Women and girls whose clothing had been ripped from them in the flooding are less likely, because of cultural modesty mores, to seek help and shelter and therefore do not receive the same amount of food and medical treatment as men and boys.

In many areas due to the prevailing patriarchy women and girls are unable to visit relief centers or relocate without the permission of a male relative. Even if physically and culturally able to enter emergency shelters many women still avoid using them as they expose them to sexual violence. These spaces, although intended to offer safety, are essentially no go zones as they pose an even higher threat than the devastation outside.

Another reason women and girls can’t and don’t seek shelter is because local and even international aid agencies don’t provide private toilets for women and even if women feel safe enough to enter the overwhelmingly male facilities their cultures forbid them from “mingling” with members of the opposite sex.

A study of natural disasters occurring between 1981 and 2002 found that, in countries and cultures where women lack the social and economic power enjoyed by men, they are far more likely to die in the aftermath of climate calamities. The bigger the disaster, the bigger the impact on the gender gap for life expectancy even after the immediate needs of victims have been met. This is due to cultural rather than biological factors. An example of this is that because women are the primary caregivers to children and the elderly they are more often than not the last to leave which puts them at a greater risk of being crushed and killed in collapsing buildings.

During the 1991 Bangladesh cyclone 90 percent of the 150,000 people killed were women largely because women couldn't swim, had their mobility restricted because of their clothing, and left their homes too late waiting for a male relative to accompany them. In contrast, men face no such cultural restrictions in terms of clothing, have the ability to swim, and are allowed to meet in public spaces and own cell phones, thus enabling them to warn each other of the coming danger--and yet in many cases don’t pass that information onto the women in their families. Technology in the form of mobile phones is expensive and is not seen as a necessary expense for women and girls who rarely leave the home, making calling for help impossible.