India is one of the most vulnerable countries to natural disasters. The country has faced a number of natural disasters in the last decade which have claimed hundreds thousands of precious lives and heavy economic losses. It has been observed that more than half of the victims in the past disasters were women. Women are seen in their traditional role of home-makers, but their ability to take on managerial roles in disaster risk management cannot be underestimated.

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Factors determining the role of women in Disaster management:

• Patriarchal culture: Many researchers have identified patriarchal culture as a major barrier that prevent or limit the role of women as decision makers or leaders. Some  societies  accept  that  wives  and  daughters  as  subordinate   to  husbands     and 
• Religious believes:  Religious  believes  influence  the  role  of  women  in  public  engagement  and  decision    For  example,  Protestantism  promotes  and  accepts  women  as  religious  leaders  compared  with  Catholicism  and  Orthodox  Christianity  which  limit  their  involvement 
• Structure of  the  family:  Studies  found  that  size  of  the  family  and  its  composition similarly  affect  the  decision making power of women in households specifically in developing countries
• Household work  load:  Traditional  societies  expect  the  role  of  women  to engage only in  family  work  related  to  child  baring,  caring  and  kitchen  works
• Level of education: Level of education is an individual characteristic.  According to Hora, lack of adequate level of education among women in Ethiopia was one of the major factor that prevent women participating in leadership and decision making role
• Policies and legislations: There was a target of 30% women representation in leadership positions endorsed by the United Nations  Economic  and  Social  Council  in  1990  and  reaffirmed  in  the  Beijing  Platform  for  Action  in    However,  the  reality  is  far  more  behind  from  its  expected  level.
• Household income: Poor socio-economic status affects lower level of engagement of women in decision making at house hold level
• Political environment: Women in political positions are important not because of its strategic importance, but for the benefits and its impact

Role played by women in disaster management:

• Although women’s social, economic and political position in society makes them more vulnerable to natural hazards, they are not helpless victims.
• Women are important agents for change and need to be further strengthened as such.
• Recognizing and mobilizing their skills and capacities as social force and channelling it to enhance efforts to protect their safety and that of their communities and dependants is a major task in any disaster reduction strategy.
• Indian women are the backbone of the rural subsistence economy. Their respective role in family which is of productive nature to a large extent makes the family and society sustainable but it is not acknowledged by and large.
• Women’s work  in  agriculture  is  often  seen  as  an  extension  of  their  domestic  responsibilities,  rather  than  a  separate economic activity. In rural areas which are more vulnerable to natural hazards since rural population depend more on the natural resource base for all aspects of life. Securing food, water and fuel are key community concerns, which are predominantly taken care of by women.
• There are many examples of women’s informal community involvement in disaster reduction, but  women  are  still  largely  excluded  from  formal  planning and  decision-making  and  need  to  be empowered   to  do  so    
• This is essential to   ensure effective disaster reduction policies.  If some decision-making is shifted Emergency relief and aid processes particularly disadvantage women who must organize food  provision,  shelter,  and  child  and  family  care according  to  chaotic  aid-delivery  systems  and  entitlement procedures that rarely take their work or opinions into account.
• Although women commonly organize themselves to distribute supplies, establish shelter, and pool labour and resources to create community support services to meet basic family needs in the emergency period, their efforts are often invisible or go unacknowledged.

Challenges faced:

• Indian women face a number of hurdles in applying and qualifying for aid after a disaster this primarily because of illiteracy or limited literacy, limited access to information on how to apply and navigate the bureaucracy in addition to the eligibility requirements.
• In majority of instances it has been found that relief and rehabilitation schemes favour men over  women,  where  priority  has  been  given  to  property  owners,  tenants  of  record,  bank-account  holders,  and perceived  heads  of   
• Women’s economic  condition  becomes  critical  because  in  large  number  of  cases employment  assistance  concentrates  on  workers  in  the  formal  economy  and  business  aid  is  awarded  to  formal enterprises.  
• Post disaster aid and investments generally undermine women’s collective capacity to surmount day-to-day problems adversely affecting the economic base of women. 
• There is   no   consideration   for   women’s  productive  and reproductive  activities  as  far  as  conventional  disaster  response  in  India  is  concerned,  It  is  not  at  all  reflect  how important  housing  and  informally  held  resources  and  assets  are  to  women’s 
• They have to face loss of workspace, tools, equipment, inventory, supplies and markets or even domestic violence

Way forward:

• To identify the barriers  that  prevent  their  role  in  decision  making,  governance  and  any  Disaster management efforts.
• Based on the literature review, following barriers are identified socio-cultural factors, socio-economic factors, individual characteristics and legal and institutional factors.
• Gender issues  must  be  urgently  and  effectively  integrated  into  disaster  research,  planning,  and  organizational practice.

Conclusion:

It has been noticed that women’s groups that participate in emergency relief, resettlement, and reconstruction efforts following  a  natural  disaster  acquire  significant  knowledge  and  expertise  that  can  greatly  benefit  communities  that subsequently  experience  similar  crises.  When  mechanisms  are  established  for  promoting  the  transfer  of  this knowledge from community to community, poor women are enabled to come out of their homes and form groups to assess  their  situation,  organize,  and  participate  in  the  range  of  decisions  and  programs. When disasters strike, the opportunities to decrease women’s marginalization arise early on, when norms of social control and male-dominated family structures are temporarily disrupted and weakened by the chaos that ensues. If affected women can meet and benefit  from  the  experiences  of  other  women  who  have  managed  to  deal  successfully  with  disaster- related  issues, much valuable time can be saved and mistakes avoided.

Case Study:

In  Maharashtra  and  Gujarat  states  of  India  a  number of  non  governmental  organizations  involved  who  encouraged local women to participate in relief and recovery operations after earthquake occurrence.

They made various groups to build the skills and capacities required to train the members for post disaster recovery to long-term development.

The  remarkable  work  by  an  Ngo  called  Swayam  Shikshan  Prayog  (translated  as  “learning  from  one’s  own  and others’ experiences”) which had more than 15 years experience of working for women and poor communities in rural India proved the capability of women in handling disasters.

In 1993 Latur Maharashtra earthquake, they contributed in repairing and strengthening of damaged houses. In 2001 Bhuj, Gujarat earthquake the grassroots women’s groups from Maharashtra travelled to this neighbouring state to share experiences and pledge long-term assistance.