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https://doi.org/10.1142/S2972312424500012Cited by:0 (Source: Crossref)

Abstract

This paper aims to understand the impact of salinity on women in coastal areas of Bangladesh. While there is ample information on the impact of climate change on coastal areas in Bangladesh, the literature shows that there is hardly any information on the impact of climate-induced salinity on women. This study is an attempt to fill this gap. An in-depth interview method was applied to collect primary data from a salinity prone coastal region in Satkhira District of Bangladesh. The study shows that salinity affects the women and girls in many ways. The impacts of salinity on women include the unattractiveness of women and girls due to the loss of hair and skin color, the increased burden of work due to water collection far from homes, unable to attend school by girls, the sufferings of women from various diseases, health and hygiene problem, and early child marriage. The consequences of the impacts of salinity on women lead to domestic violence, increased rate of divorce, increased number of female-headed households, and increased poverty due to limited sources of livelihoods. Overall, the adverse impacts of salinity on women make them more vulnerable socially and financially. The policy implications of this study may include the increased awareness of males about the impacts of salinity on women, appropriate institutional arrangements by the government including the adoption of policies and plans incorporating the issues faced by the women due to increasing salinity. It is expected that this study will not only be useful to policymakers in Bangladesh but also to other countries with similar contexts.

1. Introduction and Background

The water and land of coastal areas is increasingly going to be salty due to sea-level rise caused by climate change or global warming (Ahmad and Yaseen, 2021; Ferdous and Mallick, 2019; Saroar, 2015; SRDI, 2010). Bangladesh with 710km long coastal belt covering 32% (2.8 million hectares) of the total land area of the country is one of the worst victims of global warming. The coastal area of the country accommodates more than 35 million people in Bangladesh. Figure 1 shows the expansion of salinity areas over time in the coastal area of Bangladesh. Figure 1 indicates that over time the coverage of salinity in coastal area has increased significantly in Bangladesh since 1967. According to the Soil Resource Development Institute (SRDI) in Bangladesh, the total amount of salinity-affected land in Bangladesh has increased from 83.3 million hectares in 1973 to 105.6 million hectares in 2009 and is continuing to increase (SRDI, 2010).

Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. Intrusion of saline water in coastal areas of Bangladesh.

Source: SRDI (2010).

Given the increasing salinity in coastal areas of Bangladesh, the community people those are living in the coastal areas can be affected in many ways (Khanam, 2019). Salinity affects the basic needs of coastal people, for example, food, shelter, clothing, health, and education which cover every walk of their lives (Roy et al., 2021; Lam et al., 2021; Alam et al., 2017). Furthermore, salinity significantly affects the socioeconomic life of the coastal people in addition to biodiversity (Lam, 2021; Shammi et al., 2019; Mustari and Karim, 2014). The intrusion of saline water in the coastal areas affects the natural features of coastal areas including water quality, soil quality, agricultural land, biodiversity, sources of drinking water, and sources of livelihoods for coastal people (Lam, 2021; Mustari and Karim, 2014). It is to be noted that Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world and 19 million people are living in coastal areas.

One of the key aspects of salinity in coastal areas is that while climate change-induced salinity affects both male and female living in coastal areas, it does not affect the males and the females equally (Roy et al., 2021; Khanam, 2019; Alston, 2015). As well, the potential risks and vulnerabilities of women and girls triggered by salinity differ from those of males. The impacts of salinity experienced by women and girls differ from those experienced by male. One of the key impacts of salinity is the reduction of the availability of drinking water and women need to go far from their house to fetch drinking water (Hossain et al., 2021; Alston, 2015; Saroar, 2015). Consequently, the burden of work is increased, and women face challenges to perform their traditional household tasks effectively, for example, cooking, child-rearing, and elderly caring (Alston, 2015). Thus, the overall situation may intensify the marginalization of coastal women and adolescent girls. In addition, the patriarchal social structure may increase their sufferings as women are mostly responsible for performing domestic tasks. So, there is a strong connection between salinity, situation of women affected by salinity, their socio-economic condition, and their livelihood.

Several studies have been conducted to identify the effects of climate change on women’s vulnerability (Boas et al., 2022; Hossen et al., 2021; Ahmed and Eklund, 2021; Hayward and Ayeb-Karlsson, 2021; Reggers, 2019). However, substantial impacts of salinity (both of water and soil) on women and adolescent girls are still far from clear with an in-depth understanding. Therefore, increased salinity and its effects on coastal female inhabitants need to be investigated to identify adaptation and policy alternatives to address the impacts appropriately. In the absence adequate information of the impacts of salinity on women, this study is significant in the context of Bangladesh.

The aim of this paper is to understand the impact of salinity on women including adolescent girls in salinity-prone coastal areas of Bangladesh. The objectives of the research are

What are the impacts of salinity on coastal women in Bangladesh?

What are the impacts of salinity on coastal adolescent girls in Bangladesh?

What are the consequences of the impacts of salinity on women and adolescent girls?

This paper is divided into five sections. Section 1 is an introduction. Section 2 is a literature review. Section 3 is methodology outlined how methods were used for data collection. Section 4 focuses on results and discussion. Section 5 concludes.

2. Literature Review

Salinity predominantly imposes four categories of insecurities on women and adolescent girls living in coastal areas of Bangladesh. These may include food, water, health-hygiene, and social insecurities where the earlier three jointly creates the fourth one. Figure 2 shows the social insecurity associated with salinity including food insecurity, water insecurity, and health insecurity. The following sub-sections illustrated the nexus between salinity and social insecurity, as depicted by Figure 2.

Fig. 2.

Fig. 2. Social insecurity and salinity.

