Infrastructure violence and gendered bodies in Karachi: reflections on feminist political ecology

Grounded in a feminist political ecology (FPE) framework, this study investigates how the persistent failure of drainage infrastructure in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, unequally burdens low-income women residing in informal settlements. Employing two key concepts from FPE, gendered bodies as living infrastructure and infrastructural violence, the study argues that gender-blind disaster interventions and the selective implementation of anti-encroachment campaigns perpetuate slow violence against marginalized women while intensifying their domestic and community labour. The findings underscore the urgent need to integrate gendered perspectives into urban infrastructure planning and climate adaptation policies to promote more just urban futures.