'Serikali Saidia': The enduring cry for gender-sensitive floods response
A woman in Laza Mwembeni village in Tana River County leads her children to safety as the River Tana swells up. Natural disasters like floods disproportionately affect women and children, exacerbating existing gender inequalities.
What you need to know:
- As devastating floods continue to wreak havoc across the country, women and children bear a disproportionate burden.
- Despite the widespread impacts on women during disasters, national policies often overlook their gender-specific needs, highlighting the urgent need for more inclusive and gender-sensitive approaches to disaster risk reduction.
- Placing women at the centre of these efforts is crucial for strengthening resilience and ensuring comprehensive support for entire communities affected by natural calamities like floods.
Over the past week, devastating floods have wreaked havoc on towns and estates across the country, displacing hundreds of people and claiming numerous lives. As climate change intensifies, floods are becoming more frequent and severe across, leaving destruction in their wake.
Amidst these floods, the 2012 iconic plea of Jane Anyango Adika from Nyando in Kisumu County, who became known as 'serikali saidia' (Government please help), resonates deeply. Her cry for assistance, though initially fodder for jokes, highlighted the desperate need for government intervention to rescue communities from disaster.
However, behind the humour was a woman in distress, uncertain of the fate of her children, husband, chickens, goats, and even household belongings.
As the rains persist and warnings of continued heavy downpours loom, countless women echo Adika's sentiments.
This week, heart-breaking images have emerged of women perched precariously atop roofs and makeshift boats, while clutching toddlers as young as a few months old.
Economic losses
Natural disasters like floods disproportionately affect women and children, exacerbating existing gender inequalities. Women bear the brunt of the impacts, facing heightened risks of gender-based violence (GBV) and increased responsibilities for unpaid care work.
Female-headed households are particularly vulnerable, struggling amid economic losses and lack of access to resources. During floods, women often carry the burden of securing food and water, caring for children, and maintaining the home, tasks made even more challenging by the disaster conditions.
During the 2018 floods, for example, women faced layers of gendered impacts. Those displaced into crowded camps endured lack of privacy, sanitary materials, and protection from sexual violence, according to reports.
Despite the disproportionate impact on women, national adaptation plans and policies often overlook gender-specific needs. There is, therefore, a pressing need for more inclusive and gender-sensitive approaches to disaster risk reduction and emergency response.
Stronger systems and data-driven planning are essential to minimise disruptions to women's health and care during floods. National and county governments must integrate gender analysis into all aspects of disaster response and involve women as decision-makers and leaders, not just beneficiaries.
Comprehensive support
Women's access to maternal and reproductive healthcare services is, especially challenging during such times. Critical questions arise about how women in slums like Mukuru Kwa Njenga or Mathare in Nairobi, are managing menstruation and accessing healthcare services for pregnancy and childbirth. How about those displaced in Athi River, and across the country?
As funds are allocated to mitigate the floods, it's crucial to address gender impacts. This includes providing safe menstrual hygiene materials, preventing and responding to GBV in rescue camps, and ensuring access to maternal healthcare.
Economic empowerment for women post-floods is also vital. Skills training and cash transfers can help them rebuild their livelihoods and strengthen their resilience.
Placing women and girls at the centre of disaster planning and response unlocks their resilience for the benefit of entire communities.
It's time to move beyond the plea of 'serikali saidia' and ensure comprehensive support for women during disasters.
As the rains continue, stay safe.
