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 life and livelihood assets’’- People living with flood

Flood, people and gender

Before floodPreparedness

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 Road expansion

People and poverty State: 49.4 % 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 group based on people’s perception

– Interview and FGD with specific group

Study in Bihar

Methodology

Case study : Chharki, Bhagawanpur Panchayat, Nauten 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 1 2 3 4 5 6 70

50000

100000

150000

200000

250000

Proportion of male to female

Amou

nt o

f loa

n in

Indi

an

Curr

ency

Women are vulnerable not only water destroy their homes and livelihood assets, the social disparities and barriers to exercise their ability multiplies their vulnerability

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, specially for women and children• 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

Key lessons

Enhancing women’s assets and capability - Changing dominant gender barriers e.g. breaking the culture

of dowry

- 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 life 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)