From vulnerability to resilience: A study of the livelihood struggles of tiger widows in Bangladesh

ABSTRACT Livelihood management is a severe challenge in the coastal area near the Sundarbans mangrove forests of Bangladesh. Human-tiger conflict in the area further complicates the situation and generates a group of women known as tiger widows who have lost their husbands because of attacks by tigers. They are therefore socially stigmatized as cursed and harbingers of bad luck. As a result, the lives of these widows in rural and geographically remote locations are full of suffering and hardships, especially with respect to their being able to manage livelihoods. This article discusses their vulnerabilities and difficult lives in this antagonistic eco-social setting. It also reveals their adoption of different livelihood strategies backed by some NGOs’ development assistance, whereby they become able to secure the survival and well-being of their families. Furthermore, our findings show how the widows have developed capacities to transform their own lives from utter misery to gain socioeconomic stability by fighting patriarchal constraints and also influencing other women to become self-reliant.