Assessing the Impacts of Climate-Induced Migration on Women's Health in Bangladesh
Open Access
- Author:
- Boutselis, Christina
- Area of Honors:
- Earth Science and Policy
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Brian H. King, Thesis Supervisor
Timothy Bralower, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- Climate change
Migration
Bangladesh
Women
Health - Abstract:
- In the coming years, the effects of climate change will become increasingly dire. In many parts of the world, this will mean an increase in the number of people migrating in response to sudden and slow onset climate events. Bangladesh, a country particularly vulnerable to climate change, is expected to see a significant increase in the number of climate migrants by 2050. In this thesis, I assess the recent academic literature on the climate change and migration nexus in Bangladesh and find that much of the existing literature focuses on: (1) the different drivers impacting migration; (2) the ways in which migration can be used as an adaptation strategy; and, (3) the vulnerabilities of coastal communities and low-income communities. In conducting this review, the thesis demonstrates a gap in the current research when it comes to the impact that climate-induced migration has on women, another particularly vulnerable community. Furthermore, the limited academic research does not explain the ways in which climate migration impacts women’s mental and physical health. Thus, in the second half of this thesis, I conduct a review of secondary sources to determine how women’s health is affected by climate migration. The research indicates that female migrants and those left behind when their husbands migrate are at risk of increased sexual abuse and harassment, more prone to contracting diseases, and often suffer from food insecurity. Despite this, the current policy recommendations do not substantially discuss the need for policy geared toward supporting and protecting women in the face of increased climate migration. Future research attention is needed to address how climate migration is impacting women – a particularly vulnerable, but understudied, group in Bangladesh.