Empowering women key to easing risk
Women and girls are particularly vulnerable when their communities are hit by natural or humancaused disasters, but they also can and should be key actors in risk reduction and in rebuilding in the aftermath, a panel of experts told a United Nations forum on disaster risk reduction in Montreal on Wednesday.
The three-day conference at the Palais des congrès, known as the Fifth Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Americas, is hosted by Public Safety Canada and brings together about 1,000 delegates from across North and South America, including ministers, policy-makers, experts and disaster risk managers.
Esmé Lanktree, a program officer in Public Health in Emergencies with the Canadian Red Cross, spoke of her experience with a mobile clinic providing basic health care and support in Haiti after Hurricane Matthew hit the community of Jérémie in October 2016, wreaking havoc and claiming hundreds of lives.
“I saw that although women and children did have particular vulnerabilities following a disaster, they are also extremely resilient, and women were doing whatever they could to support their families and communities,” she said.
She spoke of the essential role the Haitian Red Cross played in the response to that disaster, and praised that organization’s efforts to ensure that women were well represented among its volunteers, medical staff and leaders. For example, all 14 branches of the Haitian Red Cross had at least one female vice-president, and three had a female president, she noted.
“Having interpreters (during emergencies) that are both male and female is ... extremely important, for example, to create a safe environment for the disclosure of sexual and gender-based violence,” she said.
Lanktree referred to a 2015 survey by the Haitian Red Cross designed to explore the contributions and roles of women in disasters.
“Although vulnerable to increased violence and power abuse during disasters, women were also seen as having strong networks as heads of their households, and a strong capacity to convey prevention messages, reinforce civil protection structures, conduct needs assessment, provide psychosocial support and mobilize their communities.”
Dinoska Yadira Perez Garcia, a Honduras civil engineer and expert in disaster risk management, noted that more women than men are hurt and die during and after emergencies and disasters, but not because they are necessarily more fragile by nature.
“The vulnerability of women (during and after disasters) comes directly from their socio-economic status and their cultural roles within societies. Women should not be thought of as naturally vulnerable. They can be powerful agents of change and, in fact, we are. Examples show that when women are empowered and participate in disaster preparedness, they gain confidence and strength in other aspects of their lives because they have seen that they can affect their own futures and the futures of those they love.”
She said governments and aid agencies can be misled if they only consult men when assessing needs, which often happens in cultures where the man is assumed to be the head of the household.
“The man is often the person who is most absent from the house, while the women often understand best the needs of the family and the children in sectors that are crucial, such as food, water, sanitation and health,” she said.
Dr. Virginia Clervaux, director of the Department of Disaster Management and Emergencies in the Turks and Caicos, emphasized the need not only to involve women in needs assessment, but to give them decision-making power and resources.
“During the response phase, women and girls are aware of what is required to safeguard themselves from the impacts of hazards. In other words, they know what needs to be done, how it needs to be done and when it needs to be done. However, they are not always confident or have the necessary resources to undertake the necessary tasks. Unless women and girls are provided with the necessary resources and support to effectively respond during an emergency event, their abilities will remain unharnessed and their empowerment unrecognized.”
The conference, which continues Thursday, is one of a series of forums emanating from the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, a non-binding agreement signed in Sendai, Japan in 2015, whereby member states agreed to try to reduce disaster risk over the next 15 years.