GENDER AND DISASTER RISK REDUCTION

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GENDER AND DISASTER RISK REDUCTION

• WHERE ARE THE LINKAGES?

Lorena Aguilar
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FACTS

• Climate change impacts will be differently
  distributed among different regions, generations,
  age, classes, income groups, occupations and
  genders
• The poor, primarily but by no means exclusively
  in developing countries, will be
  disproportionately affected. Their reliance on
  local ecological resources, coupled with existing
  stresses on health and well-being, and limited
  financial, institutional and human resources
  leave the poor most vulnerable and least able to
  adapt to the impacts of climate change (IPCC
  2001)

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FACTS

• Women and children are 14 times more likely to
  die than men during a disaster
• In the 1991 cyclone killed 140,000 in Bangladesh,
  90 of victims were women
• More women than men died during the 2003 European
  heat wave
• Hurricane Katrina African-American women who were
  the poorest population faced the greatest
  obstacles to survival
• During the 2006 tsunami, more women died than men
  (stand-up)

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(No Transcript)
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Causes of the differences

• Avoid being simplistic and evade the idea of
  seeing women (due to their sex) as the VICTIMS
• Women are not vulnerable because they are
  "naturally weaker" women and men face different
  vulnerabilities due to their gender condition.
  Many women live in conditions of social exclusion

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Causes of the differences

• Social prejudice keeps girls and women from
  learning to swim and tree climbing
• Dress codes can restrict womens ability to move
  quickly, while behavioral restrictions can hinder
  their ability to re-locate without their
  husbands, fathers or brothers consent
  (Bangladesh 1991)

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Causes of the differences

• Food is often distributed very unequally within
  the family with a distinct sex bias (against
  the female) and also an age bias (against the
  children). When disaster strikes, these
  pre-existing discriminatory practices become
  exacerbated and their detrimental health impact
  on women and girls intensified

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Causes of the differences

• Nutritional status determines the ability to cope
  with the effect of disasters. For example, in
  South and Southeast Asia 4560 of women of
  reproductive age are underweight and 80 of
  pregnant women have iron deficiencies

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Causes of the differences

• Droughts, which will affect womens crop and
  livestock production (increasing the work of
  collecting, storing, protecting and distributing
  water) Between 1984 and 2000, Morocco had ten
  years of drought and northern Kenya experienced
  four severe periods of drought between 1983 and
  2001
• More women than men in the informal sector. This
  sectors is often the worst hit and least able to
  recover from the effects of disasters, due to
  lack of capital, and limited access to credit and
  information, among other obstacles

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The other side of the coin

• After the tsunami men in Thailand experience
• Large numbers of widowers
• Difficulties in raising young families gendered
  roles and social norms
• Emotional trauma of men in coping with the loss

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Facts- not anecdotes

• A study conducted by London School of Economics
  of disasters in 141 countries provided decisive
  evidence that gender differences in deaths from
  disasters are directly linked to womens economic
  and social rights. In inequitable societies,
  women are more vulnerable to disasters (why?)

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What does this means?

• That women EMPOWERMENT
• should be one of the priorities in adaptation and
  risk reduction strategies/initiatives

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FACTS

• Women are agents of development and change
• Unlike many other communities in Honduras, La
  Masica reported no deaths after Hurricane Mitch
  in 1998. Six months earlier, a disaster agency
  had provided gender-sensitive community education
  on early warning systems and risk management

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POLICY AND LEGAL FRAMEWORK
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Conferences and conventions

• CEDAW The Convention on the Elimination of All
  Forms of Discrimination against Women and
  Facultative Protocol
• Earth Summit- Agenda 21
• IV Women World Conference- Beijing
• 23rd Special Session of the GA (2000)
• Ankara, Turkey (UNDAW)
• Hyogo Framework
• Millennium Development Goals

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Conferences and conventions

• 23rd SPECIAL SESSION OF THE GA (2000)
• Recognized natural disasters as a challenge to
  the full implementation of the Platform for
  Action and the need to incorporate a gender
  perspective in the development and implementation
  of disaster prevention, mitigation and recovery
  strategies
• ANKARA, TURKEY UNDAW, 2002
• Recognized the disproportionate impact of natural
  disasters on women

