by Aiman Tahir Hashmi

Ameera Mai, flood induced immigrant having a conversation with her neighbor’s women  in her rented house in small village of Bakhri Ahmed Khan situated near Indus river. Photo: Aiman

Floods come like pestilence every year; they don’t care if you are sleeping. All you can do at that time is flee, leaving all your stuff behind,” said 59-year-old widow Ameera Mai, a flood immigrant living in the rented house of her relatives in the small, rural town of Bait Dabbli in the village of Bakhri Ahmad Khan, situated near the bank of the Indus River. She has no option but to live here, apart from her sons. She said she is old and sick and that she cannot help them at work and move with her sons, who are still living in the flooded area, in the hope that water will come down and they will recover their land. Floods that had washed away all their belongings and stored grains and their only source of income, a small paddy field, are now underwater and destroyed. The story of Ameera Mai and her family is not alone; in that small rural town, there were many such miserable families, living in extreme poverty in those temporary settlements in the hope they would return when their land would recover from floods.

The wounds of 2022’s catastrophic floods were not healed yet; flood-induced victims were not settled; they were not recovered from financial loss; many areas were still underwater; another rainy season and intense heat waves approached this year too, leaving them in misery again. Ameera Mai got her knee injured badly during flood incidents and has asthma and diabetes problems. She said some days are spent lying on the charpai (bed) without going to work, as she is not getting any treatment or medications because this rural village has no proper public health centers. Ameera said the other day she went to the clinic, which is a few kilometers away, just to come back empty-handed because the doctor suggested her medications and medical tests worth 2,000 rupees and couldn’t afford them. Ameera Mai words represent thousands of these women, surviving and struggling in post-catastrophic times. These flood-induced vulnerabilities are evident among women in Pakistan, especially poor and disadvantaged women, who are more vulnerable to disasters than men. Already lacking in health facilities, they also suffer from severe injuries and are often evicted from their dwellings due to floods.

Health issues are major among women in these situations, along with difficulties in finding adequate shelter, food-safe water, and fuel for cooking, as well as problems in maintaining hygiene and sanitation. As climate change intensifies, women will struggle mostly because they are more likely to live in poverty than men, and these catastrophes like floods will make them lose their few available sources of income. In the village where Ameera Mai was staying, many troubled families had moved to this rural village after floods made them homeless. After talking to them, it was evident that most of the women were surviving on their own without male support. Despite being sick and injuring her knee badly, Ameera is on her own; she survives by cutting animal fodder, which barely makes ends meet. According to her, back in her hometown, she used to work in their paddy field, and along with that, she used to weave robes, and people used to call her for house chores if they needed house help. But after losing her two Canals, which she inherited from her family, and her sole possessions, now she is left with no job or source of income. And in this rural town, no such jobs are available, leaving her with few options.

Farzana ,75 year old is coming from cutting animal fodder in the evening as she is still holding sickle in her dusted hardworking hands. Photo: Aiman

Farzana, 75, is also a flood immigrant who is settled in Bait Dabbli with her husband, who lost his legs in a house demolition in 2022’s rain. She is the sole earner in the family. She survived by cutting animal fodder and raising livestock, where her husband is dependent on her. In a world where most women are denied property rights and face countless barriers to economic independence, women represent 43% of the agriculture workforce. And now, due to the adverse effects of climate change on agriculture outputs, they have to look for alternative income-generating activities, which can leave them desperate and vulnerable to exploitation.

Inside view of Farzana temporary settlement where she keep livestock. Photo: Aiman

Climate-induced immigrants in Bait Dabbli are living in the hope that their land will recover from floods, and they will resume their normal lives again. When girls and women are displaced, they are often unable to continue their education. Studies say that refugee girls are half as likely to be in school as refugee boys. Many little girls were seen helping their mothers with housework and in the fields instead of going to school, despite the school being right across the street.

Upon asking, their mothers told us that we were not in a condition to send our girls to school because they were not providing free books, uniforms, and stationery to temporary students at the nearby school. They used to get free stationery, uniforms, and books as school-registered students from government funds. This is the fate of thousands of flood-induced immigrant children who are now out of school because their families are not settled after the floods and their lives are not back to normal. But it was not like their mothers were not concerned; they were determined to send their kids back to school. Women like Ameera and Farzana are inspiring because they are stepping forward to protect their families. They are simply mothers, sisters, and wives working to create a dignified life and their strengths can transform societies. It is now evident that climate change is deepening existing gender inequalities. In the past few years, our government has seemed concerned regarding climate change issues, but there is still a need to see and analyze this issue through a gender lens. Women who are most affected by climate change must be involved in the design and implementation of climate response action to ensure the equal sharing of benefits. We need to empower women because they are not trying to change the world, but they will.

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The author is a student of Media and Development Communication at University of the Punjab, Lahore