Migrating as an adaptive pathway? Gendered and ambivalent mobility outcomes along the adaptation–maladaptation continuum

1 Introduction

While mobility, understood as various types of human movements, can represent an adaptive strategy generating positive outcomes, it may also represent a form of maladaptive pathway, generating significant trade-offs for wellbeing. Yet, mobility is rarely inherently adaptive or maladaptive, as its benefits and burdens are often unevenly distributed across groups and contexts (Vinke et al., 2020; Szaboova et al., 2023; Gilmore et al., 2024; Sakdapolrak et al., 2024). However, while these issues have received increasing attention, how contexts, conditions, and individuals' characteristics and circumstances in mobility settings interact to shape adaptive, maladaptive, or, particularly, ambivalent pathways [i.e., where positive and negative outcomes are not mutually exclusive, but instead simultaneously coexist and are relationally embedded in everyday experiences and spatial relations (Cockayne and Ruez, 2023)], remain comparatively less well understood. This is particularly important as evolving and contextually situated social, economic, cultural and environmental conditions may reinforce and transform social inequalities.

Gender¹ plays an important role in this regard. This is particularly evident in patriarchal societies like Bangladesh, where women's experiences are often shaped by gendered divisions of labor, labor markets cultural practices, social networks, and social and cultural norms that perpetuate unequal access to resources and opportunities (Kabeer, 1988; Chindarkar, 2012; Gioli and Milan, 2018; Lama et al., 2021; Boas et al., 2022; Gilmore et al., 2024).

Drawing on qualitative fieldwork conducted with internal migrant women and some of their husbands in Mongla, a prominent yet understudied urban destination for internal migrants in Bangladesh, this article explores the potential of internal mobility² for adaptation in the context of climate change and from a gender perspective. It argues that mobility outcomes are ambivalent and unevenly distributed. This is particularly significant among migrant women, as mobility often adds new challenges to the significant gender inequalities they already face, notably in patriarchal contexts like Bangladesh. The study shows that while internal mobility can serve as an adaptive pathway by enabling women to enhance their economic autonomy, agency and capabilities over time, these gains often coexist with persistent gender dynamics that limit women's access to labor markets and expose them to new or reinforced forms of exploitation, precarity and inequality. Additionally, migrants and particularly migrant women often face heightened exposure and vulnerability to climate risks in destination areas, revealing important limits to the adaptive potential of mobility.

To better understand the outcomes of mobility, the article draws on a combination of three theoretical frameworks from the literature. It further expands the frameworks to conceptualize the distributional effects (i.e., who benefits and who bears the costs) and the transformational potential (i.e., whether power structures that shape inequalities are reinforced or transformed) of mobility along an adaptation–maladaptation continuum, shaped by gender dynamics, contexts, and time. In particular, the paper examines how the gendered division of labor, labor markets, gender roles and norms, cultural systems and practices, and social networks, as well as local climate vulnerability and exposure, often shifting through time, influence internal mobility outcomes for migrant women at their destination.

By highlighting the ambivalent and unevenly distributed implications of internal mobility for adaptation, this article contributes to ongoing debates on mobility as adaptation from a gender perspective. Although the study does not examine climate-induced mobilities per se, it contributes to the field of mobility and climate change studies, notably the mobility and adaptation literature, by shifting the analytical focus away from climate change as a mobility push factor and instead toward understanding migrant women's daily lives and experiences at their destination within the context of climate change. By expanding on existing conceptual approaches, this paper further informs development interventions and policies aimed at more gender-inclusive, contextually sensitive, and sustainable adaptation strategies.

The paper is structured as follows. Section 2 reviews the relevant literature and outlines the conceptual approach framing this article. Section 3 describes the methodology, including the rationale for qualitative methods, participant selection, and the choice of Mongla as a study site. Section 4 presents the empirical findings, offering a starting point to discuss the gendered outcomes of internal mobility and implications for adaptation in Bangladesh. Section 5 engages in a discussion on mobility, adaptive pathways, and the boundaries between adaptation and maladaptation from a gender perspective. Section 6 concludes by highlighting the key takeaways of the study and suggesting directions for development interventions and policies.

2 Literature review and conceptual approach

Within discussions on mobility and climate change, one of the key debates centers on mobility-as-adaptation. On one hand, mobility has been framed as a form of adaptation, defined as “the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate and its effects, to moderate harm or exploit beneficial opportunities” (IPCCWG2 AR6, 2022, p. 134). From this perspective, mobility can enhance migrants' agency and proactive responses to environmental and climatic stressors (Bettini and Gioli, 2016; Gemenne and Blocher, 2017; McLeman et al., 2021), including for women (Hunter and David, 2009). This often occurs through income generation, livelihood diversification and risk-spreading (Tacoli, 2009; Warner and Afifi, 2014).

On the other hand, a substantial body of literature frames mobility as a form of maladaptation, understood as an “unexpected and unwanted outcome of an adaptation strategy that is originally implemented with good intentions” (Schipper, 2020, p. 413). Here, mobility may rather exacerbate inequalities, precarities, vulnerabilities, and exposure to new and unfamiliar climate risks in destination areas (Barnett et al., 2024; Sakdapolrak et al., 2024; Siddiqui et al., 2022; Szaboova et al., 2023). For example, the study from Siddiqui et al. (2022) conducted in Bangladesh suggests that rural-to-urban mobility can lead to new risks associated with living conditions that are specific to cities, such as exploitative working conditions, heightened risk of sexual harassment, and enhanced exposure to environmental degradation, which can lead to exacerbated precarity. This can be particularly significant for women, as mobility can expose them to new risks and reinforce social stigmas and gender inequalities (Dannecker, 2009; Dewan, 2023; Evertsen and van der Geest, 2020; Kabeer, 2015). Moreover, Sultana (2010, p. 48) further argues that mobility, particularly male migration, which is common as a livelihood diversification strategy following climate hazards, can enhance “gender suffering” via family fragmentation and issues such as divorce, polygamy and desertion.

