Why Women Must be Involved in Building Flood Resilience
Women carrying children through chest-deep waters, families watching their homes dissolve into torrents, fields turning into rivers overnight – flash floods have become a defining image of a warming world.
Once considered rare shocks, they are now recurring disasters, striking multiple times within a single monsoon season. Each flood does more than wash away possessions, it erases years of hard-won progress for families that are then forced to start over again in the face of accelerating climate change.
In Pakistan, this year’s monsoon season has unfolded as a cascade of emergencies. A cloudburst – a sudden, very heavy downpour – in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province delivered 150 millimetres of rainfall in just one hour last August, unleashing torrents that swept through villages. In the region of Gilgit-Baltistan, accelerated glacier melt due to unprecedented 48.5°C heat triggered deadly floods and landslides. In Punjab province, swollen rivers reached record levels in September, submerging villages and devastating farmland. As the floodwaters moved south, authorities in Sindh province were forced to evacuate more than 100,000 residents from low-lying Indus River areas.
Since late June 2025, more than 900 lives have been lost and thousands of homes have been destroyed across Pakistan, revealing how climate extremes can collide to magnify destruction.
The picture is just as stark in other regions that are heavily exposed to climate extremes. In southern Brazil, more than 7,300 people were displaced across 127 municipalities, with over 1,000 emergency shelters set up after heavy rains swept through Rio Grande do Sul state in June. And floods earlier this year in Kenya destroyed more than 1,400 shallow wells, triggering a water and sanitation crisis that left nearly 10 million people drinking from contaminated sources and fuelled outbreaks of cholera and other diseases.
These simultaneously unfolding crises show how climate change is driving recurring disasters that overwhelm fragile infrastructure and push communities into cycles of loss and recovery. Strengthening flood resilience is crucial, but efforts to do so must be inclusive to ensure that all potential effects of natural disasters are fully addressed.
The gendered impact of flash floods
Floodwaters do not fall equally on everyone.
An estimated 80% of people displaced by climate change are women. Daughters are often the first family members to be pulled out of classrooms when disaster strikes. When water systems collapse, women may be forced to walk farther, often in unsafe conditions, to fetch supplies. And for those displaced due to flooding, crowded shelters carry the risk of gender-based violence, compounding the trauma of displacement.
These vulnerabilities are reinforced by systemic exclusion. Female-headed households, often without secure land rights or access to formal credit, may experience more severe consequences from climate-related weather events such as floods. And when disaster committees exclude women’s voices, response efforts risk overlooking essential priorities – from designing safer shelters to ensuring fair distribution of aid.
Addressing these gaps will build a better foundation for flood resilience, enabling stronger recoveries. Centering women’s needs and leadership is essential to disaster response and can be realized through three gender-responsive strategies:
1. Expand early-warning systems that reach women
When a flood strikes, minutes of advance notice can mean the difference between safe evacuation and tragedy. But in Kenya, where seasonal flooding can displace tens of thousands of people, women are often less likely to receive or trust official alerts.
To address this issue, the EW4IGAD III project is testing impact-based early-warning systems in the Dadaab refugee complex, one of the world’s largest refugee settlements and home to over 240,000 people in northeastern Kenya. Instead of only forecasting rainfall, these warnings explain likely impacts such as road washouts, water shortages or disease outbreaks. These messages are co-designed with women and other vulnerable groups to ensure they reflect real community needs.
Similarly, the 2024 Kenya Anticipatory Action Flood Pilot provided cash and preparedness support to households before forecasted floods. Its evaluation showed that nearly 95% of families had some confidence in the warnings and about three-quarters said the alerts helped them prepare. Although it also found that women were less likely than men to find the messages clear or actionable, highlighting persistent gaps in design and communication.
Early-warning systems must treat women as co-designers and trusted messengers. Expanding radio alerts, voice-based messaging and community loudspeakers, while equipping women leaders as first responders, helps to ensure lifesaving information reaches every household in time.
2. Empower women-led disaster committees
When women shape disaster planning, responses are often more comprehensive – from prioritizing safe shelters and water access to ensuring children and the elderly are not left behind.
In Guaranda, Colombia, communities have formed COMUNGERD (Communities United for Disaster Risk Management), a grassroots initiative that works directly with municipal authorities and the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (IDEAM). Women play a central role in this coalition, mapping flood risks along the Cauca River, identifying evacuation routes and helping to set up early-warning systems tailored to local realities. Their involvement has ensured that shelters, water points and evacuation plans reflect the needs of entire families.
Women’s leadership can change outcomes when it comes to flood resilience. Formal recognition, resources and training for women-led disaster committees can strengthen preparedness, improve relief distribution and build community trust.
3. Invest in women’s economic recovery
Crops, livestock and small businesses are often among the first assets to be destroyed by flooding, but female owners typically have the least access to credit, insurance and land titles to rebuild. Without targeted support, these losses can trap families in cycles of debt and dependency.
In India’s flood-prone states of Bihar and Odisha, women’s self-help groups have shown how direct investment can change this trajectory. Bihar’s JEEViKA programme has mobilized almost 10 million women into self-help groups, for example. Many of these women have adopted flood-resilient livelihoods such as goat rearing, poultry and vegetable cultivation on raised beds. These activities can restart quickly, even after severe flooding.
Such shifts not only restore incomes but also reduce vulnerability to future shocks.
Women can help communities build resilience
As climate extremes increasingly unfold simultaneously, more communities are experiencing recurring disasters that push them into cycles of loss and recovery.
Addressing this issue means tackling the aftereffects of natural disasters, while also using long-term flood resilience strategies to cope with future crises. This will build a foundation for stronger recoveries.
Local women must be involved in designing flood resilience solutions to ensure these strategies address the needs of everyone affected by flooding and other natural disasters.
