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Mainstreaming Gender into Caribbean DRM Policy and Planning

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Title: Mainstreaming Gender into Caribbean DRM Policy and Planning


1
Mainstreaming Gender into Caribbean DRM Policy
and Planning
  • Dr. Marlene Attzs
  • Department of Economics
  • UWI, St. Augustine

2
Content of Presentation
  • Economic impact of disasters
  • Gender and Gender mainstreaming
  • Stages of Comprehensive DRM
  • The poor suffer the most vulnerable communities
    and disasters
  • Case of Grenada pre post Hurricane Ivan
  • Recommendations for mainstreaming Gender into
    Caribbean DRM

3
Impacts of Disasters
  • Approximately 2.3million CARICOM citizens
    affected by natural disasters during 1990 to
    2006.
  • 42 of those impacted were affected by floods,
  • windstorms affected 31 of the affected
  • drought severely impacted another 27.
  • Populations of Guyana and Jamaica were most
    affected (42 each) by natural disasters during
    the period under consideration.

4
Persons Affected by type of disaster 1990 2006
5
What is Gender and Gender Mainstreaming
  • Gender the social roles and relations between
    men and women, determined, inter alia, by the
    responsibilities assumed by both sexes given
    their culture and socialization
  • Gender mainstreaming process of assessing the
    implications for women and men of any planned
    action, including legislation, policies or
    programmes, in any area and at all levels (UN
    ECOSOC)

6
Climate change projections
  • The main predicted impacts from Climate Change to
    SIDS are
  • Increases in flooding in some countries from
    heavier rainfall and sea level rise
  • Susceptibility to droughts given changes in water
    tables
  • Likelihood of more intense and frequent tropical
    cyclones

7
Women and Disasters
  • women and children are at greater risk to
    natural disasters than men, especially in
    developing countries.
  • women and children comprise a larger portion of
    the poor in developing countries, even in many
    developed countries. As a consequence of this,
    women and children have less capacity to take
    effective preventive actions and to recover from
    disasters once they occur

8
Case Study of Grenada 1999 study
  • 32.1 of all individuals in Grenada were poor -
    their monthly expenditure was less than the cost
    of meeting their minimal food and other basic
    requirements of an estimated (EC3,262).
  • The poorest individuals comprised almost 29 of
    the total number of households in the country.
  • At the same time, 13 of all individuals in the
    country were found to be extremely poor or
    indigent.

9
Case Study of Grenada 1999 study
  • 52 of poor households were female headed and 48
    percent were male headed.
  • In terms of migration, 48 are male and 38
    female. Only in 14 of cases do both spouses
    migrate together.

10
Case Study of Grenada 1999 study
  • Female-headed households have an average size of
    4.5 persons.
  • More than half of female heads of household
    (58.35) have never married.
  • Female headed households in Grenada have little
    education. Approximately 75 of female household
    heads had only primary education or less
    (compared with 70 of male household heads).
  • A high proportion of female-headed households are
    reportedly functionally illiterate

11
Two vulnerable groups in Grenada
  • Young female household heads with several young
    children (there are an average of four births per
    woman), who may have intermittent partners and
    support and
  • Older female heads of households with grown
    children, who will be less likely to have male
    help, but may receive remittances if older
    children have migrated.

12
Results of Gender AnalysisPost- Ivan
  • Poor female heads of households heavy reliance on
    State for support (health, sanitation etc) felt
    the impact of this inadequacy more than others
  • Women employed in agriculture and tourism
    disadvantaged as a result of Hurricane Ivan.
  • nutmeg industry severely impacted
  • low economic mobility caused by their lack of
    skills and level of education

13
Results of Gender AnalysisPost- Ivan
  • Role of women as glue than bonds society
    reinforced
  • men abandoned homes to re-build
  • women took care of children (theirs and their
    neighbours), assumed roles of psychologists,
    nurses etc

14
How, Why when to mainstream
  • Mainstreaming gender into DRM related to the MDGs
  • Regional initiatives at mainstreaming
  • CDERA (2005) CIDA/CDERA commitment when CDERA
    assumed responsibility for Caribbean Hazard
    Mitigation Capacity Building Programme (CHAMP)

15
How, Why when to mainstream
  • Mainstream Gender at all stages of DRM
  • Risk identification should be such that gender
    differences and disparities can be diagnosed in a
    timely, proactive manner.  
  • Risk Mitigation Public Education and awareness
    programmes should be structured to cater to the
    literacy levels and socio-economic circumstances
    of both men and women.
  • Disaster Preparedness Women are most effective at
    mobilizing the community to respond to disasters.

16
How, Why when to mainstream
  • Mainstream Gender at all stages of DRM
  • Disaster Recover Efforts need to be gender
    sensitive. Emergency relief workers firemen,
    police, army, care givers need to be gender
    sensitized in terms of how they treat with
    disaster survivors.
  • Rehabilitation and Reconstruction post hurricane
    Mitch - women were seen building houses, digging
    wells and ditches, hauling water and building
    shelters because these were their priorities and
    they were being overlooked in the relief efforts.

17
How, Why when to mainstream
  • Mainstream Gender at all stages of DRM
  • DRM and adaptation to climate change are
    flipsides of the same coin. Policies intended to
    address comprehensive DRM c(sh)ould also address
    Adaptation to CC thus yielding multiple
    dividends.

18
Final Reflections the hallmark of truly
sustainable development
  • Katrina a highly gendered social event.
  • Katrina did not disrupt a social order in which
    women and men were equally vulnerable any more
    than it hit suburbanites with cars and the
    central city poor the same.
  • Advocating for gender equality in reconstruction
    is not to press a political agenda or deny our
    common humanity in crisis but to serve both the
    women and the men... This is what the future
    must look like or all the talk about building
    back better to increase resilience to future
    disasters is just talk and the next hurricane
    will find the poor poorer and women less able
    than today to anticipate, prepare for, survive,
    cope with and recover from the next storm.
  • It is the hallmark of truly sustainable
    development!
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