Description
This paper examines the gendered dimensions of resistance within climate-affected households in district Sargodha, Central Punjab, Pakistan. The impact of shifting climate patterns is increasingly disrupting agricultural practices, crop yields, and the livelihoods of farmers. Moreover, intra-household relations and gender roles are undergoing complex renegotiation due to climate-induced ecological stressors. Drawing on feminist political ecology and feminist political economy, the paper explores how women’s adaptive practices within a patriarchal agricultural setting, ranging from informal income generation to intensified farm work and emotional labor, constitute a subtle form of resistance to environmental hardships and entrenched patriarchal norms. It also examines how patriarchal norms and masculine identities resist the evolving gendered division of labor and agricultural adaptation to climate change, illustrating how vulnerability and power intersect under ecological stress. Situated within Sargodha’s socio-political landscape, this is an empirical, prescriptive study. Data was collected through structured and semi-structured interviews with key informants and analyzed using SPSS and NVivo, highlighting how everyday acts of adaptation serve as feminist resistance and challenge patriarchal, masculinized agrarian norms in rural Punjab that hinder climate adaptation practices amidst Pakistan’s changing environmental politics The paper will contribute in informed policy recommendations and practical interventions at enhancing women’s role and understanding of patterns of masculine resistance towards climate adaptation strategies.
