HI-AWARE

Gendered Vulnerability in Flood Plains

of West Champaran, Bihar

Pranita B. Udas & Anjal PrakashICIMOD

Flood and Gender

Flood

“an unusually high stage in a river – normally the level at

which the river overflows its banks and inundates the

adjoining area”. – hydrology text book

A large amount of water covering an area that is

usually dry – Cambridge dictionary

“ when the water level rises affecting our lives and

livelihood assets’’- People living with flood

Flood, people and gender

Before flood

Preparedness

During Flood

After Flood

Differential coping & adaptive

capacity

Differential capability & agency

Differential Livelihood assets

Gendered Vulnerability

Location

Patriarchy

Historical inequity Biological differencesNorms

Values Entitlement

Bihar: Farmers and flood

Infrastructure and in/security

>3732 km embankments along different rivers in Bihar (FMISC)

Road construction and other infrastructure development

People and poverty

State: 50% below poverty line

Rural Bihar: 55.7 % below poverty line (RBI)

1/7 of the poor in India is from Bihar

Prevalence of underweight children under 5 : 56.1%

Gender Development Index rank 35 out of 35

Flood and food

76 % live under recurring threat of flood devastation,

73.06 % land area is flood prone (FMISC)

Agriculture -generates 16 % state GDP, but provides

employment to 70 % of rural working force (Singh et al, 2011)

Crop area loss due to 2007 flood was 16.08 lakh ha(Bansil, 2011)

Flood in Bihar in Figure

Participatory assessment on

socioeconomic drivers and

conditions leading to

vulnerability

– Participant observation

– Identification of social

stratifier of vulnerable

groups based on people’s

perception

– Interview and FGD with

specific group members

Study in Bihar

Methodology

Differential gender impact during flood

Female are encouraged to stay in higher safe place to take care of children, but are at high risk due to issues on

• Sanitation/ toilet

• Drinking water

• Taking care of livestocks and children

Men take risk to continue protecting bamboo houses not to allow them to collapse, as much as possible. A bamboo house cost INR 10000.

Women without men hence either loose property or in risk to protect property

The most vulnerable identified by the villager in the study area were the women headed households or households with only and more women.

Key issues

Conditions

• Gendered social hierarchy

• Disparity in land ownership

• Farming and labor as livelihood strategy

Drivers

• Regular flood and inundation

• Embankment

• Road construction

• Untimely wage payment

• Consumerism and dowry

Living with flood

Case study : Chharki, Bhagawanpur

Panchayat, Nautan Block, West Champaran

Hamlet of 106 hh living in old embankment, 100 house with bamboo wall –thatched roof, 6 has brickwall, thatched roof.

Devasting flood in 1980 displaced the community from Bishambhapur, after that the community shifted to ten different places losing their land one after another in every rainy season.

The recent flood in 2007, and then in 2013- families moved to new embankment for 3 months, as the current settlement was inundated

2005

2010

2016

Some indicator:

Loan per family increases with more daughters

0

50000

100000

150000

200000

250000

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Am

ou

nt

of

loan

in In

dia

n

Cu

rre

ncy

Proportion of male to female

Women are vulnerable, not only flood water is devastating to livelihood

assets, the social disparities and barriers to exercise their ability multiplies

their vulnerability

Key lessons

Enhancing women’s assets and capabilities

- Changing dominant gender barriers e.g. breaking the culture of dowry, barriers to mobility

- Harvesting rain for drinking to meet immediate need-designing proper technology

- Structure may be solution for one, but the reason for vulnerability for others- proper resettlement/social safety plan could secure lives of women and children from ills of modern development that could be reason for flood.

Thank you

Supported by

the UK’s Department for International

Development (DFID)

and

Canada’s International Development

Research Centre (IDRC)