Source: Illustrated by authors.

2.1. Salinity, water insecurity and women

The increase in salinity in coastal areas degrades the quality and quantity of freshwater and limits the access of coastal people to drinking water (Hossain et al., 2021; Chakraborty et al., 2019; Dasgupta, 2017; Khan et al., 2011(a)). The literature indicates mostly women and girls are the key responsible persons for the collection of drinking water (Hossain et al., 2021; Bagri, 2017; Alston, 2015) and due to the shortage of drinking water in coastal areas, they need to walk on average 3–7km daily to collect drinking water for their family members. The insecurity of drinking water often forces the coastal inhabitants to buy drinking water. Buying drinking water may enhance the poverty level of coastal families and women and girls of those families can be the core victim of such poorer conditions (Huq and Easher, 2021; Bagri, 2017).

2.2. Salinity and food insecurity

According to Mainuddin et al. (2021), about 65% of coastal land areas are affected by different levels (low to high) of salinity. Salinity has adverse effects on the quality of soil and thereby decreases the availability of agricultural land and agricultural production in Bangladesh (Ashrafuzzaman et al., 2022; Lam et al., 2021; Mainuddin et al., 2021; Khan et al., 2011(b)). The drop in the country’s crop and grain production has increased food insecurity (Mainuddin et al., 2021; Lam et al., 2021; Khan et al., 2011(a)). In addition to rice, the production of oil seeds, lentils, fruits, and vegetables is negatively affected by a gradual increase of coastal salinity (Ashrafuzzaman et al., 2022; Mainuddin et al., 2021; Lam et al., 2021; Alston, 2015; Saroar, 2015; Nahian et al., 2013; Khan et al., 2011(b)). Furthermore, salinity is affecting coastal grazing land and hay harvests (Bhowmik et al., 2021). For example, annually 200 hectares of fresh fodder cropland are affected by saline intrusion of coastal areas (Alam et al., 2017). Consequently, livestock in these areas is severely affected due to fodder unavailability (Bhowmik et al., 2021; Alston, 2015). Besides, poultry framing is also adversely affected by coastal salinity (Nahian et al., 2013). Moreover, coastal native fish sources are affected conjointly by salinity and cyclones (Leite et al., 2022; Lam et al., 2021; Alam et al., 2017). Overall, the impacts of salinity on agriculture increase the risks of food insecurity for coastal communities and eventually coastal women and girls become the key victims of such food insecurities (Alston, 2015).

2.3. Salinity and health impacts

Salinity accelerates the health insecurities of coastal inhabitants, especially women and children (Hossain et al., 2021; Zaman, 2017). Saline-contaminated drinking water has a range of adverse health effects like increased pre-hypertension, hypertension and associated diseases, pre-eclampsia, eclampsia among pregnant women, skin diseases, and acute respiratory infection (Ahmad and Yaseen, 2021; Roy et al., 2021; Scheelbeek et al., 2016; Khan et al., 2014; Vineis et al., 2011). During pregnancy, the hypertensive disorder rate among coastal women is higher than in a non-coastal area and women (Ahmad and Saqib, 2021; Roy et al., 2021; Talukder et al., 2016; Khan et al., 2014). Besides, coastal women and girls are the key victims of gynecological health complexities as well as severe skin diseases (Shammi et al., 2019; Sharmin and Islam, 2013).

2.4. Salinity and social impacts

Salinity is a threat to the wellbeing of the coastal communities (Huq and Easher, 2021; Khan et al., 2008) and this also affects coastal community development as well as social structure (Khan et al., 2011). Salinity increases child marriage tendency (Asadullah et al., 2021; Roy et al., 2021; Khanam, 2021; Alston, 2015; Coirolo et al., 2013). For example, average marriage age of coastal girls is 12–17 years (NIPORT and ICF, 2023; Alston, 2015). Besides, salinity crafts the risk of marriage insecurity for coastal girls (Roy et al., 2021) for example, 91.82% of coastal girls claim that salinity-induced skin problems are the key responsible factor for making their marriage unsecured (Khanam, 2019). In addition, salinity increases the number of female-headed families in coastal districts and these families are extremely vulnerable (Khanam, 2021; Alston, 2015).

Salinity is associated with gender-based violence i.e., sexual harassment and domestic/intimate partner violence. Studies showed that coastal women and adolescent girls face sexual harassment and assault while they go to collect drinking water from several kilometers away (Kadir, 2021; Camey et al., 2020; Abedin et al., 2013). Salinity imposes extra workloads on coastal women and adolescent girls for the collection of water, fuel, and fodder (Hayward and Ayeb-Karlsson, 2021; Hossain et al., 2021). Due to the failure of accomplishment of household responsibilities timely, coastal women and adolescent girls face domestic/intimate partner violence (Malak et al., 2020; Alston, 2015).

Menstrual health and hygiene management crisis and mental stress are key social issues related to coastal women’s health, hygiene, and wellbeing (Roy et al., 2021). Studies showed that when a household suffers from insufficient food supply, the condition forces the female family members like mother, wife, and daughters to consume less food than male members (Roy et al., 2021; Alston, 2015). The use of saltwater for lavatory activities threatens coastal women and girls’ menstrual health and hygiene management (Chowdhury and June, 2021). Salt water creates itching in their sensitive areas, rash and fungal infections, urinary tract infections, and feeling uncomfortable during menstruation (Khanam and Dina, 2020). Besides, the consumption of saline water to a large extent creates unbearable gynecological health complexities (Khanam and Dina, 2020; Zaman, 2017). Zaman (2017) claimed that 66% coastal women and girls undergo salinity-induced gynecological health complications. In addition, studies show that salinity imposes extreme mental stress on women and adolescent girls living in coastal areas (Roy et al., 2021; Hayward and Ayeb-Karlsson, 2021; Shohel et al., 2011) due to salinity-induced skin diseases and increased burden of domestic tasks.

