Volume V Special Issue VI December 2025

Name of Author : Elizabeth Jacob

Title of the paper : Gendered Economic Impacts of Climate Induced Migration in Rural India

Abstract: This paper analyses the effects of climate change induced migration on womens labour force participation in rural India during 2014 to 2024. A decade long examination of rural demographic transitions includes rapid environmental stress, rural demographic changes, and increasing economic vulnerabilities of women. As climate related pressures intensify due to declining agricultural productivity and increasing livelihood insecurity, rural households increasingly depend on male out migration, leading to significant shifts in womens economic responsibilities. Using time series data from the World Bank Open Data, this study examines the relationship between rural demographic changes and womens labour force participation. Statistical analysis and data visualization were conducted using R software, applying descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and a simple linear regression model. The main findings of the study show a strong negative relationship r = −0.814 between rural population decline and womens economic participation, confirming that female labour force participation increases progressively as the rural population declines. A simple linear regression model reveals that changes in rural population structure are statistically significant in predicting changes in female labour force participation R² = 0.663, p = 0.002, with the slope coefficient β₁ = −1.243 indicating that a 1% decrease in rural population is associated with an approximately 1.24% increase in female labour force participation. High impact periods such as 2018–2020 demonstrate sharper increases in female workforce involvement. These results suggest a process of gender based economic adjustment in which women have to take on more responsibility for household income and agricultural work as climate pressures intensify male migration. This paper highlights the need for gender responsive climate strategies that combine livelihood diversification, targeted skills development, and social protection measures to strengthen womens resilience against climate induced vulnerabilities in rural India.

Keywords : climate induced migration; female labour participation; rural demographic change; climate vulnerability; gender adaptation

DOI :

Page Number : 85-91