While the mobility-as-adaptation debate has often been dichotomised, a growing body of literature recognizes that mobility in the context of climate change may be simultaneously adaptive and maladaptive, with outcomes that are ambivalent, dynamic, unevenly shared across groups, and context-dependent. This means that mobility outcomes can at times be complex and co-exist, depending on the social, cultural, economic, and environmental contexts in which mobility occurs, as well as based on individuals' characteristics and life circumstances, which influence how the benefits and burdens of mobility are distributed (Cockayne and Ruez, 2023; Gilmore et al., 2024; Sakdapolrak et al., 2024; Vinke et al., 2020). Thereby, the potential of mobility for adaptation should be framed along an adaptation–maladaptation continuum, where shifts occur over space and time for varying groups and in various contexts, rather than being fixed or at either end of the spectrum.

Moreover, assessing adaptive pathways in the context of climate change and their limits along a continuum from a gender perspective requires particular attention to power structures. This is important because, although insufficiently addressed in the mobility-as-adaptation literature, gender dynamics continue to perpetuate and reinforce existing systemic inequalities that shape distinct mobility outcomes. This includes cultural systems and practices such as Purdah that “ set standards of female morality” (Amin, 1997, p. 213), labor markets, social networks, as well as gender roles and norms. In Bangladesh, access to labor markets and livelihood opportunities is strongly shaped by gendered divisions of labor, cultural norms, access to social networks, gendered expectations and cultural practices (Kabeer, 1988; White, 2017; Hossain, 2023). Women's participation in paid employment within labor markets is often limited by their childcare responsibilities, household duties and cultural practices such as Purdah that restrict women's presence in public spaces (Kabeer, 1988; Hossain, 2017; Evertsen, 2021; Brisebois, 2024). These gender roles and norms, labor markets and cultural practices influence the types of work considered socially acceptable for women, often limiting them to unpaid or low-paid activities in informal or home-based sectors (Kabeer et al., 2011; Chowdhury, 2019; Huang, 2020; Hossain, 2023). This article therefore contributes to existing studies by focusing on how migrant women's experiences of adaptation are often shaped by gendered divisions of labor, labor markets cultural practices, social networks, and social and cultural norms that perpetuate unequal access to resources and opportunities.

To develop a more nuanced understanding of mobility outcomes and the implications for adaptation from a gender perspective in the context of climate change in Bangladesh, this paper draws on and expands three complementary conceptual frameworks. Doing so not only contributes to ongoing debates on mobility as adaptation to climate change from a gender perspective, but also expands on existing conceptual approaches for assessing adaptive pathways in more nuance through a gender lens.

First, this article builds on Reckien et al. (2023)'s “adaptation–maladaptation continuum,” which highlights how the outcomes of adjustment processes such as mobility may be assessed across scales, ranging from wider systemic levels to more individual levels. At the systemic level and based on Reckien et al. (2023), mobility may be considered adaptive if it contributes to broad structural changes, beyond simply responding to a particular risk. Conversely, mobility may be maladaptive if it fails or even inhibits such structural changes, such as by only responding to a particular risk. At the individual level, Reckien et al. (2023) emphasize the distributional effects of adaptation strategies on marginalized groups, such as women. According to Reckien et al. (2023), this refers to whether an adaptation strategy, such as mobility, leads to benefits, burdens, or has no effects on marginalized groups. From this perspective, mobility may represent an adaptive pathway if it, along with structural changes, reduces social vulnerabilities, enhances adaptive capacity, and benefits marginalized groups. Conversely, mobility may be maladaptive at the individual scale if it increases social vulnerability, reduces adaptive capacity or produces unintended harm. Using this framework enables the conceptualization of adaptation and maladaptation not as binary categories, but as a continuum where ambivalent outcomes are possible across scales.

Second, this paper also draws on “the spectrum of responses from adaptation to maladaptation” developed by Schipper (2020), which introduces variation in the degree of adaptation outcomes. This framework conceptualizes adaptation and maladaptation as a continuum, ranging from transformative, climate-resilient pathways, where the root causes of vulnerability have been addressed through structural changes, to irreversible, maladaptive pathways that increase vulnerability and limit future adaptation options. Between these extremes lie a range of pathways with varying levels of effectiveness and different short- and long-term impacts with partial or reversible outcomes. This framework therefore allows adaptation to be conceptualized as a dynamic process in which mobility outcomes may shift along the adaptation–maladaptation continuum depending on changing contexts and life circumstances.

Third and last, this paper draws on the “conceptual schema of climate migration outcomes” developed by Vinke et al. (2020), which provides further analytical depth by emphasizing the role of agency, among other factors, in shaping mobility outcomes and adaptive pathways. The framework highlights that neither proactive nor reactive mobility can be assumed to be inherently adaptive or maladaptive. For example, proactive mobility strategies with the intention of adjusting to climatic impacts may, however, be maladaptive if they result in unforeseen or unintended climate-related outcomes and increased vulnerabilities. Similarly, reactive mobility strategies, often seen as a survival strategy, do not necessarily equal maladaptive pathways, particularly if they help individuals and households cope with immediate hazards. By integrating these dimensions, this framework helps identify under which conditions mobility may lead to adaptive, maladaptive or ambivalent outcomes.

The paper further expands on the combination of these three frameworks by integrating two specific criteria that can be particularly useful to assess whether mobility strategies represent adaptive, maladaptive or ambivalent pathways from a gender perspective, and to situate their outcomes along the adaptation–maladaptation continuum across different groups, contexts and times (see Figure 1).

