Climate-Induced displacement and the gendered realities of migration in Pakistan: A case study approach

Abstract

In Pakistan, climate change has a severe impact on the mechanisms of displacement, with various floods, droughts, and extreme weather conditions regularly displacing communities. This paper highlights the gendered impacts of displacement caused by climate change, placing a particular emphasis on the vulnerability of women at risk. It uses a qualitative method to explain how the socio-cultural norms, structural disparities, and institutional gaps increase the vulnerability of women. There is empirical evidence based on field observations and secondary sources, illustrating how displaced women face increased risks like gender-based violence, lack of mobility, and poor access to health and legal services, and are mostly left out of the decision-making, concerning climate adaptation. The results support the need to have gender-sensitive policies and locally contextual measures of adaptation responding to intersectional vulnerabilities. In a broader context, the study contributes to the existing demands to shift climate discourse toward the focus on social justice and gender equity and concludes that gender considerations should be incorporated into climate resilience strategies as an ethical imperative and a necessary condition of sustainable adaptation.