"When Hurricane Fiona came, the river flooded our house," says Alexandra Hernández from Higüey, in the province of La Altagracia in the Dominican Republic. "We were in shock."
To mitigate the damage, Alexandra received the Emergency Bonus (Bono de Emergencia), an emergency cash transfer from the Dominican government for those most affected by the hurricane. "With that money, I bought food and paid the rent," she explains and says she felt happy because "we were considered."
The Emergency Bonus is currently one of the most important initiatives of the main social protection program in the Dominican Republic, SUPERATE, and it is used to support vulnerable families during crises. Although the bonus was a great help, Hurricane Fiona highlights the high vulnerability of poor women to extreme weather events.
Alexandra's story exemplifies a profound challenge: gender inequality is further exacerbated by climate change.
A recent gender assessment conducted by the World Bank reveals that despite exceptional economic growth in the last decade, women still face significant inequalities in education, health, and employment. These disparities leave them vulnerable to adverse climate shocks such as floods, storms, and droughts.
Dominican women often lack formal employment and are responsible for managing households. This limits their capacity to respond to and recover from climate-related disasters, which are becoming more frequent and intense. They bear greater economic strain and caregiving burdens due to insufficient support from fathers for adequate child maintenance. Additionally, family breakdowns, increased domestic violence, migration, and restricted access to services following catastrophes compound their challenges.
As a result, women face heightened poverty and reduced access to opportunities during crises.
In response to these issues, SUPERATE remains a fundamental pillar in providing support to vulnerable women through initiatives like the Emergency Bonus.
SUPERATE serves as a primary instrument for increasing resilience among poor populations after climate shocks. Through emergency cash transfers it helps individuals recover and avoid negative coping strategies such as reducing household food intake or withdrawing children from school.
Of 35,000 beneficiaries of the Emergency Bonus following Hurricane Fiona, more than 60% were female-headed households. These households received aid according to their level of impact.
"Given existing inequalities in society," explains Úrsula Martínez, a Social Protection Specialist at the World Bank. "Women and girls are disproportionately affected during disasters." She adds that understanding women's socioeconomic conditions is crucial for designing programs that increase their resilience to climate change and disasters.
The World Bank aims to expand social protection through its Integrated Social Protection Inclusion Resilience Project (INSPIRE), focusing on female-headed households' resilience against crises.
Currently approximately 1.4 million households enrolled in SUPERATE benefit from INSPIRE initiatives including participants from Aliméntate program and Emergency Bonus aimed at improving resilience and food security during crises. Additionally SUPERATE promotes inclusion through training programs helping women develop skills for work fostering labor market integration.