Environmental Stress, Gendered Bodies, and Policy Failure: Salinity Intrusion and Women's Vulnerability in Coastal Bangladesh

ABSTRACT

Environmental stress is increasingly reshaping gendered bodies, social relations, and policy outcomes in climate‐vulnerable regions. In coastal Bangladesh, climate change and sea‐level rise have intensified salinity intrusion, producing deeply gendered forms of vulnerability that extend beyond physical illness. This study examines how salinity exposure reorganizes women's bodily health, social status, and everyday agency through qualitative fieldwork in four villages of Asasuni Upazila, Satkhira. Drawing on in‐depth interviews with 32 women, we apply thematic analysis to develop a Direct–Indirect–Induced Effects Framework that traces layered pathways of harm. Direct effects include dermatological conditions, menstrual and urinary disorders, and hypertension. Indirect effects emerge through restricted access to safe water, healthcare, education, and marriage opportunities. Induced effects include stigma, marital conflict, gender‐based violence, and suicidal ideation reported in interview narratives. Together, these processes reveal salinity intrusion not merely as an environmental hazard but as a form of gendered policy failure that disciplines women's bodies and reinforces structural inequality. The findings underscore the need to reconceptualize water and climate governance as gender and sexual justice issues, calling for integrated, gender‐responsive policies that address the social and institutional roots of vulnerability.