

58

ldquoWhat modifications do these policies required to prevent the climate

change impacts on women of our countryrdquo

13 Required Improvements for the PoliciesAlthough government have taken so much initiatives to respond to

climate change considering gender issue there is still lack of

coordination among the institutional bodies to supervise its

policies and action plan Therefore lots of improvement is needed

to meet the future challenges For future advancement of the

climate change policies regarding gender this research included

two section of recommendation which will include both expertrsquos

suggestion and overall realization of the research

Expertrsquos Suggestions

Bushra H Chowdhury suggested the following steps-

i) Union parishad and local level official should

participate in the policy making process as they have

deeper understanding about their local environments and

problems faced by women during climate hazards

ii) NGOrsquos can also raise awareness among the people as well

as among the policy makers to formulate more efficient

policy

iii) Government as well as NGOrsquos should negotiate with the

foreign investor as there is lack of fund regarding

gender in climate change

59

iv) More experts and government NGOs and academics should

come along with the policy makers and increase

cooperation among them for policy implications

v) Pre-planning for towns and village separately is also

needed for effective policy implication

vi) Disaster management department as well as the water

development board should combine their works to form more

efficient gender responsive climate change policy

vii) Short term and long term policies should be distinguished

for priority setting during climate hazards

Sharmind Neelromi also recommended some important steps-

viii) The climate hazards should be defined as slow onset or

quick onset and then the policies should be following

that category of hazard

ix) Before policy design for any climate hazard policy makers

need to understand whether the hazards caused by climate

change or other environmental politics For instance the

water damn imposed by India causes flood in our country

x) An analytical framework and a goal point should be

prepared by the policy makers so that the target seems

clearer to reach

14 Recommendation from Research Findings

60

Throughout the research there are different issues catching our

concentration to develop in future In this regard a list of

recommendation founded by the research is specified below

Firstly from the survey result it can be easily realized that

income source should be arranged for the women and their family

member whenever they suffer any climate hazards

Secondly proper shelter home should be build instead of using

schools as shelter home which has not proper sanitation and other

arrangements

Thirdly there should be proper helping hand and income source

for those women who are victimized by river bank erosion for

their resettlement Mechanism to protect their physical and

mental security is also necessary Fourthly only NAPA has adopted immediate action policy for

climate hazards Therefore it is significant to ensure that other

policies should also adopt immediate action mechanism to reduce

the vulnerability rate

Fifthly proper monitoring of local government like chairman is

another important requirement of the interviewees while

distributing the foods and other services Nurzahan (48) informed

that

61

ldquotaka poisa ja ase sob chairman nije ar tar logjon er moddhe vagavagi koira ney

amago kichui dey nardquo(Chairman distributes all the funds among his

near and dear ones and deprive us from everything)

Sixthly arrangement of local volunteer to distribute the foods

and reliefs among the women of vulnerable areas as the local

people are much acknowledged about the actual sufferer

Seventhly setting priority is also another requirement of the

interviewed victims as they do not get help or relief according

to their needs For instance when families need to repair their

roof they are getting fund for foods or health services and the

amount of the fund is very low that it can hardly help the

sufferers

Eighthly a helping card system should be imposed to collect the

relief so that one family cannot enjoy the relief more than once

while other do not even get chance to get any relief

Ninthly the policy makers should address gender in every section

of its policy so that women can at least ask for their rights

mentioned in the policy If the policy do not include gender

perspective then it will be hard to ask for womenrsquos rights during

and after climate changersquos effects

62

Tenthly local administration system should be more liberal

towards women after any natural disaster because most women often

avoid the judgment in fear of losing their dignity honor and

reputation All their information should be kept confidential and

they should not get scolded for being women instead of getting

justice If possible then the judgment process should be arranged

with female judge and in confidential premises

Besides a regional cooperation like SAARC Framework for Action

should be more active in climate change as well as gender issue

Also the international and national institutions should jointly

design the climate change policies for better output

Further participation of women during the policy making and

strategy setting should also be increased for better

understanding about gender specific vulnerability

Additionally awareness among the women of our country should be

build through mechanisms like conducting research projects on the

improvement of gender issue in climate change policy

Moreover awareness building through broadcasting different

programs related to climate change and its effects on gender can

also be much helpful

63

Finally and most importantly reducing corruption from every

level to implement fair policies is very much important to ensure

gender right in climate change policies

In the end it is important to address that suggesting and

recommending is easier than working in the ground level Experts

and academicians should break this boundary of just giving advice

sitting in a comfortable atmosphere and come out to the ground to

work with policy makers

15 Concluding Remarks In conclusion again it is important to add that although there

are so many national regional and international policies as well

as organizations working on climate change issue considering

gender they are hardly able to enforce those policies in real

aspect UNDP UNFCCC BCCSAP NAPA and government itself is

working on gender sensitive policy making for climate change but

it is well-known already that the most crucial part is the proper

implementation of the policies at the time of climate change

related hazards Forming successful gender responsive frame in

climate change policy is important but more important is to

impose them with what they actually need for their long survival

Creating awareness among the victim women wonrsquot work in this

regard because they are so helpless poor and liable to their

families that their realization is fruitless till they get enough

financial and fundamental support Successfully providing the

64

supports to the victims during climate hazards has become very

difficult because of corruption at different level of

distribution Government need to reshape its distribution system

to reduce chance of corruption Government and other concerned

NGOs need to distinguish the factors where women are more

vulnerable than men The policies should be made and reshaped

focusing on dealing with those areas At the very end it must be

included that the climate change policies are much more aware

about gender issue than it was before and hoping for more

advancement of these gender supportive climate change policies in

real scenario

65

The End

Annexes Annex 1- Questionnaire

Basic Information

DatePlaceNameAgeMarital StatusFamily MemberIncome Source

1 What type of natural hazards did u face

i) Flood and

Heavy

ii) drought iii) river

erosion

iv) Others

66

Rainfall2 Have you ever received any kind of training to deal with the

challenge of these natural hazards

i)Yes ii) No3 Did any NGO help you in the post-disaster period

i)Yes ii) No4 Have you got any financial support from any organization or

foreign aid

i)Yes ii) No5 In case of your losing shelter what support did you get for

instant accommodation

rarr

6 Did you receive any permanent or long term support or

alternative earning source in case of losing livelihood due

to that disaster

i)Yes ii) No7 Did that disaster forced you to stop your childrenrsquos

schooling

i) Yes ii) No8 In case of women losing their earning or having physical

damage what problems did you face for livelihoods

rarr

9 In case of physical damage did they receive proper

treatment and financial recovery

67

i)Yes ii) No10 Aged women who are incapable of working did they

receive enoughextra support

i)Yes ii) No11 Did you receive any hygienic food and water support to

prevent disease from unhygienic

i)Yes ii) No12 While receiving a foreign aid do you feel deprived of

comparing to men In which ways

rarr

13 At the post-disaster period had you ever seek for the

support of the local settlementgovernmental arbitration

process for any kind of domestic violence

i)Yes ii) No14 If yes then do you think that the judgment deprived

you because of your gender

i)Yes ii) No15 Did any NGO or international organization support you

to get fair judgment

i)Yes ii) No16 In post disaster situation how did your family

distribute the inheritance (if any) among the female member

of your family

68

rarr

17 Did the female member of your family had any

sayingrole in the decision making process regarding the

distribution of inheritance

i)Yes ii) No18 According to you what type of program can government

or NGO take to assist you to recover during and after the

climate hazards

rarr

Annenx 2 Expert Interviews

i) Bushra H Chowdhury

Water is mostly important in womenrsquos life So water policy is

needed to be gender responsive Department of disaster management

should combine their ideas with water management board In

climate change policies there are lack of farsightedness expert

opinion cooperation coordination among experts and policy

makers etc Corruption in every level is the main barrier to

success in this regard Local government NGOs government

policy makers and experts should combine their ideas and

experiences to reach any conclusion Policy formulation is a long

process so long term and short term goal should be arranged

More experts are needed in policy making process It is important

69

to evaluate why NGOs are less corrupted than government

officials Pre-planning for town and village is important NGOs

and government should arrange annual reporting system to evaluate

their progress

ii) Sharmind Neelromi

The reason behind climate change is very important to understand

Whether it is because of global warming environmental

degradation environmental pollution through human activities or

it is a result of environmental politics There are two types of

climate hazards such as slow on-set (water logging drought sea

level rise etc) and quick on-set (flood cyclone etc) We also

have to understand that the vulnerabilities of women are because

of climate change or something else Climate change adaptation is

a pro-active approach and a development issue In this regard an

analytical framework is important to design to reach any targeted

goal

70

16 Bibliography

Ahmed A U Neelormi S Adri N et Al (2009) Climate ChangeGender and Vulnerable Groups in Bangladesh Climate Change CellDepartment of Environment Ministry of Environment and ForestsRetrieved on September 7 2013 from httpwwwCCGenderVG_Jan09pdf

Ahmed N (2012) Gender and Climate Change in Bangladesh TheRole of Institutions in Reducing Gender Gaps in AdaptationProgram The World BankRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwww-wdsworldbankorgexternaldefaultWDSContentServerWDSPIB20120404000333038_20120404010647RenderedPDF678200NWP0P1250C0in0Bangladesh0web2pdf

Akter T (2009) Climate Change and Flow of EnvironmentalDisplacement in Bangladesh Unnayan Onneshan-The InnovatorsRetrieved on September 28 2013 fromhttpswwwunnayanorgclimate_change_flow_environmental_displacementpdf

Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion inClimate Change Adaptation ADBI Working Paper 309 Tokyo AsianDevelopment Bank InstituteRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf

Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009 Ministryof Environment and Forest Government of the Peoples Republic ofBangladesh Dhaka Bangladesh

71

So these are some easily visible loopholes between climate

change policies and its practice found from the survey and

literatures It shows that proper reformation of these policies

is required for the betterment of women as human being

Chapter V

58

ldquoWhat modifications do these policies required to prevent the climate

change impacts on women of our countryrdquo

13 Required Improvements for the PoliciesAlthough government have taken so much initiatives to respond to

climate change considering gender issue there is still lack of

coordination among the institutional bodies to supervise its

policies and action plan Therefore lots of improvement is needed

to meet the future challenges For future advancement of the

climate change policies regarding gender this research included

two section of recommendation which will include both expertrsquos

suggestion and overall realization of the research

Expertrsquos Suggestions

Bushra H Chowdhury suggested the following steps-

i) Union parishad and local level official should

participate in the policy making process as they have

deeper understanding about their local environments and

problems faced by women during climate hazards

ii) NGOrsquos can also raise awareness among the people as well

as among the policy makers to formulate more efficient

policy

iii) Government as well as NGOrsquos should negotiate with the

foreign investor as there is lack of fund regarding

gender in climate change

59

iv) More experts and government NGOs and academics should

come along with the policy makers and increase

cooperation among them for policy implications

v) Pre-planning for towns and village separately is also

needed for effective policy implication

vi) Disaster management department as well as the water

development board should combine their works to form more

efficient gender responsive climate change policy

vii) Short term and long term policies should be distinguished

for priority setting during climate hazards

Sharmind Neelromi also recommended some important steps-

viii) The climate hazards should be defined as slow onset or

quick onset and then the policies should be following

that category of hazard

ix) Before policy design for any climate hazard policy makers

need to understand whether the hazards caused by climate

change or other environmental politics For instance the

water damn imposed by India causes flood in our country

x) An analytical framework and a goal point should be

prepared by the policy makers so that the target seems

clearer to reach

14 Recommendation from Research Findings

60

Throughout the research there are different issues catching our

concentration to develop in future In this regard a list of

recommendation founded by the research is specified below

Firstly from the survey result it can be easily realized that

income source should be arranged for the women and their family

member whenever they suffer any climate hazards

Secondly proper shelter home should be build instead of using

schools as shelter home which has not proper sanitation and other

arrangements

Thirdly there should be proper helping hand and income source

for those women who are victimized by river bank erosion for

their resettlement Mechanism to protect their physical and

mental security is also necessary Fourthly only NAPA has adopted immediate action policy for

climate hazards Therefore it is significant to ensure that other

policies should also adopt immediate action mechanism to reduce

the vulnerability rate

Fifthly proper monitoring of local government like chairman is

another important requirement of the interviewees while

distributing the foods and other services Nurzahan (48) informed

that

61

ldquotaka poisa ja ase sob chairman nije ar tar logjon er moddhe vagavagi koira ney

amago kichui dey nardquo(Chairman distributes all the funds among his

near and dear ones and deprive us from everything)

