Across cultures, gender is a “central organizing principle” used to define routines and social interactions, and is thus “inescapably part of the social fabric made visible in disasters.”[1] Gender differences often result in men and women having different exposure to natural disasters, and facing differing types and levels of vulnerability in crisis situations.
Women and girls, especially those living in countries where their economic and social rights are restricted, face greater risk of displacement and death from humanitarian crises than men.[2] Major international disasters over the past two decades have yielded higher death tolls among women and girls—some studies estimate that women and children are 14 times more likely to die in natural disasters than are men[3]—and their vulnerability in disasters has been attributed to “the widespread disadvantage, and at times formal discrimination, that they experience in many societies.”[4] Women’s vulnerabilities are made even more acute during crisis situations; women have access to fewer resources and are expected to shoulder the lion’s share of child-rearing and family care responsibilities. Furthermore, “exclusion from decision making, limited mobility, and the threat and experience of various forms of violence against women and girls” have put them at increased risk during crises.[5]
Social and cultural constraints on female mobility have been shown to “hinder self-rescue,” when, for example, it is culturally inappropriate for women to leave the home without male permission or if provided shelter and shared communal facilities do not have separate, private spaces apart from men.[6] The important implications these expectations have on women’s survival has been documented in a variety of cases. When Cyclone Gorky hit Bangladesh in 1991, women reported not responding to warnings or moving to safety for fear of being stigmatized for breaking the socio-cultural norm of purdah, choosing instead to wait at home for a male family member to return to accompany them.[7] Ultimately, women and children accounted for 90% of the 140,000 fatalities resulting from Cyclone Gorky.[8]
In some societies, survival skills—such as swimming or tree climbing—have only been taught to males, further disadvantaging women and girls when disaster strikes.[9] In India, up to three times as many women as men died in the 2004 tsunami, while in Indonesia, casualties of women were up to four times the number of male casualties.[10] “While not all of this disparity is due to differences in physical skills, in cases where women had the ability to swim, the overall mortality rate was reduced by more than 60%.”[11]
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| Proportion of Death by Sex in Heaviest Tsunami Affected Areas |
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| Source: Sex and Age Matter: Improving Humanitarian Response in Emergencies |
The risk women face in crisis situations is further compounded by their marginalization in the response and recovery process. After natural disasters strike, pre-existing vulnerabilities and patterns of discrimination are exacerbated, making it difficult for women and girls to access relief. “Women face protection risks including unequal access to assistance, discrimination in aid provision, loss of documentation, and inequitable access to property restitution.”[12] There have been many instances of women and other vulnerable or marginalized groups missing out on disaster assistance, particularly when governments and relief agencies have implemented entitlement guidelines that give priority to property owners, bank-account holders, or perceived heads of households.[13] Eligibility requirements that register households based on their male heads or on the basis of physical damage and losses, such as loss of a home, disproportionally exclude low-income women and female headed households.[14] Women’s unequal access is only worsened by an insufficient presence of female team members on outreach and relief teams. Certain cultural norms, such as purdah, prevent women from going to distribution centers or standing in line to receive relief. Female survivors may also be unwilling or unable to freely discuss their needs with male members of relief teams or invite unrelated men into their homes, further inhibiting their access to relief.[15]
