Gender and natural disasters in Bangladesh

Résumé du document

The issue of natural and climate-related disasters in Bangladesh is not a recent problem but its take-up as one of the key issues of the country and its integration in local and national policies aiming at finding ways to adapt the state to the impacts of natural hazards is fairly new. Even more recent is the birth of a gender-oriented perspective in natural disasters research and responses: indeed, natural disasters are not gender-neutral events and the existing linkage between gender and natural hazards is to be taken into account.

If this link can be observed in many disaster-prone countries, it represents in Bangladesh a major issue: badly hurt by natural and climate-related disasters, Bangladesh is also a developing country where social inequalities, especially gender inequalities, are heavily developed. As a result, these important gender issues tend to make women more vulnerable to the impacts of natural disasters. This paper will therefore focus on making the link between gender and natural disasters in Bangladesh explicit by answering these questions: to what extent the gender issues in Bangladesh magnify the impact of natural disasters on Bangladeshi women? Do adaptation strategies to this phenomenon exist?

Extraits

[...] Nizam Ahmed, Monday May Earthquake in Bangladesh : How much we are prepared to face it ? Dr. Shamima Ferdousi, Prof. Md. Tahminur Rahman Women's participation in Agriculture in Bangladesh 1988-2008 : Changes and determinants. W. M. [...]

[...] Gender issues : an amplificator of the impacts of natural hazards on women 1. Impact on women's lives In disaster-related reports, data tends to be gender-neutral limiting therefore the ability to fully determine how men and women are affected. Although we cannot have a complete and precise picture of the gap between men's deaths and women's deaths, some studies reveal that women are more vulnerable to disasters : the 1991 cyclone in Bangladesh resulted in a disproportionnate number of female deaths with a death toll of 71 per 1000 women as against 15 per 1000 men[8]. [...]

[...] Women's role and position in the Bangladeshi society 1. Responsibility for the household Despite constitutional guarantees of gender equality, the status of Bangladeshi women is kept low : this inferior social position can be linked to the patriarchal values entrenched in the society which force women into submission, assign a subordinate and dependent role and prevent them from being empowered. As a result, men hold the power and the resource within the family and control property and family income. As for women, they are considered men's property and are socially expected to bear multiple responsibilities at home, including provision of food and water, health care and child rearing and education. [...]

[...] The NAPA suggested several adaptation strategies, such as the provision of potable water to coastal communities or inclusion of natural hazard issues in education and in the planning of infrastructures. Although it contains some brief references to gender and women, the NAPA does not include women as actors or stakeholders in the natural disaster adaptation process: no women's rights, gender organizations or gender specialists are being mentioned as contributors to the establishement of the NAPA. This program actually represents women as victims of natural hazards but fails to provide gender-oriented solutions where women play prominent role in the adaptation strategies. B. Further gender-oriented strategies 1. [...]

[...] Natural disasters in Bangladesh A. Bangladesh : a disaster-prone country Natural disasters is a highly crucial issue in Bangladesh : according to the World Risk Report of 2012, it ranks fifth as the most disaster-prone country in the world. This qualification of a disaster-prone country is due to a combination of three factors : they include the exposure of the country to natural disasters, the vulnerability of its population and its susceptibility to the impacts of natural hazards as well as the abilities for the government to cope with natural disasters and minimize their consequences on the society The geographical location of Bangladesh Bangladesh's exposure to natural disasters lies in its geographical setting and its tropical monsoon-type climate. [...]