Gender, security and environmental migration: what are the security conditions of women and marginalised groups in climate-induced migration? A People's Republic of Bangladesh context with a qualitative content investigation.

Abstract

This Master's thesis explores how extreme weather events and climate change can determine security conditions and increase inequalities among women and marginalised groups during migration. The past decades have seen the rapid increase of displaced people, and gendered security conditions of eco migrants have recently been a topic of interest in feminist theories and academic debates. Data from several studies suggest that natural disasters and environmental change have varied effects on men and women in which gender roles and obligations also influence how vulnerable individuals are to environmental and climate shocks. Moreover, gender is a vital analytical instrument when seeking effective and lasting responses to environmental migration that are conscious of differential gender requirements and implications. This research aims to assess recent environmental migration research and migrants' security according to human rights and academic literature, focusing on the security conditions of women and marginalised groups. In order to do so, this thesis observes the case of the People's Republic of Bangladesh with a qualitative content analysis methodology to determine how environmental migration affects human security. This paper will seek to answer the question: Does climate change enhance gender inequalities in the migration process, and to what extent does it impact the security of a specific group of migrants? The overall layout of the research assumes the form of three chapters with multiple sections. First, the study engages with the academic literature around climate change, migration and security. That will serve as a base to understand the nexus among the three of them and to pattern the gendered applied literature debate that will be subsequently examined. Then, a theoretical background is given, analysing the national and international human rights framework. This section provides an overview of the ICCPR, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the CRMW, the New York Declaration on Migrants and Refugees, the Nansen Agenda, et cetera. The last paragraph indicates the methodology, the material researched and why the thesis statement has been chosen, highlighting the research's significance. Chapter Two provides an overview of the case study and describes the importance of female and vulnerable groups by chronologically examining their conditions. The chapter begins by giving an international relations context and then goes on to analyse the security conditions women and marginalised groups face during the migration process. The analysis will be divided into three sections: before, during and after migration. In the paragraphs that follow, it will be assessed the feminist theory application of the case. The third chapter applies the previous methodology and finding to examine the People's Republic of Bangladesh case study. Moreover, it compares the secondary resources and considers the implications of the debate examining the data gap of the results. Lastly, it features gendered analyses and a final discussion to answer the research question. To conclude, the last part of the thesis summarises the information about the research to highlight the study results. Then, it will discuss the findings' implications and state the research's limitations. Finally, some further discussion will be given.