Furthermore, literature indicates that salinity affects coastal girls’ education where the educational attainment of girls in coastal areas is relatively lower than in non-coastal areas (Khanam, 2021; Khalil et al., 2020; Kabir et al., 2016). Importantly, girls are forced to manage their time by sacrificing their academic activities to complete household tasks such as collection of drinking water (Hossain et al., 2021; Malak et al., 2020). Evidence claims that salinity affects coastal females’ literacy rate profoundly because parents often withdraw their daughters from academic activities to support their mothers in performing household tasks (Hossain et al., 2021; Khanam, 2021; Akter, 2019; Zaman, 2017; Sharmin and Islam, 2013). Besides, in coastal areas, wage discrimination among male and female workers is extensive and socially accepted (Islam, 2016). Figure 3 shows the association between salinity and food, health, and social insecurity.

Fig. 3.

Fig. 3. Nexus between salinity and food, water, health, and social insecurity.

Source: Illustrated by authors.

3. Methodology

3.1. Study area

The study area was selected in the coastal area where a village called Jhapa. The village is situated under Shymnagar Upazila (sub-district) in Satkhira district in Bangladesh (Figure 4). The study area is situated in the Southwestern coastal zone of Bangladesh, and the area is covered by the world’s largest mangrove forest Sundarban. The total population of Jhapa village is 3,158 comprising 1,601 males and 1,557 females. The village was selected because it is almost circled by the river Kholpetuya and the river is full of saline water. In general, Satkhira district is one of the highly saline-prone areas of the country (Rabbani et al., 2013).

Fig. 4.

Fig. 4. Study area.

3.2. In-depth interview

This study is based on qualitative data and one of the key advantages of qualitative data is that it is possible to anticipate achieving the depth of understanding (Butina, 2015; Creswell, 2013; Patton, 2002) of a phenomenon. This is therefore applicable to understand the gender dimension of the impacts of coastal salinity intrusion. A face-to-face in-depth interview was undertaken using a semi-structured questionnaire. The semi-structured interview helps to develop the rapport with interviewees easily and allowed to achieve rich data. Table 1 shows the thematic issues and based on these themes; detailed questions were asked to participants. In addition to the preparation of a list of thematic issues to be discussed with interviewees, an interview protocol was developed by sequencing the thematic issues. This helped to stay focused on the research objectives. To explore the experience of women along with adolescent girls it was necessary to develop a rapport with the interviewees before the interview. The interview protocol helped to develop rapport with the interviewees. This guide also included how to ask the questions (specially the sensitive ones) to get the reliable information. Furthermore, the research themes contain several sensitive and personal issues. Therefore, the study selected respondents who were willing to participate.

Table 1. Checklist for interview.

 1. Relationship between salinity and coastal adolescent girl’s marriage insecurity
 2. Relationship between salinity and child marriage
 3. Relationship between salinity and dowry demand
 4. Relationship between salinity and grass widow, polygyny, women-headed families, and divorce
 5. Relationship between salinity and sexual harassment
 6. Relationship between salinity and domestic and intimate partner violence
 7. Relationship between salinity and menstrual health management crisis
 8. Relationship between salinity and women and adolescent girl’s disease burden
 9. Relationship between salinity and increased mental stress
10. Relationship between salinity and malnourishment
11. Relationship between salinity and adolescent girl’s low educational attainment
12. Relationship between salinity and women and adolescent girl’s burden of domestic roles
13. Relationship between salinity and women and adolescent girl’s wage discrimination
14. Coastal males and female’s perception of the nexus between salinity, gender roles, and women and girl’s deprivation

Twenty-five face-to-face interviews were conducted with the female, male, and adolescent girls from the study area. Out of these 25 interviewees, 10 were female, 10 were male, and five were adolescent girls aged from 18–19 years. The rationale for including adolescent girls in the interviewees’ list was that adolescent girls are the key responsible persons along with women for fetching drinking water from distant sources in addition to supporting other household works. The interviewees were selected purposively. All the interviewees were asked questions anonymously given the nature of the questions and local social culture. The interview was undertaken by the authors in 2022 and the average length of the interview was 1h on an average. All male and female interviewees were married, and their education level was up to 10th grade. The participants had a relatively better ability to communicate their experiences and provide opinions in an expressive, eloquent, and insightful manner. It is to be noted that quotations were written in italics where excerpts of the respondents’ information are less than three lines.

3.2.1. How many interviews?

The literature shows that the number of participants for interview may vary from one study to another (Sandelowski, 1995; Creswell, 1998; Morse, 2000; Spencer et al., 2003; Mason, 2010; Dworkin, 2012). For example, Creswell (1998) suggests a range between 20 and 30 interviews for a qualitative study. Dworkin (2012) points out that in qualitative research, having 25–30 participants is a minimum to reach saturation. While a greater number of interviews may help to produce more relevant information, we could interview 25 participants to identify the impacts (e.g., salinity) of climate change on women in this study. The authors believe that 25 interviews were sufficient to serve the purpose of this study. The interviews were in-depth in nature and were conducted by the authors themselves. Importantly, the authors stopped interviewing at a saturation point where they were receiving same or similar data repeatedly. At this point, the authors concluded that there would be little benefit in their conducting further interviews.

