Poor rural women in Bangladesh have developed various adaptive capacities to cope with common disasters like floods, cyclones, droughts, and salinity intrusion. These include raising homesteads, planting trees, home gardening, livestock rearing, collecting rainwater, and diversifying crops. However, women still face vulnerabilities during disasters due to lack of resources, decision making power, and security issues in shelters. Recognizing and strengthening women's existing coping strategies could better empower them to deal with future climate hazards.

1. Information
seeking in a
flood
Barbara Ryan
School of Humanities and Communication,
University of Southern Queensland
Toowoomba, Australia
Adaptive
Capacity of Poor
Women

2. PRESENTED BY
Tasneem Chowdhury Fahim
Sabrina Arefin
Monira Sharmin
Zuhair Ahmed Kowshik
Lutfunnahar
Runa Akter
Roll 07
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3. Flow of the Presentation
Introduction
Some common disasters in Bangladesh
Vulnerability
Vulnerability of Poor Women in Bangladesh during Disaster and
Post Disaster Period
What is Adaptive Capacity
Adaptive Capacity of Poor Women in some common Disasters in Bangladesh
Some unheard stories
Some Observations
Conclusion

4. INTRODUCTION
o Bangladesh is a disaster prone country. Because of
gender based inequalities, girls and women are
typically at higher risk than the boys and men in our
country.
o Nasreen (1995) shows in her pioneer research that
“Disasters affect both women and men but the burden
of coping with disasters falls heavily on women”
o She also told that additional works are also performed
by women to deal with adverse situation. So, adaptive
capacities of poor women are very important to cope
with disasters.

5. Some common disasters in
Bangladesh
Natural Disasters:
- Flood
- Cyclone
- Drought
- Earthquake
- Landslide
- River bank erosion
- Salinity Intrusion
- Tornado
- Heat wave and cold wave
Human Induced
Disasters:
- Fire
- Building collapse
- Water logging
- Chemical spill
- Oil spill
- Militant attack

6. VULNERABILITY
o Vulnerability is the characteristics and
circumstances of a community, system or asset
that make it susceptible to the damaging effects of
a hazard (UNISDR)
o It is used to describe states of susceptibility to
harm, powerlessness and marginality of both
physical and social systems

7. Vulnerability of Poor Women in Bangladesh
during Disaster and Post Disaster Period
During Disaster Period:
o Poor rural women don't have any authority, decision making power, financial
sufficiency and have to wait for her master's decision.
o Poor women have superstation, wrong belief, religious belief
o Poor rural women are fatalistic, not realistic which poses further vulnerability on them
o Pregnant women and elderly women don't have the easy physical condition to go to
shelter center in the disaster condition.
o They don't want to go to shelter center believing in their fate.
o Lack of Nutritious food, pure water and vulnerable physical condition make them
more vulnerable

8. Post Disaster Period
General women:
- Loss of income, savings
and livelihood
- Limited access to market
- Destruction of houses and
homestead cause great
pressure on women after
disaster
- Women’s security and
dignity are threatened in
shelter center
- Harassment and loss of
privacy in shelter center
- Deprivation in relief
queues
Pregnant and Elderly
women:
- Mental stress in pregnant
condition.
- Lack of mid wife, doctor
and medicine in shelter
center
- Lack of nutrition and
hygiene facilities
- Severe anxiety disorder
- Lack of supportive
devices (crutch, wheel
chair, ramp, hearing
device etc.) for elderly
women and PWDs
Adolescent Girls:
- Lack of hygiene kit (Soap,
sanitary napkin,
antiseptic, pure water).
- Sexual harassment
- Lack of nutritious food
- Lack of security

9. ADAPTIVE CAPACITY
o Adaptive Capacity is the general ability of
institutions, systems and individuals to adjust to
potential damage, to take advantage of
opportunities or to cope with the consequences of
any harmful event or disaster
o Adaptive Capacity is also known as creative
flexibility in decision making and problem
solving
Source: http://www.careclimatechange.org/tk/integration/en/key_concepts/adaptive_capacity.html

10. Adaptive Capacity of
Poor Women in some
common disasters of
Bangladesh

11. Adaptive Capacities for Cyclone
o To impede and decrease cyclone risk, coastal
afforestation is the best thing done by poor
rural women.
o Plantation of big branched trees around the
homestead is a very good approach done by
poor women
o Poor women try to raise the height of plinth to
overcome their risk due to cyclone
o Poor women help elderly people, children and
disabled people of their families during
cyclone.

12. Contd…
o Poor women set the domestic animals free
from sheds to allow them to survive from
surge water in a rapid onset of cyclone
o Searching for kith & kin and looking for
housing utensils and means of livelihood are
the adaptive capacities of poor rural women
during or after cyclone.