The first criterion focuses on distributional effects at the individual level. This article draws on this criterion to specifically examine the benefits and burdens that arise from mobility and shape migrant women's gendered livelihood options, division of labor, working conditions, material wellbeing, access to resources and opportunities, and exposure and vulnerability to climate risks, which significantly emerge from the collected data as outcomes of mobility (Wilkinson et al., 2016; Szaboova et al., 2023).

The second criterion focuses on the transformational potential of mobility at the systemic level. The article emphasizes whether mobility contributes to, or fails to challenge, existing power structures, such as cultural systems and practices, including Purdah, gendered labor markets, social networks, as well as gender roles and norms, of particular importance in the context of Bangladesh in terms of shaping gender inequalities. This also includes assessing whether mobility enables higher levels of agency to emerge, as well as social positions and decision-making power to be negociated within specific contexts (Schipper, 2020; Vinke et al., 2020; Reckien et al., 2023; Sakdapolrak et al., 2024).

Finally, the framework further incorporates local climate vulnerability and exposure at destination areas and temporal considerations, which emerge from the findings and are of particular importance in the rapidly evolving social, economic, cultural and environmental landscape of Bangladesh (Kabeer and Mahmud, 2004; Amirapu et al., 2022; World Bank, 2025). By including these factors, the framework enables the analysis to account for how mobility outcomes may be shaped by the climate vulnerability of destination areas and by individuals' evolving conditions and life circumstances over time.

3 Methodology

3.1 Qualitative methods

This article draws on two qualitative fieldwork periods conducted in Mongla, Bangladesh, between March and May 2023 and between February and March 2024. The qualitative approach, as well as the fieldwork's medium-length timeframe, enabled the development of trust from the participants over time and facilitated immersion in the study site. This allowed for the development of “experience-near” knowledge, rooted in how these migrants think, feel, perceive, and make meaning (Geertz, 1974, p. 28–29) of their reality. These insights provided an empirical basis to explore the potential of internal mobility as an adaptive pathway to climate change from a gender perspective.

During both periods, in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted. More precisely, the data were collected through personal livelihood history interviews with migrant women who had relocated to Mongla at some point in time, most of them within the last 5 years during the first fieldwork to explore their livelihood trajectory and their evolving livelihood strategies in Mongla. During the second fieldwork, life history interviews with the same migrant women and some of their husbands were conducted to better understand the (changing) social and intra-household relations that are part of migrants' realities beyond a livelihood focus (Sánchez-Ayala, 2012). These two types of interviews, together with field observations, enabled the collection of detailed accounts of migrants' situated experiences at their destination, particularly regarding their distinct opportunities and constraints (De Haan and Zoomers, 2005). They also provided insights into intra-household power dynamics and forms of cooperation between the household members (Helle-Valle and Borchgrevink, 2018).

In addition, key informant interviews with actors familiar with the local context of Mongla and from diverse sectors such as local government, national non-governmental organizations (NGOs), journalism, research, and education, were conducted during the second fieldwork to better understand the broader context of the study site (Kumar, 1989; Akhter, 2022) and to triangulate findings from the interviews with migrants. These interviews were also useful to situate the study in its context and to interpret and analyze the data collected. This helped better understand the participants' ways of doing certain things, their beliefs, their social positions and power dynamics between themselves, but also with others, among other things (Kapiszewski et al., 2015; Kumar, 1989).

All interviews were audio-recorded, and they were transcribed, and live translated from Bangla to English by the local research assistants. This could represent a risk that the participants' responses could be paraphrased or interpreted during the translation process, based on the research assistants' characteristics, beliefs, vocabulary and language skills (Borchgrevink, 2003; Liu and Burnett, 2022). To minimize this risk, the research assistants received training on the project objectives, interview guides, key concepts, and research ethics before conducting the interviews. Debriefing sessions were also conducted after each interview to discuss any translation challenges or ambiguities. In addition, interview recordings were transcribed in both Bangla and English to allow for triangulation of the translations. When uncertainties arose regarding the meaning or translation of specific terms or passages, these were further reviewed with a Bangla language teacher for quality control.

Additionally, the collected data were analyzed thematically using the qualitative data software NVivo. The analysis identified recurring themes and patterns related to migrants' experiences and realities as outcomes of their mobility, particularly in relation to opportunities and constraints, climate risks and resilience, and the way in which they navigate gender dynamics. This enabled the translation of diverse and distinct data into themes, but also the capture of recurrent and shared meanings across the data (Auerbach and Silverstein, 2003; Braun and Clarke, 2006, 2016). Additionally, acknowledging that qualitative data is context-specific and power-laden (Braun and Clarke, 2019), the choice of conducting a thematic analysis was also useful to provide context surrounding the data and thus to provide an in-depth and contextually thick description of the participants' complex, layered, and at times contradicting realities.

3.2 Research participants

With internal migrant women at the heart of the study, in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted during the first fieldwork with 24 women who had migrated to Mongla, primarily from rural areas of Bangladesh. Participants were recruited through a purposive sampling strategy with the support of local NGOs, notably BRAC, the country's biggest non-governmental organization having an office and aid programs in Mongla, and Badabon Foundation, which provides support to women in need. Before conducting the interviews, essential background information from potential participants was gathered, including their age, education level, marital status, household composition, place of origin, occupation, place of residence in Mongla, length of stay, migrant status (permanent or seasonal), and whether they had migrated alone or with family members. These details informed participant selection and helped ensure diversity in the sample. For instance, participants with diverse age, marital and parental status, socioeconomic background, and mobility trajectories were selected to gather a diversity of experiences. The reasons for their mobility trajectories vary, but include notably better livelihood opportunities at the destination, eviction, river erosion, family issues, economic hardships, social networks, and marriage (the latter being particularly important for women's mobility). The women worked in a range of occupations, including garment work, tailoring, domestic cleaning, livestock care, small retail work, and unpaid household labor.

