Degree

BS (Social Sciences & Liberal Arts)

Faculty / School

School of Economics and Social Sciences (SESS)

Department

Department of Social Sciences & Liberal Arts

Date of Award

Spring 2026

Date of Submission

2026-07-25

Advisor

Soha Abdul Rehman Macktoom, Lecturer, Department of Social Sciences & Liberal Arts

Committee

Dr. Ghamz E Ali Siyal, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics

Project Type

SSLA Culminating Experience

Access Type

Restricted Access

Keywords

Climate-Induced Disasters; Gendered Vulnerability; Rural Livelihoods; Glacial Lake Outburst Floods; Feminist Political Ecology

Abstract

Climate change is creating a vicious cycle of disasters in the mountainous regions of Pakistan, with consequences that are neither uniform nor gender-neutral. This study examines the gendered impacts of climate-induced disasters on women in rural livelihoods in Chitral, Pakistan, a high-altitude district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that is acutely exposed to glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) and flash floods. Drawing on a qualitative methodology, the research was based on ten semi-structured interviews with rural women across two flood-affected villages, Meragram No. 2 and Khruzh. Thematic analysis of the data produced five key themes: escalating disaster frequency and material losses; the disproportionate burden of gendered roles and responsibilities during and after disaster; cumulative health and psychological impacts that receive no institutional support; the compounding effect of patriarchal socio-cultural norms on women’s access to relief and decision-making; and the contradictory picture of women’s agency and resilience against a backdrop of structural exclusion and inadequate institutional response. The analysis was framed through three complementary theoretical lenses: Feminist Political Ecology (FPE), the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework (SLF), and Climate Justice. The findings show that women in Chitral face multiplicative vulnerability, rooted in the intersection of global emissions inequity, uneven institutional support, and local patriarchal structures. The study argues that effective and just disaster response in Chitral must be structurally attentive, gender-responsive, and grounded in the knowledge and priorities of the women who bear the greatest costs of a crisis they did not cause.

Pages

63

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