Women at the frontline: Investing in gender-responsive climate action for Bangladesh

When Cyclone Amphan struck Bangladesh's south-western coast in May 2020, it destroyed more than 55,000 homes in Satkhira and Khulna. Nearly half a million people were left homeless — most of them women and children. They gathered along flooded embankments in search of relief. Many walked long distances for safe drinking water, cared for the sick in overcrowded shelters, and lost their only sources of income as shrimp ponds and fields filled with saline water. For women in coastal Bangladesh, climate change is not a distant threat but an everyday struggle.

Bangladesh now faces a triple challenge. The combined effects of climate change, persistent gender inequality, and underinvestment are hampering progress in health, education, and women's empowerment. The Climate Change and Gender Action Plan (ccGAP), developed by the government and UN Women, is one of the key frameworks to address these issues. Its latest phase calls for climate resilience and development strategies centred on women's needs, voices, and experiences.

The impacts of climate change on women are severe. Research since the 2000s shows that rising salinity in coastal water has increased pregnancy complications. Rural women spend hours collecting water and firewood, a burden made worse by erratic weather and water scarcity. These long journeys, often alone, also heighten their exposure to harassment and gender-based violence.

During floods and cyclones, girls drop out of school at higher rates and many are forced into early marriage. UNICEF found that after Cyclone Amphan, around 25% of girls in severely affected areas left school, and child marriage rates rose as families lost livelihoods. Bangladesh still records one of the world's highest rates of gender-based violence — over 70% of ever-partnered women have experienced intimate partner abuse, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. The situation is often worse in climate-vulnerable districts, where displacement and insecurity leave women more exposed.

Although women have long been at the forefront of community resilience, their livelihoods remain fragile. More than 96% of employed women work in the informal sector, without job security or social protection. As salinity and erratic weather reduce crop yields, many rural women migrate to cities in search of work — often ending up in brickfields or domestic service under exploitative conditions.

Female-headed households spend a greater share of their income on climate adaptation than male-headed ones, yet they have less access to credit, training, or land ownership. Their voices are still underrepresented in disaster management committees, water governance, and budget planning. Even when women are included, participation is often symbolic rather than substantive.

Bangladesh has, however, made progress in gender budgeting. The gender budget now covers all 62 ministries and divisions, with Tk 260,766.6 crore — nearly one-third of the national budget — allocated to gender-related programmes in the current fiscal year. Through the Gender Financial Tracking Model, linked to the iBAS++ system, the government can monitor gender-related spending across ministries in real time. Yet recent trends show concerning reversals.

This fiscal year, the share of gender-relevant allocation in the total budget fell to 33.01%, down from 34.11% last year. The overall gender budget declined by almost 9% compared to the previous year's revised allocation. Climate-focused social safety net allocations also dropped sharply — to just 6%, from 17% in the previous fiscal year's revised budget. The "Enhancing Adaptive Capacity for Coastal Communities" programme, vital for coastal women, saw a 46.8% cut. Similarly, initiatives supporting skills and enterprise development, such as ProGRESS, were reduced by more than 40%, while maternal and neonatal health programmes fell by 29%. Even grassroots women's entrepreneurship programmes faced a 25% funding reduction.

Not all trends are negative. Some safety net programmes saw significant boosts — allocations for the Mother and Child Benefit Programme rose by almost 14%, and support for widows and deserted women increased by more than 23%. The Implementation of Mother and Child Benefit Support Programme received a remarkable 59% rise in funding. While these are welcome gains, they do little to offset the overall decline, and there is no guarantee that the most vulnerable women will actually benefit.

Beyond budget figures, a deeper problem persists — data gaps and limited transparency in measuring impact. In recent gender budget reports, only a fraction of ministries provided clear evidence of how their spending benefits women. For FY2025–26, only 16 out of 62 ministries submitted detailed gender budgets, an improvement of just six from the previous year. Without robust, evidence-based monitoring, claims of positive outcomes remain unverified — undermining the credibility of the entire gender budgeting agenda.

Evidence from global institutions underscores the economic case for action. The World Resources Institute estimates that every dollar invested in climate adaptation generates returns of two to ten dollars. The World Bank finds that increasing women's participation in the workforce could boost Bangladesh's GDP by up to 40%. Integrating gender at every stage of climate budgeting is therefore not only ethical but economically sound. This integration should go beyond health and education, extending to infrastructure, water management, and disaster planning — with real-time tracking of who benefits from each project.

More investment is needed in safe water, sanitation, mobile health clinics, and women's health networks, particularly in disaster-prone areas. The ccGAP also calls for easier access to finance for women entrepreneurs through revolving funds and affordable loans. True progress will require meaningful participation by women in decision-making, alongside collaboration between government, civil society, and the private sector.

Bangladesh can draw lessons from global models such as Sweden's Climate Investment Fund, Costa Rica's Payment for Ecosystem Services, and Kenya's Green Belt Movement. These examples demonstrate how inclusive, gender-responsive investments can transform vulnerability into resilience. Climate change, gender inequality, and investment shortfalls are not isolated issues — they are interconnected national challenges. The future depends on recognising this link and acting decisively.

The time for half-measures is over. Bangladesh must ensure that women's knowledge, labour, and leadership are placed at the heart of every climate solution.

Mohammad Iftekharul Islam and Rassiq Aziz Kabir are policy analysts.
They can be reached at contact.iftekhar.tne@gmail.com and rassiq.aziz@gmail.com, respectively.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.