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The role of microcredit in reducing women's vulnerabilities to multiple disasters
Author(s) -
RayBennett Nibedita S.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
disasters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.744
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1467-7717
pISSN - 0361-3666
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-7717.2009.01127.x
Subject(s) - livelihood , vulnerability (computing) , caste , government (linguistics) , economic growth , disaster risk reduction , emergency management , socioeconomics , business , geography , political science , economics , computer security , agriculture , linguistics , philosophy , archaeology , computer science , law
This article explores the relationship between microcredit and vulnerability reduction for women‐headed households in ‘multiple disasters’. Here multiple disasters are understood as disasters that occur in one specific place and cause severe devastation. The case study covers the super‐cyclone in 1999, floods in 2001 and 2003, and drought in 2002 in Orissa, India. The study entailed eight months fieldwork and interviews with several governmental and non‐governmental officials and 12 women‐headed households from different social castes. The findings suggest that microcredit is a useful tool to replace women's livelihood assets that have been lost in multiple disasters. But inefficient microcredit delivery can cause microdebts and exacerbate caste, class and gender inequalities. It is posited that microcredit delivery cannot achieve vulnerability reduction for women in multiple disasters unless it is complemented by effective financial services, integrated policy planning and disaster management between government, non‐governmental organisations and the community.