Purpose
This document looks at the impact of disaster on gender equality, the status of gender mainstreaming in disaster risk reduction, and drivers for integrating gender equality in disaster risk reduction.
It provides recommendations for addressing gender equality in the post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction and looks at international commitments on gender equality.
Overview
- Lack of research, sex and age disaggregated data, and gender analysis regarding the impact of disaster on gender equality continues to impede proper understanding and accurate analysis of the gendered aspects of disasters. It therefore makes it impossible to render targeted mitigation, through disaster risk reduction, of the impact of disaster on women, girls, boys and men.
- Explicitly mentioning gender differentiation and including women and men in all appropriate instances in disaster risk reduction (DRR) efforts across sectors ensures that efforts will reduce, rather than reinforce, existing inequalities by avoiding assumptions, generalisations and stereotypes, and by promoting positive change and women’s rights. The aftermath of a natural disaster and the recovery phase can present opportunities for new and more progressive gender roles and relationships to emerge. It can provide opportunities to rebuild in a way that is inclusive of women, girls, boys and men from the affected population and influence the direction of development patterns that, prior to the disaster, may not have placed enough attention on gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Usage: Policy development
Audiences: Technical staff; Gender and diversity practitioners, National Society leadership
Reference: United Nations. Gender responsive disaster risk reduction. A contribution by the United Nations to the consultation leading to the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR). Version 2. (November 2014). Pp. 1-7. Available from: http://www.wcdrr.org/un [Accessed: 20th September 2015].
