Before sunrise in the cyclone-prone coastal villages of Bagerhat, thousands of women begin a workday that rarely appears in official statistics.
They prepare meals, collect water, care for children and livestock, and then head to vegetable plots and croplands increasingly threatened by salinity, erratic rainfall, and extreme weather.
They sow seeds, transplant seedlings, remove weeds, preserve harvests, and manage household food supplies.
Yet despite becoming the backbone of agriculture in many coastal communities, most remain invisible as farmers.
A growing body of evidence suggests that climate change is accelerating a quiet transformation across Bangladesh’s southwest coast: women are increasingly taking charge of agricultural production as declining farm incomes, repeated cyclones, and male outmigration reshape rural life.
However, experts warn that policy support, financial services, and agricultural governance have failed to keep pace with this reality.
In Bagerhat district alone, more than 40,000 women are officially recorded as agricultural workers.
Researchers say the true number is likely far higher because much of women’s agricultural labor is still classified as unpaid household work rather than economic activity.
According to the Population and Housing Census 2022, more than half of Bagerhat’s 1.61 million residents depend directly or indirectly on agriculture for their livelihoods.
For women like Fulmala Majumder of Mongla, the imbalance is obvious.
“Most of the agricultural work is done by women, but men usually take the products to market and control the earnings,” she said.
The challenge extends beyond recognition.
Women farmers are now operating on the frontline of Bangladesh’s climate crisis.
Over the past two decades, cyclones including Sidr, Aila, Amphan, Yaas and Remal have repeatedly inundated farmland with saline water, reducing soil fertility and damaging crops.
Rising salinity, freshwater scarcity, and prolonged dry spells have forced many households to abandon traditional crops or switch to less profitable alternatives.
“Years ago, we could grow vegetables throughout most of the year. Now many crops fail because of saline soil and water,” said Dulali Adhikari, a farmer from Mongla.
“We have to work much harder to maintain production.”
As men leave in search of work elsewhere, women are increasingly left to manage farms, households, children, and elderly family members simultaneously.
Researchers describe the phenomenon as “time poverty,” the growing burden of unpaid labor that leaves little room for income-generating opportunities.
Rubina Haque, a researcher at North South University, said climate change has multiplied women’s responsibilities by increasing demands for food production, water collection, and household care while offering little institutional support.
Coastal women spend an estimated five to seven hours daily on unpaid domestic and care work alone, studies show.
The health consequences are also mounting.
Prolonged exposure to saline water has been linked to skin diseases, urinary tract infections, and reproductive health complications, while rising temperatures increase risks of dehydration, heat stress, and chronic fatigue.
Yet these impacts remain largely absent from mainstream agricultural and climate policy discussions.
Despite their growing role, many women remain excluded from government support systems because land ownership, farmer registration, and access to subsidies are often tied to male family members.
Professor Rafiqul Islam of Jagannath University said women contribute substantially to agricultural production but remain underrepresented in agricultural governance structures and support mechanisms.
“The lack of formal recognition prevents them from accessing resources that could strengthen their resilience to climate change,” he said.
Advocates argue that the issue is no longer simply one of gender equality.
As climate change intensifies and rural migration accelerates, women are becoming the primary managers of household food systems and agricultural production across large parts of coastal Bangladesh.
Yet they continue to face barriers in accessing agricultural credit, subsidies, climate adaptation funds, extension services and markets.
“Women’s participation in agriculture is rarely acknowledged as economic work,” said Banasree Mitra Neogi, director of Rights and Governance Programmes at Manusher Jonno Foundation.
“Instead, it is often viewed as an extension of domestic duties. This amounts to a denial of women’s labor and their contribution to the agricultural sector.”
Experts say recognizing women as farmers, expanding access to credit and subsidies, issuing individual Krishi Cards, strengthening market access, and incorporating unpaid agricultural labor into national economic accounting are essential steps toward building climate resilience.
In coastal Bangladesh, they argue, women are no longer merely supporting agriculture.
They are sustaining it.
