Gendered (im)mobility: emotional decisions of staying in the context of climate risks in Bangladesh

Abstract

Immobility in the context of climate change and environmental risks is understudied, particularly its relation to gender. In this article, we further understanding of immobility to include the gendered influences on potential of people to decide non-movement, decipher meanings that are attached with it and explore how it relates to mobility. We analyse emotions of women and men with different mobility experiences, reflecting their ideas of home, risk perceptions and construction of identity that are informed by gender and central to understanding immobility. Through ethnographic data collected in Bangladesh, we look into details of gendered ways of experiencing immobility where male and female attitudes to staying are distinctly different, yet intersect in many ways. Our data reveal how social and cultural context (patriarchy, social norms, cultural values and shared beliefs) and personal emotions (feelings of belonging, attachment, loyalty, modesty) regulate people’s actions on immobility decisions. The decision to stay is relational, where individuals practicing mobility and immobility interact in specific contexts of climate change. The act of staying, especially for women, is dictated by degrees of freedom of want, where desires of movement might exist, but reality of fulfilling them does not. Immobility can have its limitations for women, but can also be an empowering experience for some. Thus, to better understand gendered immobility, we must explore the emotions that provide meaning to the process of staying, while recognizing its interrelationship with mobility.