Women’s leadership and a community ‘saving itself’: Learning from disasters, health and well-being impacts of the Northern Rivers flood 2022

This research investigates the themes of Good health and wellbeing, and Gender equality, two of the United Nations Sustainability Goals (United Nations (2015). The research shared in this report was conducted nine months after the February 2022 flood event that impacted the Northern Rivers of New South Wales. Researchers undertook focus groups and interviews with local women affected by the floods, with the aim of understanding the gendered impacts and the effects of the disaster on the health and wellbeing of residents.

The main themes identified in the data were: catastrophic government failure; clear gendered impacts; cross-community health and well-being effects; the efforts of the community to ‘save itself’; women’s leadership including in the use of social media and the establishing of community Hubs; cultural leadership; and the significant burden placed on social work and human service professionals.