Cover not available
Article published In:
Culture of Sustainability and Discourses of Social Change
Edited by Franzisca Weder
[Journal of Language and Politics 22:5] 2023
► pp. 707–729

Discourses on gender in climate change adaptation projects of Bangladesh

New dimensions or reinscribing the old?

ORCID logo | The University of Queensland
ORCID logo | The University of Queensland

The study examines why certain discourses on gender are more powerful than others in describing intentions for gender inclusion in development projects. A critical discourse analysis was carried out on texts of climate change adaptation projects implemented during 2009–2020 in rural Bangladesh. This article argues that gender is currently not considered enough in climate action and that gender discourses focus primarily on ‘women’s participation, more precisely, ‘women’s presence in poverty reduction and empowerment projects. The discourses reinscribe to the long-established economic priorities of development rather than exploring new dimensions to challenge social norms that define perpetual gender inequalities. This study suggests that greater attention is required to address the gender realities of non-binary categories, ethnic groups, non-poor social classes, and religious minorities to effectively plan and implement adaptation projects to support the diverse needs of vulnerable people.

Keywords: gender discourse, climate change adaptation, critical discourse analysis, Global South, Bangladesh
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Discourses on gender in development
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Research approach
    • 3.2Data collection and analysis
  • 4.Findings
    • 4.1A discourse on ‘gender as a fuzzword’
    • 4.2A ‘gender ‘difference’ discourse of climate vulnerability
    • 4.3An equality discourse through women’s quota in participation
    • 4.4An ‘empowerment as an outcome’ discourse for women
    • 4.5A discourse on gender as binary
  • 5.Discussion
    • 5.1The importance of gender labeling for the organizations
    • 5.2Relations of organizations determining the discourses
    • 5.3Gender discourses are unfavorable to differences among genders
  • 6.Conclusion: Redundant words, shortcomings, and scope
  • References
Published online: 15 June 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.22121.dev
References
Aguinaga, Margarita, Miriam Lang, Dunia Mokrani, and Alejandra Santillana
2013 “Development critiques and alternatives: a feminist perspective.” In Beyond development: Alternative visions from Latin America edited by Miriam Lang and Dunia Mokrani, 41–60. Amsterdam: Transnational Institute/Rosa Luxemburg Foundation.Google Scholar
Annecke, Wendy
2010 Gender and climate change adaptation. South Africa: Indigo development & change.Google Scholar
Anonymous
2022 “Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) indicators.” Accessed 21 April 2022. [URL]
Arora-Jonsson, S.
2011 “Virtue and vulnerability: Discourses on women, gender and climate change.” Global Environmental Change 21 (2): 744–751. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Aziz, Abdul, and Sameena Azhar
2019 “Social exclusion and official recognition of Hijra in Bangladesh.” Journal of Research on Women and Gender 91: 3–19, [URL]
Barriteau, V. Eudine
2000 “Feminist theory and development: Implications for policy, research, and action.” In Theoretical perspectives on gender and development [EBook Version], edited by Jane L. Parpart, Patricia Connelly and Eudine Barriteau. Ottawa: International Development Research Centre.Google Scholar
Brown, Andrea M.
2007 “WID and GAD in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: Reappraising gender planning approaches in theory and practice.” Journal of Women, Politics & Policy 28 (2): 57–83. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chae, Young-Gil
2008 “Development Discourse.” In The International Encyclopedia of Communication. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Connelly, M. P., T. M. Li, M. MacDonald, and J. L. Parpart
2000 “Feminism and development: Theoretical perspectives.” In Theoretical perspectives on gender and development [EBook Version], edited by Jane L. Parpart, Patricia Connelly and Eudine Barriteau. Ottawa: International Development Research Centre.Google Scholar
Cornwall, Andrea
2007 “Buzzwords and fuzzwords: deconstructing development discourse.” Development in practice 17 (4–5): 471–484. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cornwall, Andrea, and Althea-Maria Rivas
2015 “From ‘gender equality and ‘women’s empowerment’ to global justice: reclaiming a transformative agenda for gender and development.” Third World Quarterly 36 (2): 396–415. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
de Brauw, Alan, Berber Kramer, and Mike Murphy
2021 “Migration, labor and women’s empowerment: Evidence from an agricultural value chain in Bangladesh.” World Development 1421: 105445. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
DeJaeghere, Joan, and Nancy Pellowski Wiger
2013 “Gender discourses in an NGO education project: Openings for transformation toward gender equality in Bangladesh.” International Journal of Educational Development 33 (6): 557–565. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dörffel, Christoph, and Sebastian Schuhmann
2022 “What is Inclusive Development? Introducing the Multidimensional Inclusiveness Index.” Social Indicators Research. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Eckert, Penelope, and Sally McConnell-Ginet
2003 Language and gender. Cambridge, U.K. New York: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Eriksen, Siri, E. Lisa, F. Schipper, Morgan Scoville-Simonds, Katharine Vincent, Hans Nicolai Adam, Nick Brooks, Brian Harding, Dil Khatri, Lutgart Lenaerts, Diana Liverman, Megan Mills-Novoa, Marianne Mosberg, Synne Movik, Benard Muok, Andrea Nightingale, Hemant Ojha, Linda Sygna, Marcus Taylor, Coleen Vogel, and Jennifer Joy West
2021 “Adaptation interventions and their effect on vulnerability in developing countries: Help, hindrance or irrelevance?” World Development 1411: 105383. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Escobar, Arturo
2011 Encountering Development : The Making and Unmaking of the Third World. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Fairclough, Norman
2013 Critical discourse analysis the critical study of language. 2nd ed. ed. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ferdous, Jannatul, and Dwijen Mallick
2019 “Norms, practices, and gendered vulnerabilities in the lower Teesta basin, Bangladesh.” Environmental Development 311: 88–96. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