Sixthly arrangement of local volunteer to distribute the foods

and reliefs among the women of vulnerable areas as the local

people are much acknowledged about the actual sufferer

Seventhly setting priority is also another requirement of the

interviewed victims as they do not get help or relief according

to their needs For instance when families need to repair their

roof they are getting fund for foods or health services and the

amount of the fund is very low that it can hardly help the

sufferers

Eighthly a helping card system should be imposed to collect the

relief so that one family cannot enjoy the relief more than once

while other do not even get chance to get any relief

Ninthly the policy makers should address gender in every section

of its policy so that women can at least ask for their rights

mentioned in the policy If the policy do not include gender

perspective then it will be hard to ask for womenrsquos rights during

and after climate changersquos effects

62

Tenthly local administration system should be more liberal

towards women after any natural disaster because most women often

avoid the judgment in fear of losing their dignity honor and

reputation All their information should be kept confidential and

they should not get scolded for being women instead of getting

justice If possible then the judgment process should be arranged

with female judge and in confidential premises

Besides a regional cooperation like SAARC Framework for Action

should be more active in climate change as well as gender issue

Also the international and national institutions should jointly

design the climate change policies for better output

Further participation of women during the policy making and

strategy setting should also be increased for better

understanding about gender specific vulnerability

Additionally awareness among the women of our country should be

build through mechanisms like conducting research projects on the

improvement of gender issue in climate change policy

Moreover awareness building through broadcasting different

programs related to climate change and its effects on gender can

also be much helpful

63

Finally and most importantly reducing corruption from every

level to implement fair policies is very much important to ensure

gender right in climate change policies

In the end it is important to address that suggesting and

recommending is easier than working in the ground level Experts

and academicians should break this boundary of just giving advice

sitting in a comfortable atmosphere and come out to the ground to

work with policy makers

15 Concluding Remarks In conclusion again it is important to add that although there

are so many national regional and international policies as well

as organizations working on climate change issue considering

gender they are hardly able to enforce those policies in real

aspect UNDP UNFCCC BCCSAP NAPA and government itself is

working on gender sensitive policy making for climate change but

it is well-known already that the most crucial part is the proper

implementation of the policies at the time of climate change

related hazards Forming successful gender responsive frame in

climate change policy is important but more important is to

impose them with what they actually need for their long survival

Creating awareness among the victim women wonrsquot work in this

regard because they are so helpless poor and liable to their

families that their realization is fruitless till they get enough

financial and fundamental support Successfully providing the

64

supports to the victims during climate hazards has become very

difficult because of corruption at different level of

distribution Government need to reshape its distribution system

to reduce chance of corruption Government and other concerned

NGOs need to distinguish the factors where women are more

vulnerable than men The policies should be made and reshaped

focusing on dealing with those areas At the very end it must be

included that the climate change policies are much more aware

about gender issue than it was before and hoping for more

advancement of these gender supportive climate change policies in

real scenario

65

The End

Annexes Annex 1- Questionnaire

Basic Information

DatePlaceNameAgeMarital StatusFamily MemberIncome Source

1 What type of natural hazards did u face

i) Flood and

Heavy

ii) drought iii) river

erosion

iv) Others

66

Rainfall2 Have you ever received any kind of training to deal with the

challenge of these natural hazards

i)Yes ii) No3 Did any NGO help you in the post-disaster period

i)Yes ii) No4 Have you got any financial support from any organization or

foreign aid

i)Yes ii) No5 In case of your losing shelter what support did you get for

instant accommodation

rarr

6 Did you receive any permanent or long term support or

alternative earning source in case of losing livelihood due

to that disaster

i)Yes ii) No7 Did that disaster forced you to stop your childrenrsquos

schooling

i) Yes ii) No8 In case of women losing their earning or having physical

damage what problems did you face for livelihoods

rarr

9 In case of physical damage did they receive proper

treatment and financial recovery

67

i)Yes ii) No10 Aged women who are incapable of working did they

receive enoughextra support

i)Yes ii) No11 Did you receive any hygienic food and water support to

prevent disease from unhygienic

i)Yes ii) No12 While receiving a foreign aid do you feel deprived of

comparing to men In which ways

rarr

13 At the post-disaster period had you ever seek for the

support of the local settlementgovernmental arbitration

process for any kind of domestic violence

i)Yes ii) No14 If yes then do you think that the judgment deprived

you because of your gender

i)Yes ii) No15 Did any NGO or international organization support you

to get fair judgment

i)Yes ii) No16 In post disaster situation how did your family

distribute the inheritance (if any) among the female member

of your family

68

rarr

17 Did the female member of your family had any

sayingrole in the decision making process regarding the

distribution of inheritance

i)Yes ii) No18 According to you what type of program can government

or NGO take to assist you to recover during and after the

climate hazards

rarr

Annenx 2 Expert Interviews

i) Bushra H Chowdhury

Water is mostly important in womenrsquos life So water policy is

needed to be gender responsive Department of disaster management

should combine their ideas with water management board In

climate change policies there are lack of farsightedness expert

opinion cooperation coordination among experts and policy

makers etc Corruption in every level is the main barrier to

success in this regard Local government NGOs government

policy makers and experts should combine their ideas and

experiences to reach any conclusion Policy formulation is a long

process so long term and short term goal should be arranged

More experts are needed in policy making process It is important

69

to evaluate why NGOs are less corrupted than government

officials Pre-planning for town and village is important NGOs

and government should arrange annual reporting system to evaluate

their progress

ii) Sharmind Neelromi

The reason behind climate change is very important to understand

Whether it is because of global warming environmental

degradation environmental pollution through human activities or

it is a result of environmental politics There are two types of

climate hazards such as slow on-set (water logging drought sea

level rise etc) and quick on-set (flood cyclone etc) We also

have to understand that the vulnerabilities of women are because

of climate change or something else Climate change adaptation is

a pro-active approach and a development issue In this regard an

analytical framework is important to design to reach any targeted

goal

70

16 Bibliography

Ahmed A U Neelormi S Adri N et Al (2009) Climate ChangeGender and Vulnerable Groups in Bangladesh Climate Change CellDepartment of Environment Ministry of Environment and ForestsRetrieved on September 7 2013 from httpwwwCCGenderVG_Jan09pdf

Ahmed N (2012) Gender and Climate Change in Bangladesh TheRole of Institutions in Reducing Gender Gaps in AdaptationProgram The World BankRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwww-wdsworldbankorgexternaldefaultWDSContentServerWDSPIB20120404000333038_20120404010647RenderedPDF678200NWP0P1250C0in0Bangladesh0web2pdf

Akter T (2009) Climate Change and Flow of EnvironmentalDisplacement in Bangladesh Unnayan Onneshan-The InnovatorsRetrieved on September 28 2013 fromhttpswwwunnayanorgclimate_change_flow_environmental_displacementpdf

Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion inClimate Change Adaptation ADBI Working Paper 309 Tokyo AsianDevelopment Bank InstituteRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf

Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009 Ministryof Environment and Forest Government of the Peoples Republic ofBangladesh Dhaka Bangladesh

71

ldquoWhat modifications do these policies required to prevent the climate

change impacts on women of our countryrdquo

13 Required Improvements for the PoliciesAlthough government have taken so much initiatives to respond to

climate change considering gender issue there is still lack of

coordination among the institutional bodies to supervise its

policies and action plan Therefore lots of improvement is needed

to meet the future challenges For future advancement of the

climate change policies regarding gender this research included

two section of recommendation which will include both expertrsquos

suggestion and overall realization of the research

Expertrsquos Suggestions

Bushra H Chowdhury suggested the following steps-

i) Union parishad and local level official should

participate in the policy making process as they have

deeper understanding about their local environments and

problems faced by women during climate hazards

ii) NGOrsquos can also raise awareness among the people as well

as among the policy makers to formulate more efficient

policy

iii) Government as well as NGOrsquos should negotiate with the

foreign investor as there is lack of fund regarding

gender in climate change

59

iv) More experts and government NGOs and academics should

come along with the policy makers and increase

cooperation among them for policy implications

v) Pre-planning for towns and village separately is also

needed for effective policy implication

vi) Disaster management department as well as the water

development board should combine their works to form more

efficient gender responsive climate change policy

vii) Short term and long term policies should be distinguished

for priority setting during climate hazards

Sharmind Neelromi also recommended some important steps-

viii) The climate hazards should be defined as slow onset or

quick onset and then the policies should be following

that category of hazard

ix) Before policy design for any climate hazard policy makers

need to understand whether the hazards caused by climate

change or other environmental politics For instance the

water damn imposed by India causes flood in our country

x) An analytical framework and a goal point should be

prepared by the policy makers so that the target seems

clearer to reach

14 Recommendation from Research Findings

60

Throughout the research there are different issues catching our

concentration to develop in future In this regard a list of

recommendation founded by the research is specified below

Firstly from the survey result it can be easily realized that

income source should be arranged for the women and their family

member whenever they suffer any climate hazards

Secondly proper shelter home should be build instead of using

schools as shelter home which has not proper sanitation and other

arrangements

Thirdly there should be proper helping hand and income source

for those women who are victimized by river bank erosion for

their resettlement Mechanism to protect their physical and

mental security is also necessary Fourthly only NAPA has adopted immediate action policy for

climate hazards Therefore it is significant to ensure that other

policies should also adopt immediate action mechanism to reduce

the vulnerability rate

Fifthly proper monitoring of local government like chairman is

another important requirement of the interviewees while

distributing the foods and other services Nurzahan (48) informed

that

61

ldquotaka poisa ja ase sob chairman nije ar tar logjon er moddhe vagavagi koira ney

amago kichui dey nardquo(Chairman distributes all the funds among his

near and dear ones and deprive us from everything)