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Hyogo Framework for Action

• General considerations
• d) A gender perspective should be integrated into
  all disaster risk management policies, plans and
  decision-making processes, including those
  related to risk assessment, early warning,
  information management, and education and
  training
• ii) Early warning
• (d) Develop early warning systems that are people
  centered, in particular systems whose warnings
  are timely and understandable to those at risk,
  which take into account the demographic, gender,
  cultural and livelihood characteristics of the
  target audiences, including guidance on how to
  act upon warnings, and that support effective
  operations by disaster managers and other
  decision makers.
• ii) Education and training
• (m) Ensure equal access to appropriate training
  and educational opportunities for women and
  vulnerable constituencies promote gender and
  cultural sensitivity training as integral
  components of education and training for disaster
  risk reduction.

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WHY WE NEED TO ADDRESS GENDER IN DRR?

• DOES IT MAKES A DIFFENCE?

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Why gender in DRR

• Disaster impacts, implications, and recovery are
  not gender neutral, effective DRR cannot be
  achieved without addressing gender specific
  issues
• Impact and implications of disasters depend on
  gender based relations in society. Disasters
  affect men and women differently, but more on
  women
• Vulnerabilities and capacities of men and women
  are different
• Men and women have different skills and knowledge
  in DRR, and their contribution to DRR is specific
  (Individual and complementary)

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Why gender in DRR

• Men and women have practical and strategic
  concerns in relation to DRR which are specific to
  each sex
• Both DRR and gender are cross-cutting
  developmental issues, which need to be addressed
  through a holistic approach and concerted actions
  in political, technical, social, developmental
  and humanitarian processes
• Few governments considered gender perspectives in
  their national reports on DRR - Gender issues
  have not yet been integrated into DRR

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Why gender in DRR

• Gender sensitive DRR will have substantial
  positive outcomes (poverty reduction, skill
  development, drawing on the resourcefulness of
  both men and women)

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CHALLENGES AND PRIORITIES
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How can we do it?

• In the context of the HFA priorities
• Make DRR a priority
• Review national policies, strategies and plans on
  DRR and management, and take actions to integrate
  gender perspectives
• Inclusion of diverse groups, of which women are a
  key group
• Promote womens participation in DRR
  policy-making process
• Know Risks and take action- Identify, assess, and
  monitor risks and enhance early warning
• Conduct gender-based vulnerability and risk
  assessments
• Enhance womens understanding of and access to
  early warning systems

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Women are active agents of change

• Women are not vulnerable because they are
  "naturally weaker" women and men face different
  vulnerabilities due to their gender condition.
  Many women live in conditions of social exclusion
  that are expressed in phenomena like lack of
  assets, limitations of mobility, among others
• Women, just as men, have particular
  vulnerabilities and capacities, that have been
  socially constructed, that is to say, have been
  developed through the socialization process. For
  this same reason, they are susceptible to be
  surpassed, to be harnessed, or to be transformed
  (Cuba-men river)
• Women are not passive agents nor should be seen
  only as the victims Women are active agents of
  change

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How can we do it?

• In the context of the HFA priorities
• Build understanding and awareness
• Conduct DRR capacity building, giving special
  attention to women
• Integrate DRR into poverty reduction, climate
  change adaptation and environmental protection
  from gender perspectives at all levels
• Reduce Risk- reduce the underlying risk factors
• Conduct gender-needs analysis and make disaster
  preparedness and disaster response
  gender-sensitive and gender-inclusive
• Documenting and disseminating good practices to
  promote women as agents for change

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Monitoring and reporting

• Establish baseline information on mens and
  womens participation in DRR, at least a national
  level
• Monitor and update the process of promoting
  gender perspectives at national level
• Request national government reports on the
  progress made in mainstreaming gender, as
  requested in the Global Report guidelines

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• We cannot afford to make the same mistakes. By
  neglecting the importance of gender we are
  responsible of the deaths and impoverishment of
  thousands of people