Virginie Le Masson, who holds a Ph.D. in human geography, is an associate research fellow at ODI Global in London. To carry out her research, she partnered with Colette Benoudji, coordinator of the NGO Lead Tchad, who has long been committed to the fight for women’s rights and sustainable development. Through their research titled “Reproductive Labor as an Invisible Pillar of Disaster Resilience in N’Djamena: Rethinking Risk Reduction in Its Everyday Dimension,” they aim to highlight the essential role women play in daily survival strategies during periods of flooding. Based on their observations, they question the predominance of technical solutions in disaster prevention and advocate for interventions aimed at reducing structural vulnerabilities.
Your study explores “reproductive labor as an invisible pillar” of resilience. Could you explain these terms in the context of a city prone to frequent flooding?
Reproductive labor refers to all activities that enable the daily reproduction of individuals’ labor power. In other words, reproductive labor enables others to be productive. It includes domestic chores, securing water and energy, caring for children, the sick, and the elderly, and sometimes also growing vegetables… This unpaid work is largely carried out by women. When a flood occurs, this responsibility assigned to women is particularly disrupted, especially in a context of poverty such as that in N’Djamena. How can food be heated with damp charcoal? How can children be kept clean without a way to wash and dry their clothes? To prevent a flood from becoming a catastrophe and to stop epidemics from spreading, women must manage to carry out these tasks under extremely difficult conditions.
It is now well established that, during floods, initial response efforts are led by local communities, who make up for the shortcomings of public authorities and gaps in infrastructure. We see men working to repair levees, clear gutters, drain rainwater, and reinforce the walls of houses… The mobilization of communities affected by disasters is a pillar of resilience. Recognizing this reality is already a first step forward. However, in these circumstances, women’s reproductive labor—which is just as essential to risk reduction—remains invisible and undervalued. The goal of this research is to document and analyze the importance of this role in resilience.
What are the main insights you’ve gained from your observations?
Floods, which occur repeatedly in N’Djamena, are part of a complex web of risks: unemployment, food insecurity, lack of drinking water, and a shortage of basic services… Floods are not an exceptional disaster to be viewed in isolation from everyday risks; rather, they act as a factor that exacerbates preexisting vulnerabilities. Consequently, during crises, the situation is even more dire for women living alone with children or those caring for dependents.
Numerous accounts gathered primarily from representatives of organizations and residents of affected neighborhoods show how the burden of reproductive labor increases during floods. Very often, solidarity and mutual aid among neighbors or within families make it possible to overcome the destruction of homes. But even then, when families are brought together, it falls to women to provide for everyone and to submit to everyone’s judgment—even as everything is in short supply. When comparing these accounts with the narratives put forward by NGOs and the press, it becomes clear just how much this work is taken for granted or ignored. Since the responsibility for domestic tasks and caring for the family rests entirely on women, floods serve to exacerbate the division of labor and deepen inequalities. For example, men take action early on to try to save their homes, but if they become displaced and are evacuated to a camp for displaced persons with the rest of the family, they lose a key role: that of protector of the household. Deprived of their work, yet subject to the scrutiny of others and the weight of tradition, they do not contribute to household chores, as they cannot be seen performing tasks assigned to women and girls. This is true even when the burden of earning money through informal work also falls on women. They must then find a way to arrange childcare so they can go to the market. By relying on solidarity with other women, however, they find solutions that allow them to be “productive.” During floods, women are the invisible driving force behind the family.
What are the recommendations resulting from your research? And what impact do you expect its publication to have?
Recognizing women’s reproductive labor as an essential component of resilience and shedding light on the experiences—and even the suffering—endured by women should lead us to reframe the issue of disaster risk reduction. The risk of flooding must not be viewed in isolation from other everyday risks: poverty, food insecurity, health issues, precarious housing, and lack of access to basic services… By focusing solely on rising water levels, we spend vast sums of money building levees that do not provide complete protection and whose construction fuels mistrust of development aid. Why couldn’t this money be used to rethink sustainable urban planning and support everyday social infrastructure—such as health centers, schools, basic sanitation, and decent pay for community work?
Furthermore, NGOs are increasingly recognizing the role of local communities in responding to crises. However, they still end up dealing with formal organizations, perhaps for reasons of budgetary transparency or to meet donor requirements. Yet women express a desire to be involved directly, without intermediaries—that is, without the risk of nepotism, corruption, or the hoarding of resources. Rather than launching more and more awareness campaigns—in which they are repeatedly told things they already know very well—it would undoubtedly be better to find a way to listen to their solutions.
