Aditi Bhowmick, an Indian PhD student at Harvard, has received a Mittal Institute Faculty Climate Research Grant to explore gendered climate vulnerability in India. Her project seeks to uncover the impacts of climate change on social inequities, particularly focusing on child marriage. The research will utilize integrated data from historical and modern sources to facilitate broader understanding and policy-making in the context of these issues.
Aditi Bhowmick, an Indian PhD affiliate specializing in Development Economics and Labor Economics at Harvard University, is among the inaugural recipients of the Mittal Institute Faculty Climate Research Grants. She will co-lead a pioneering project focused on gendered climate vulnerability in India, demonstrating her dedication to addressing economic and social inequities through comprehensive research.
The Mittal Institute grants aim to enhance scholarly engagement with climate change issues in South Asia, promote new knowledge creation, and contribute to sustainable solutions. Research projects are organized into three primary categories: energy transition and policy, food systems and land use, and law and policy regarding climate adaptation.
Bhowmick’s research initiative, in collaboration with Eliana La Ferrara from the Harvard Kennedy School, addresses urgent climate change-induced challenges. Disasters such as droughts and floods threaten gains made towards gender equity in South Asia, with recent studies highlighting the troubling trend of “climate brides,” where girls are compelled into early marriages due to extreme weather.
The negative consequences of early marriage include increased risks of teenage pregnancies, maternal health issues, domestic violence, and adverse child health outcomes, thereby continuously fostering health inequalities. To better understand the convergence of climate shocks, gender, and health inequities in India, the researchers acknowledge a significant gap in systematic data.
Bhowmick and La Ferrara’s project intends to bridge this gap by integrating historical ethnographic data from 1920 to 1960, current census data, and satellite information regarding climate impacts across India’s extensive villages and towns. Their research will explore key queries concerning the relationship between climate change and gender health outcomes, specifically focusing on child marriage.
The data infrastructure developed from this research will be publicly shared as a digital resource, similar to Murdock’s Ethnographic Atlas for Sub-Saharan Africa. This initiative will facilitate interdisciplinary research and inform policymaking by consolidating community-level social norms with demographic and economic data.
By connecting diverse data sources, Bhowmick and her team aim to empower various stakeholders—including researchers, data journalists, and policymakers—to gain a nuanced understanding of the challenges posed by climate change with respect to gender inequality in India. As a second-year PhD student in Public Policy at Harvard, Bhowmick is committed to advancing her research agenda focusing on social norms and gender disparities across developing nations.
Aditi Bhowmick’s research project exemplifies a significant step toward understanding the intricate relationship between climate change and gender inequity in India. By integrating various data sources, her work aims to illuminate the adverse effects of climate-related disasters, fostering informed policy interventions to combat these pressing issues. The initiatives funded by the Mittal Institute will play a crucial role in addressing climate vulnerabilities in South Asia.
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