Urban flooding in Lagos,Nigeria: Patterns of vulnerability and resilience among women

We report findings from a mixed method study of women's gendered experiences with flash floods in the coastal city of Lagos, Nigeria. Drawing on narrative accounts from 36 interviews, a survey (n = 453) and 6 focus group discussions, we investigate the impacts of floods in general and specifically the July 2011 flood event on women's lives, livelihoods, and health. We draw on complementary perspectives from feminist political ecology and social vulnerability theory to understand the ways in which such events are perceived, experienced and managed by women of different socio-economic classes, households, and geographic locations. Thematic and content analyses were used to examine women's perceptions of floods, while descriptive statistical analysis and chi-square test were employed to compare actual impacts. Results show that women in general expressed no concern about gendered vulnerability to flooding as most believed flood impacts were gender neutral. This dominant view however, was not supported by evidence in the post-July 2011 flooding as impacts varied among income groups and neighbourhoods, and gender differences were apparent. Women in the low-income neighbourhood recorded higher impacts and slower recovery compared to other social categories of women and men. All impacts reported were statistically significant between women in low and high income neighbourhoods but most were not significant between women in middle and high income neighbourhoods. Gender relations and roles intersecting with place, class, employment status, and healthcare, were mediating factors that placed low-income women at greater risk of impacts than others. With climate change likely to induce more extreme events, a case is made for collaborative and institutional efforts to systematically boost urban poor women's adaptive capacity through targeted programmes aimed at alleviating poverty and improving women's access to housing, health care and alternative sources of livelihoods.