ReliefWeb

“Women are not born vulnerable, but are made vulnerable to disasters. Fulfilling their roles made the women more valued in society because the completion of them suddenly became so much more important to the social order and the maintenance of societal stability” - Alice Fothergill, Associate Professor of sociology, University of Vermont

Societies and economies the world over accord a secondary role to women. This devaluation of one gender has encouraged violence against women, whilst forbidding or dissuading them to seek justice. Furthermore, the family structure under patriarchal social systems centralises extraordinary power in the hands of men, which they may put to ‘good use’ by committing domestic violence, dowry crimes, honour killing and forcing women in to prostitution.

How can a society that fails to recognise women as equals offer safety, protection and opportunities for young girls? In India, for instance, pre-natal sex-selection allows female foetuses to be aborted and families curse the birth of baby girls. And females are still not safe after birth: they face the prospect of so-called 'honour' killings if they even dream of settling down with a man of their choice. As Ms Bani Saraswati, an NGO leader from east India points out: “Women are not born vulnerable, they are made vulnerable by biased social settings”.

It is no surprise then, that girls are hit hardest by natural hazards in societies that consider girls as disasters. The tsunami that hit India and other countries in 2004, for example, killed substantially more women and girls than men. In Tamil Nadu alone, three times more women died on an average than men and boys. Why? As Elain Enarson points out, disasters occur in a world shaped by gender. Survival rates depend on the:

pre-existing set of norms pertaining to the rigidly defined gender roles in public and private spaces gendered nature of skills that women and men acquire freedom to exercise those skills in the public domain.

Disaster management knowledge, tools, policies and practices for many decades have failed to recognise women’s roles in families and societies. Women have specific vulnerabilities and needs before and after disasters. They have unique capacities in disaster recovery and risk reduction. The tools for vulnerability assessment developed by many organisations and institutions adopted a 'single window' approach, which in turn was based on a male perspective of disasters. Even though many agencies advocate that improving women's lives lifts whole communities out of poverty, real implementation remains half-hearted and its impact on the ground remains insignificant.

According to Chaman Pinca, a gender researcher, of women living near the coast when the 2004 tsunami struck, many evacuated homes late because they were busy putting their things together for the evacuation, taking care of the children and not receiving early warnings. Absence of such skills as swimming or tree climbing were other reasons that women died. Post-disaster, relief compensations are often given to surviving men rather than women. In Tamil Nadu, after losing all their family members in the tsunami, some aged and rich widowers ‘obtained’ young girls as wives by bribing their poor fathers with relief compensations. In contrast, surviving widows struggled to raise the money to meet their livelihood needs, providing health care for their children and parents, repairing their houses, paying off the debts incurred by them or their diseased husbands pre-tsunami.

It is important to understand that women’s empowerment can’t be achieved through mandated participation of women in various forums and activities. A long-term approach addressing the day to day gender-rooted livelihood and social concerns of women in the disaster risk reduction processes is crucial. This would empower women to solve their own problems. As the Gender and Disasters Network suggests, female survivors are vital first responders and rebuilders, not passive victims: mothers, grandmothers and other women are vital to children’s survival and disaster management practices must tap women’s knowledge of environmental resources and community complexity, identify and assess sex-specific needs.