During the second fieldwork, 22 of the 24 migrant women from the first fieldwork were re-interviewed, based on their availability and presence in the study site. The remaining two participants have not been re-contacted because they were no longer available or present in Mongla during the fieldwork period.

In addition, 10 of these migrant women's husbands were interviewed. Most of the men were also migrants, and they were selected based on their presence on the study site and willingness to participate in the study. They worked in occupations such as daily wage labor, driving, small shop ownership, garment factory work (often in higher positions than women garment workers), and employment in non-governmental organizations (see Table 1). Given the study's primary focus on migrant women whose experiences remain underrepresented in the mobility-as-adaptation debate, the men's interviews were used to provide relational insights into intra-household dynamics and gendered power relations shaping distinct mobility outcomes. This enabled a more nuanced understanding of how the benefits and burdens of mobility are distributed, notably at the household level (Vinke et al., 2020; Gilmore et al., 2024; Sakdapolrak et al., 2024).

Table 1. Participants' socio-demographic characteristics.

3.3 Ethical considerations

Because interviews were conducted with potentially vulnerable groups, ethical reflexivity was central within the research process. Participants received both oral and written information about the study and their rights in both English and in their mother tongue, Bangla, before deciding whether to participate or not. Those who decided to participate signed a consent form and received a copy of the form with contact details from the principal investigator in case they wished to ask questions or withdraw their participation after the interview.

Particular attention was also given to positionality-related issues. The author conducting the interviews, a woman from the Global North affiliated with local NGOs, could have led to power asymmetries in the field and shaped both the research process and participants' willingness to share certain information. For instance, some participants indicated that their lives, emotions and experiences were not easily accessible to an outsider researcher with a different positionality. In some cases, this may have limited access to the participants' detailed and in-depth accounts, as some may not have found it worth sharing the details of their lives with a stranger with a different positionality. This may therefore have influenced the depth and richness of the collected data (Coburn and Gormally, 2017; Kapiszewski et al., 2015; Sirnate, 2014). However, shared gender between the researcher, research assistants, and participants facilitated trust in most cases.

To address and mitigate these challenges, an “ethics of care” approach (Pettersen, 2011) has guided the research, which emphasizes relational sensitivity, attentiveness to power asymmetries, and responsibility toward participants and the local community. Additionally, cultural competence was developed through the research process—a “subtle but powerful marker of positioning” (Carling et al., 2014, p. 47)—to address some positionality issues and attenuate the “outsider-insider” tensions. This was achieved through cultural preparation, local language learning, the use of local research assistants, and sustained field engagement. While these measures did not eliminate asymmetries, they helped to partially mitigate their effects over time and improve the quality of the data collected.

3.4 Study site

Mongla was selected as a study site as it provides a particularly relevant context for examining the potential of internal mobility as an adaptive pathway in the context of climate change from a gender perspective (see Figure 2). Amid climate change, industrial development, and other socio-economic transformations, Mongla is emerging as a prominent yet understudied urban destination for internal migrants in Bangladesh (Ha-Mim et al., 2020; Rahman et al., 2023; Ruszczyk et al., 2023). As a small coastal city in southwestern Bangladesh, Mongla currently has a population of approximately 42,600 inhabitants (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 2023). However, local development plans aim to transform Mongla into a “climate-resilient, migrant-friendly” town, with the ambition to welcome up to half a million migrants in the coming years (Ahmed and Choat, 2022; Al Jazeera, 2022).

Over the last decades, Mongla has experienced significant industrial changes, leading to diverse livelihood possibilities in its seaport and Export Processing Zone (EPZ) (Ahmed and Choat, 2022). Today, over 8,000 people work in the EPZ, mainly in export-oriented industries (Rahman and Kuhl, 2021). While employment opportunities attract both men and women, women are concentrated in lower-paid and precarious sectors, notably the garment sector (Kabeer and Mahmud, 2004; Kabeer et al., 2011; Begum, 2015).

Moreover, Mongla has also implemented several measures to address the impacts of climate hazards. These include the installation of embankments to stop flooding, two flood-control gates, 11 km of walkable riverside brick path, cyclone shelters, early warning systems, and improved communication channels and drainage systems (Ahmed and Choat, 2022; Davison, 2022; Rahman and Kuhl, 2021). Together, these elements aim to enhance local climate resilience and may support adaptive pathways by combining livelihood opportunities and climate risk reduction.

Yet, important challenges persist: Mongla continues to face issues such as gender inequality, limited land availability, overcrowded informal settlements with inadequate sanitation and poor living conditions, waterlogging issues, and unstable access to electricity and safe drinking water. These characteristics of in Mongla as a destination area can pose limits to the potential of mobility as an adaptive strategy, particularly for women. Moreover, Mongla is also geographically highly exposed to floods, cyclones, irregular rain patterns, extreme heat, soil erosion and increased salinity (ICCCAD, 2019). While the city aims to become “climate-resilient,” this continued exposure to climate risks highlights the complex conditions under which mobility outcomes and adaptive pathways unfold.

4 Empirical findings: gendered and ambivalent outcomes of mobility and implications for adaptation in Bangladesh

Focusing on migrant women's experiences, the findings collected during both the first and second fieldwork periods reveal that mobility outcomes are often ambivalent and unevenly distributed, particularly based on gender. Adaptive and maladaptive outcomes of mobility generally co-exist, unfolding along a dynamic, multidimensional, gendered, contextually differentiated and temporally contingent adaptation–maladaptation continuum.

