{"id":20081874,"date":"2022-01-12T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-12T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thethirdpole.net\/?p=81874"},"modified":"2022-07-25T14:12:50","modified_gmt":"2022-07-25T08:42:50","slug":"in-bihar-women-face-floods-and-increasing-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/water\/in-bihar-women-face-floods-and-increasing-violence\/","title":{"rendered":"In Bihar, women face floods and increasing violence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After devastating floods struck the northeastern Indian state of Bihar in August 2017, the country\u2019s prime minister, Narendra Modi, conducted<\/a> an aerial survey of the affected areas. At the time, nearly 3,000 square kilometres<\/a> of the state were under water \u2013 an area twice the size of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. According to official figures<\/a>, the disaster killed 815 people and forced nearly 900,000 from their homes, leaving many with no choice but to live on roads, rail tracks and rooftops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Invisible from the prime minister\u2019s helicopter, however, was the increased violence and insecurity unleashed upon girls and women of the region in the wake of the disaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hema Devi*, a teenager from the district of Araria, was just one of the victims of this increased threat. The flood had submerged her village, forcing Hema and her mother to live in a makeshift tent along the national highway \u2013 although this had become an almost annual occurrence. In February 2018, a man approached Hema\u2019s mother offering to pay INR 5,000 (USD 67) to marry her daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Woman<\/div>
Hema Devi\u2019s mother accepted money for her daughter\u2019s marriage after a devastating flood in 2017, when they were struggling to survive (Image: Shreya Raman)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Marriage, it seemed, offered the possibility for a better life for Hema, who had had a difficult childhood, stopping her education when she was 11 years old to tend to her ill mother and earn for the family. \u201cMy mother thought he was a good man and was based in Araria [so we would be close after the marriage],\u201d Hema told The Third Pole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But her mother was wrong. After only a month in Araria, Hema\u2019s husband moved the couple to the city of Chandigarh in the northwestern state of Punjab, where he physically abused her. She endured this abuse for six months before escaping. \u201cI reached the railway station and asked people where the train was going,\u201d she said. \u201cI found my way to Purnea station [near Araria] and got home.\u201d Hema faced backlash from her mother upon her return, but this has settled down. She works locally, running a shop along the highway, and says she wishes to never marry again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Pritha<\/div>
Pritha Devi\u2019s uncle took money from a man to remarry her after her first husband died. Two months after the wedding, her \u2018husband\u2019 sold her off to a brothel in Uttar Pradesh where she was sexually and physically assaulted. She found her way home after an old woman in the brothel helped her escape. She now runs a shop along the highway with the help of Bhoomika Vihar, an NGO. (Image: Shreya Raman)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Hema\u2019s experience of violence following a disaster is not uncommon, nor limited to major events such as those of August 2017. During visits to Bihar\u2019s Araria and Katihar districts, interviewees told The Third Pole that annual floods in the area are creating stressors that exacerbate violence against women and girls. Nor are such risks confined to Bihar or wider India. With climate change leading to increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as floods, women are disproportionately impacted. Across the world, multiple studies<\/a> have linked extreme weather events with an increase in violence against women and girls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Floods exacerbate preference for boys<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In India, extreme weather events tend to lead to greater out-migration<\/a>, especially in marginalised communities. Men more often migrate to other parts of the country to work, and women are left behind with few income opportunities. Thus, male children are considered sources of income while female children are often seen as burdens; the high prevalence of dowry payments upon marriage contributes to this. This preference for sons perpetuates discrimination<\/a> and violence against women and girls by putting added pressure on women to give birth to male children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bina Devi, from the village of Devipur in Katihar district, is one woman who spoke about such pressures. A mother of three sons, she said she would have died if she hadn\u2019t had a male child, as there would be no breadwinner for the family. Five years ago, after her husband died, her eldest son was forced to migrate and provide for the family when he was only 10 years old. Now aged 15, he continues to provide for his two brothers, sister and mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bina<\/div>
Bina Devi with her 12-year-old daughter in Devipur village in Katihar district, Bihar. Bina, whose husband died five years ago, says she would have died if she had not had sons and is worried about paying a dowry for her daughter. (Image: Shreya Raman)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In a study<\/a> published last year on gendered vulnerabilities associated with floods in Bihar, researchers were told that households with more daughters are the most vulnerable. When entire villages are inundated, households in the region frequently make tripod-like structures called machhans<\/em> to support their huts and create a platform to guard their possessions. This is considered to be men\u2019s work, with women not allowed to take part even if they are physically capable. Women-only households are thus forced to move to higher ground and set up makeshift tents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Men<\/div>
Men in Damheli village, Araria district, make bamboo panels plastered with cow dung and mud to rebuild houses damaged by floods. Rebuilding houses is considered to be men\u2019s work, making it difficult for women-only households to recover and rebuild from the annual floods in the region. (Image: Shreya Raman)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

After the floods, rebuilding houses is also seen as men\u2019s work. Women-only households have to rely on male relatives or pay men in the village to do such tasks for them. Hiring this labour can cost as much as INR 350 (USD 5) per day, according to women from Devipur village. This is a heavy cost in a state with a per capita annual income of INR 34,000<\/a> (USD 460), or about INR 90 (USD 1.21) a day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dowry and increased vulnerability to trafficking<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Pressures around dowries, demanded by a man\u2019s family upon marriage, are an added burden for women and their families \u2013 one that often heightens vulnerability to violence and harassment. Bina\u2019s youngest daughter is 12 years old, but her mother is already worried. \u201cI have to start saving money now so that she can get married in a few years,\u201d she told The Third Pole. \u201cPeople ask for INR 400,000-500,000 [about USD 5,400-6,700] in dowry. No one will marry her without dowry. If we don\u2019t give dowry, they might kill her or divorce her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dowry was mentioned as the primary reason for seeking to borrow money in the 2021 study of gendered vulnerabilities in Bihar. This financial risk, combined with the loss of livelihoods and food security during floods, further increases the vulnerability of young girls and, often, their parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Chandni, a young woman from Katihar district, is 18 but her father has already been approached by three different suitors. She has been able to persuade her family to allow her to continue her education instead, especially as she suspected them to be traffickers. \u201cThey always approach my father and try to convince him by saying that \u2018You have three daughters. The suitor is a doctor and will take care of all the expenses and will not ask for dowry\u2019,\u201d Chandni told The Third Pole. \u201cAnd they are always from far-off places like Muzaffarpur near the border [of the neighbouring state] of Uttar Pradesh.\u201d Muzaffarpur is about 300 kilometres from Chandni\u2019s home in Katihar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many, such a waiver of dowry may seem too good to turn down, but Chandni\u2019s family are resisting, even amid financial pressures that floods only exacerbate. \u201cThis is a flood-prone area so it is difficult to sustain ourselves here,\u201d her mother said. \u201cWe lease land for around INR 20,000 [USD 270; per year] and grow crops. But this year, we lost crops across 1.5 bigha<\/em> [close to 3,800 square metres] of land. We work to earn, but if there are no earnings, what can we do?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Displacement and harassment in tents and camps<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

According to government data collated by The Third Pole, between 2010 and 2019 more than half a million houses were damaged in Bihar by floods. This forced residents, such as Hema and her mother, to move to shelters or set up temporary camps along highways and railway tracks. In these camps, where tents are close to each other, young women and girls are frequently subjected to harassment and violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n