Adapting the built environment: the role of gender in shaping vulnerability and resilience to climate extremes in Dhaka

The relationship between the built environment and vulnerability and resilience is a little-studied area of research, and demands an exploration of constraints and windows of opportunity. Given gender roles and the division of labour between women and men within urban poor households, the impacts of climate extremes are likely to be gendered. But conceptualizing gender only in terms of the vulnerability of women can mean overlooking the complex and intersecting power relations that marginalize women and men differently. These power relations are manifested in spatial practices, while spatial relations are manifested in the construction of gender. Thus, the power to make decisions in the built environment based on gender roles, and the nature of gender subordination, rights and entitlements contribute significantly to the capacity to adapt to climate extremes.