Student Number

31508

Degree

Master of Science in Development Studies

School

School of Economics and Social Sciences (SESS)

Date of Submission

Summer 7-14-2026

Supervisor

Dr. Nausheen Hafeeza Anwar, Professor, City & Regional Planning and Director Karachi Urban Lab, School of Economics and Social Sciences

Committee Member 1

Dr. Sahar Nadeem, Examiner, Head - Department of Behavioural Sciences, National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Karachi

Committee Member 2

Dr. Arslan Waheed, Program Coordinator, Graduate Programs SSLA, Department of Social Sciences, Institute of Business Administration, Karachi

Keywords

Gender Based Violence, Psychological Violence, High Altitude Communities, Glacier Lake outburst floods, Intersectionality, Resilience, patriarchy

Abstract

Climate change as a social phenomenon deepens structural inequalities and exposes the varying patterns of vulnerability experienced by different communities. The psychological and emotional aspects of gender-based violence (GBV) in institutionally marginalized, high-altitude areas are quite underexamined in climate-based disaster research. This research explores how the 2022 glacial lake outburst floods in Hoper Valley, Nagar, Gilgit-Baltistan highlighted ecological precarity and institutional neglect, while strengthening pre-existing patriarchal norms that intensified psychological violence against women. The study is grounded in Feminist Political Ecology and draws on Galtung’s (1969) concept of structural violence and Nixon’s (2011) framework of slow violence, which understands women’s emotional suffering to grow and unfold over time, to categorize climate disasters as socially navigated events influenced by gendered power dynamics. This study focuses on a qualitative approach by conducting 35 semi-structured interviews (10 men, 25 women) to gather primary data, along with two focus group discussions supported by secondary literature. Participants were chosen intentionally to gain direct insight into the gendered experiences of vulnerability and resilience during the 2022 floods. The FGDs revealed the coping mechanisms, shared meanings, and collective norms of the community, while separate interviews with men and women showcased their differing perspectives. Data, once collected, was thematically analyzed by identifying patterns in experiences of livelihood disruption and displacement, burdens of caregiving and changing social relations post-disaster. Findings revealed increased patriarchal domination over women’s labor, mobility, and emotional expression since the 2022 GLOFs in Gilgit-Baltistan. The floods acted as an amplifier, leading to increased reports of moral surveillance, domestic tension, and chronic fear among women, phenomena often normalized through cultural and religious discourses. Despite the systemic exclusion of women from communal and household decision-making in this particular rural setting, this study finds the emergence of female agency in networks of informal solidarity, taking on emotional labor and coping strategies. This research contributes to feminist development in climate scholarship by analyzing women’s lived experiences to frame the psychological violence they face as an embodied form of climate injustice. It emphasizes that women’s psychosocial well-being and encouraged participation in governance are vital for effective climate adaptation, highlighting the lack of gender-responsive disaster policies, female inclusion in decision-making processes, and trauma-informed psychosocial support available.

Submission Type

Thesis

Document Type

Restricted Access

Download

Share

COinS