Climate Change, Women's Health and Community Coping Strategies: A Case Study on Socially Constructed Vulnerability

Abstract

Women in Pakistan face climatic pressures in an inadequate manner where environmental stressors unite with entrenched socio-cultural and institutional inequalities. This qualitative research was conducted to explore such inequalities with women. Study was based on 25 semi-structured interviews with 20-55 years aged women living in vulnerable areas of Pakistan. NVivo software was used for thematic analysis, and interpreted socially constructed vulnerability, the Pressure and Release (PAR) model and feminist political ecology. This combined framework is good for understanding of vulnerability shaped by basic inequalities, cultural expectations, and institutional exclusion. Results suggest that women's climate-associated health challenges are expressed in different ways such as caregiving, food and water insecurity, or exposure to extreme heat. Women have shown to be very adaptable with their relational support networks, traditional ecological knowledge and mobilizing collective community action. These coping strategies are informal practices that can be recognized and implemented in formal adaptation systems.