SIGNATURE WORK
CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION 2024

In the summer months of 2022, Pakistan experienced the worst-ever recorded floods, widely known as the “superfloods”. Some of the worst-affected regions include the rural areas of southwestern Punjab, a region where deeply patriarchal cultural norms prevail. Given that worldwide, women suffer from greater morbidity and mortality compared to men, this study aims to investigate women’s health outcomes and healthcare access compared to men’s, as well as explore common threats to women’s safety and wellbeing following the “superfloods”. The study found that women suffered significantly more than men from four out of five groups of symptoms associated with the most common illnesses diagnosed during the flood. No significant difference was found in women’s healthcare access compared to men’s. Nearly half of the women in the sample were pregnant and one third gave birth during the flood, although no complications were reported. Furthermore, a large percentage of the women reported safety concerns, risk of violence, and household dynamics that disadvantage women in both resource-sharing and decision-making.