Women's Participation in Community Disaster Risk Management in Coastal Area of Khulna District

Due to women's lower economic standing, absence of social capital as well as disaster preparedness, they have suffered in far greater numbers than males in natural disasters during the previous 30 years. Women in coastal areas of Bangladesh are unfamiliar with the concept of community disaster risk management. These women however engaged in disaster risk mitigation process but mostly in personal level. This lack of knowledge and participation is improving the chance of late recovery after natural disasters at a communal level. The main objective of this study is to explore female participation in community level disaster risk management in coastal regions of Khulna district which includes areas of Mongla and Dacope. The study was qualitative in nature and uses in-depth interviews and focus group discussions as methods of data collection. Ten respondents for IDI and twenty one respondent for three FGDs were selected by purposive sampling. After data collection the researcher discovers some important findings which helps to understand the overall scenario of those women and their participation in community level engagement. Those findings revealed that women in such areas were involved in disaster preparation and also made significant contributions in catastrophe and post-disaster situations, but only on a micro level involving their families. Most of the respondent from those disaster prone areas did not engaged in community rebuilding process. The results also indicates these respondent's poor knowledge about disaster, poor decision making condition in family, financial and cultural disadvantages. The study recommends improving government policy including participation of women in rebuilding in those areas and providing training involving social awareness.

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