On Bangladesh’s shifting river islands, floods and poverty entrench a hidden crisis where violence against women is expected, endured in silence, and intensified by climate-driven displacement.
In the unstable sandbanks of the Jamuna River, entire villages rise and vanish with the monsoon. These river islands, known as chars, form from sediment deposits of the Brahmaputra, Ganges and Meghna systems. They offer fertile land for subsistence farming yet deliver repeated displacement, crop loss and economic shock. For the women who live there, another crisis runs deeper and more constant: violence that has become ordinary.
A mixed-methods study led by the University of Portsmouth with Grameen Bikash Foundation after the 2019 floods in Bogra and Sirajganj documented the scale. Researchers conducted 433 household interviews (356 with women) and 26 in-depth interviews across 13 villages, then followed several women as “displacement narrators” for up to two years. The findings showed violence is not exceptional. It is anticipated, managed and often suffered without complaint.
Floods, Poverty and Rising Temper
Environmental shocks act as powerful triggers. After the 2019 floods, roughly 500 households from several sample villages had to relocate entirely, while others moved within their own char. Land and crops vanished. Livestock was sold at distress prices. Food scarcity and disease rose. Men, stripped of provider status and income, directed frustration inward.
Around 80 per cent of women reported having been slapped or had objects thrown at them at some point. Nearly 75 per cent had experienced marital rape. Almost one-third had been physically beaten, kicked or dragged. Nearly 90 per cent identified their husbands as the main perpetrators. Over three-quarters of women reported heightened stress after floods, linking it directly to economic hardship.
One woman described the pattern: her husband’s temper flared when money was short or after fieldwork. “I am afraid to talk much with him,” she said. “During the last erosion, with no cash in hand, the financial crisis made his mood especially severe.”
Another woman noted the absence of escape: “There is no way to return to my father’s home, so I must adapt with this family. I will keep sorrows in my heart and behave well with a smiling face.”
When Men and Women See Different Worlds
Perceptions diverge sharply. Women recognised physical, psychological and sexual acts – including marital rape and sexual harassment – as violence. More than 90 per cent of men did not view most of these behaviours as violent, except rape by a stranger. This gap reflects entrenched gender norms in which male authority is assumed and women’s endurance is expected.
The home, not the open char or temporary shelter, remains the primary site of harm. Isolation compounds the problem. Communities can be extremely remote. Services for survivors were virtually absent at the time of the research. Travel to mainland facilities requires planning and resources most families lack. When help is sought, it is usually from family or religious leaders who often prioritise household unity over a woman’s safety.
Early Marriage and Lifelong Cycles
Violence tracks the life course. Many girls marry between 10 and 14. Families sometimes view early marriage as protection against external harassment on the exposed chars. In practice it transfers girls into new households where they face unfamiliar dynamics and heightened risk, especially under economic pressure. The early years of marriage prove particularly volatile. Later, the presence of children may offer limited buffering, yet the cumulative toll remains.
National data reinforce the picture. The 2024 Violence Against Women Survey by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and UNFPA found that 76 per cent of women have experienced some form of intimate partner violence in their lifetime and 49 per cent in the past year. In disaster-prone areas the lifetime figure rises to 81 per cent. Controlling behaviour, physical and sexual violence, and economic abuse are widespread. Two-thirds of survivors never disclose what they endure. Awareness of reporting channels remains low, especially in rural settings.
Climate vulnerability and gender inequality intersect tightly. River erosion, floods and the pre-harvest hunger season known as monga keep households in chronic precarity. Women carry the double burden of maintaining households under strain while absorbing male frustration. Some families send teenage girls to relatives during displacement for perceived safety, yet the underlying drivers – poverty, patriarchal norms, limited mobility – persist.
Silence as Strategy, Support as Absence
Women’s most common responses are adaptation rather than resistance: limiting speech, restricting social contact outside the homestead, and “doing what the person wants.” Large majorities of both women and men viewed these strategies as effective. Collective help appears readily for moving tin roofs or rebuilding after floods, but rarely for confronting abuse inside the home.
Development programmes in char areas have long emphasised livelihoods, disaster preparedness and economic resilience. These efforts matter, yet they have often treated violence as peripheral. The research argues that violence must be recognised as a predictable outcome of environmental and economic stress. Programmes need to anticipate spikes after crises, engage men on gender norms and power relations, and build accessible support systems suited to highly mobile, isolated communities.
Beyond Survival
Life on the chars is frequently framed as resilience. That framing risks romanticising the cost. For many women, survival means enduring violence, silencing themselves and accepting that safety is never assured. As climate change intensifies displacement, the gendered consequences will grow more severe unless addressed directly.
The University of Portsmouth and Grameen Bikash Foundation findings, though rooted in 2019 data, remain relevant. Conditions for women on the chars have not eased. Mainstreaming violence-against-women considerations into every programme – not only those labelled “gender” – is essential. This requires systematic reflection on how interventions may increase or reduce risk, political-economy analysis of local power structures, and placing women’s voices at the centre through sustained qualitative tracking.
Focus keyphrase: violence against women Bangladesh chars
Tags: Bangladesh, chars, violence against women, domestic violence, climate displacement, Jamuna River, gender-based violence, intimate partner violence, child marriage, disaster-prone areas,
