Securing Land, Empowering Women
Building Resilience in Indonesia's Disaster Zones
Abstract
The 2016 Bantul earthquake in Yogyakarta and the 2018 Lombok earthquake in West Nusa Tenggara exposed significant challenges to women’s access to land rights in post-disaster recovery. This paper aims to examine the socio-economic vulnerabilities and gender inequalities that exacerbated the marginalization of women in these contexts. Using a comparative analysis of the Bantul and Lombok cases, this study employs qualitative methodologies, including interviews with affected women, legal experts, and community leaders, alongside document analysis of land rights policies and disaster recovery frameworks. Key results reveal that in both regions, women faced barriers to formalizing land ownership due to patriarchal norms, lack of legal awareness, and limited access to land titles. In Bantul, informal land tenure and low awareness of legal rights left women excluded from compensation and rebuilding efforts. Lombok's recovery was further hampered by traditional customs that prioritized male heads of households, effectively sidelining women from decision-making roles and agricultural livelihoods. Both regions experienced significant psychological impacts on women, stemming from the trauma of displacement and the stress of navigating recovery processes in male-dominated environments. The findings underscore the need for gender-sensitive disaster management policies that enhance women’s land tenure security and participation in recovery efforts. Ensuring legal recognition of women’s land rights, streamlining bureaucratic processes, and involving women in land use planning are essential steps toward building resilience and supporting equitable recovery in post-disaster scenarios.
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