4.1 The adaptive potential of mobility: livelihood diversification and enhanced agency and capabilities

The findings suggest that mobility, particularly rural–urban mobility, can represent an adaptive pathway from a gender perspective, as it may enhance women's economic autonomy, agency and capabilities. Within the proposed conceptual framework, these findings primarily relate to the distributional effects and transformational potential of mobility, demonstrating how mobility can improve women's livelihood opportunities, material wellbeing, and access to resources and opportunities, which may challenge power structures, gendered labor markets and gender roles and norms over time.

For instance mobility may represent an adaptive pathway through livelihood diversification. The findings show that the recent industrialization of Mongla has expanded employment opportunities for migrants, including women, particularly in sectors linked to the port and the Export Processing Zone (EPZ), such as garment factories. For several migrant women interviewed, mobility to Mongla created opportunities for paid employment that were largely absent in their rural places of origin. For example, two migrant women in their early twenties who came to Mongla with their husbands and children some time ago, and who found work as garment workers, shared how they perceived such opportunities and how their mobility enabled them to seek paid employment:

Garment worker 1: Here is the EPZ. My husband works there. There are more job opportunities here. There is EPZ, there is the market. Everyone can do everything here, according to their skills. But there are no job opportunities in [my rural place of origin] […] I used to do nothing [there].[Here], my husband [makes] bags, and I used to make bags also.

Garmen worker 2: I used to do nothing because there were very few opportunities for work [in my rural place of origin]. Since I came [to Mongla] for work, I can work. So I like it here. My husband works in sewing, and I am taking sewing training.

Similarly, a tailor woman in her thirties who came to Mongla 2 years ago with her husband and children to live on the new land of her mother shared:

At first, I was a housewife in [my rural place of origin]. Then I learned tailoring with training from Kotek. […]. After coming here, my husband took a loan of taka 50,000 and bought me the machine and started the business. […]. I do a bit of tailoring and trading. I do housework and take care of children. I buy fabric and sell it to others. And with this fabric I make them clothes. I earn good amount from tailoring work. 6,000 in some months, 8,000 in some months. It depends on the customer's orders. […]. My husband owns an electronics store. We ourselves have built our own shop in a government place with permission. […]. Job opportunities are good here, earning opportunities are high here. So this place is good.

Over time, women's enhanced social networks at the destination may also increase their economic opportunities. A long-term migrant woman shared how her long-term residency increased her livelihood opportunities: “As we have been living in Mongla for a long time, it is easy to get work in this place.” This suggests that the adaptive potential of mobility is not fixed in time nor immediate but gradually emerges as migrants build social ties and navigate opportunities at their destination. In this sense, migrant women may begin to thrive not necessarily through continued mobility, but through the relative stability that comes from remaining in place, which may strengthen their social and economic capital over time.

In addition, women's potentially enhanced economic opportunities may also lead to greater agency and capabilities, enabling them to pursue aspirations and improve their wellbeing. For instance, a previously housewife and tutor, who has recently started working as a garment worker in the EPZ of Mongla, described how her new income allowed her to pursue personal goals: “In the future, I have a plan to build a house on that land I got from my father-in-law. And I'm saving 2,000 [taka] per month to build a house.” For her, engaging in paid work created the possibility of saving money and investing in future housing, an aspiration that would likely have been difficult to realize without access to paid livelihood opportunities.

These findings suggest that mobility, particularly rural-urban movements where urban labor markets create opportunities for women to contribute to household income, can represent a form of adaptive pathway from a gender perspective and over time. The findings illustrate the distributional effects of mobility on expanding women's livelihood opportunities, social networks, and economic autonomy, which can improve their well-being. These experiences also point to the transformational potential of mobility because by enabling some women to engage in paid work, save income, and pursue personal aspirations, mobility may strengthen their agency to negotiate the gendered division of labor and labor markets, and challenge established gender roles and norms over time.

4.2 Limits and trade-offs to the potential of mobility as an adaptive pathway

While the findings highlight the adaptive potential of mobility, the data also reveal important trade-offs and limits that may set mobility as a more ambivalent pathway, where both adaptive and maladaptive outcomes co-exist. These findings show that the distributional effects and transformational potential of mobility are shaped by cross-cutting factors, particularly gender dynamics and local climate vulnerability and exposure, which influence how the benefits and burdens of mobility are distributed.

4.2.1 Impact of gender dynamics on gendered livelihood options, division of labor, and working conditions

Although mobility may expand access to employment and contribute to adaptive pathways, the findings suggest that such opportunities are also often constrained by gender dynamics, notably established gender roles and norms. Such dynamics tend to influence women's access to and participation in labor markets, which may expose them to new forms of inequality and precarity.

In particular, expectations surrounding women's caregiving and domestic responsibilities tend to constrain their opportunities during certain periods of their lives, evolving as their life circumstances change. For many female participants, employment became difficult to maintain after having children. Reflecting on her experience, a former garment worker explained: “I used to [make bags] too but gave it up after having a son […]. I left the job when I was pregnant.” Similarly, another participant, a former house cleaner who is now a housewife taking care of her four children, mentioned how her childcare responsibilities prevent her from engaging in paid work: “I used to work in people's houses in Chittagong. Can I do it with my children now?”

These examples illustrate how persisting gendered care responsibilities and the gendered division of labor can limit women's access to paid livelihood opportunities. These examples also point to the ambivalent nature of mobility outcomes: the distributional effects of mobility on enhanced livelihood opportunities following rural–urban may be simultaneously constrained by the continued influence of gender norms and care responsibilities for women. This can limit the transformational potential of mobility to challenge intra-household power relations and the gendered division of labor.

