Vulnerability and Humanitarian Emergencies: Fate of Rohingya Women Amid Covid-19

Abstract

While populations as a whole suffer during complex humanitarian crisis, women become especially vulnerable. This gendered nature of vulnerability in crisis situations has recently received attention from academics and humanitarians alike, the dominant narrative failing to take into account that social and legal systems making women vulnerable since birth and emergencies only exacerbate their plight: vulnerability is not episodic, it is a fundamental part of a woman’s life. Through the study of vulnerability and security, this study explores the experience of the already relegated Rohingya refugee women during COVID-19. By drawing on Martha Fineman’s theoretical framework exploring the inevitability of vulnerability, the chapter seeks to shift perceptions and mindsets over gendered vulnerabilities.