3.3. Limitation of the study

The case study village was highly salinity-impacted village, and it would be better to collect data from a control village to show the difference between the findings of two case study villages. However, given the increasing rise of sea-level, the intrusion of salinity in coastal areas is clearly visible in Bangladesh and therefore no control village was considered in the research design. Also, it was not possible to collect data from a control village due to limited resources (e.g., time and money). The case study village may not be enough to represent of whole coastal areas and therefore the findings may not generalize the situation of the women of whole coastal areas. Nevertheless, the findings of the case study village were found analogous to the findings of some other studies conducted in the same or other parts of the coastal areas of Bangladesh and mentioned in the results and discussions.

4. Findings: Impacts of Salinity on Women

4.1. Marriage insecurity, dowry demand, and child marriage

The study indicates that there are increasing risks of marriage insecurity in the coastal areas. The exposure to saline water for long time, the skin tone of girls becomes darker in addition to premature skin aging and therefore they may be looked unattractive in the traditional or in the socio-cultural context of Bangladesh. Many women and girls among the extremely poor work in shrimp farms or collect shrimp fry from their nearest rivers to meet their living expenses. Importantly, the continuous contact with saline water for daily household tasks or washing purposes causes several skin problems. The exposure of women and girls to saline water for long time also the cause of various types of skin diseases such as skin paleness, skin rashes, skin allergies and makes marriageable girls unattractive to marriageable males. The unattractive look of marriageable girls and the attitude of parents of marriageable males are barriers to getting them married. According to one of the female respondents,

“When the matchmaker starts talking about any marriage, at first, they ask about the skin diseases of the girls. If a girl has any kind of skin disease, marriageable male, and their parent, do not show any interest in marrying them. Males, as well as their parents, always show keen interest in marrying girls who are living in the areas of sweet water because they want to take the credit that their bride is beautiful with brighter skin tone as compared to ours.”

Furthermore, one of the unmarried adolescent girl respondents said, “My father has tried to marry off me with a dowry of five lakhs taka (5,00000 BDT); however, he failed to find a groom. I know that the main cause of it is my unattractiveness of my darker skin.” The consequence of this situation is increasing demand for dowry, early marriage (child marriage) and early pregnancy. The unsecured situation pushes the coastal girls into a deprived and frustrating position. Moreover, it increases tension among the parents of the coastal girls. The reluctance of local marriageable males to marry the local girls and the unattractive look of marriageable girls increases the demand for dowry and the poor families among the affected communities suffer most. One of the adolescent girl respondents said,

“Hair fall, reddish hair, and premature grey hair are common in our area as we are to use saline water to wash our hair. I have reddish hair using saline water, and I know other girls who have grey hair already. We know that we would not be able to avoid the situation as we are poor. The water that we use daily is so salty that soap cannot make foam from it. Can you believe it? How will it clean our bodies or hair? The use of saline water for long destroys our hair roots quickly, so we start losing our hair at the very beginning of our life.”

This situation again intensifies the risk of early marriage and pushes the coastal girls to a marginalized and deprived position. Given the insecurity of their daughters to get married, the parents are forced to get their daughters married at an early age (under the age of 18) to avoid the risk of marriage insecurity.

Figure 5 shows the nexus between marriage insecurity, dowry, and early marriage of girls due to salinity in coastal areas of Bangladesh. In Bangladesh the marriage of a girl under the age of 18 is illegal however among women aged 20–24 who married before the age of 18 is more prevalent in rural areas (52.6%) in Bangladesh. These findings can be supported by other similar studies, for example, NIPORT and ICF (2023), Kadir (2021), Akinsemolu and Olukoya (2020), and Malak et al. (2020). For example, the NIPORT and ICF (2023) show that in Khulna area the percentage of women of age 20–24 who married before the age of 18 is 55.5%, much higher than the national average (52.6%). This also suggests that necessary action is needed to protect the early marriage in the study area in addition to other coastal areas of Bangladesh.

Fig. 5.

Fig. 5. The nexus between marriage insecurity, dowry, and early marriage of girls due to salinity in coastal areas of Bangladesh.

Source: Illustrated by authors.

4.2. Increasing domestic violence and divorce

It was noted in the study areas that women and girls spend several hours (4–7) of a day for the collection of drinking water and fuel. As a result, they often face challenges to finish their daily household chores such as cooking on time. This causes disputes among the family members, especially between the husbands and wives. In extreme cases, this may lead to domestic and intimate partner violence and even divorce. According to one of the women respondents,

“Salinity itself is a burden for us. It imposes an enormous workload on us that is unbelievable to the women who live in Sweetwater areas. We need to spend more time on water collection and fuel collection. This affects our regular household work especially cooking food timely. Our husbands beat us for minor reasons; for example, if I failed to prepare his food on time, he would start beating me without noticing my extensive workloads.”

Furthermore, it has been observed that salinity is a challenge for women to establish physical relationships with their husbands. This is because women exposed to saline water suffer from severe skin diseases and infections around the genital area. Because of enormous work pressure at home, women feel exhausted at night when their husband comes closer to them for intercourse. This affects their family life and increases their risk of being victims of intimate partner violence. These findings can be supported by other studies for example, Roy et al. (2022), Tran et al. (2021), Dalziella et al. (2020), Rahman et al. (2019), and Dasgupta et al. (2017). Furthermore, interviews from respondents indicate that due to the increased burden of work women in the coastal area suffer from extreme tiredness and even become unable to work after a certain age. Also, coastal women’s physical unattractiveness due to being exposed to saline water increases the risk of divorce or separation. As said by one of the female interviewees,

“Males look for beautiful young ladies while working in the towns or non-saline areas, but at home, he has a wife who does not look beautiful to him. In the off seasons, our husbands move to towns for work for 4–5 months. In towns, they often marry beautiful young girls and stop sending us money to manage food for kids and other expenses. Our husbands bring home their newly married wives. This creates problems among us, and often we are forced to leave our husbands’ houses.”