Moreover, if not limiting women's opportunities, gender dynamics may also create new forms of exploitation for women in mobility settings. The study suggests that mobility may rather lead to trade-offs for women by adding another layer to their struggles, notably by adding new economic responsibilities on their shoulders without alleviating their unpaid domestic and care work. For example, when asked about the division of household work, a young trainee in the garment sector who relocated to Mongla a few months ago with her husband, who also works in the garment sector, and her son, explained:

I do [the household work]. I work in the morning and then go to work. I come back and work again. […] It takes a long time to work, which is a bit of a problem. I have to do household work, so it's a bit of a problem. I work 10–12 h a day. Sometimes it takes almost every day of the week to work.

This account illustrates the distributional effects of mobility embedded within the unchallenged gendered division of labor and women's household responsibilities, which limit the potential for transformation at the systemic level. By showing how long working hours combined with domestic and caregiving responsibilities often result in a “double burden” of work for women, as also observed by Evertsen and van der Geest (2020), Hossain (2023) and Kabeer et al. (2011), this also reveals the ambivalent nature of mobility outcomes, where increased income-earning opportunities for women often coexist with their gendered responsibilities, resulting in an intensified workload.

Lastly, the findings suggest that while mobility may increase income opportunities, many migrant women remain concentrated in low-paid, informal, exploitative and precarious sectors of urban labor markets at their destination. Such working conditions are widely documented in urban employment contexts in Bangladesh, particularly within the garment sector (Kabeer et al., 2011; Chowdhury, 2019; Huang, 2020; Hossain, 2023). A garment worker in her early twenties who came to Mongla a few years ago with her husband and family-in-law describes the demanding and often exploitative nature of her work:

I work 6 days a week; the industry [is] closed on Fridays. It is now 8 h [per day]. Working 8 h for these 3 months. After Eid, I will have to work 10–11 h per day. […] Here the work pressure is [higher]. The workload is high here, the quality needs to be high, but the salary is low. […] If you can't go [to work], they [the employers] will abuse you. Makes you stand outside. A few months ago, there was a flood; it rained for 3–4 days, I went to work. Those who were late were made to stand outside. Some lost their jobs.

Such an account of her working conditions, similar to many other women's in Mongla, highlights that while mobility may lead to women's enhanced economic opportunities, the distributional effects of mobility remain constrained by persisting precarious and often exploitative labor conditions, particularly for marginalized groups such as women, and notably in the garment sector. This indicates that improvements in livelihood opportunities following mobility may not necessarily translate into transformational change in working conditions. This co-existence of livelihood opportunities with persistent precarious and often exploitative working conditions highlights how adaptive and maladaptive dimensions of mobility may be simultaneously present. This therefore suggests that mobility outcomes may be ambivalent because, in line with Wilkinson et al. (2016), mobility can only be considered adaptive when it ensures livelihood diversification and the protection of human and labor rights simultaneously.

4.2.2 Intersections between local climate vulnerability and exposure and gender dynamics

For mobility to represent an adaptive pathway in the context of climate change, mobility outcomes must also be linked to improved material realities and living standards at the destination and reduce the exposure and vulnerability of migrants to climate risks (Szaboova et al., 2023). However, the findings from Mongla tend to point toward mobility as rather maladaptive in this context and from a gender perspective, given the location's particular vulnerability and exposure to climate hazards, as shown in Figure 2, and persistent gender inequalities.

For instance, the findings suggest that migrant women tend to be more vulnerable and exposed to climate risks at their destination, shaped by cross-cutting gender dynamics and local climate exposure and vulnerability, which together perpetuate inequalities and influence the uneven distributional effects of mobility. In several cases, women mentioned having limited decision-making power during climate emergencies and needing to wait for their husbands' instructions regarding evacuation or protective measures.

Women's caregiving and domestic responsibilities may also restrict their ability to seek shelter during extreme events. A garment worker woman in her early twenties shared her perception of gendered differences in adaptive responses during climate events:

Women are impacting much. Because men can go to the cyclone shelter first but women can't run fast like men. Women have children, how do they run? In climatic times, women need to manage their household and children so they reach the cyclone shelter [on time].

These accounts thereby suggest, similar to the findings of Brisebois and Hoffmann (2026) and Sultana (2010), that mobility may not only fail to reduce exposure and vulnerability to climate risks but can also increase them, particularly in already highly exposed and vulnerable destination areas where gender inequalities persist, such as in Mongla and in Bangladesh more generally.

5 Discussion: conceptual refinement to rethinking mobility as an adaptive pathway from a gender perspective

The findings challenge binary understandings of mobility as either adaptive or maladaptive in the context of climate change. Instead, they show that mobility outcomes are often simultaneous, ambivalent, and unevenly distributed, particularly from a gender perspective. Migrant women's experiences show how distributional effects of mobility on their potentially enhanced economic autonomy, agency, and capabilities often coexist with the limited transformational potential of mobility, as existing forms of inequality, precarity, and exploitation, as well as exposure and vulnerability to climate risks, are often reproduced and intensified in mobility settings. These findings suggest that adaptive and maladaptive mobility outcomes are not necessarily separate or opposing processes, but may instead emerge simultaneously, embedded in everyday experiences.

