Women's Role in Disaster Response in Vietnamese Rural Families Today: Challenges in the context of climate change

Abstract

Vietnam is one of the countries most vulnerable to natural disasters. More than 70% of Vietnam's population has been affected by natural disasters and climate change at many different levels. Women in Vietnam, especially ethnic minority women, rural women and women living in mountainous areas are at highest risk of natural disasters because they work in agriculture and this type of work depends on the weather, natural conditions and natural resources such as soil, water and climate... This paper uses quantitative and qualitative data from the research "The response of women in Central Vietnam to climate change" with 368 household questionnaires and 25 in-depth interviews conducted in Ninh Thuan province in 2017. By analyzing documents and doing frequency, correlation and logistic regression analysis, the research results show that people in community in general and members in family in particular have suffered the influence of disasters in different ways. Gender gaps have been found in the level of suffering from natural disasters as well as in the way of responding to natural disasters. Women play a very important role in coping with natural disasters, but due to the unequal distribution of rights, resources and cultural standards, women have confronted a lot of difficulties in disasters response, especially in the context of climate change today.