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- Permanent Link:
- http://dpanther.fiu.edu/dpService/dpPurlService/purl/FI13010980/00001
Notes
- Summary:
- This note explores some underlying factors linking gender and vulnerability to natural disasters. It discusses measures necessary to address these variables within disaster risk management (DRM) initiatives, arguing that gender-blind responses often reinforce, perpetuate, and enhance existing gender inequalities, thus further increasing women’s vulnerabilities. Located in the Ring of Fire, East Asia is particularly notable for its susceptibility to natural disaster events from typhoons and floods, to earthquakes and tsunamis. While these disasters are particularly detrimental to efforts at sustainable development, their impact is especially disastrous to women, often amongst the poorest and most marginalized in their societies. The reasons for this are related to human vulnerability. Disasters are the product of natural hazards and their interaction with human vulnerability, a result of economic, social, and cultural forces. This document’s emphasis is on gender, the culturally based roles and behaviors ascribed to males and females, and its relationship to disaster impacts. By establishing a better understanding of these dynamics, policy-makers can better target DRM initiatives so that they effectively reduce vulnerability and build resilience for all. This document focuses on four factors that must be addressed if this is to be achieved. The first is socially constructed vulnerability based on the cultural and legal framing of women’s positions in society. The second is livelihoods, and how the lower visibility of women’s livelihoods means that they are often left out of livelihood restoration initiatives after disasters. The third is education and participation. Traditionally women are viewed as victims rather than as active agents, and thus are excluded from DRM decision-making processes. The last is land titling and inheritance rights. In many countries, agricultural land ownership is patrilineal, thus land documents are usually registered in men’s names, making recovery of property after a disaster difficult for female-headed households, or women whose male spouse or family member have died. According to the authors, the post-disaster context provides an important opportunity to address issues related to social justice and inequality. If communities are to ‘build-back-better,’ they must address the issues and concerns facing women. Gender must be integrated into all phases of the DRM process, whereby questions regarding how women are included in the design and implementation of policies are consciously asked as part of the process policy-making. ( English,English,English )
- Subject:
- Disasters and Vulnerability
- Scope and Content:
- Introduction p. 1; Why are gender issues important in disaster risk management? p. 2; What can be done to increase gender sensitivity in post-disaster recovery programs? p. 5; The way forwrd p. 6; References p. 7; Table 1: Economic damage (in $USD billion) and number of disaster events for select Asian countries p. 2; Table 2: Factors affecting the resilience of men and women p. 3; Case studies: Good Practices: Land Titling and Inheritance Rights p. 5; Women’s recollection of the 2005 floods: Ban SopBor, Laos p. 6; Good Practice: Female headed households p. 6
- Citation/Reference:
- Trohanis, Z.E., Svetlosakova, Z., Carlsson-Rex, H. (2011). Making women’s voices count in natural disaster programs in East Asia and the Pacific.
Record Information
- Source Institution:
- Florida International University
- Rights Management:
- This publication is released under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. For full details of the license, please refer to the following: http://creative-commons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode
- Resource Identifier:
- FI13010980
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