Beyond the ‘trapped’ narrative towards a culturally grounded understanding of women’s climate immobility in rural Mwenezi, Zimbabwe

This study examines women’s decisions to remain in climate-affected rural Mwenezi, showing that immobility is an agentive and morally grounded practice rather than a sign of vulnerability. Women’s staying is shaped by kinship obligations, customary land tenure and spiritual ties, which together sustain livelihoods, intergenerational knowledge and social cohesion. Relational networks, including family and cooperative groups, function as adaptive infrastructure, converting social ties into economic and moral resources. Older women exercise authority as custodians of ecological knowledge and communal memory, guiding younger generations and reinforcing household and community continuity. Economic activity, governance participation and moral stewardship intersect to position women as active agents within customary and ethical frameworks. Through the lenses of African feminism and Hunhu (personhood), immobility is interpreted as a culturally coherent strategy for adaptation-in-place that integrates livelihood security, spiritual accountability and relational responsibility. The study challenges dominant ‘trapped population’ narratives and highlights the moral and ethical dimensions of climate immobility.