An estimated 43,000 women and girls in Nepal need immediate assistance after floods

Remarks by Christine Arab, UN Women Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva Today, I want to describe what this disaster looks like through the eyes and experiences of the women and girls affected, including the perspectives of the women-led organizations on the ground. One such organization told us: “In so many of the communities we have been to – pregnant women, lactating women, people with disabilities, the people we would normally support – are gone, washed away, because they could not run to higher ground.” This is what happens when a disaster meets inequality: the people already left behind are often the first to be swept away. Our partners on the ground stress that women survivors are running out of food, that safe water is increasingly inaccessible, that protection risks are growing and that women risk being excluded from the decisions that will shape the response and their recovery. We know that for women and girls in Rasuwa district, collecting water already meant travelling long distances and spending hours each day securing water for their families. Now, women are telling us that access to safe water has been cut off altogether, following the destruction of water systems, roads, and bridges. Women in the worst-affected areas tell us that food is their most urgent priority right now. Before the floods, women in Nepal were more likely to eat least and to eat last in their families, with serious consequences for their own health, particularly those who are pregnant or breastfeeding. Disasters also increase risks of gender-based violence, exploitation, and trafficking, while damaged infrastructure and communications can make it harder for survivors to seek help and to access protection services. An estimated one in three women are illiterate in some of the impacted districts, making awareness and access to essential services more challenging. When there are no separate or safe latrines, adequate lighting or privacy, women and girls can face risks simply when using the toilet, bathing, sleeping, or moving around after dark. With male out-migration common, one in three households is headed by women in the impacted areas. Women who manage households on their own have fewer resources, income opportunities, and support networks to draw on in a crisis. They must be able to access relief and recovery assistance independently and without additional barriers. Our partners are also telling us what disasters always bring: a sharp rise in unpaid care work in the home.Women in Nepal perform an estimated 85 per cent of the country’s daily unpaid care work. With people injured and with homes, water systems, schools, and other services damaged or destroyed, that workload increases significantly. This can leave women with less time to earn an income, recover their livelihoods, or to participate in decisions about the response and recovery. UN Women is on the ground, working directly with women-led organizations that are already active in affected communities, despite themselves having faced loss and trauma. Strategic support to women’s leadership in the response must be explicit. Experience in the floods of 2021 and 2025 has shown that the overwhelming majority of women had not been significantly involved in applying for or receiving assistance. Women-led organizations are therefore critical partners for the humanitarian response. With more outreach to women, humanitarian support is more impactful for individuals, families, and communities. Within the Government of Nepal’s overall response – and also in the recovery – UN Women is working to ensure that women and girls can access essential services and protection, that unpaid care work in the impacted communities is recognized and addressed, and that women and women-led organizations participate equally in humanitarian and recovery decision-making. The humanitarian response must recognize the experiences of women and girls. It must reach them and it must include them as key drivers in Nepal’s recovery.” Thank you.