Sixthly arrangement of local volunteer to distribute the foods

and reliefs among the women of vulnerable areas as the local

people are much acknowledged about the actual sufferer

Seventhly setting priority is also another requirement of the

interviewed victims as they do not get help or relief according

to their needs For instance when families need to repair their

roof they are getting fund for foods or health services and the

amount of the fund is very low that it can hardly help the

sufferers

Eighthly a helping card system should be imposed to collect the

relief so that one family cannot enjoy the relief more than once

while other do not even get chance to get any relief

Ninthly the policy makers should address gender in every section

of its policy so that women can at least ask for their rights

mentioned in the policy If the policy do not include gender

perspective then it will be hard to ask for womenrsquos rights during

and after climate changersquos effects

62

Tenthly local administration system should be more liberal

towards women after any natural disaster because most women often

avoid the judgment in fear of losing their dignity honor and

reputation All their information should be kept confidential and

they should not get scolded for being women instead of getting

justice If possible then the judgment process should be arranged

with female judge and in confidential premises

Besides a regional cooperation like SAARC Framework for Action

should be more active in climate change as well as gender issue

Also the international and national institutions should jointly

design the climate change policies for better output

Further participation of women during the policy making and

strategy setting should also be increased for better

understanding about gender specific vulnerability

Additionally awareness among the women of our country should be

build through mechanisms like conducting research projects on the

improvement of gender issue in climate change policy

Moreover awareness building through broadcasting different

programs related to climate change and its effects on gender can

also be much helpful

63

Finally and most importantly reducing corruption from every

level to implement fair policies is very much important to ensure

gender right in climate change policies

In the end it is important to address that suggesting and

recommending is easier than working in the ground level Experts

and academicians should break this boundary of just giving advice

sitting in a comfortable atmosphere and come out to the ground to

work with policy makers

15 Concluding Remarks In conclusion again it is important to add that although there

are so many national regional and international policies as well

as organizations working on climate change issue considering

gender they are hardly able to enforce those policies in real

aspect UNDP UNFCCC BCCSAP NAPA and government itself is

working on gender sensitive policy making for climate change but

it is well-known already that the most crucial part is the proper

implementation of the policies at the time of climate change

related hazards Forming successful gender responsive frame in

climate change policy is important but more important is to

impose them with what they actually need for their long survival

Creating awareness among the victim women wonrsquot work in this

regard because they are so helpless poor and liable to their

families that their realization is fruitless till they get enough

financial and fundamental support Successfully providing the

64

supports to the victims during climate hazards has become very

difficult because of corruption at different level of

distribution Government need to reshape its distribution system

to reduce chance of corruption Government and other concerned

NGOs need to distinguish the factors where women are more

vulnerable than men The policies should be made and reshaped

focusing on dealing with those areas At the very end it must be

included that the climate change policies are much more aware

about gender issue than it was before and hoping for more

advancement of these gender supportive climate change policies in

real scenario

65

The End

Annexes Annex 1- Questionnaire

Basic Information

DatePlaceNameAgeMarital StatusFamily MemberIncome Source

1 What type of natural hazards did u face

i) Flood and

Heavy

ii) drought iii) river

erosion

iv) Others

66

Rainfall2 Have you ever received any kind of training to deal with the

challenge of these natural hazards

i)Yes ii) No3 Did any NGO help you in the post-disaster period

i)Yes ii) No4 Have you got any financial support from any organization or

foreign aid

i)Yes ii) No5 In case of your losing shelter what support did you get for

instant accommodation

rarr

6 Did you receive any permanent or long term support or

alternative earning source in case of losing livelihood due

to that disaster

i)Yes ii) No7 Did that disaster forced you to stop your childrenrsquos

schooling

i) Yes ii) No8 In case of women losing their earning or having physical

damage what problems did you face for livelihoods

rarr

9 In case of physical damage did they receive proper

treatment and financial recovery

67

i)Yes ii) No10 Aged women who are incapable of working did they

receive enoughextra support

i)Yes ii) No11 Did you receive any hygienic food and water support to

prevent disease from unhygienic

i)Yes ii) No12 While receiving a foreign aid do you feel deprived of

comparing to men In which ways

rarr

13 At the post-disaster period had you ever seek for the

support of the local settlementgovernmental arbitration

process for any kind of domestic violence

i)Yes ii) No14 If yes then do you think that the judgment deprived

you because of your gender

i)Yes ii) No15 Did any NGO or international organization support you

to get fair judgment

i)Yes ii) No16 In post disaster situation how did your family

distribute the inheritance (if any) among the female member

of your family

68

rarr

17 Did the female member of your family had any

sayingrole in the decision making process regarding the

distribution of inheritance

i)Yes ii) No18 According to you what type of program can government

or NGO take to assist you to recover during and after the

climate hazards

rarr

Annenx 2 Expert Interviews

i) Bushra H Chowdhury

Water is mostly important in womenrsquos life So water policy is

needed to be gender responsive Department of disaster management

should combine their ideas with water management board In

climate change policies there are lack of farsightedness expert

opinion cooperation coordination among experts and policy

makers etc Corruption in every level is the main barrier to

success in this regard Local government NGOs government

policy makers and experts should combine their ideas and

experiences to reach any conclusion Policy formulation is a long

process so long term and short term goal should be arranged

More experts are needed in policy making process It is important

69

to evaluate why NGOs are less corrupted than government

officials Pre-planning for town and village is important NGOs

and government should arrange annual reporting system to evaluate

their progress

ii) Sharmind Neelromi

The reason behind climate change is very important to understand

Whether it is because of global warming environmental

degradation environmental pollution through human activities or

it is a result of environmental politics There are two types of

climate hazards such as slow on-set (water logging drought sea

level rise etc) and quick on-set (flood cyclone etc) We also

have to understand that the vulnerabilities of women are because

of climate change or something else Climate change adaptation is

a pro-active approach and a development issue In this regard an

analytical framework is important to design to reach any targeted

goal

70

16 Bibliography

Ahmed A U Neelormi S Adri N et Al (2009) Climate ChangeGender and Vulnerable Groups in Bangladesh Climate Change CellDepartment of Environment Ministry of Environment and ForestsRetrieved on September 7 2013 from httpwwwCCGenderVG_Jan09pdf

Ahmed N (2012) Gender and Climate Change in Bangladesh TheRole of Institutions in Reducing Gender Gaps in AdaptationProgram The World BankRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwww-wdsworldbankorgexternaldefaultWDSContentServerWDSPIB20120404000333038_20120404010647RenderedPDF678200NWP0P1250C0in0Bangladesh0web2pdf

Akter T (2009) Climate Change and Flow of EnvironmentalDisplacement in Bangladesh Unnayan Onneshan-The InnovatorsRetrieved on September 28 2013 fromhttpswwwunnayanorgclimate_change_flow_environmental_displacementpdf

Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion inClimate Change Adaptation ADBI Working Paper 309 Tokyo AsianDevelopment Bank InstituteRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf

Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009 Ministryof Environment and Forest Government of the Peoples Republic ofBangladesh Dhaka Bangladesh

71

iv) More experts and government NGOs and academics should

come along with the policy makers and increase

cooperation among them for policy implications

v) Pre-planning for towns and village separately is also

needed for effective policy implication

vi) Disaster management department as well as the water

development board should combine their works to form more

efficient gender responsive climate change policy

vii) Short term and long term policies should be distinguished

for priority setting during climate hazards

Sharmind Neelromi also recommended some important steps-

viii) The climate hazards should be defined as slow onset or

quick onset and then the policies should be following

that category of hazard

ix) Before policy design for any climate hazard policy makers

need to understand whether the hazards caused by climate

change or other environmental politics For instance the

water damn imposed by India causes flood in our country

x) An analytical framework and a goal point should be

prepared by the policy makers so that the target seems

clearer to reach

14 Recommendation from Research Findings

60

Throughout the research there are different issues catching our

concentration to develop in future In this regard a list of

recommendation founded by the research is specified below

Firstly from the survey result it can be easily realized that

income source should be arranged for the women and their family

member whenever they suffer any climate hazards

Secondly proper shelter home should be build instead of using

schools as shelter home which has not proper sanitation and other

arrangements

Thirdly there should be proper helping hand and income source

for those women who are victimized by river bank erosion for

their resettlement Mechanism to protect their physical and

mental security is also necessary Fourthly only NAPA has adopted immediate action policy for

climate hazards Therefore it is significant to ensure that other

policies should also adopt immediate action mechanism to reduce

the vulnerability rate

Fifthly proper monitoring of local government like chairman is

another important requirement of the interviewees while

distributing the foods and other services Nurzahan (48) informed

that

61

ldquotaka poisa ja ase sob chairman nije ar tar logjon er moddhe vagavagi koira ney

amago kichui dey nardquo(Chairman distributes all the funds among his

near and dear ones and deprive us from everything)

Sixthly arrangement of local volunteer to distribute the foods

and reliefs among the women of vulnerable areas as the local

people are much acknowledged about the actual sufferer

Seventhly setting priority is also another requirement of the

interviewed victims as they do not get help or relief according

to their needs For instance when families need to repair their

roof they are getting fund for foods or health services and the

amount of the fund is very low that it can hardly help the

sufferers

Eighthly a helping card system should be imposed to collect the

relief so that one family cannot enjoy the relief more than once

while other do not even get chance to get any relief

Ninthly the policy makers should address gender in every section

of its policy so that women can at least ask for their rights

mentioned in the policy If the policy do not include gender

perspective then it will be hard to ask for womenrsquos rights during

and after climate changersquos effects

62

Tenthly local administration system should be more liberal

towards women after any natural disaster because most women often

avoid the judgment in fear of losing their dignity honor and

reputation All their information should be kept confidential and

they should not get scolded for being women instead of getting

justice If possible then the judgment process should be arranged

with female judge and in confidential premises

Besides a regional cooperation like SAARC Framework for Action

should be more active in climate change as well as gender issue

Also the international and national institutions should jointly

design the climate change policies for better output

Further participation of women during the policy making and

strategy setting should also be increased for better

understanding about gender specific vulnerability

Additionally awareness among the women of our country should be

build through mechanisms like conducting research projects on the

improvement of gender issue in climate change policy

Moreover awareness building through broadcasting different

programs related to climate change and its effects on gender can

also be much helpful

63

Finally and most importantly reducing corruption from every

level to implement fair policies is very much important to ensure

gender right in climate change policies

In the end it is important to address that suggesting and

recommending is easier than working in the ground level Experts

and academicians should break this boundary of just giving advice

sitting in a comfortable atmosphere and come out to the ground to

work with policy makers

15 Concluding Remarks In conclusion again it is important to add that although there

are so many national regional and international policies as well

as organizations working on climate change issue considering

gender they are hardly able to enforce those policies in real

aspect UNDP UNFCCC BCCSAP NAPA and government itself is

working on gender sensitive policy making for climate change but

it is well-known already that the most crucial part is the proper

implementation of the policies at the time of climate change

related hazards Forming successful gender responsive frame in

climate change policy is important but more important is to

impose them with what they actually need for their long survival

Creating awareness among the victim women wonrsquot work in this

regard because they are so helpless poor and liable to their

families that their realization is fruitless till they get enough

financial and fundamental support Successfully providing the

64

supports to the victims during climate hazards has become very

difficult because of corruption at different level of

distribution Government need to reshape its distribution system

to reduce chance of corruption Government and other concerned

NGOs need to distinguish the factors where women are more

vulnerable than men The policies should be made and reshaped

focusing on dealing with those areas At the very end it must be

included that the climate change policies are much more aware

about gender issue than it was before and hoping for more

advancement of these gender supportive climate change policies in

real scenario

65

The End

Annexes Annex 1- Questionnaire

Basic Information

DatePlaceNameAgeMarital StatusFamily MemberIncome Source

1 What type of natural hazards did u face

i) Flood and

Heavy

ii) drought iii) river

erosion

iv) Others

66

Rainfall2 Have you ever received any kind of training to deal with the

challenge of these natural hazards

i)Yes ii) No3 Did any NGO help you in the post-disaster period

i)Yes ii) No4 Have you got any financial support from any organization or

foreign aid

i)Yes ii) No5 In case of your losing shelter what support did you get for

instant accommodation

rarr

6 Did you receive any permanent or long term support or

alternative earning source in case of losing livelihood due

to that disaster

i)Yes ii) No7 Did that disaster forced you to stop your childrenrsquos

schooling

i) Yes ii) No8 In case of women losing their earning or having physical

damage what problems did you face for livelihoods

rarr

9 In case of physical damage did they receive proper

treatment and financial recovery

67

i)Yes ii) No10 Aged women who are incapable of working did they

receive enoughextra support

i)Yes ii) No11 Did you receive any hygienic food and water support to

prevent disease from unhygienic

i)Yes ii) No12 While receiving a foreign aid do you feel deprived of

comparing to men In which ways

rarr

13 At the post-disaster period had you ever seek for the

support of the local settlementgovernmental arbitration

process for any kind of domestic violence

i)Yes ii) No14 If yes then do you think that the judgment deprived

you because of your gender

i)Yes ii) No15 Did any NGO or international organization support you

to get fair judgment

i)Yes ii) No16 In post disaster situation how did your family

distribute the inheritance (if any) among the female member

of your family

68

rarr

17 Did the female member of your family had any

sayingrole in the decision making process regarding the

distribution of inheritance

i)Yes ii) No18 According to you what type of program can government

or NGO take to assist you to recover during and after the

climate hazards

rarr

Annenx 2 Expert Interviews

i) Bushra H Chowdhury

Water is mostly important in womenrsquos life So water policy is

needed to be gender responsive Department of disaster management

should combine their ideas with water management board In

climate change policies there are lack of farsightedness expert

opinion cooperation coordination among experts and policy

makers etc Corruption in every level is the main barrier to

success in this regard Local government NGOs government

policy makers and experts should combine their ideas and

experiences to reach any conclusion Policy formulation is a long

process so long term and short term goal should be arranged

More experts are needed in policy making process It is important

69

to evaluate why NGOs are less corrupted than government

officials Pre-planning for town and village is important NGOs

and government should arrange annual reporting system to evaluate

their progress

ii) Sharmind Neelromi

The reason behind climate change is very important to understand

Whether it is because of global warming environmental

degradation environmental pollution through human activities or

it is a result of environmental politics There are two types of

climate hazards such as slow on-set (water logging drought sea

level rise etc) and quick on-set (flood cyclone etc) We also

have to understand that the vulnerabilities of women are because

of climate change or something else Climate change adaptation is

a pro-active approach and a development issue In this regard an

analytical framework is important to design to reach any targeted

goal

70

16 Bibliography

Ahmed A U Neelormi S Adri N et Al (2009) Climate ChangeGender and Vulnerable Groups in Bangladesh Climate Change CellDepartment of Environment Ministry of Environment and ForestsRetrieved on September 7 2013 from httpwwwCCGenderVG_Jan09pdf

