Understanding poverty through the experiences of women who are forced migrants

Poverty, as Dominelli argues, is a ‘constant, on-going disaster in its own right and not simply an additional factor to be considered in determining individual vulnerability to disasters’ (2012: 3). This structural definition of poverty points to an important feature of disasters as systemic, holistic and interconnected to other forms of deprivations. A focus on understanding poverty through the lived experiences of forced migrants reminds us that it is impossible to isolate economic poverty from other forms of deprivation for women in disasters, nor are these a result of local events solely; but also transnational in nature.