Gender and climate change: differential risks and resilience among internal migrants at their urban destination in coastal Bangladesh

Mobility can shape climate risks in urban destination areas, which are not equally experienced. Gender, migrant status, and factors such as age, parental status, and economic conditions often intersect to influence how migrants navigate and respond to climate hazards. Yet, the gendered and intersectional dimensions of climate risks and resilience, along with their underlying material, institutional and social determinants, remain underexplored in internal mobility contexts. This study draws on qualitative fieldwork conducted in Mongla, a growing destination area in Bangladesh, to examine how these determinants influence climate risks and resilience among migrants through a gendered and intersectional lens. The findings suggest that newly arrived migrant women face heightened vulnerability to climate hazards due to overlapping constraints that limit their resilience upon arrival. Power dynamics and social differentiation influence unequal access to resources and services. In particular, recently arrived migrant women often have fewer and limited access to information, institutional aid, or social support, which are critical for responding to climate hazards. By shifting the analytical attention to urban destination areas, this study offers a gendered understanding of climate risks and resilience in Bangladesh, providing empirical insights to inform more equitable policies to support internal migrants in urban destinations.