Business recovery of female-owned enterprises after urban floods: A propensity score matching analysis in the Bangkok metropolitan region

This publication examines gender disparities in post-disaster business recovery by analysing how female-owned enterprises recover from urban flooding in the Bangkok Metropolitan Region. Using firm-level survey data from businesses affected by the 2011, 2017, and 2022 floods and applying propensity score matching to control for pre-existing differences in business, financial, and flood-exposure characteristics, the study finds that female-owned businesses consistently take longer to recover than comparable male-owned businesses. While recovery times improved over successive flood events, female-owned enterprises still experienced significantly longer recovery periods, by several weeks in 2011 and by about one week in 2022—indicating persistent structural disadvantages. 

The results suggest that factors beyond observable business characteristics, such as access to finance, insurance, institutional support, and social networks, continue to shape gendered recovery outcomes. The study highlights the need for targeted, gender-responsive disaster risk reduction and recovery policies to support more inclusive and resilient urban economies.