Ahmed N (2012) Gender and Climate Change in Bangladesh TheRole of Institutions in Reducing Gender Gaps in AdaptationProgram The World BankRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwww-wdsworldbankorgexternaldefaultWDSContentServerWDSPIB20120404000333038_20120404010647RenderedPDF678200NWP0P1250C0in0Bangladesh0web2pdf

Akter T (2009) Climate Change and Flow of EnvironmentalDisplacement in Bangladesh Unnayan Onneshan-The InnovatorsRetrieved on September 28 2013 fromhttpswwwunnayanorgclimate_change_flow_environmental_displacementpdf

Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion inClimate Change Adaptation ADBI Working Paper 309 Tokyo AsianDevelopment Bank InstituteRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf

Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009 Ministryof Environment and Forest Government of the Peoples Republic ofBangladesh Dhaka Bangladesh

71

Throughout the research there are different issues catching our

concentration to develop in future In this regard a list of

recommendation founded by the research is specified below

Firstly from the survey result it can be easily realized that

income source should be arranged for the women and their family

member whenever they suffer any climate hazards

Secondly proper shelter home should be build instead of using

schools as shelter home which has not proper sanitation and other

arrangements

Thirdly there should be proper helping hand and income source

for those women who are victimized by river bank erosion for

their resettlement Mechanism to protect their physical and

mental security is also necessary Fourthly only NAPA has adopted immediate action policy for

climate hazards Therefore it is significant to ensure that other

policies should also adopt immediate action mechanism to reduce

the vulnerability rate

Fifthly proper monitoring of local government like chairman is

another important requirement of the interviewees while

distributing the foods and other services Nurzahan (48) informed

that

61

ldquotaka poisa ja ase sob chairman nije ar tar logjon er moddhe vagavagi koira ney

amago kichui dey nardquo(Chairman distributes all the funds among his

near and dear ones and deprive us from everything)

Sixthly arrangement of local volunteer to distribute the foods

and reliefs among the women of vulnerable areas as the local

people are much acknowledged about the actual sufferer

Seventhly setting priority is also another requirement of the

interviewed victims as they do not get help or relief according

to their needs For instance when families need to repair their

roof they are getting fund for foods or health services and the

amount of the fund is very low that it can hardly help the

sufferers

Eighthly a helping card system should be imposed to collect the

relief so that one family cannot enjoy the relief more than once

while other do not even get chance to get any relief

Ninthly the policy makers should address gender in every section

of its policy so that women can at least ask for their rights

mentioned in the policy If the policy do not include gender

perspective then it will be hard to ask for womenrsquos rights during

and after climate changersquos effects

62

Tenthly local administration system should be more liberal

towards women after any natural disaster because most women often

avoid the judgment in fear of losing their dignity honor and

reputation All their information should be kept confidential and

they should not get scolded for being women instead of getting

justice If possible then the judgment process should be arranged

with female judge and in confidential premises

Besides a regional cooperation like SAARC Framework for Action

should be more active in climate change as well as gender issue

Also the international and national institutions should jointly

design the climate change policies for better output

Further participation of women during the policy making and

strategy setting should also be increased for better

understanding about gender specific vulnerability

Additionally awareness among the women of our country should be

build through mechanisms like conducting research projects on the

improvement of gender issue in climate change policy

Moreover awareness building through broadcasting different

programs related to climate change and its effects on gender can

also be much helpful

63

Finally and most importantly reducing corruption from every

level to implement fair policies is very much important to ensure

gender right in climate change policies

In the end it is important to address that suggesting and

recommending is easier than working in the ground level Experts

and academicians should break this boundary of just giving advice

sitting in a comfortable atmosphere and come out to the ground to

work with policy makers

15 Concluding Remarks In conclusion again it is important to add that although there

are so many national regional and international policies as well

as organizations working on climate change issue considering

gender they are hardly able to enforce those policies in real

aspect UNDP UNFCCC BCCSAP NAPA and government itself is

working on gender sensitive policy making for climate change but

it is well-known already that the most crucial part is the proper

implementation of the policies at the time of climate change

related hazards Forming successful gender responsive frame in

climate change policy is important but more important is to

impose them with what they actually need for their long survival

Creating awareness among the victim women wonrsquot work in this

regard because they are so helpless poor and liable to their

families that their realization is fruitless till they get enough

financial and fundamental support Successfully providing the

64

supports to the victims during climate hazards has become very

difficult because of corruption at different level of

distribution Government need to reshape its distribution system

to reduce chance of corruption Government and other concerned

NGOs need to distinguish the factors where women are more

vulnerable than men The policies should be made and reshaped

focusing on dealing with those areas At the very end it must be

included that the climate change policies are much more aware

about gender issue than it was before and hoping for more

advancement of these gender supportive climate change policies in

real scenario

65

The End

Annexes Annex 1- Questionnaire

Basic Information

DatePlaceNameAgeMarital StatusFamily MemberIncome Source

1 What type of natural hazards did u face

i) Flood and

Heavy

ii) drought iii) river

erosion

iv) Others

66

Rainfall2 Have you ever received any kind of training to deal with the

challenge of these natural hazards

i)Yes ii) No3 Did any NGO help you in the post-disaster period

i)Yes ii) No4 Have you got any financial support from any organization or

foreign aid

i)Yes ii) No5 In case of your losing shelter what support did you get for

instant accommodation

rarr

6 Did you receive any permanent or long term support or

alternative earning source in case of losing livelihood due

to that disaster

i)Yes ii) No7 Did that disaster forced you to stop your childrenrsquos

schooling

i) Yes ii) No8 In case of women losing their earning or having physical

damage what problems did you face for livelihoods

rarr

9 In case of physical damage did they receive proper

treatment and financial recovery

67

i)Yes ii) No10 Aged women who are incapable of working did they

receive enoughextra support

i)Yes ii) No11 Did you receive any hygienic food and water support to

prevent disease from unhygienic

i)Yes ii) No12 While receiving a foreign aid do you feel deprived of

comparing to men In which ways

rarr

13 At the post-disaster period had you ever seek for the

support of the local settlementgovernmental arbitration

process for any kind of domestic violence

i)Yes ii) No14 If yes then do you think that the judgment deprived

you because of your gender

i)Yes ii) No15 Did any NGO or international organization support you

to get fair judgment

i)Yes ii) No16 In post disaster situation how did your family

distribute the inheritance (if any) among the female member

of your family

68

rarr

17 Did the female member of your family had any

sayingrole in the decision making process regarding the

distribution of inheritance

i)Yes ii) No18 According to you what type of program can government

or NGO take to assist you to recover during and after the

climate hazards

rarr

Annenx 2 Expert Interviews

i) Bushra H Chowdhury

Water is mostly important in womenrsquos life So water policy is

needed to be gender responsive Department of disaster management

should combine their ideas with water management board In

climate change policies there are lack of farsightedness expert

opinion cooperation coordination among experts and policy

makers etc Corruption in every level is the main barrier to

success in this regard Local government NGOs government

policy makers and experts should combine their ideas and

experiences to reach any conclusion Policy formulation is a long

process so long term and short term goal should be arranged

More experts are needed in policy making process It is important

69

to evaluate why NGOs are less corrupted than government

officials Pre-planning for town and village is important NGOs

and government should arrange annual reporting system to evaluate

their progress

ii) Sharmind Neelromi

The reason behind climate change is very important to understand

Whether it is because of global warming environmental

degradation environmental pollution through human activities or

it is a result of environmental politics There are two types of

climate hazards such as slow on-set (water logging drought sea

level rise etc) and quick on-set (flood cyclone etc) We also

have to understand that the vulnerabilities of women are because

of climate change or something else Climate change adaptation is

a pro-active approach and a development issue In this regard an

analytical framework is important to design to reach any targeted

goal

70

16 Bibliography

Ahmed A U Neelormi S Adri N et Al (2009) Climate ChangeGender and Vulnerable Groups in Bangladesh Climate Change CellDepartment of Environment Ministry of Environment and ForestsRetrieved on September 7 2013 from httpwwwCCGenderVG_Jan09pdf

Ahmed N (2012) Gender and Climate Change in Bangladesh TheRole of Institutions in Reducing Gender Gaps in AdaptationProgram The World BankRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwww-wdsworldbankorgexternaldefaultWDSContentServerWDSPIB20120404000333038_20120404010647RenderedPDF678200NWP0P1250C0in0Bangladesh0web2pdf

Akter T (2009) Climate Change and Flow of EnvironmentalDisplacement in Bangladesh Unnayan Onneshan-The InnovatorsRetrieved on September 28 2013 fromhttpswwwunnayanorgclimate_change_flow_environmental_displacementpdf

Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion inClimate Change Adaptation ADBI Working Paper 309 Tokyo AsianDevelopment Bank InstituteRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf

Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009 Ministryof Environment and Forest Government of the Peoples Republic ofBangladesh Dhaka Bangladesh

71

ldquotaka poisa ja ase sob chairman nije ar tar logjon er moddhe vagavagi koira ney

amago kichui dey nardquo(Chairman distributes all the funds among his

near and dear ones and deprive us from everything)