One of the key consequences of divorce or separation is the increased number of women-headed families in the coastal areas either permanently or temporarily. The number of women-headed households is increased temporarily when males migrate to cities for jobs and stop sending any money for their kids and wives. The increased number of divorced women means an increased number of more vulnerable females who are responsible for the livelihood of their family members. The females as the head of their families responsible for earning income and taking care of kids (IFPRI, 2015). In the socio-cultural context of Bangladesh, the female-heads of the households are always socially vulnerable and go through hardship due to facing difficulties in earning money for their family members especially kids. This suggests that more interventions from the government along with NGOs are needed for women in the coastal areas to reduce domestic violence (IFPRI, 2015) through the improvement of women’s livelihood and migration of water scarcity. These can be supported by other studies for example, Fuller and Lain (2020), Ferdous and Mallick (2019), Flatø et al. (2017), Tanny and Rahman (2016), and UN WOMEN (2014).

4.3. Increasing malnutrition among women

The study finds that salinity directly affects coastal people’s nutritional status, especially the adolescent girls who need additional dietary food to meet the nutritional deficiency caused by their menstruation. Moreover, married women also need extra nutritional supplies to overcome pregnancy complexities and give birth to a healthy baby. Besides, women and adolescent girls need more nutrition to be strong enough to perform the day-to-day domestic tasks. One of the key reasons for malnutrition is that salinity affects the fertility of the soil in the coastal areas and therefore agricultural production including fisheries and livestock has been reduced. Importantly, women used to produce vegetables, fruits, poultry, and livestock around their house when the soil was fertile in the absence of salinity and thereby could improve their nutritional status. Now salinity directly affects all these sources of nutrition as the production of vegetables, fruits, poultry, and livestock has decreased significantly due to the reduction of soil fertility. One of the female interviewees said,

“We have lost the local fish sources due to saline water, so we cannot catch fish from the rivers and ponds. We only have nurtured fish that are only for sale. We cannot afford to rare cows, goats, even hens or ducks due to the scarcity of their food. Before 1995, we had fifteen cows, but when salinity became extreme, they all died. Moreover, algae grown in shrimp farms cannot be used as fodder for the cows because it causes dysentery of the cows. Consequently, we failed to produce and manage nutritious foods such as fruits, vegetables, milk, meat, eggs, fish, and meat.”

Furthermore, the early marriage or child marriage and childbirth is another accelerate malnourishment among women and adolescent girls in the coastal areas. According to one of the respondents,

“After 8th grade, most coastal girls dropped out from academic activities. Then, they got married, and after their marriage, they immediately try to give birth to a child because they feel unsecured due to the polygamous tendencies of coastal males. So, the malnourished teenage pregnant girls give birth to another malnourished child, and it is a vicious circle for the coastal poor women and girls.”

Another reason is the existence of tradition in every family where women and girls always take food after their male members’ eating and drinking. This is because women and adolescent girls usually have low status at home, especially in low-income families. Given this situation, the malnutrition condition is more prevalent among women than males, and the situation is worsening in the coastal areas. This suggests that the existing attitude to female need to be changed (Lam et al., 2021) to improve the nutritional status of women. Special attention is needed for the women from the government in these affected areas. These findings can be supported by, for example, Chowdhury et al. (2020); Rahman and Ahmed (2018), Fanzo et al. (2018), Moumita et al. (2016), and Kabir et al. (2016). There is a link between food security and malnutrition in the coastal area of Bangladesh, as shown by Figure 6.

Fig. 6.

Fig. 6. Link between food security and malnutrition.

Source: Illustrated by authors.

4.4. Educational status of women

In the coastal areas, it was found that the educational status of women is decreasing. The study has identified several factors that are responsible for the low educational attainment of coastal adolescent girls. First, marriage insecurity and child marriage increase the risk of low educational attainment of coastal girls as parents always try to marry off their daughters. One adolescent girl respondent said,

“Our parents pay no attention to our educational status. However, the sole aim of our family is to marry off us when we go menstruating. Therefore, most of us will be married off when we will be 9th or 10th-grade students. One cannot be able to break the tradition if she wouldn’t be determined and pig-headed. However, our brothers never face these challenges.”

In Bangladesh, there is always a tendency among the poor families in rural areas to marry off their daughters at early age (below legal age of 18). The salinity in the study area intensified this issue. According to one of the girl respondents,

“For us, education itself is a hindrance. If we go to school, we will be aged. We will lose our attractiveness, mildness, and tenderness. So, our parents will face challenges to find grooms for us. For example, if my parents marry off me at the age of ten to fifteen years, they will manage a groom for me with lower dowry demand. However, if I want to study higher, I will be aged twenty to twenty-five at least, and at that age, my parents will be unable to find a groom even with more dowry demand.”

Second, long-distance and lack of proper transportation facilities to go to school is another challenge for girls. Salinity decreases the longevity of roads, bridges, schools, and other infrastructures in coastal areas. So, rickshaws, auto-rickshaws, and other traditional vehicles are not available for transportation for coastal girls. As a result, they are to take a long walk, often 3 or 4km, to school. Moreover, the risk of being teased while walking to the school fosters the low educational achievement of the coastal girls. According to one of the respondents,

“There are many small tea stalls in the roadsides, on the way to our schools. The males and adolescent boys (who are not involved in formal education) pass their time with idle talks. We must cross those tea stalls to go to school. So, we are the easy victims of eve-teasing, whistling, and sexual comments.”

