Problems experienced by women who experienced the February 6 earthquakes: The example of Bağlar district

In the research, it was aimed to make visible the causes of the disadvantaged situation experienced by women in the February 6 earthquake that affected 11 provinces in 2023 and its effects on women by addressing them in the context of gender roles and to offer specific solutions to this situation. Within the scope of this purpose, a semi-structured interview form consisting of 26 closed-ended questions to measure individual characteristics and 12 open-ended questions to obtain opinions on the earthquake was used in this research, which was designed with a phenomenological approach in accordance with the qualitative research method in order to examine women's experiences in depth. The subjects of the research consisted of 21 participants who live in Diyarbakır Bağlar district and experienced the earthquake in Bağlar district. The data obtained from the interviews were analyzed with the MAXQDA program. As a result of the analysis, under the title of "Women's Experiences of the Earthquake", there were 4 themes: What Happened During the Earthquake, The Situation of the Household After the Earthquake, Problems Experienced After the Earthquake and Solution Suggestions for the Earthquake. Categories, codes and sub-codes were included under the theme headings. While feminist theory was the basis for the analysis, conclusions and recommendations, anti-oppression practice, Max Neef's Hierarchy of Needs and the human rights perspective were utilized. In the light of the grounded theories, it is seen that women had to cope with many problems in the earthquake due to gender inequalities. It was found that women experienced care responsibilities, increased workload, economic difficulties, inability to meet their basic needs, exposure to violence, gender oppression and psychological effects. Gender inequalities constitute the basis of these problems experienced by women. Accordingly, in order to minimize the problems experienced by women, it is important that gender inequalities should be analyzed well, disaster planning should be gender-sensitive, prepared from a woman's perspective, and gender equality should be ensured to prevent the disadvantageous situations experienced by women, and especially women should have equal opportunities with men in education and employment. In this context, it is thought that this research will contribute to the literature in terms of making the problems experienced by women in earthquakes visible and offering solutions. Keywords: Disaster, Earthquake, Women, Gender, Feminist Theory