Sixthly arrangement of local volunteer to distribute the foods

and reliefs among the women of vulnerable areas as the local

people are much acknowledged about the actual sufferer

Seventhly setting priority is also another requirement of the

interviewed victims as they do not get help or relief according

to their needs For instance when families need to repair their

roof they are getting fund for foods or health services and the

amount of the fund is very low that it can hardly help the

sufferers

Eighthly a helping card system should be imposed to collect the

relief so that one family cannot enjoy the relief more than once

while other do not even get chance to get any relief

Ninthly the policy makers should address gender in every section

of its policy so that women can at least ask for their rights

mentioned in the policy If the policy do not include gender

perspective then it will be hard to ask for womenrsquos rights during

and after climate changersquos effects

62

Tenthly local administration system should be more liberal

towards women after any natural disaster because most women often

avoid the judgment in fear of losing their dignity honor and

reputation All their information should be kept confidential and

they should not get scolded for being women instead of getting

justice If possible then the judgment process should be arranged

with female judge and in confidential premises

Besides a regional cooperation like SAARC Framework for Action

should be more active in climate change as well as gender issue

Also the international and national institutions should jointly

design the climate change policies for better output

Further participation of women during the policy making and

strategy setting should also be increased for better

understanding about gender specific vulnerability

Additionally awareness among the women of our country should be

build through mechanisms like conducting research projects on the

improvement of gender issue in climate change policy

Moreover awareness building through broadcasting different

programs related to climate change and its effects on gender can

also be much helpful

63

Finally and most importantly reducing corruption from every

level to implement fair policies is very much important to ensure

gender right in climate change policies

In the end it is important to address that suggesting and

recommending is easier than working in the ground level Experts

and academicians should break this boundary of just giving advice

sitting in a comfortable atmosphere and come out to the ground to

work with policy makers

15 Concluding Remarks In conclusion again it is important to add that although there

are so many national regional and international policies as well

as organizations working on climate change issue considering

gender they are hardly able to enforce those policies in real

aspect UNDP UNFCCC BCCSAP NAPA and government itself is

working on gender sensitive policy making for climate change but

it is well-known already that the most crucial part is the proper

implementation of the policies at the time of climate change

related hazards Forming successful gender responsive frame in

climate change policy is important but more important is to

impose them with what they actually need for their long survival

Creating awareness among the victim women wonrsquot work in this

regard because they are so helpless poor and liable to their

families that their realization is fruitless till they get enough

financial and fundamental support Successfully providing the

64

supports to the victims during climate hazards has become very

difficult because of corruption at different level of

distribution Government need to reshape its distribution system

to reduce chance of corruption Government and other concerned

NGOs need to distinguish the factors where women are more

vulnerable than men The policies should be made and reshaped

focusing on dealing with those areas At the very end it must be

included that the climate change policies are much more aware

about gender issue than it was before and hoping for more

advancement of these gender supportive climate change policies in

real scenario

65

The End

Annexes Annex 1- Questionnaire

Basic Information

DatePlaceNameAgeMarital StatusFamily MemberIncome Source

1 What type of natural hazards did u face

i) Flood and

Heavy

ii) drought iii) river

erosion

iv) Others

66

Rainfall2 Have you ever received any kind of training to deal with the

challenge of these natural hazards

i)Yes ii) No3 Did any NGO help you in the post-disaster period

i)Yes ii) No4 Have you got any financial support from any organization or

foreign aid

i)Yes ii) No5 In case of your losing shelter what support did you get for

instant accommodation

rarr

6 Did you receive any permanent or long term support or

alternative earning source in case of losing livelihood due

to that disaster

i)Yes ii) No7 Did that disaster forced you to stop your childrenrsquos

schooling

i) Yes ii) No8 In case of women losing their earning or having physical

damage what problems did you face for livelihoods

rarr

9 In case of physical damage did they receive proper

treatment and financial recovery

67

i)Yes ii) No10 Aged women who are incapable of working did they

receive enoughextra support

i)Yes ii) No11 Did you receive any hygienic food and water support to

prevent disease from unhygienic

i)Yes ii) No12 While receiving a foreign aid do you feel deprived of

comparing to men In which ways

rarr

13 At the post-disaster period had you ever seek for the

support of the local settlementgovernmental arbitration

process for any kind of domestic violence

i)Yes ii) No14 If yes then do you think that the judgment deprived

you because of your gender

i)Yes ii) No15 Did any NGO or international organization support you

to get fair judgment

i)Yes ii) No16 In post disaster situation how did your family

distribute the inheritance (if any) among the female member

of your family

68

rarr

17 Did the female member of your family had any

sayingrole in the decision making process regarding the

distribution of inheritance

i)Yes ii) No18 According to you what type of program can government

or NGO take to assist you to recover during and after the

climate hazards

rarr

Annenx 2 Expert Interviews

i) Bushra H Chowdhury

Water is mostly important in womenrsquos life So water policy is

needed to be gender responsive Department of disaster management

should combine their ideas with water management board In

climate change policies there are lack of farsightedness expert

opinion cooperation coordination among experts and policy

makers etc Corruption in every level is the main barrier to

success in this regard Local government NGOs government

policy makers and experts should combine their ideas and

experiences to reach any conclusion Policy formulation is a long

process so long term and short term goal should be arranged

More experts are needed in policy making process It is important

69

to evaluate why NGOs are less corrupted than government

officials Pre-planning for town and village is important NGOs

and government should arrange annual reporting system to evaluate

their progress

ii) Sharmind Neelromi

The reason behind climate change is very important to understand

Whether it is because of global warming environmental

degradation environmental pollution through human activities or

it is a result of environmental politics There are two types of

climate hazards such as slow on-set (water logging drought sea

level rise etc) and quick on-set (flood cyclone etc) We also

have to understand that the vulnerabilities of women are because

of climate change or something else Climate change adaptation is

a pro-active approach and a development issue In this regard an

analytical framework is important to design to reach any targeted

goal

70

16 Bibliography

Ahmed A U Neelormi S Adri N et Al (2009) Climate ChangeGender and Vulnerable Groups in Bangladesh Climate Change CellDepartment of Environment Ministry of Environment and ForestsRetrieved on September 7 2013 from httpwwwCCGenderVG_Jan09pdf

Ahmed N (2012) Gender and Climate Change in Bangladesh TheRole of Institutions in Reducing Gender Gaps in AdaptationProgram The World BankRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwww-wdsworldbankorgexternaldefaultWDSContentServerWDSPIB20120404000333038_20120404010647RenderedPDF678200NWP0P1250C0in0Bangladesh0web2pdf

Akter T (2009) Climate Change and Flow of EnvironmentalDisplacement in Bangladesh Unnayan Onneshan-The InnovatorsRetrieved on September 28 2013 fromhttpswwwunnayanorgclimate_change_flow_environmental_displacementpdf

Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion inClimate Change Adaptation ADBI Working Paper 309 Tokyo AsianDevelopment Bank InstituteRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf

Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009 Ministryof Environment and Forest Government of the Peoples Republic ofBangladesh Dhaka Bangladesh

71

Tenthly local administration system should be more liberal

towards women after any natural disaster because most women often

avoid the judgment in fear of losing their dignity honor and

reputation All their information should be kept confidential and

they should not get scolded for being women instead of getting

justice If possible then the judgment process should be arranged

with female judge and in confidential premises

Besides a regional cooperation like SAARC Framework for Action

should be more active in climate change as well as gender issue

Also the international and national institutions should jointly

design the climate change policies for better output

Further participation of women during the policy making and

strategy setting should also be increased for better

understanding about gender specific vulnerability

Additionally awareness among the women of our country should be

build through mechanisms like conducting research projects on the

improvement of gender issue in climate change policy

Moreover awareness building through broadcasting different

programs related to climate change and its effects on gender can

also be much helpful

63

Finally and most importantly reducing corruption from every

level to implement fair policies is very much important to ensure

gender right in climate change policies

In the end it is important to address that suggesting and

recommending is easier than working in the ground level Experts

and academicians should break this boundary of just giving advice

sitting in a comfortable atmosphere and come out to the ground to

work with policy makers

15 Concluding Remarks In conclusion again it is important to add that although there

are so many national regional and international policies as well

as organizations working on climate change issue considering

gender they are hardly able to enforce those policies in real

aspect UNDP UNFCCC BCCSAP NAPA and government itself is

working on gender sensitive policy making for climate change but

it is well-known already that the most crucial part is the proper

implementation of the policies at the time of climate change

related hazards Forming successful gender responsive frame in

climate change policy is important but more important is to

impose them with what they actually need for their long survival

Creating awareness among the victim women wonrsquot work in this

regard because they are so helpless poor and liable to their

families that their realization is fruitless till they get enough

financial and fundamental support Successfully providing the

64

supports to the victims during climate hazards has become very

difficult because of corruption at different level of

distribution Government need to reshape its distribution system

to reduce chance of corruption Government and other concerned

NGOs need to distinguish the factors where women are more

vulnerable than men The policies should be made and reshaped

focusing on dealing with those areas At the very end it must be

included that the climate change policies are much more aware

about gender issue than it was before and hoping for more

advancement of these gender supportive climate change policies in

real scenario

65

The End

Annexes Annex 1- Questionnaire

Basic Information

DatePlaceNameAgeMarital StatusFamily MemberIncome Source

1 What type of natural hazards did u face

i) Flood and

Heavy

ii) drought iii) river

erosion

iv) Others

66

Rainfall2 Have you ever received any kind of training to deal with the

challenge of these natural hazards

i)Yes ii) No3 Did any NGO help you in the post-disaster period

i)Yes ii) No4 Have you got any financial support from any organization or

foreign aid

i)Yes ii) No5 In case of your losing shelter what support did you get for

instant accommodation

rarr

6 Did you receive any permanent or long term support or

alternative earning source in case of losing livelihood due

to that disaster

i)Yes ii) No7 Did that disaster forced you to stop your childrenrsquos

schooling

i) Yes ii) No8 In case of women losing their earning or having physical

damage what problems did you face for livelihoods

rarr

9 In case of physical damage did they receive proper

treatment and financial recovery

67

i)Yes ii) No10 Aged women who are incapable of working did they

receive enoughextra support

i)Yes ii) No11 Did you receive any hygienic food and water support to

prevent disease from unhygienic

i)Yes ii) No12 While receiving a foreign aid do you feel deprived of

comparing to men In which ways

rarr

13 At the post-disaster period had you ever seek for the

support of the local settlementgovernmental arbitration

process for any kind of domestic violence

i)Yes ii) No14 If yes then do you think that the judgment deprived

you because of your gender

i)Yes ii) No15 Did any NGO or international organization support you

to get fair judgment

i)Yes ii) No16 In post disaster situation how did your family

distribute the inheritance (if any) among the female member

of your family

68

rarr

17 Did the female member of your family had any

sayingrole in the decision making process regarding the

distribution of inheritance

i)Yes ii) No18 According to you what type of program can government

or NGO take to assist you to recover during and after the

climate hazards

rarr

Annenx 2 Expert Interviews

i) Bushra H Chowdhury

Water is mostly important in womenrsquos life So water policy is

needed to be gender responsive Department of disaster management

should combine their ideas with water management board In

climate change policies there are lack of farsightedness expert

opinion cooperation coordination among experts and policy

makers etc Corruption in every level is the main barrier to

success in this regard Local government NGOs government

policy makers and experts should combine their ideas and

experiences to reach any conclusion Policy formulation is a long

process so long term and short term goal should be arranged

More experts are needed in policy making process It is important

69

to evaluate why NGOs are less corrupted than government

officials Pre-planning for town and village is important NGOs

and government should arrange annual reporting system to evaluate

their progress

ii) Sharmind Neelromi

The reason behind climate change is very important to understand

Whether it is because of global warming environmental

degradation environmental pollution through human activities or

it is a result of environmental politics There are two types of

climate hazards such as slow on-set (water logging drought sea

level rise etc) and quick on-set (flood cyclone etc) We also

have to understand that the vulnerabilities of women are because

of climate change or something else Climate change adaptation is

a pro-active approach and a development issue In this regard an

analytical framework is important to design to reach any targeted

goal

70

16 Bibliography

Ahmed A U Neelormi S Adri N et Al (2009) Climate ChangeGender and Vulnerable Groups in Bangladesh Climate Change CellDepartment of Environment Ministry of Environment and ForestsRetrieved on September 7 2013 from httpwwwCCGenderVG_Jan09pdf

Ahmed N (2012) Gender and Climate Change in Bangladesh TheRole of Institutions in Reducing Gender Gaps in AdaptationProgram The World BankRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwww-wdsworldbankorgexternaldefaultWDSContentServerWDSPIB20120404000333038_20120404010647RenderedPDF678200NWP0P1250C0in0Bangladesh0web2pdf

Akter T (2009) Climate Change and Flow of EnvironmentalDisplacement in Bangladesh Unnayan Onneshan-The InnovatorsRetrieved on September 28 2013 fromhttpswwwunnayanorgclimate_change_flow_environmental_displacementpdf

Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion inClimate Change Adaptation ADBI Working Paper 309 Tokyo AsianDevelopment Bank InstituteRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf

Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009 Ministryof Environment and Forest Government of the Peoples Republic ofBangladesh Dhaka Bangladesh