Third, the often-excessive workload of mothers compels them to withdraw their daughters from school to assist with household activities, especially when their mothers get sick. Therefore, it is not surprising that in coastal areas, the educational status of young girls is lower than that of boys. In the study area it was found that education itself is a burden for coastal girls and their families. In addition, educational status intensifies the risk of dowry and child marriage by creating marriage insecurity among young coastal girls. As added by one of the adolescent girls,

“If you search, you will find girls who have completed the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) program. Still, their parents failed to find groom for them because no one showed interest in marrying them. Now they are a burden for their families. They live with their parents and help them economically by cleaning algae in the local shrimp farms. Furthermore, we cannot manage any job with our certificate. So, with or without education, we are destined to work in shrimp farms. It’s better to marry at an early age, start our family life as soon as possible and save our parents from social humiliation (without marriage, girls staying with their parents are considered a social disgrace both for the daughters and their parents). Our parents feel to marry off us as early as possible rather than their literacy.”

These findings show that while the education of girls is continuing to progress and (NIPORT and ICF, 2020, 2023), the education of girls in coastal areas shows a different picture. This suggests that the government need to take necessary measure with different strategies to improve female education in the coastal areas of Bangladesh. These findings can be substantiated by Akter (2019), Zaman (2017), Ahmed and Diana (2015), and Asadullah and Chaudhury (2011) where the authors found that salinity affects literacy rate profoundly especially for the coastal adolescent girls.

4.5. Threat to menstrual health and hygiene management

Due to water salinity, maintaining menstrual health and hygiene is an extreme challenge for coastal adolescent girls and women, especially from December to February (the time salinity reaches its peak). All the female respondents claim that they face extreme hardship during their menstruation because of using saline water. Water salinity affects the menstrual health and hygiene of coastal women and adolescent girls in several ways.

First, women and adolescent girls regularly use saline water for bathing, cleaning clothes, and lavatory activities. During the menstrual cycle, they wash their used old clothes in saline water and dry them in hidden places in the house and they use the same clothes for 4/6 months. After every wash with saline water, the clothes get stiffer and harder, creating discomfort for every subsequent use. A woman added, “Wearing hard clothes we must take a long walk for water fetching. You will be unable to imagine the discomfort and sufferings we face during menstruation”.

Second, the lack of availability, affordability, and unconsciousness among coastal adolescent girls and women, mostly use old clothes as an absorbent during menstruation. Adolescent girls follow their mothers and more senior female relatives to maintain menstrual health and hygiene. An adolescent girl said,

“We cannot talk with our father or brothers regarding menstruation because menstruation is levelled as a female issue in our society. It is embarrassing if any of our male family members identify us at the time of menstruating. Besides, living in a conservative society, our mothers and we are unable to buy sanitary napkins from the city shops as all the shopkeepers are male. Moreover, our poverty does not allow us to buy sanitary napkins, so we use clothes like our mothers and grandmothers.”

As a form of absorbent, old clothes introduce several health complexities, especially gynecological health problems like extreme itching in the vaginal area, rash, fungal infection, urinary tract infection, etc. Moreover, the mentioned complexities and the fear of leaking blood, the school and college-going girls miss their schooling 2/3 days in each cycle. The findings of this study can be supported by other similar studies for example, Chowdhury and June (2021), Parvin et al. (2021), Akter et al. (2019), Zaman (2017), Ortiz-Correa et al. (2016), and Kabir et al. (2014), where they found the similar issues relating to women and girls in the coastal areas.

4.6. Increased burden of disease

In the study area, both male and female respondents acknowledged that women and girls are the key victims of salinity-induced diseases such as loss of hair, dark skin, and gynecological health complexities including genetic infection. First, women and adolescent girls consume saline water frequently, which induces skin diseases and severe ocular problems. According to one of the respondents,

“I have reddish hair using saline water, and I know other girls who have grey hair already. Long consumption of saline water destroys our hair roots quickly, so we start losing our hair at the very beginning of our life. If you compare a city woman and a coastal woman, you will see the city woman has more beautiful, long, and voluminous hair as compared to the coastal woman. Women who are thirty to thirty-five years old have fragile, rough, and unsmooth hair for continuous use of saline water.”

The consumption of saline water causes high blood pressure among women and thereby the burden of disease increases (Rasheed et al., 2016). Second, women and adolescent girls, who work in shrimp farms as algae cleaners or those who catch shrimp larvae and crabs from the river, stay in saline water for a more extended period. Therefore, they are more prone to disease burdens such as skin diseases, gynecological health complexities especially menstrual cycle, cold, and cough. According to one of the respondents, “we suffer from skin diseases due salinity; however, we have no other way except working with saline water to support our family financially.” Another respondent said, “We took skin diseases and gynecological problems as our fate. We know that we would not be able to avoid the situation as we are poor. The water that we use daily is so salty that soap cannot make foam from it. How will it clean our bodies?” Third, malnutrition of coastal women and adolescent girls also increases their risk of being the victim of weakness, anemia, low blood pressure, underweight babies born, and other diseases. One of the key reasons of malnutrition according to a respondent is “the sacrifice their food and other basic needs to accumulate resources for paying the demanded dowry.”

The burden of diseases makes women and girls more vulnerable and face challenges at home and outside. The findings of this study can be supported by other studies, for example, Hanifi et al. (2022), Jabed et al. (2020), Hoque et al. (2019), and Grant et al. (2015). Table 2 shows a summary of the impacts of climate induced salinity on women.

Table 2. A summary of the impacts of salinity on women in the study area.