5.1 Situating mobility outcomes along the adaptation–maladaptation continuum

The findings suggest that mobility outcomes are neither homogeneous nor straightforward. Rather, mobility may simultaneously lead to both adaptive and maladaptive outcomes, which vary across contexts, groups, and over time. In line with Reckien et al. (2023) and the extended conceptual framework used in this paper, the findings highlight how mobility outcomes unfold along the adaptation–maladaptation continuum across multiple scales, with distinct implications at both the individual and systemic levels. These outcomes are shaped by cross-cutting factors, including gender dynamics, local climate vulnerability and exposure, and temporality, which together influence changes along the continuum. At the individual level, the distributional effects of mobility to Mongla may expand migrant women's access to livelihoods, opportunities and resources. Over time, these changes in women's livelihoods may lead to potential transformations at the intra-household levels, notably gender roles and norms. Yet, these opportunities remain simultaneously constrained by existing forms of inequality, precarity and exploitation, as well as exposure and vulnerability to climate risks, which are often reproduced and intensified in mobility settings, shaping uneven and ambivalent mobility outcomes.

This supports Schipper's (2020) argument that adaptation and maladaptation should not be understood as binary categories. Instead, this paper argues that they should be conceptualized as part of a dynamic, multidimensional, gendered, contextually differentiated and temporally contingent continuum. In this sense, and in line with Vinke et al. (2020), mobility, in both proactive and reactive forms, cannot be assumed to be inherently adaptive or maladaptive at either end of the continuum. Rather, as the findings suggest, mobility outcomes are continuously renegotiated along the continuum, as the distributional effects and transformational potential of mobility, evolving through changing gender dynamics and local climate exposure and vulnerability, shape migrants' distinct levels of agency, social position, decision-making power, access to resources, services and social networks. Together, these factors constitute the conditions under which individuals and groups shift toward the adaptive or maladaptive end of the continuum over time.

5.2 Mobility as adaptation from a gender perspective?

Building on this understanding of mobility outcomes along the adaptation–maladaptation continuum, the findings also challenge the way mobility-as-adaptation has been conceptualized in the literature from a gender perspective. The study's insights raise important questions about whether mobility significantly expands women's opportunities or instead reproduces and exacerbates gendered inequalities, precarities, and exploitation in new ways, limiting the transformational potential of mobility. From a broader perspective on adaptation, this also draws attention to non-economic dimensions of wellbeing which can particularly impact women, including trade-offs, losses and damages, and how mobility shapes different aspects of migrant women's lives when assessing what constitutes adaptation or maladaptation (Adger et al., 2018; Ayeb-Karlsson, 2020; Tschakert et al., 2017). This challenges the mobility-as-adaptation debate, which has been largely framed from a male and economic perspective, often presenting mobility as a form of livelihood diversification that benefits men. This can therefore risk overlooking the gendered distribution of risks, inequalities and responsibilities in mobility settings that often pose barriers to women's adaptation. Thus, the findings question whether mobility is necessarily an adaptive strategy, particularly in contexts like Bangladesh, where current labor markets, cultural practices, and persisting gender roles and norms continue to reproduce gender inequalities, precarities and exploitation, both economic and non-economic, including in urban destination areas.

This also resonates with White's (2017) critique of equating women's participation in paid employment (often as an outcome of their rural-urban or international mobility) with empowerment, as frequently presented in development discourses. Yet, the article extends such critique by demonstrating how gender dynamics shape uneven mobility outcomes along the adaptation–maladaptation continuum. Rather than framing mobility as either empowering or disempowering for migrant women, the findings from Mongla show that mobility outcomes can be simultaneously adaptive and maladaptive, and are conditioned by cross-cutting gender dynamics. This further echoes Lama et al.'s (2021, p. 333) observation that “migration is also not always a successful or viable adaptation. The impact of climate change is not uniform across the globe, just as the conditions within which changes take place are not homogeneous.” Thereby, the paper extends existing critiques by situating women's mobility experiences within the mobility-as-adaptation debate and by identifying some of the gendered conditions under which mobility shifts toward more adaptive, maladaptive, or ambivalent pathways in the context of climate change.

5.3 The importance of time: the role of stability and evolving life circumstances and contexts

The findings also highlight the importance of temporal considerations when assessing adaptive pathways. At the individual level, the findings suggest that migrants may start to thrive when they become relatively stable and remain in their place of destination. As migrants tend to strengthen their social networks and economic opportunities, and improve their access to livelihoods and services, their adaptive capacity and agency may gradually increase. Yet, they may also face new opportunities and challenges as their life circumstances unfold, such as when changes occur in their familial situation or status. This challenges simplistic framings of mobility as adaptation, rather pointing to the importance of settlement processes and relative stability following mobility, as well as considerations of changes in life circumstances, in shaping adaptive outcomes.

At the structural level, time may also shape mobility outcomes and adaptive pathways through broader socio-economic changes. As Bangladesh experiences industrial development and increases its economic activities, shifts in labor markets may offer new opportunities for women, notably in export-related industries, over time. Yet, such changes in Bangladesh's labor landscape have also led to increased internal mobility, particularly rural-urban mobility. This may add pressure on urban infrastructure and contribute to the expansion of informal settlements in urban areas. In turn, these dynamics may also pose challenges to urban residents' material wellbeing through new forms of social and environmental vulnerabilities.

Moreover, time may also shape mobility outcomes through evolving climate risks. As climate change intensifies globally, people's exposure and vulnerability may increase over time, particularly in places that are themselves already highly exposed and vulnerable to climate hazards such as Mongla (Brisebois and Hoffmann, 2026). These findings therefore suggest that the potential of mobility for adaptation may not only depend on settlement processes and changes in life circumstances, but also changing socio-economic and environmental conditions over time.

