Reproduction of and alterations in gender roles in the rescue of material goods after the 2011 earthquake in Lorca (Spain)

After a disaster, the population undertakes a series of actions aimed at saving and rescuing other people who may be in danger, as well as the gathering of goods considered indispensable to ensure their safety. Numerous studies have indicated that gender is one of the factors that conditions the lived experience of a disaster and, therefore, the actions that people undertake during the emergency. However, previous studies addressing the issue of gender in this respect have focused on how people are evacuated from the danger area, rather than on the rescue of goods. With the aim of contributing to filling this gap, the current article studies the patterns of the reproduction of/alteration in gender roles in the rescue of material goods following the earthquake in Lorca (Spain) in 2011 through the analysis of raw data collected from four focus groups comprising people who survived this catastrophic event. The results demonstrate that during the rescue actions in the disaster the men and women studied behaved to a great extent in line with traditional gender roles, although there were certain actions undertaken that involved a degree of alteration to these roles.