This article draws on the case of Bangladesh to highlight that the combination of poverty, rural-urban divides, gender disparity, increased effects of climate change, all lead to increased vulnerability, especially for women who are displaced post-disaster and coerced into prostitution, human trafficking and other exploitation risks. Socially constructed variables are the reason for disparities rather than biological differences while the pre-existing inequalities create environments that disproportionately affect women post disaster. Authors further question how gender roles, relations and norms can be relaxed during disaster to decrease the mortality of women.