5.4 Conceptual blind spots in existing frameworks: an extended analytical approach for assessing adaptive pathways from a gender perspective

While the combination of three frameworks from the literature is helpful to understand the scales, degrees and nuances in mobility outcomes along the adaptation–maladaptation continuum, they also present blind spots. By insufficiently addressing power structures and gender dynamics such as cultural systems and practices, gendered labor markets, social networks, and gender roles and norms, the unequal distributional effects of mobility among various groups cannot be accounted for, particularly the differences in outcomes between men and women. Moreover, by having a limited integration of temporal considerations, as well as of local climate vulnerability and exposure, the contextually differentiated and temporally contingent dimensions of the adaptation–maladaptation continuum are often overlooked in mobility-as-adaptation debates. As the findings from Mongla illustrate, these cross-cutting factors are essential to consider the conditions under which individuals and groups shift toward the adaptive or maladaptive end of the continuum over time.

Addressing these gaps requires a more integrated analytical approach. Therefore, this paper has built on and expanded the existing framework to integrate the distributional effects and the transformative potential of mobility, influenced by gender dynamics, contextual factors, and temporal considerations, as shown in Figure 1 above.

In particular, the paper has identified two key criteria that are useful for assessing whether mobility strategies represent adaptive, maladaptive, or ambivalent pathways. First, it includes the potential for broader structural change through transformations that can reduce social vulnerabilities and inequalities over time. In the context of this study, this involved using a gender lens to analyse the outcomes of mobility on power structures, cultural systems and practices, labor markets, gendered social networks and gender roles and norms, and how they perpetuate forms of inequality, precarity and exploitation, particularly for women. Second, it also incorporates the distributional effects of mobility on gendered livelihood options, division of labor, working conditions, material wellbeing, access to resources and services, as well as on exposure and vulnerability to climate risks. Together, these two criteria allowed us to better account for the gendered ways in which contexts, conditions, and individuals' characteristics and circumstances in mobility settings interact to shape uneven mobility outcomes and thus distinct adaptive, maladaptive and ambivalent pathways for varying groups in different contexts.

Moreover, the paper expanded on the combined framework from the literature by incorporating cross-cutting factors, namely gender dynamics, local climate vulnerability and exposure, as well as temporal considerations, which shape migrants' agency, capabilities, social position, decision-making power, and access to resources, services and social networks. This enabled us to better account for the dynamic and contextually embedded conditions under which individuals and groups move toward the adaptive or maladaptive end of the continuum over time.

By expanding the existing framework in this way, the article contributes to a more gendered, context-sensitive, and temporally grounded understanding of adaptive pathways in the context of climate change. Beyond Bangladesh, this expanded analytical approach may be useful for examining mobility outcomes in other contexts in South Asia and beyond, where mobility intersects with persisting gendered inequalities and increasing climate vulnerability and exposure.

6 Conclusion

By exploring the potential of mobility for adaptation in the context of climate change from a gender perspective, this article shows that mobility trajectories should not be treated as universally adaptive or maladaptive pathways. Rather, mobility should be considered as an ambivalent pathway, where the outcomes unfold along an adaptation–maladaptation continuum shaped by gender dynamics, local climate vulnerability and exposure and through time.

Particularly, this paper contributes to the mobility and adaptation scholarship in three ways. First, it provides empirical evidence on the gendered and uneven distribution of internal mobility outcomes, which can be particularly salient for women who often already face significant gender inequalities in Bangladesh. Second, the article highlights the importance of gender dynamics, local particularities, such as local climate exposure and vulnerability, and temporal dimensions in shaping ambivalent pathways and movements along the continuum toward the adaptive or maladaptive end. This provides a more nuanced understanding of mobility as dynamic processes where outcomes are neither homogeneous nor straightforward. Third, it expands on existing analytical approaches for assessing adaptive pathways. This can serve as a practical tool for assessing mobility-related interventions and helps identify how different actions in mobility settings influence the distribution of benefits and burdens, and how cross-cutting factors such as gender dynamics, local climate vulnerability and exposure, and temporal changes shape outcomes along the adaptation–maladaptation continuum.

The study, however, has some limitations that are worth acknowledging. While this study mainly focuses on a destination area, the local particularities of the places of origin, notably climate risks at origin, are not taken into consideration despite their likely influence on adaptive pathways. Furthermore, the study includes only migrants who remained in Mongla at the time of the research. Thus, the experiences of those who moved elsewhere or returned to their places of origin are not captured and may point to different adaptive pathways. Therefore, future research would benefit from integrating comparative approaches that consider diverse origin, transit and destination contexts to better grasp the potential of mobility for adaptation.

To conclude, this article suggests directions for development interventions and policies in various mobility contexts with similar socio-economic backgrounds across South Asia and beyond. This can, over time, lead to more equitable, inclusive and sustainable forms of mobility as adaptation strategies in a changing climate. First, interventions and policies should support migrants' agency while addressing structural barriers that constrain women's opportunities in labor markets and social life. This includes promoting safer and fairer working conditions for migrant women, improving access to skills training, enhancing access to childcare support, and strengthening labor protections in sectors where migrant women are often concentrated. Second, interventions and policies should improve living conditions in destination areas, particularly in areas where migrants may face heightened exposure to climate risks. This may involve investments in climate-resilient infrastructure, access to services and resources, and disaster preparedness measures that include migrant communities' needs. Third and last, policies and interventions should address the root causes of inequality, such as gendered labor markets, gender roles and norms, and cultural practices, rather than assuming that mobility or labor markets participation alone will enhance adaptive capacity.

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Footnotes

Edited by: Ann-Christine Link, Heidelberg University, Germany

Reviewed by: Gamze Dogdu Yuceturk, Bolu Abant Izzet Baysal Universitesi Muhendislik Fakultesi, Türkiye

Michaela Korodimou, Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, Netherlands

Footnotes

Here, “gender” is understood as a “society's construction and perception of the roles, obligations, behaviors, activities, and status that are considered appropriate for men and women, based on existing norms of femininity and masculinity” (Vigil, 2024, 1).

Understood as movements within the country's borders, involving relocation from one administrative area to another.