GCF
2018 Report of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) to the Conference of the Parties. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (Katowice, Poland: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)). [URL]
Grillo, R. D., and R. L. Stirrat
2020 Discourses of development : anthropological perspectives. First edition. ed. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hossain, Adnan
2017 “The paradox of recognition: hijra, third gender and sexual rights in Bangladesh.” Culture, Health & Sexuality 19 (12): 1418–1431. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Huyer, Sophia, Mariola Acosta, Tatiana Gumucio, and Jasmin Irisha Jim Ilham
2020 “Can we turn the tide? Confronting gender inequality in climate policy.” Gender and development 28 (3): 571–591. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Janks, Hilary
1997 “Critical Discourse Analysis as a Research Tool.” Discourse (Abingdon, England) 18 (3): 329–342. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kabeer, Naila
1994 Reversed realities : gender hierarchies in development thought. London; New York: Verso.Google Scholar
Kamruzzaman, Palash
2021 “Understanding Extreme Poverty in the Words of the Poor – A Bangladesh Case Study.” Journal of Poverty 25 (3): 193–216. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Karim, Rabiul, Lene Lindberg, Sarah Wamala, and Maria Emmelin
2017 “Men’s Perceptions of Women’s Participation in Development Initiatives in Rural Bangladesh.” American Journal of Men’s Health 12 (2): 398–410. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Listo, Romy
2018 “Gender myths in energy poverty literature: A Critical Discourse Analysis.” Energy research & social science 381: 9–18. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
MacGregor, S.
2010 “ ‘Gender and climate change’: From impacts to discourses.” Journal of the Indian Ocean Region 6 (2): 223–238. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Moezzi, Mithra, Kathryn B. Janda, and Sea Rotmann
2017 “Using stories, narratives, and storytelling in energy and climate change research.” Energy Research & Social Science 311: 1–10. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Momsen, Janet Henshall
2010 Gender and development. 2nd ed. ed. New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Mosedale, Sarah
2005 “Assessing women’s empowerment: towards a conceptual framework.” Journal of International Development 17 (2): 243. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Moser, Caroline O. N.
2020 “From gender planning to gender transformation: positionality, theory and practice in cities of the global South.” International Development Planning Review: 1–26. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mullet, Dianna R.
2018 “A General Critical Discourse Analysis Framework for Educational Research.” Journal of advanced academics 29 (2): 116–142. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
O’Shaughnessy, Tim
2002 Learning from the past, hope for the future: A study on world vision Australia’s program responses to HIV/AIDS. World Vision Australia. [URL]
Rahman, S., and S. Amit
2021 “Implications of Female Farmer Knowledge and Participation in Bangladesh: Entrepreneurial Propensity and Income Enhancement.” Journal of Agriculture and Crops 8 (1): 59–62. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rahman, Syed Mahbubur
2019 “Structural Analogy in Development and Climate Aid: The Case of Bangladesh.” Journal of development policy and practice (New Delhi, India) 4 (1): 89–116. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rathgeber, Eva M.
1990 “WID, WAD, GAD: trends in research and practice.” WID = women in development 24 (4): 489–502, [URL]
Ravera, F., B. Martín-López, U. Pascual, and A. Drucker
2016 “The diversity of gendered adaptation strategies to climate change of Indian farmers: A feminist intersectional approach.” Ambio 451: 335–351. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Razavi, Shahrashoub, and Carol Miller
1995 From WID to GAD: Conceptual shifts in the women and development discourse. Vol. 1. Vol. 3. Geneva: United Nations Research Institute for Social Development.Google Scholar
Resurrección, B. P.
2016 “Discourses that hide: Gender, migration and security in climate change.” In African American Culture and Society After Rodney King: Provocations and Protests, Progression and ‘Post-Racialism’, 219–240.Google Scholar
Robinson-Pant, Anna
2001 “Development as discourse: what relevance to education?” Compare 31 (3): 311–328. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rothe, Delf
2017 “Gendering Resilience: Myths and Stereotypes in the Discourse on Climate-induced Migration.” Global Policy 8 (supplement S1): 40–47. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sameen, Shafinaz
2018 “Process inclusive Infrastructure: Notions towards Cyclone Resilience in Bangladesh.” Procedia Engineering 2121: 30–38. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shaw, Rajib, Fuad Mallick, and Aminul Islam
2013 Climate Change Adaptation Actions in Bangladesh. 2013 ed. Tokyo: Springer Japan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Smyth, Ines
2007 “Talking of gender: words and meanings in development organisations.” Development in Practice 17 (4–5): 582–588. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Souza, Natália Maria Félix de
2019 “Introduction: Gender in the Global South: A Complex and Contradictory Agenda.” Contexto internacional 41 (2): 249–253. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sunderland, Jane
2004 “Discourses, Discourse Identification and Discourse Naming.” In Gendered Discourses, edited by Jane Sunderland, 27–50. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tanjeela, Mumita, and Shannon Rutherford
2018 “The influence of gender relations on women’s involvement and experience in climate change adaptation programs in Bangladesh.” SAGE Open 8 (4). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Toole, Stephanie, Natascha Klocker, and Lesley Head
2016 “Re-thinking climate change adaptation and capacities at the household scale.” An Interdisciplinary, International Journal Devoted to the Description, Causes and Implications of Climatic Change 135 (2): 203–209. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
White, Sarah C.
2006 “The ‘gender lens’: a racial blinder?” Progress in development studies 6 (1): 55–67. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yu, Yanni, and Jinghong Huang
2021 “Poverty Reduction of Sustainable Development Goals in the 21st Century: A Bibliometric Analysis.” Frontiers in Communication 61. DOI logoGoogle Scholar