Given the breakdown in social structures that occurs post-crisis, women also face heightened risk of sexual and physical abuse. This is especially true in camps or other temporary shelter arrangements that lack adequate security or are poorly designed to meet the needs of women.[16] Since the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, women and girls have been particularly vulnerable to sexual and gender-based violence in camps due to insufficient security and policing, and unsafe conditions such as “isolated bathrooms and showers, insufficient or nonexistent outdoor lighting, and insecure housing.”[17] Following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, women in Internally Displaced Person camps in Aceh also faced an increased risk of sexual and gender-based violence, attributed to poor camp design, including the placement and design of latrines.[18] There were also reports of sexual exploitation and trafficking of girls and young women in the camps.[19] A 2010 UN Women assessment conducted after the flooding in Pakistan found that women reported insufficient arrangements for washing and hygiene services for menstruating girls and women. A separate survey found that 66% of respondents reported “no safe place or privacy” as the most important concern that women were facing.[20] Women also reported cases of sexual harassment in IDP camps, particularly in areas where there were mixed groups of people from different tribes, families, and villages. Cramped and unsafe conditions did not allow women to maintain purdah and many reported feeling “exposed, vulnerable, and threatened by the presence of men who were strangers.”[21]
In the aftermath of crises, the active participation of all members of society—including women—is crucial for restoring order, rebuilding communities, and ensuring resilience in the face of new threats. Disasters affect women and men differently, and recent research has revealed that disasters often reinforce, perpetuate, and increase gender inequality, making already-bad situations even worse for women.[22] But inequality and discrimination do not only accentuate women’s vulnerability during disasters—they also waste women’s potential as instruments of post-disaster recovery. Women’s roles in securing water, food, and shelter during and after international disasters have been well documented. Yet women are still marginalized in decision making on disaster issues, even though they often hold vital societal knowledge and vast untapped capacity for reducing community risk.[23] Despite the potential of women to positively influence communities after disasters, “[t]he contributions that women can offer to risk reduction and crisis response around the world are often overlooked and female leadership in building community resilience to disasters is frequently disregarded.”[24]Adopting a gender-integrated approach to humanitarian action is essential for ensuring an adequate response that accounts for the differing vulnerabilities, needs, and capacities of men and women.
More on what should be included in a gender-integrated approach - and how to better integrate women into disaster and crisis response - in future posts...
[1] Centre for Emergency Preparedness and Response. “Gender Mainstreaming in Emergency Management: Opportunities for Building Community Resilience in Canada.” Public Health Agency of Canada. (February 2008).
[2] Ferris, Elizabeth, Daniel Petz
and Chareen Stark. “Disaster Risk Management: A Gender-Sensitive Approach is a
Smart Approach,” in The Year of Recurring
Disasters: A Review of Natural Disasters in 2012. Brookings Institution.
(March 2013). Available at: http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Research/Files/Reports/2013/03/natural%20disasters%20review/Brookings_Review_Natural_Disasters_2012.pdf
[3] UNDP. “Gender and Disasters.”
(October 2010). Available at: www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/crisis%
20prevention/disaster/7Disaster%20Risk%20Reduction%20-%20Gender.pdf.
[4] Oxfam Programme Insights.
“Gender Sensitive Response and Recovery: An Overview.” (October 2012).
Available at:
http://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/gender-sensitive-response-and-recovery-an-overview-247191
[5] International Federation of Red
Cross and Red Crescent Societies. A Practical Guide to Gender-Sensitive
Approaches for Disaster Management. (2010). Available at: http://www.ifrc.org/PageFiles/96532/A%20Guide%20for%20Gender-sensitive%20approach%20to%20DM.pdf/
[7] Ariuabandu, Madhavi Malalgoda.
“Sex, Gender, and Gender Relations in Disasters” in Elaine Enarson and P.G.
Dhar Chakrabarti, Women, Gender, and Disaster: Global Issues and Initiatives.
(2009).
[13] Yonder, Ayse, Sengul Akcar, and
Prema Gopalan. “Women’s Participation in Disaster Relief and Recovery.” The
Population Council. (November 2005).
[15] World Bank Institute. “Gender
Aspects of Disaster Recovery and Reconstruction: Guidelines for Gender
Sensitive Crisis Response and Reconstruction Planning.” World Banks Institute,
National Disaster Risk Management Program. Available at: http://worldbank.mrooms.net/file.php/349/Readings/Reading6-ILO-Guideline-for-Gender-Sensitive-Crises-Response.pdf
[17] Immigration and Refugee Board of
Canada. “Haiti: Sexual violence against women, including domestic sexual
violence; in particular, prevalence within and outside of camps for the
internally displaced.” (June 8, 2012). Available at:
http://www.refworld.org/docid/4feaceb62.html
[20] Shaheen, Ashraf Shah. “Gender
and building homes in disaster in Sindh, Pakistan.” Gender & Development, 20:2, (2012) 249-264.
[23] Enarson, Elaine and P.G. Dhar Chakrabarti. Women, Gender, and Disaster: Global Issues and Initiatives. (2009) pg. xiv.
[24]UNISDR, UNDP, and ISDR. (June 2009).