71

Finally and most importantly reducing corruption from every

level to implement fair policies is very much important to ensure

gender right in climate change policies

In the end it is important to address that suggesting and

recommending is easier than working in the ground level Experts

and academicians should break this boundary of just giving advice

sitting in a comfortable atmosphere and come out to the ground to

work with policy makers

15 Concluding Remarks In conclusion again it is important to add that although there

are so many national regional and international policies as well

as organizations working on climate change issue considering

gender they are hardly able to enforce those policies in real

aspect UNDP UNFCCC BCCSAP NAPA and government itself is

working on gender sensitive policy making for climate change but

it is well-known already that the most crucial part is the proper

implementation of the policies at the time of climate change

related hazards Forming successful gender responsive frame in

climate change policy is important but more important is to

impose them with what they actually need for their long survival

Creating awareness among the victim women wonrsquot work in this

regard because they are so helpless poor and liable to their

families that their realization is fruitless till they get enough

financial and fundamental support Successfully providing the

64

supports to the victims during climate hazards has become very

difficult because of corruption at different level of

distribution Government need to reshape its distribution system

to reduce chance of corruption Government and other concerned

NGOs need to distinguish the factors where women are more

vulnerable than men The policies should be made and reshaped

focusing on dealing with those areas At the very end it must be

included that the climate change policies are much more aware

about gender issue than it was before and hoping for more

advancement of these gender supportive climate change policies in

real scenario

65

The End

Annexes Annex 1- Questionnaire

Basic Information

DatePlaceNameAgeMarital StatusFamily MemberIncome Source

1 What type of natural hazards did u face

i) Flood and

Heavy

ii) drought iii) river

erosion

iv) Others

66

Rainfall2 Have you ever received any kind of training to deal with the

challenge of these natural hazards

i)Yes ii) No3 Did any NGO help you in the post-disaster period

i)Yes ii) No4 Have you got any financial support from any organization or

foreign aid

i)Yes ii) No5 In case of your losing shelter what support did you get for

instant accommodation

rarr

6 Did you receive any permanent or long term support or

alternative earning source in case of losing livelihood due

to that disaster

i)Yes ii) No7 Did that disaster forced you to stop your childrenrsquos

schooling

i) Yes ii) No8 In case of women losing their earning or having physical

damage what problems did you face for livelihoods

rarr

9 In case of physical damage did they receive proper

treatment and financial recovery

67

i)Yes ii) No10 Aged women who are incapable of working did they

receive enoughextra support

i)Yes ii) No11 Did you receive any hygienic food and water support to

prevent disease from unhygienic

i)Yes ii) No12 While receiving a foreign aid do you feel deprived of

comparing to men In which ways

rarr

13 At the post-disaster period had you ever seek for the

support of the local settlementgovernmental arbitration

process for any kind of domestic violence

i)Yes ii) No14 If yes then do you think that the judgment deprived

you because of your gender

i)Yes ii) No15 Did any NGO or international organization support you

to get fair judgment

i)Yes ii) No16 In post disaster situation how did your family

distribute the inheritance (if any) among the female member

of your family

68

rarr

17 Did the female member of your family had any

sayingrole in the decision making process regarding the

distribution of inheritance

i)Yes ii) No18 According to you what type of program can government

or NGO take to assist you to recover during and after the

climate hazards

rarr

Annenx 2 Expert Interviews

i) Bushra H Chowdhury

Water is mostly important in womenrsquos life So water policy is

needed to be gender responsive Department of disaster management

should combine their ideas with water management board In

climate change policies there are lack of farsightedness expert

opinion cooperation coordination among experts and policy

makers etc Corruption in every level is the main barrier to

success in this regard Local government NGOs government

policy makers and experts should combine their ideas and

experiences to reach any conclusion Policy formulation is a long

process so long term and short term goal should be arranged

More experts are needed in policy making process It is important

69

to evaluate why NGOs are less corrupted than government

officials Pre-planning for town and village is important NGOs

and government should arrange annual reporting system to evaluate

their progress

ii) Sharmind Neelromi

The reason behind climate change is very important to understand

Whether it is because of global warming environmental

degradation environmental pollution through human activities or

it is a result of environmental politics There are two types of

climate hazards such as slow on-set (water logging drought sea

level rise etc) and quick on-set (flood cyclone etc) We also

have to understand that the vulnerabilities of women are because

of climate change or something else Climate change adaptation is

a pro-active approach and a development issue In this regard an

analytical framework is important to design to reach any targeted

goal

70

16 Bibliography

Ahmed A U Neelormi S Adri N et Al (2009) Climate ChangeGender and Vulnerable Groups in Bangladesh Climate Change CellDepartment of Environment Ministry of Environment and ForestsRetrieved on September 7 2013 from httpwwwCCGenderVG_Jan09pdf

Ahmed N (2012) Gender and Climate Change in Bangladesh TheRole of Institutions in Reducing Gender Gaps in AdaptationProgram The World BankRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwww-wdsworldbankorgexternaldefaultWDSContentServerWDSPIB20120404000333038_20120404010647RenderedPDF678200NWP0P1250C0in0Bangladesh0web2pdf

Akter T (2009) Climate Change and Flow of EnvironmentalDisplacement in Bangladesh Unnayan Onneshan-The InnovatorsRetrieved on September 28 2013 fromhttpswwwunnayanorgclimate_change_flow_environmental_displacementpdf

Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion inClimate Change Adaptation ADBI Working Paper 309 Tokyo AsianDevelopment Bank InstituteRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf

Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009 Ministryof Environment and Forest Government of the Peoples Republic ofBangladesh Dhaka Bangladesh

71

supports to the victims during climate hazards has become very

difficult because of corruption at different level of

distribution Government need to reshape its distribution system

to reduce chance of corruption Government and other concerned

NGOs need to distinguish the factors where women are more

vulnerable than men The policies should be made and reshaped

focusing on dealing with those areas At the very end it must be

included that the climate change policies are much more aware

about gender issue than it was before and hoping for more

advancement of these gender supportive climate change policies in

real scenario

65

The End

Annexes Annex 1- Questionnaire

Basic Information

DatePlaceNameAgeMarital StatusFamily MemberIncome Source

1 What type of natural hazards did u face

i) Flood and

Heavy

ii) drought iii) river

erosion

iv) Others

66

Rainfall2 Have you ever received any kind of training to deal with the

challenge of these natural hazards

i)Yes ii) No3 Did any NGO help you in the post-disaster period

i)Yes ii) No4 Have you got any financial support from any organization or

foreign aid

i)Yes ii) No5 In case of your losing shelter what support did you get for

instant accommodation

rarr

6 Did you receive any permanent or long term support or

alternative earning source in case of losing livelihood due

to that disaster

i)Yes ii) No7 Did that disaster forced you to stop your childrenrsquos

schooling

i) Yes ii) No8 In case of women losing their earning or having physical

damage what problems did you face for livelihoods

rarr

9 In case of physical damage did they receive proper

treatment and financial recovery

67

i)Yes ii) No10 Aged women who are incapable of working did they

receive enoughextra support

i)Yes ii) No11 Did you receive any hygienic food and water support to

prevent disease from unhygienic

i)Yes ii) No12 While receiving a foreign aid do you feel deprived of

comparing to men In which ways

rarr

13 At the post-disaster period had you ever seek for the

support of the local settlementgovernmental arbitration

process for any kind of domestic violence

i)Yes ii) No14 If yes then do you think that the judgment deprived

you because of your gender

i)Yes ii) No15 Did any NGO or international organization support you

to get fair judgment

i)Yes ii) No16 In post disaster situation how did your family

distribute the inheritance (if any) among the female member

of your family

68

rarr

17 Did the female member of your family had any

sayingrole in the decision making process regarding the

distribution of inheritance

i)Yes ii) No18 According to you what type of program can government

or NGO take to assist you to recover during and after the

climate hazards

rarr

Annenx 2 Expert Interviews

i) Bushra H Chowdhury

Water is mostly important in womenrsquos life So water policy is

needed to be gender responsive Department of disaster management

should combine their ideas with water management board In

climate change policies there are lack of farsightedness expert

opinion cooperation coordination among experts and policy

makers etc Corruption in every level is the main barrier to

success in this regard Local government NGOs government

policy makers and experts should combine their ideas and

experiences to reach any conclusion Policy formulation is a long

process so long term and short term goal should be arranged

More experts are needed in policy making process It is important

69

to evaluate why NGOs are less corrupted than government

officials Pre-planning for town and village is important NGOs

and government should arrange annual reporting system to evaluate

their progress

ii) Sharmind Neelromi

The reason behind climate change is very important to understand

Whether it is because of global warming environmental

degradation environmental pollution through human activities or

it is a result of environmental politics There are two types of

climate hazards such as slow on-set (water logging drought sea

level rise etc) and quick on-set (flood cyclone etc) We also

have to understand that the vulnerabilities of women are because

of climate change or something else Climate change adaptation is

a pro-active approach and a development issue In this regard an

analytical framework is important to design to reach any targeted

goal

70

16 Bibliography

Ahmed A U Neelormi S Adri N et Al (2009) Climate ChangeGender and Vulnerable Groups in Bangladesh Climate Change CellDepartment of Environment Ministry of Environment and ForestsRetrieved on September 7 2013 from httpwwwCCGenderVG_Jan09pdf

Ahmed N (2012) Gender and Climate Change in Bangladesh TheRole of Institutions in Reducing Gender Gaps in AdaptationProgram The World BankRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwww-wdsworldbankorgexternaldefaultWDSContentServerWDSPIB20120404000333038_20120404010647RenderedPDF678200NWP0P1250C0in0Bangladesh0web2pdf

Akter T (2009) Climate Change and Flow of EnvironmentalDisplacement in Bangladesh Unnayan Onneshan-The InnovatorsRetrieved on September 28 2013 fromhttpswwwunnayanorgclimate_change_flow_environmental_displacementpdf

Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion inClimate Change Adaptation ADBI Working Paper 309 Tokyo AsianDevelopment Bank InstituteRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf

Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009 Ministryof Environment and Forest Government of the Peoples Republic ofBangladesh Dhaka Bangladesh

71

The End

Annexes Annex 1- Questionnaire

Basic Information

DatePlaceNameAgeMarital StatusFamily MemberIncome Source

1 What type of natural hazards did u face

i) Flood and

Heavy

ii) drought iii) river

erosion

iv) Others

66

Rainfall2 Have you ever received any kind of training to deal with the

challenge of these natural hazards

i)Yes ii) No3 Did any NGO help you in the post-disaster period

i)Yes ii) No4 Have you got any financial support from any organization or

foreign aid

i)Yes ii) No5 In case of your losing shelter what support did you get for

instant accommodation

rarr

6 Did you receive any permanent or long term support or

alternative earning source in case of losing livelihood due

to that disaster

i)Yes ii) No7 Did that disaster forced you to stop your childrenrsquos

schooling

i) Yes ii) No8 In case of women losing their earning or having physical

damage what problems did you face for livelihoods

rarr

9 In case of physical damage did they receive proper

treatment and financial recovery

67

i)Yes ii) No10 Aged women who are incapable of working did they

receive enoughextra support

i)Yes ii) No11 Did you receive any hygienic food and water support to

prevent disease from unhygienic

i)Yes ii) No12 While receiving a foreign aid do you feel deprived of

comparing to men In which ways

rarr

13 At the post-disaster period had you ever seek for the

support of the local settlementgovernmental arbitration

process for any kind of domestic violence

i)Yes ii) No14 If yes then do you think that the judgment deprived

you because of your gender

i)Yes ii) No15 Did any NGO or international organization support you

to get fair judgment

i)Yes ii) No16 In post disaster situation how did your family

distribute the inheritance (if any) among the female member

of your family

68

rarr

17 Did the female member of your family had any

sayingrole in the decision making process regarding the

distribution of inheritance

i)Yes ii) No18 According to you what type of program can government

or NGO take to assist you to recover during and after the

climate hazards

rarr

Annenx 2 Expert Interviews

i) Bushra H Chowdhury

Water is mostly important in womenrsquos life So water policy is

needed to be gender responsive Department of disaster management

should combine their ideas with water management board In

climate change policies there are lack of farsightedness expert

opinion cooperation coordination among experts and policy

makers etc Corruption in every level is the main barrier to

success in this regard Local government NGOs government

policy makers and experts should combine their ideas and

experiences to reach any conclusion Policy formulation is a long

process so long term and short term goal should be arranged

More experts are needed in policy making process It is important

69

to evaluate why NGOs are less corrupted than government

officials Pre-planning for town and village is important NGOs

and government should arrange annual reporting system to evaluate

their progress

ii) Sharmind Neelromi

The reason behind climate change is very important to understand

Whether it is because of global warming environmental

degradation environmental pollution through human activities or

it is a result of environmental politics There are two types of

climate hazards such as slow on-set (water logging drought sea

level rise etc) and quick on-set (flood cyclone etc) We also

have to understand that the vulnerabilities of women are because

of climate change or something else Climate change adaptation is

a pro-active approach and a development issue In this regard an

analytical framework is important to design to reach any targeted

goal

70

16 Bibliography

Ahmed A U Neelormi S Adri N et Al (2009) Climate ChangeGender and Vulnerable Groups in Bangladesh Climate Change CellDepartment of Environment Ministry of Environment and ForestsRetrieved on September 7 2013 from httpwwwCCGenderVG_Jan09pdf

Ahmed N (2012) Gender and Climate Change in Bangladesh TheRole of Institutions in Reducing Gender Gaps in AdaptationProgram The World BankRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwww-wdsworldbankorgexternaldefaultWDSContentServerWDSPIB20120404000333038_20120404010647RenderedPDF678200NWP0P1250C0in0Bangladesh0web2pdf

