Women’s Role in a Disaster–Article Review

The article “Women’s Role in a Disaster” carries a topic that needs attention. Women’s roles are something that has been changing from time to time, depending on the situation, and yet, no one cares about it. The author of the article, Alice Fothergill, has taken it upon herself to determine how the role of women has changed over the past decades and, in times like disasters, what we, as the general public and masses, need to do about it. For this purpose, she has conducted in-depth interviews and conducted a lot of field research on the topic. Her focus is on how women’s roles have changed before, during, and after the Grand Fork Disaster of 1997.

Since the author worked in the natural hazard research department for three years, herexposure to the literature regarding gender and disaster has been abundant. But one thing she kept noticing was how little discussion and research was done about the role of women and how they survived and worked hard for their families when they were hit by a disaster. of research can be found on issues like women in a community, households, and the workplace. But their roles in the time of disaster have not been given due importance. That is why the authorhas gone to the basics and got in touch with the women who were present during the time of the Grand Fork Disaster to find out how they reestablished their roles for the sake of their families. The author states, “With this in mind, I argue that women’s lives can be better understood by studying a collective stress event, such as a flood, which disrupts the social order and allows us to see their lives more clearly” (p126). It must be stressed here that the author argues that during times of trouble, women’s lives can be better understood.

In her year-long research, the author developed real-life relationships with the women of the area that were hit by the disaster. She corresponded with the interviewees and conducted extensive observations of women in that community. She talked about the lives of the women.