RURAL BANGLADESH - PreventionWeb

Livelihoods in Rural Bangladesh: A Secondary Review of the Socio-Economic Context
the local manifestation of macro trends: ‘We are less likely to die in childbirth, our children
are more likely to survive into adulthood, we have sanitary toilets, clean drinking water,
more awareness about hygiene and nutrition, better clothes for women and children, cleaner
houses and villages, and smaller families’. Access to primary, secondary, and tertiary
education has increased for children, particularly for girls. These improvements in human
capital are enjoyed by poor women, though perhaps less so relative to the non poor, but
certainly more so relative to their own mothers. Thus, women are more likely to have a
‘healthy pair of hands’ than was the case two decades ago (Gibson et al., 2004).
More women are working for pay – especially poor women. This work is poorly paid,
insecure, and often seasonal. Undertaking undesirable jobs may require breaking social
norms, making difficult choices about childcare, or compromising health. Their willingness
to engage in activities that (initially) contravene social norms and carve a niche in new
markets is pioneering. However, this engagement in paid work for mere survival rarely
translates into improved social or economic status. The poorest rural women are unable to
escape from poverty, remaining mired in a swamp of low pay, low-return, low-skill and
often seasonal work.
Shifting social norms are also opening up space for women's work. Purdah is constantly
being renegotiated as women pursue new economic opportunities. It is generally the poor
and poorest women who are breaking socially constructed rules and norms relating to work
outside the home. As economic pressures have increased, the poor have taken up new
livelihoods – migration and employment in the garment industry are the most notable
examples. Rural employment patterns are changing as well. Poor women, particularly those
from female-headed households, tend to be less constrained by social norms of what is
acceptable women’s work. Hence, they can (and must) participate in the labour force more
readily than some better-off married women. They have access to public domains such as
construction sites and roadsides. They can take up outside wage work in the village, migrate
to urban areas or even penetrate into ‘male’ jobs – shops, construction, low paid agricultural
work, and even some transport work (Gibson et al., 2004).
3.4 Livelihood Resources
The Environment & Natural Disasters: Food security, livelihoods, and household
vulnerability are frequently closely intertwined with the adverse phenomenon of natural
disasters in Bangladesh, which are rooted in the nature of its terrain, the physical geographic
features, its long coastline and the tropical climate. The increasing population density
exacerbates ecological damage, adding to the misery of annual disasters. The phenomenon of
global warming will also aggrivate this, affecting the low-lying land of rivers. Much of
Bangladesh has adjusted itself to an annual wet season when one-quarter of its land area
remains under water. During the period between 1870 and 1990, twelve major floods were
reported within what are now the boundaries of Bangladesh. Prior to the floods of 2004, the
worst floods in Bangladesh in the recent past occurred in 1998 and 1988 (Bangladesh PRSP,
2005). The 2004 floods affected a quarter of the nation’s population. Damage was
estimated at $2.2 billion; 876 people perished.
There are two seasonal dimensions to food insecurity. The first is the high exposure to
climatic shock at certain times of year. The second dimension arises from the cycle of food
production and consequent seasonal variation in food availability and prices. The two lean
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