Akter T (2009) Climate Change and Flow of EnvironmentalDisplacement in Bangladesh Unnayan Onneshan-The InnovatorsRetrieved on September 28 2013 fromhttpswwwunnayanorgclimate_change_flow_environmental_displacementpdf

Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion inClimate Change Adaptation ADBI Working Paper 309 Tokyo AsianDevelopment Bank InstituteRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf

Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009 Ministryof Environment and Forest Government of the Peoples Republic ofBangladesh Dhaka Bangladesh

71

Rainfall2 Have you ever received any kind of training to deal with the

challenge of these natural hazards

i)Yes ii) No3 Did any NGO help you in the post-disaster period

i)Yes ii) No4 Have you got any financial support from any organization or

foreign aid

i)Yes ii) No5 In case of your losing shelter what support did you get for

instant accommodation

rarr

6 Did you receive any permanent or long term support or

alternative earning source in case of losing livelihood due

to that disaster

i)Yes ii) No7 Did that disaster forced you to stop your childrenrsquos

schooling

i) Yes ii) No8 In case of women losing their earning or having physical

damage what problems did you face for livelihoods

rarr

9 In case of physical damage did they receive proper

treatment and financial recovery

67

i)Yes ii) No10 Aged women who are incapable of working did they

receive enoughextra support

i)Yes ii) No11 Did you receive any hygienic food and water support to

prevent disease from unhygienic

i)Yes ii) No12 While receiving a foreign aid do you feel deprived of

comparing to men In which ways

rarr

13 At the post-disaster period had you ever seek for the

support of the local settlementgovernmental arbitration

process for any kind of domestic violence

i)Yes ii) No14 If yes then do you think that the judgment deprived

you because of your gender

i)Yes ii) No15 Did any NGO or international organization support you

to get fair judgment

i)Yes ii) No16 In post disaster situation how did your family

distribute the inheritance (if any) among the female member

of your family

68

rarr

17 Did the female member of your family had any

sayingrole in the decision making process regarding the

distribution of inheritance

i)Yes ii) No18 According to you what type of program can government

or NGO take to assist you to recover during and after the

climate hazards

rarr

Annenx 2 Expert Interviews

i) Bushra H Chowdhury

Water is mostly important in womenrsquos life So water policy is

needed to be gender responsive Department of disaster management

should combine their ideas with water management board In

climate change policies there are lack of farsightedness expert

opinion cooperation coordination among experts and policy

makers etc Corruption in every level is the main barrier to

success in this regard Local government NGOs government

policy makers and experts should combine their ideas and

experiences to reach any conclusion Policy formulation is a long

process so long term and short term goal should be arranged

More experts are needed in policy making process It is important

69

to evaluate why NGOs are less corrupted than government

officials Pre-planning for town and village is important NGOs

and government should arrange annual reporting system to evaluate

their progress

ii) Sharmind Neelromi

The reason behind climate change is very important to understand

Whether it is because of global warming environmental

degradation environmental pollution through human activities or

it is a result of environmental politics There are two types of

climate hazards such as slow on-set (water logging drought sea

level rise etc) and quick on-set (flood cyclone etc) We also

have to understand that the vulnerabilities of women are because

of climate change or something else Climate change adaptation is

a pro-active approach and a development issue In this regard an

analytical framework is important to design to reach any targeted

goal

70

16 Bibliography

Ahmed A U Neelormi S Adri N et Al (2009) Climate ChangeGender and Vulnerable Groups in Bangladesh Climate Change CellDepartment of Environment Ministry of Environment and ForestsRetrieved on September 7 2013 from httpwwwCCGenderVG_Jan09pdf

Ahmed N (2012) Gender and Climate Change in Bangladesh TheRole of Institutions in Reducing Gender Gaps in AdaptationProgram The World BankRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwww-wdsworldbankorgexternaldefaultWDSContentServerWDSPIB20120404000333038_20120404010647RenderedPDF678200NWP0P1250C0in0Bangladesh0web2pdf

Akter T (2009) Climate Change and Flow of EnvironmentalDisplacement in Bangladesh Unnayan Onneshan-The InnovatorsRetrieved on September 28 2013 fromhttpswwwunnayanorgclimate_change_flow_environmental_displacementpdf

Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion inClimate Change Adaptation ADBI Working Paper 309 Tokyo AsianDevelopment Bank InstituteRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf

Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009 Ministryof Environment and Forest Government of the Peoples Republic ofBangladesh Dhaka Bangladesh

71

i)Yes ii) No10 Aged women who are incapable of working did they

receive enoughextra support

i)Yes ii) No11 Did you receive any hygienic food and water support to

prevent disease from unhygienic

i)Yes ii) No12 While receiving a foreign aid do you feel deprived of

comparing to men In which ways

rarr

13 At the post-disaster period had you ever seek for the

support of the local settlementgovernmental arbitration

process for any kind of domestic violence

i)Yes ii) No14 If yes then do you think that the judgment deprived

you because of your gender

i)Yes ii) No15 Did any NGO or international organization support you

to get fair judgment

i)Yes ii) No16 In post disaster situation how did your family

distribute the inheritance (if any) among the female member

of your family

68

rarr

17 Did the female member of your family had any

sayingrole in the decision making process regarding the

distribution of inheritance

i)Yes ii) No18 According to you what type of program can government

or NGO take to assist you to recover during and after the

climate hazards

rarr

Annenx 2 Expert Interviews

i) Bushra H Chowdhury

Water is mostly important in womenrsquos life So water policy is

needed to be gender responsive Department of disaster management

should combine their ideas with water management board In

climate change policies there are lack of farsightedness expert

opinion cooperation coordination among experts and policy

makers etc Corruption in every level is the main barrier to

success in this regard Local government NGOs government

policy makers and experts should combine their ideas and

experiences to reach any conclusion Policy formulation is a long

process so long term and short term goal should be arranged

More experts are needed in policy making process It is important

69

to evaluate why NGOs are less corrupted than government

officials Pre-planning for town and village is important NGOs

and government should arrange annual reporting system to evaluate

their progress

ii) Sharmind Neelromi

The reason behind climate change is very important to understand

Whether it is because of global warming environmental

degradation environmental pollution through human activities or

it is a result of environmental politics There are two types of

climate hazards such as slow on-set (water logging drought sea

level rise etc) and quick on-set (flood cyclone etc) We also

have to understand that the vulnerabilities of women are because

of climate change or something else Climate change adaptation is

a pro-active approach and a development issue In this regard an

analytical framework is important to design to reach any targeted

goal

70

16 Bibliography

Ahmed A U Neelormi S Adri N et Al (2009) Climate ChangeGender and Vulnerable Groups in Bangladesh Climate Change CellDepartment of Environment Ministry of Environment and ForestsRetrieved on September 7 2013 from httpwwwCCGenderVG_Jan09pdf

Ahmed N (2012) Gender and Climate Change in Bangladesh TheRole of Institutions in Reducing Gender Gaps in AdaptationProgram The World BankRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwww-wdsworldbankorgexternaldefaultWDSContentServerWDSPIB20120404000333038_20120404010647RenderedPDF678200NWP0P1250C0in0Bangladesh0web2pdf

Akter T (2009) Climate Change and Flow of EnvironmentalDisplacement in Bangladesh Unnayan Onneshan-The InnovatorsRetrieved on September 28 2013 fromhttpswwwunnayanorgclimate_change_flow_environmental_displacementpdf

Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion inClimate Change Adaptation ADBI Working Paper 309 Tokyo AsianDevelopment Bank InstituteRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf

Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009 Ministryof Environment and Forest Government of the Peoples Republic ofBangladesh Dhaka Bangladesh

71

rarr

17 Did the female member of your family had any

sayingrole in the decision making process regarding the

distribution of inheritance

i)Yes ii) No18 According to you what type of program can government

or NGO take to assist you to recover during and after the

climate hazards

rarr

Annenx 2 Expert Interviews

i) Bushra H Chowdhury

Water is mostly important in womenrsquos life So water policy is

needed to be gender responsive Department of disaster management

should combine their ideas with water management board In

climate change policies there are lack of farsightedness expert

opinion cooperation coordination among experts and policy

makers etc Corruption in every level is the main barrier to

success in this regard Local government NGOs government

policy makers and experts should combine their ideas and

experiences to reach any conclusion Policy formulation is a long

process so long term and short term goal should be arranged

More experts are needed in policy making process It is important

69

to evaluate why NGOs are less corrupted than government

officials Pre-planning for town and village is important NGOs

and government should arrange annual reporting system to evaluate

their progress

ii) Sharmind Neelromi

The reason behind climate change is very important to understand

Whether it is because of global warming environmental

degradation environmental pollution through human activities or

it is a result of environmental politics There are two types of

climate hazards such as slow on-set (water logging drought sea

level rise etc) and quick on-set (flood cyclone etc) We also

have to understand that the vulnerabilities of women are because

of climate change or something else Climate change adaptation is

a pro-active approach and a development issue In this regard an

analytical framework is important to design to reach any targeted

goal

70

16 Bibliography

Ahmed A U Neelormi S Adri N et Al (2009) Climate ChangeGender and Vulnerable Groups in Bangladesh Climate Change CellDepartment of Environment Ministry of Environment and ForestsRetrieved on September 7 2013 from httpwwwCCGenderVG_Jan09pdf

Ahmed N (2012) Gender and Climate Change in Bangladesh TheRole of Institutions in Reducing Gender Gaps in AdaptationProgram The World BankRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwww-wdsworldbankorgexternaldefaultWDSContentServerWDSPIB20120404000333038_20120404010647RenderedPDF678200NWP0P1250C0in0Bangladesh0web2pdf

Akter T (2009) Climate Change and Flow of EnvironmentalDisplacement in Bangladesh Unnayan Onneshan-The InnovatorsRetrieved on September 28 2013 fromhttpswwwunnayanorgclimate_change_flow_environmental_displacementpdf

Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion inClimate Change Adaptation ADBI Working Paper 309 Tokyo AsianDevelopment Bank InstituteRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf

Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009 Ministryof Environment and Forest Government of the Peoples Republic ofBangladesh Dhaka Bangladesh

71

to evaluate why NGOs are less corrupted than government

officials Pre-planning for town and village is important NGOs

and government should arrange annual reporting system to evaluate

their progress

ii) Sharmind Neelromi

The reason behind climate change is very important to understand

Whether it is because of global warming environmental

degradation environmental pollution through human activities or

it is a result of environmental politics There are two types of

climate hazards such as slow on-set (water logging drought sea

level rise etc) and quick on-set (flood cyclone etc) We also

have to understand that the vulnerabilities of women are because

of climate change or something else Climate change adaptation is

a pro-active approach and a development issue In this regard an

analytical framework is important to design to reach any targeted

goal

70

16 Bibliography

Ahmed A U Neelormi S Adri N et Al (2009) Climate ChangeGender and Vulnerable Groups in Bangladesh Climate Change CellDepartment of Environment Ministry of Environment and ForestsRetrieved on September 7 2013 from httpwwwCCGenderVG_Jan09pdf

Ahmed N (2012) Gender and Climate Change in Bangladesh TheRole of Institutions in Reducing Gender Gaps in AdaptationProgram The World BankRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwww-wdsworldbankorgexternaldefaultWDSContentServerWDSPIB20120404000333038_20120404010647RenderedPDF678200NWP0P1250C0in0Bangladesh0web2pdf

Akter T (2009) Climate Change and Flow of EnvironmentalDisplacement in Bangladesh Unnayan Onneshan-The InnovatorsRetrieved on September 28 2013 fromhttpswwwunnayanorgclimate_change_flow_environmental_displacementpdf

Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion inClimate Change Adaptation ADBI Working Paper 309 Tokyo AsianDevelopment Bank InstituteRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf

Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009 Ministryof Environment and Forest Government of the Peoples Republic ofBangladesh Dhaka Bangladesh

71

16 Bibliography

Ahmed A U Neelormi S Adri N et Al (2009) Climate ChangeGender and Vulnerable Groups in Bangladesh Climate Change CellDepartment of Environment Ministry of Environment and ForestsRetrieved on September 7 2013 from httpwwwCCGenderVG_Jan09pdf

Ahmed N (2012) Gender and Climate Change in Bangladesh TheRole of Institutions in Reducing Gender Gaps in AdaptationProgram The World BankRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwww-wdsworldbankorgexternaldefaultWDSContentServerWDSPIB20120404000333038_20120404010647RenderedPDF678200NWP0P1250C0in0Bangladesh0web2pdf

