Volume VI Special Issue V June 2026

Name of Author : T. Narayana

Title of the paper : Gendered Ecologies of Climate Vulnerability in Anita Desais The Village by the Sea

Abstract: This paper explores the interconnections between ecological vulnerability and gendered experience in The Village by the Sea by Anita Desai, situating the novel within ecofeminist and postcolonial critical frameworks. Though written prior to the consolidation of climate change discourse, the text anticipates contemporary concerns regarding environmental precarity and its uneven social impacts. Set in a coastal village dependent on fragile natural resources, the narrative foregrounds the instability of subsistence economies in the face of ecological stress and industrial encroachment. The study argues that climate vulnerability in the novel is experienced in distinctly gendered ways. Through the character of Lila, Desai represents the disproportionate burden placed on women, who assume intensified domestic, emotional, and economic responsibilities amid environmental decline. This feminization of survival reveals how ecological crises exacerbate pre-existing gender inequalities, limiting womens mobility, access to education, and economic agency. In contrast, male mobility and migration emerge as gendered coping strategies, highlighting structural disparities in opportunity and resilience. By mapping the intersections of environment, gender, and livelihood, the paper demonstrates how the novel articulates an early form of climate consciousness rooted in everyday experience. It further contends that Desais work contributes to broader debates on climate justice by foregrounding the lived realities of marginalized coastal communities. Ultimately, The Village by the Sea offers a compelling literary framework for understanding gendered ecological precarity in the Global South.

Keywords : Climate Change, Gendered Vulnerability, Ecofeminism, Coastal Ecology, Postcolonial Studies, Environmental Justice,

DOI :

Page Number : 268-272