The Plight of Women during and After Floods. A Case Study of the Mbire District, Zimbabwe

The aim of this paper was to examine the impact of floods on women given their vulnerability and the inequalities inherent in the social construction of gender.The paper examined the impact of flooding on women in Mbire District’s Ward 10 located along the Hunyani River Valley. The district is one of the most vulnerable areas to floods in Zimbabwe. A total of 50 questionnaires were distributed and 5 focus group interviews conducted. Correlation analysis was used to analyse the repossess from questionnaires while thematic approach used to analyse data from interviews. The main findings were that women were overburdened by disasters in terms of addition responsibilities which creates excess burden. The study showed that women became emotionally overburdened; they become stressed and psychologically depressed in the absence of effective psycho social support initiatives especially during the disaster and post recovery phases of the disaster. After the migration by males, majority of whom abandons their families and start new families elsewhere leavingwomen to assume headship of their households, taking over most of the responsibilities.This often created emotional stress on women whowere still to recover from the disasters and without sustainable sources of livelihoods. Psychosocial or emotional stress were also reported and observed among women due to loss of property, family members and food reserves.The study also noted that women experienced feelings of fear, anxiety and insecurity as a result of their past experiences with the disasters in the Mbire district.The study concluded that women are generally vulnerable to disasters and hence suffer from emotional depression and stress during and after disasters. It is recommended that awareness campaigns be rolled out to women in disaster prone areas to prepare them mentally, socially and emotionally for future disasters.The study also recommends the setting up ofphysical or material reconstruction projects among women in disaster prone areas to economically empower them and ensure that they are not emotionally stressed before and after disaster period. Disaster preparedness skills and livelihoods lifekills in the three phases of the disaster namely, pre, during and post recovery phases be imparted to women to help them to copy with the impact and the effects of the disaster. The training would help reduce the various stresses that women undergo following disasters and help them to recover from the disaster. The paper recommends that policies be developed that allow women to participate in disaster planning activities and decision-making processes related to disaster risk reduction. It is also recommended that dedicated funds be made available for gender mainstreaming in disaster risk reduction policies.