Sl.Key issuesImpactsConsequences
1Marriage insecurity, dowry demand, and child marriage
(a)

The skin tone of girls becomes darker,

(b)

premature skin ageing and hair loss, and

(c)

skin diseases.

(a)

Increasing demand of dowry,

(b)

early marriage (child marriage),

(c)

early pregnancy, and

(d)

tension among parents with marriageable girls.

2Increasing domestic violence and divorce
(a)

The shortage of time for women to finish domestic work because more time is needed to collect drinking water,

(b)

increased burden of work on women, and

(c)

increased divorce rate.

(a)

Disputes among the family members, especially between the husbands and wives, and

(b)

increased number of women as head of household and more vulnerability.

3Increasing malnutrition among women
(a)

The reduction of the sources of livelihood due to the reduction of agricultural production,

(b)

household production of fruits, vegetables are affected, and

(c)

traditional view of taking food after food is taken by male.

(a)

The burden of diseases,

(b)

give birth of malnourished child, and

(c)

inability to accomplish household work timely.

4Educational status of girls
(a)

The education of girls is interrupted due to engagement with household and income generating activities, and

(b)

low priority for girl’s education.

(a)

The marriage at early age even before 18 years of old,

(b)

poverty, and

(c)

the lack of empowerment.

5Threat to menstrual health and hygiene management
(a)

The use of saline water for washing and bathing may affect menstrual health of women.

(b)

Working in the brackish water for income generation affect the women for the management of hygiene specially when they use traditional approach during menstrual regulations.

(a)

More health problem,

(b)

burden of disease including diseases in genital organs of women, and

(c)

the interruption of education of girls.

6Increased burden of disease
(a)

Women and girls need spend more time on fetching drinking from remote area,

(b)

work in the saline water for more income, and

(c)

suffering from various diseases including skin diseases and gynecological health complexities.

(a)

Women become tired of work due to burden of work and cannot finish household work timely,

(b)

increased domestic violence, and

(c)

increased rate of divorce.

5. Discussion

The study denied several impacts of salinity of women in the study areas and subsequent consequences. These are interrelated as shown by Figure 7 and explained in the following discussions.

Fig. 7.

Fig. 7. Inter-relation between the impact of salinity and subsequent consequences.

Source: Illustrated by authors.

Women experience the consequences of natural disasters in Bangladesh, but the problems get much more magnified in coastal areas where life is more challenging, and orthodoxy is more prominent. Women possess less physical strength to fight with natural calamities which further downfalls them with the adverse subordinate positions in society (Momtaz et al., 2021). Moreover, they have almost no opportunity to earn cash income; have limited control over and access to their own or family assets, in turn, cannot invest to reduce disaster-induced risks. The traditional subordinate positions of women in society and limited access to economic resources results in higher risk which becomes crucial during any disaster in Bangladesh (Momtaz et al., 2021; Alam and Collins, 2010) and this is relevant to this study too. In this study, the reluctant attitude of males to women and girls suffer from salinity in the coastal areas can be attributed to the position of women in the society in Bangladesh.

It is evident that the impacts of salinity on women largely ignored by the patriarchal society certainly affect the women’s resilience and capacity to cope with the existing situation. This study shows that given the marginal position of women in society, it is difficult for them to apply risk-reduction related skills or knowledge in real-life situation. In addition, the lack of knowledge or opportunities for access to natural resources has enhanced the risk of being socially vulnerable. Therefore, domestic, and intimate partner violence, early marriage, dowry demand, and malnourishment have been accelerated and there is a possibility of increase in this situation in future. While women’s ability to adapt to disasters with their flexibility is well recognized including family management (Momtaz et al., 2021; Khalil et al., 2020) their potential to cope with the adverse situation is often ignored and they are to perform all the routine work despite remaining in the most disadvantageous situation. It is imperative to provide women in the coastal areas with adequate facilities to cope with the situation particularly the adverse situation created by the salinity in the coastal areas.

As the interactions between men and women occur within the structural context of unequal role or status relations, the women’s sufferings are largely ignored by society, or the males are reluctant to realize. With the changing environment, women perceive their increased workload, which has been traditionally ascribed based on a gender-based division of labor. In Bangladesh, their role in the family and community is yet to be recognized and society or community rarely take note of women’s views as women enjoy almost no right to take decisions on any issues. This has been evident in this study where boys and girls do not carry out the same functions within the household alongside learning. Because of the gender division of labor, girls spend more time assisting their mothers than boys. Given the society’s traditional attitude to women, the initiatives for the improvement of resilience of women may be largely absent in the national policy and plans in Bangladesh. In the coastal areas, women need more health care than male as they are suffering from various diseases due to increasing salinity in addition to reducing their increased burden of work. The role of males in the community may play a vital role in this regard and therefore awareness building among the males in the coastal community is necessary to realize the sufferings of women. Programs should be in place to make the males oriented with unequal distribution of work and different aspects of women’s sufferings due to salinity of water and soil.

One of the major aspects of this study is that coastal communities are relatively poorer than other communities living on non-coastal plainland in Bangladesh. Therefore, a significant portion (almost half of the total population) of the coastal community is either poor or extremely poor. Among the poor or extremely poor families, women are the worst victims of the impact of salinity as shown by this study. In particular, the poor women as the heads of households are suffering the most as they look after the family and work hard to earn income to meet the demand for food. Thereby, the salinity impacts will reinforce existing gender inequalities including gender-based violence, and potentially increase of divorce rate. The study shows that the existing situation of women will place women at greater risk as the severity of salinity in the coastal areas continues to increase (Islam and Winkel, 2017). Consequently, women irrespective of extreme poor and head of households in the coastal community will be more vulnerable to salinity (Ahmed and Kiester, 2021). This suggests that Bangladesh Government must consider the poor women living in coastal areas with appropriate strategies. This underscores that a deeper understanding of the gendered implications of adaptation strategy to salinity-induced vulnerability is important. It is necessary to identify the barriers of poor women to increase their resilience and access to health and other services including sources of livelihood. Understanding the barriers of females as heads of the households is especially critical as they are already in an extremely vulnerable situation. This vulnerability needs different adaptation strategies and options for women and girls to cope with the impact of salinity.

