"Analysis of lived experience of female-headed households from Kermanshah earthquake"

Natural disasters do not affect on an involved population equally. female-headed households are one of the most vulnerable social groups in critical situations. The way women deal with critical situations is highly related to cultural backgrounds, power mechanisms and gender-related issues.On the other hand, women's "agency" is also important in this encounter. The present article describes the lived experience of female-headed households from earthquakes with the aim of providing a theoretical model of the "women's empowerment process in crisis". This research is of qualitative type with "Granded Theory" method and interpretive-constructivist paradigm. Field data were collected by theoretical sampling and in-depth interviews with 15 women heads of households in eight earthquake-stricken areas of Kermanshah, including Salas Babajani, Sarpol-e-Zahab and etc.,up to theoretical saturation. Finally, the data were coded and analyzed with 363 concepts, 20 major categories and the core category of "intensification of disabled social foundations". The phenomenon of "Ability poverty and the threat of opportunities" caused by the value systems and repressive ideologies that govern women, the weakness of crisis management, the region deprivation and lack of knowledge that led to strategies of resilience and active action, compromise and so on .Helplessness , the challenge of power, the threat and insecurity, the feeling of abandonment, the physical and psychological damage, and the challenge of children are the consequences of the phenomenon.(The paradigmatic model of theory is presented) The results show that the process of "empowering"of female-headed households in disasters depends on conditions such as opportunities to be accessible through supportive structures, and barriers and deterrents are not so threatening and powerful as to prevent opportunities and lead to deprivation. Women should also consider themselves "agency".