Akter T (2009) Climate Change and Flow of EnvironmentalDisplacement in Bangladesh Unnayan Onneshan-The InnovatorsRetrieved on September 28 2013 fromhttpswwwunnayanorgclimate_change_flow_environmental_displacementpdf

Aoyagi M Suda E Shinada T (2011) Gender Inclusion inClimate Change Adaptation ADBI Working Paper 309 Tokyo AsianDevelopment Bank InstituteRetrieved on August 27 2013 fromhttpwwwadbiorgfiles20110909wp309genderinclusionclimatechangeadaptationpdf

Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009 Ministryof Environment and Forest Government of the Peoples Republic ofBangladesh Dhaka Bangladesh

71

Baten M A and Khan N A (2010) Gender issue in climatechange discourse theory versus reality Unnayan Onneshan-TheInnovatorsRetrieved on September 13 2013 fromwwwunnayanorgreportsgenissuepdf

Bathge S (2010) Climate change and gender economic empowermentof women through climate mitigation and adaptation DeutscheGesellschaft furRetrieved on September 13 2013 fromwwwoecdorgdataoecd623346975138pdf

Begum R (1993) Women in environmental disasters the 1991cyclone in Bangladesh Gender amp Development 11 34-39Retrieved on October 3 2013 fromhttpdxdoiorg10108009682869308519953

Brody A Demetriades J Esplen E (2008) Gender and climatechange mapping the linkages Bridge Institute of DevelopmentStudiesRetrieved on July 14 2013 fromwwwbridgeidsacukreportsClimate_Change_DFIDpdfCannon T (2002) Gender and climate hazards in BangladeshGender and Development Vol 2 Retrieved on October 3 2013 fromhttp wwwoxfamorguk publications

Climate Change 2007 Impacts Adaptation and VulnerabilityIntergovernmental Panel on Climate ChangeRetrieved on August 17 2013 fromhttpswwwipccchclimate-changes-2001wg2-summary-policymakerspdf

Dankelman I (2002) lsquoClimate change learning from genderanalysis and womenrsquos experience of organizing for sustainabledevelopment in R Masika (ed) Gender Development and ClimateChange Oxfam publication Oxford

72

Retrieved on September 7 2013 fromhttpdxdoiorg10108013552070215899

Davidson J (1993) Womens relationship with the environment Gender amp Development Retrieved on August 17 2013 from httpdxdoiorg10108009682869308519944

Dem M (1993) Sustainable development women as partners Genderamp Development 11 14-18 Retrieved on August 17 2013 fromhttpdxdoiorg10108009682869308519947

Denton F (2002) Climate change vulnerability impacts andadaptation Why does gender matter Gender amp DevelopmentRetrieved on July 22 2013 fromhttpdxdoiorg10108013552070215903

Gender and Climate Change Impact and Adaptation (2009) UnitedNations Development ProgramRetrieved on August 8 2013 fromhttpwwwundpccorgundpccfilesdocspublicationssubmitedlook20at20forword20for20summary20UNDP20REP-colombopdf

Gender Climate Change and Community- Based Adaptation (2010)UNDP Retrieved on August 8 2013 from httpswwwgender-climate_undp_Gender_Climate_Change_and_Community_Based_Adaptationpdf

Gender Climate change and Health World Health Organization pg5 Retrieved on September 23 2013 from wwwwhointglobalchangeGenderClimateChangeHealthfinalpdf

Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015 (nd) Retrieved september23 2013 from

73

httpwwwunisdrorgfiles1037_hyogoframeworkforactionenglishpdf

Islam M R (2011) Vulnerability and Coping Strategies of Women in Disaster A Study on Coastal Areas of Bangladesh Arts Faculty Journal vol 4

Jackson C (1993) Doing What Comes naturally Women and Environment in Development World Development Vol 21 Retrieved on August 17 2013 from josiahberkeleyedu2007FallER275Readingsjackson-GAD-1993pdf

Kenward A (2012) Women Are The True Face of Climate Change Retrieved on July 8 2013 from fileWomenAreTheTrueFaceClimateChange_ClimateCentralmht

Mahmood I A S (2012) Impact of Climate Change in Bangladesh The Role of Public Administration and Governmentrsquos Integrity Ecology and the Natural Environment Vol 4(8) pp 223-240Retrieved on September 7 2013 from httpwwwacademicjournalsorgJENE

National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA)(2005) Ministry of Environment and Forest Government of the Peoplersquos Republic of Bangladesh Retrieved on November 1 2013 From unfcccintresourcedocsnapaban01pdf

National Water Policy (1999) Ministry of Water Resources Governmentof the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh Dhaka BangladeshRetrieved on July 28 2013 from httpwwwwaternw_policypdf

Neelromi S Addressing Gender Concerns in Adaptation Discourse Leadership Awaits Bangladesh GenderCC

Otzelberger A (2011) Gender-Responsive Strategies on ClimateChangeRecent Progress and Ways Forward for Donors Genderand Development

74

Parikh J Mainstreaming Gender into Climate Change Policies Retrieved on July 8 2013 from wwwdisasterwatchnetclimatechangegndr_climt07pdf

Sharmin Z Islam M S (2013) Consequences of Climate Changeand Gender Vulnerability Bangladesh Perspective BangladeshDevelopment research Center Retrieved on september 28 2013from httpwwwbangladeshstudiesorgwps

Skinner E (2011) Gender and Climate Change Institute ofDevelopment Studies

Steans J 1998 Gender and International Relations An Introduction Rutgers University

Vincent K Wanjiru L Aubry A et al (2010) GENDER ClimateChange and Community-Based Adaptation New York UnitedNations Development Program

Thank You

75

• Climate change often make the women worst sufferer as they are very closely connected to the environmental components than men in everyday life Especially those women who are engage with agricultural activities and live in coastal areas Bangladesh is both an agricultural and coastal country and for its geographical location it has to face a lot of climate hazards At the same time environmental politics of other countries is also responsible for these climate hazards which cause rigorous impact on the basis of gender particularly upon poor women Women who directly or indirectly engaged into agricultural production have to suffer more than the others of our country For instance in 2009 women of 18 to 60 years age group were 87377 affected by cyclone Aila in Koira Dacope and Shyamnagar Upazila of Bangladesh Therefore we need to understand the impacts of climate change on the gender to apply sustainable development policies There is numerous numbers of international organizations conferences agreements as well as the national organizations (both governmental and non-governmental) have been working to reduce different climate changersquos impacts like mental and physical suffering of women But there has been always avoidance in gender issue while forming and applying climate change policies In our country some major climate hazards are flood river erosion heavy rainfall drought etc To sustain properly with the climate change the efficacy of the existing gender responsive climate change policies need to find out In this regard this research will evaluate some reformation of the existing policies to make them more effective so that the women get more priority while forming climate change policy
• 3 Research Questions
• c) To what extent do these policies are effective comparing to real scenario
• 4 Methodology of Data Collection
• This is an individual research project for academic purpose and is based on the context of Bangladesh This research is designed using qualitative method which includes both primary sources and secondary sources of data As it is an individual research paper this research is mostly relied on secondary sources of data
• Primary Sources of Data
• a) Survey of 12 female from three villages (Kharasombol Boyitpur and Fatepur) of Bagerhat district
• b) Expertrsquos interviews of Sharmind Neelromi and Bushra Hasina Chowdhury to find the difference between policies and practices and also to include policy reformulation
• Secondary Sources of Data
• This research is mainly based on secondary resources like published researches and articles but apart from these different journals books and internet resources are also widely used for this research as secondary data
• Review of different policies like UNFCCC UNDP Hyogo Framework for Action National Action Plan 2008 Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009 SAARC Framework for Action Migration policies Land Policies inheritance policies water policies etc
• Data Collection Method
• Primary data were collected by a small questionnaire (see appendix) survey of 12 female who suffered different impacts of climate change (like flood heavy rainfall river erosion) from three villages (Kharasombol Boyitpur and Fatepur) of Bagerhat district direct interview of experts and reviewing policies from different websites
• Secondary data were collected from seminar library of Dept of International Relations Dept of Disaster Management and Vulnerability Studies Dept of Women and Gender Studies central library of university of Dhaka British Council Library etc
• Picture-5 River Erosion in Bangladesh
• Source Issues and Challenges in Fisheries- Bangladesh available at httpagricultureandfarmingwordpresscomcategorybangladesh
• Kenward A (2012) Women Are The True Face of Climate Change Retrieved on July 8 2013 from fileWomenAreTheTrueFaceClimateChange_ClimateCentralmht

Parikh J Mainstreaming Gender into Climate Change Policies Retrieved on July 8 2013 from wwwdisasterwatchnetclimatechangegndr_climt07pdf

Sharmin Z Islam M S (2013) Consequences of Climate Changeand Gender Vulnerability Bangladesh Perspective BangladeshDevelopment research Center Retrieved on september 28 2013from httpwwwbangladeshstudiesorgwps

Skinner E (2011) Gender and Climate Change Institute ofDevelopment Studies

Steans J 1998 Gender and International Relations An Introduction Rutgers University

Vincent K Wanjiru L Aubry A et al (2010) GENDER ClimateChange and Community-Based Adaptation New York UnitedNations Development Program

Thank You

75

• Climate change often make the women worst sufferer as they are very closely connected to the environmental components than men in everyday life Especially those women who are engage with agricultural activities and live in coastal areas Bangladesh is both an agricultural and coastal country and for its geographical location it has to face a lot of climate hazards At the same time environmental politics of other countries is also responsible for these climate hazards which cause rigorous impact on the basis of gender particularly upon poor women Women who directly or indirectly engaged into agricultural production have to suffer more than the others of our country For instance in 2009 women of 18 to 60 years age group were 87377 affected by cyclone Aila in Koira Dacope and Shyamnagar Upazila of Bangladesh Therefore we need to understand the impacts of climate change on the gender to apply sustainable development policies There is numerous numbers of international organizations conferences agreements as well as the national organizations (both governmental and non-governmental) have been working to reduce different climate changersquos impacts like mental and physical suffering of women But there has been always avoidance in gender issue while forming and applying climate change policies In our country some major climate hazards are flood river erosion heavy rainfall drought etc To sustain properly with the climate change the efficacy of the existing gender responsive climate change policies need to find out In this regard this research will evaluate some reformation of the existing policies to make them more effective so that the women get more priority while forming climate change policy
• 3 Research Questions
• c) To what extent do these policies are effective comparing to real scenario
• 4 Methodology of Data Collection
• This is an individual research project for academic purpose and is based on the context of Bangladesh This research is designed using qualitative method which includes both primary sources and secondary sources of data As it is an individual research paper this research is mostly relied on secondary sources of data
• Primary Sources of Data
• a) Survey of 12 female from three villages (Kharasombol Boyitpur and Fatepur) of Bagerhat district
• b) Expertrsquos interviews of Sharmind Neelromi and Bushra Hasina Chowdhury to find the difference between policies and practices and also to include policy reformulation
• Secondary Sources of Data
• This research is mainly based on secondary resources like published researches and articles but apart from these different journals books and internet resources are also widely used for this research as secondary data
• Review of different policies like UNFCCC UNDP Hyogo Framework for Action National Action Plan 2008 Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan 2009 SAARC Framework for Action Migration policies Land Policies inheritance policies water policies etc
• Data Collection Method
• Primary data were collected by a small questionnaire (see appendix) survey of 12 female who suffered different impacts of climate change (like flood heavy rainfall river erosion) from three villages (Kharasombol Boyitpur and Fatepur) of Bagerhat district direct interview of experts and reviewing policies from different websites
• Secondary data were collected from seminar library of Dept of International Relations Dept of Disaster Management and Vulnerability Studies Dept of Women and Gender Studies central library of university of Dhaka British Council Library etc
• Picture-5 River Erosion in Bangladesh
• Source Issues and Challenges in Fisheries- Bangladesh available at httpagricultureandfarmingwordpresscomcategorybangladesh
• Kenward A (2012) Women Are The True Face of Climate Change Retrieved on July 8 2013 from fileWomenAreTheTrueFaceClimateChange_ClimateCentralmht