Paper short abstract:

This paper explores how women in Indian Sundarbans use their voluntary labour to build a collective identity, resist gender inequalities and support communities with climate change responses despite resistance, challenges of a changing climate and in a context where ‘activism’ is often suppressed.

Paper long abstract:

This paper examines how women in Indian Sundarbans are using their voluntary labour as a site for gendered resistance. The Indian Sundarbans region is threatened by growing numbers of cyclones, sea-level rise and saline water intrusion impacting already vulnerable communities (Ghosh et al., 2018). Civil society climate change activism is receiving significant attention and volunteers are increasingly seen by policy-makers as crucial capacity for climate emergency responses. Yet, limited research has investigated the relationships between climate adaptation strategies and voluntary labour amongst women.

We draw on data collected (diaries and photovoice) as part of the Voluntary Labour, Climate Adaptation and Disasters (VOCAD) initiative, in collaboration with local organisations aimed at understanding the roles of voluntary work in climate adaptation strategies. We explore how women’s engagement in voluntary responses to the impacts of climate change help build collective identities and confidence to challenge gendered roles despite resistance from communities and families and where ‘activism’ is increasingly suppressed. First, we explore how women construct collective identities through their voluntary labour in a context under significant stress from climate change. Second, this paper explores how voluntary labour enables women to bridge and connect organisations and communities coping with the impacts of those stresses. Thirdly, we examine how gendered volunteer labour can disrupt social norms in everyday life. We conclude that women in the Indian Sundarbans are resourcefully using their volunteer labour to provide critical support to climate adaptation responses. Their volunteering is transforming them, their families and communities and is disrupting gender inequalities.