Finally, given the current trend of global warming, it is obvious that sea level will continue to rise and consequently the coverage and intensity of salinity in the coastal areas will increase. Therefore, the impact of salinity on women in coastal areas of Bangladesh will be intensified. This suggests that alternative adaptation mechanisms need to be identified for coastal areas by predicting the intensity and coverage of salinity over time.

6. Conclusions and Policy Implications

The aim of this study was to understand the impact of salinity on women and girls in the coastal region of Bangladesh. The impacts of salinity of women were identified these include increased burden of disease, increased burden of domestic work, domestic violence or inmate partner violence, early marriage and child pregnancy, abandonment of wives by their husbands and increased divorce rate, reducing the ability to accomplish household work, the inability of parents to send their girls for education, insecurity of marriageable girls to be married, and increased demand of dowry. Throughout the study, it is obvious that women and adolescent girls are the worst victims of climate change-induced both water and soil salinity. The study shows that salinity imposes social insecurities on coastal women and adolescent girls. Among them, the women and girls from extremely poor and poor families experience more insecurities than others.

The reasons behind the sufferings of women and girls include the male-dominant society where the position of women is lower than men in Bangladesh. The uneven distribution of work, the lack of understanding of gender sensitivity, awareness about the impacts of climate change, and religious and social taboos, absence of institutional arrangements including policy strategies are also important factors. The implications of this study indicate that there must be initiatives in places for reducing the sufferings of women and girls triggered by salinity. The policy strategies of different sectors need to incorporate the issues associated with the impacts of salinity on women. Awareness building among both policy makers and male in the coastal areas is important so that they understand the sufferings of women in the coastal areas instigated by salinity.

Also, the impacts of salinity on women suggests that women tend to be more vulnerable than men in the coastal areas. In Bangladesh, usually household works of women are not explicitly recognized in government policy. There is no specific policy for protection of women from the impacts salinity in the coastal areas. However, in response to address these problems both government and non-government organizations have taken initiatives. For example, the government (Ministry of Women and Children Affairs) along with the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) is recently implementing a gender-responsive project titled “Enhancing Adaptive Capacities of Coastal Communities specially women, to cope with Climate Change Induced Salinity” in this area where Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) is also involved. The government is implementing several activities through this project to ensure steady freshwater supply through rainwater harvesting and alternative sources of livelihood in addition to enhance the capacity of women through training.

A mid-term evaluation of the project shows that the implementation of the project is reducing the burden of work for women and girls through the provision of rainwater harvesting system (RWHS) and supporting new opportunities for women to participate in climate-resilient livelihood activities that can significantly change the status of women in the community (GOB, 2022). In addition, the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock (MoFL) is implementing a project to enhance the financial and physical capacity of the affected community through the implementation of “Kakra-Kuchia” project. The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (LGRD) is implementing two projects titled “Climate Resilient Infrastructure Mainstreaming (CRIM)” and “Coastal Climate Resilient Infrastructure Project (CCRIP)”. The key objective of these projects is to improve the livelihood and capacity of coastal communities including women to cope with the climate impacts (personal communication, January 2024).

In addition to Government initiatives, non-government organization, for example, BRAC, an internationally reputed organization, is implementing several programs in the study area. For example, under the Climate Change Program (CCP), BRAC is providing training to women on climate change and consequences. BRAC is helping from the program about vegetable cultivation and supplying the seeds of vegetables. The program has introduced climate resilient crops and provided training on homestead gardening, especially to the women. Under this program, BRAC introduced several technologies resilient to climate change in the study area and other coastal areas. These are (a) pod-sand filter to supply sweet water, (b) solar water pump for supply of ground water, (c) dyke pond system for fresh water, and (d) climate resilient crops (personal communication, January 2024).

Also, BRAC is implementing a project with the support of Bangladesh Agricultural University and BRAC Bank to minimize the adverse impacts of salinity on women in coastal areas. One of the key components of the project is to raising awareness on water, health, and hygiene among affected women. Furthermore, BRAC also has school student awareness on adolescent health and potential impacts of climate change. The BRAC has their own health volunteers, and they implement these activities with support of government community clinics and health service centers (personal communication, December 2023).

Although women in rural Bangladesh work hard and implement household works, from societal points of view, their contributions are not properly recognized. It is to be noted that salinity intrusion in the coastal areas of Bangladesh is increasing and this means more women will be affected by salinity. This suggests that available policy strategies for women to be affected by salinity need to be in place. The experiences by women found in this study can be valuable insights for decision makers to make policy and plans. There is a need for capacity building program for women to play their role in the preparation of gender-sensitive adaptation plans.

Acknowledgment

The authors are thankful to the anonymous reviewers who made valuable comments for further improvement of this paper.

ORCID

Dilafroze Khanam  https://orcid.org/0009-0008-6502-9644

Zobaidul Kabir  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7110-629x

Shahana Afrin Dina  https://orcid.org/0009-0006-4322-5973

Abu Reza Md Towfiqul Islam  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5779-1382