Gender Equality Update no. 4 - Response to the Nepal Earthquake (as of 17/8/2015)

Key Findings on Gender Equality in the Post Disaster Needs Assessment Vol B.

The Post-Disaster Needs Assessment Vol. B has been made public in early August.
Volume B includes detailed information on each of the 23 sectors analysed and supplements and elaborates further on the PDNA Volume A: Key Findings, which was published in mid -June.
Gender Equality was mainstreamed throughout the PDNA and a separate chapter on Gender Equality and Social Inclusion was included in both Volume A and B of the final report. The key highlights on Gender Equality and Social Inclusion in the Volume B report, presented as elaborations of the key findings presented in the PDNA Vol. A, are as follows.

The combined factors of poor living conditions, disruptions in economic activities and loss of income could compel families to adopt negative coping strategies such as stress selling of assets, child labour, human trafficking and early marriage, which would impact girls in particular. Added disruptions in policing, justice systems and loss of family protection also mean that vulnerable groups are at heightened risk of violence, abuse and exploitation. Toilets in public schools have been damaged and inadequate access to safe, hygienic and private sanitation facilities can be a source of shame, physical discomfort and insecurity for school going adolescent girls. Reconstruction of segregated and disability-friendly school toilets should be prioritised, even where children are in temporary schools, to provide privacy for menstruating girls.