Flood-induced vulnerabilities and problems encountered by women in northern Bangladesh

Abstract

This study examines flood-induced vulnerabilities among women in northern Bangladesh. Poor and disadvantaged women are more vulnerable to disasters than men due to the conditions that predispose them to severe disaster impacts. Women suffer from physical injuries and are often evicted from their dwellings due to floods. Difficulties in finding adequate shelter, food, safe water, and fuel for cooking, as well as problems in maintaining personal hygiene and sanitation, prevent women from performing their usual roles at home. All of these are problems related to women's gender identity and social roles. Many poor and destitute women remain unemployed during and after floods. Women also suffer from domestic violence and are subject to harassment when taking shelter or refuge at community centers. These particular vulnerabilities and problems interrupt women's mitigation efforts and adaptation capacities in disaster risk reduction.

Women, Gender Norms, and Natural Disasters in Bangladesh

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Women’s health-related vulnerabilities in natural disasters: a systematic review protocol

“…However, from country to country or region to region, women’s health status is generally violated in disasters. Of the large number of studies conducted on the detrimental health effects of disasters, the majority has revealed that women are more affected by natural disasters than men,4 indicating that women have a higher vulnerability to the impact of natural disasters 5–7…”

Toward a research agenda on climate‐related migration

“…Surveys in one vulnerable region, the Jamuna River floodplain, report that 49% of households found it necessary to relocate during the period 1962−2016 due to flooding, with the vast majority resettling within 5 km of their previous location (Ferdous et al., 2019). Durations of major flood events along the Brahmaputra–Janina River during 1988−2007 ranged from 16 to 67 days (Ali et al., 2019), so even those not permanently relocating experienced lengthy displacements, lost livelihoods, reduced food and clean water intake, and inadequate sanitation (Azad, Hossein & Nasreen, 2013; Dewan, 2015).…”

“…Half of those displaced went temporarily to exposed sites including elevated roads, railways, embankments, and dams; about one quarter went to schools and community centers; and the remainder likely went to private homes and rentals (Azad, Hossein & Nasreen, 2013, p. 195). This contrasts starkly with the U.S. experience of moving mostly to motels and rental buildings.…”