13. Adaptive Capacities for Flood
o Poor women use roof top of their houses for
living and cooking, which is the best
adaptive capacity for short duration flood.
o Being ready to go to shelter with all
important belongings is the another best
adaptive capacity for long term flood,
which is done by rural women
o Taking cattle while going to the flood
shelter or taking care of cattle is also done
by poor women

14. Contd…
o It is the concern of a poor mother to take
hygiene kit and sanitary napkin while
going to flood shelter center for her
adolescent girl
o Pure water, which is the vital need for any
person or family during any flood situation
is also collected by poor rural women
o Women make the savings of crop and
money so that they can use that during
rainy days and flood days

15. Adaptive Capacities for
Drought
o Nowadays Bangladeshi poor rural women are
switching away from water intensive
cultivation of crops like paddy. They are
sowing potato on the land and receiving a
bumper harvest.
o Women are doing non-agricultural farming
like rearing livestock, poultry, dairy farm,
cattle fattening, fish culture, making cow dung
stick as fuel
o Homestead gardening is another good
approach by poor women

16. Contd…
o Many of poor rural women are engaged in
small handicraft and cottage industry like
sewing staff during their leisure time which
helps them to earn additional money during
drought time.
o Poor women collect water from distant places
during drought time.
o Rural women collect water at the rain time
using their indigenous knowledge. Some of
them use saree to collect rain water, some
collect water using pipe from their roof.

17. Adaptive Capacities for Salinity
Intrusion
o Plantation of saline tolerant tree species is the
best practice by rural poor women.
o Vertical Horticulture allows households and
women in Bangladesh to grow vegetables
despite salinity. Homestead gardening is also
a good approach by poor rural women.
o Cooking is a great problem in salinity prone
area. Women don’t put extra salt in food.
Sometimes excess amount of salt is effused
from the water by boiling. This is the adaptive
capacity of poor women.

18. Contd…
o Rainwater harvesting is done by coastal
poor women for drinking.
o Women are doing shrimp farming as an
income generating sector.

19. Adaptive Capacities for Water Logging
o Poor women are doing diversification of
agriculture through introduction of new
cropping systems such as cultivation of
vegetable and spices on Baira (hydroponics)
during water logging
o They dig soil to make drainage system to keep
them safe from water logging
o Homestead based forestry, horticulture and
integrated farming are the poor women’s
adaptive capacities.
o Women collect pure water from distant areas for
their families during the time of water logging.

20. Unheard Story-1
Mst Piara Begum is a 40 years old woman. Once upon a
time, she and her husband were extremely poor. Char
erosion forced them to move out from home to new
char land many times. At last they came and settled to
Digholkandi village of Sariakandi upazila under Bogra
District. It was very difficult for them to escape from
extreme poverty due to instability. In 2013, Piara took
loan from a somiti and purchased one goat. This goat is
now grown and has given birth four. From those goats,
Piara sold one of them and now she has total four goats.
The profit from this sale was used for her husband’s
treatment. Her husband was unemployed since he was
suffering from illness long time. He lost his one leg.

21. Contd…
Now he is cured and engages himself in
different types of income generation
activities. They have now a total of four
goats. These assets help the family to
meet almost all of their dietary needs.
Apart from goat rearing, Piara also
produces handmade products. By
selling the handmade products she can
also earn money which can help her to
maintain her family satisfactorily.

22. Unheard Story-2
Nomita Biswas is a 32 years old farmer who lives in
Chitalmari of Bagerhat. There farming is a
challenge due to salinity intrusion in soil.
Vegetables are not grown here, as a result green
vegetable is a rare and costly commodity for
Chitalmari people.
The only areas of land that remain dry are the
raised dike, known locally as ghers, which are
built to serve as embankments surrounding fish
ponds. Namita could not buy vegetables
previously due to lack of money. But when she
started dike farming, she began to get fresh
vegetables which she can sell and her family can
get daily. Dike farming has changed Nomita’s life.
Now she can earn much money by selling fresh
vegetables.

23. Some Observations:
o Women use their indigenous knowledge to adapt with the disasters. So preserving
indigenous knowledge is very important.
o Collecting water is the common duty of poor women during disaster times.
o To adapt with the disasters women do homestead gardening.
o Poor women are concerned about their family as well as cattle during disaster
o Women do much more sacrifice than men of the family.
o For some disasters Bangladeshi poor women don’t have adaptive capacity:
- Garments/factory fire
- Building collapse
- River Bank Erosion
- Earthquake
- Tornado

24. CONCLUSION:
For the reduction of the bad impacts of disasters women adopt
different types of strategies which are related to their gender
identity. These strategies are necessary for enhancing the
sustainability of their family. Although women use their indigenous
coping and adaptation measures in disaster events, these are not
organized and sufficient for their social and economic uplifts or
empowerment.
It is necessary to recognize the roles and contributions of women
and thereby strengthen their existing capacities to face the future
challenges of both natural and human induced disaster.