PUBLISHED TO PROMOTE THE GOALS OF THE BEIJING DECLARATION AND THE

UNITED NATIONS

Division for the Advancement of WomenDepartment of Economic

and Social Affairs

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April 2004

PUBLISHED TO PROMOTE THE GOALS OF THE BEIJING DECLARATION AND THE PLATFORM FOR ACTION

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Making RiskyEnvironments Safer

women2000 and beyond April 2004

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Introduction

We trap water by making sectionsof clay pipe; we then arrange these inline with the beds. We place one ontop of the others, which we will use topour water through. We then plant ourvegetables on top of them. We putgrass on other beds so that the waterdoes not dry up . . . We did not knowhow to conserve water but now wecan conserve water. We did not knowthe crops which were suitable for ourtype of soil. Now we know them; there-fore we can find ways to survive . . .Now we can go to other places andcome back with different technology,and those other people will also learnsomething from us—we will be shar-ing like that. (Francisca Chiuswa, Chivi,Zimbabwe)3

Drought is a fact of life in Zimbabweand neighbouring States. The womenwhose hard work produces food forfamilies are often ignored in agriculturaltraining programmes. In contrast, theapproach adopted by the IntermediateTechnology Group in Chivi helped Fran-cisca and other women farmers con-serve water and cope with droughtconditions. Most importantly, thisapproach was built around the centralrole of women as resource conserversand community leaders in natural haz-ard mitigation and disaster reduction.

This story of women taking the leadto build disaster-resilient communitiescontrasts vividly with the more familiarimages of women as passive andneedy victims flashed around the worldin the aftermath of every major disas-ter. Rarely do disaster stories and pho-tos fail to showcase male heroism andfemale vulnerability. Who can forgetthe desperate scenes from Mozam-bique of childbirth in the treetops abovefloodwaters? Dominant views of dis-aster remain framed by gender-biasedperspectives which ignore or distort thecomplex realities of both women’s andmen’s experiences in natural disasters.Seeing disasters “through the eyes ofwomen” challenges the notion of peo-

Making RiskyEnvironments Safer

We tend to discuss sustainable development and disaster reduction as two separate “components”.However, fundamentally, the aims of both are similar. Sustainable development is not reachable andcomplete unless disaster reduction is an essentialelement in it, and disaster reduction is not somethingwhich can be discussed, removed from development.Gender as an issue is in-built and cuts across both.Therefore, in reaching gender equality, the methods ofanalysis and tools of application can be the same.(Madhavi Ariyabandu, Programme Manager, DisasterMitigation, Duryog Nivaran, Sri Lanka, 2001)1

It is important to stress that gender equality in disaster reduction requires,above all, empowering women to have an increasing role in leadership, man-agement and decision-making positions. (Sálvano Briceño, Director, InternationalStrategy for Disaster Reduction, Geneva, 2001)2

Women buildingsustainable and disaster-resilient communities

Natural disasters—particularly ero-sion and other forms of soil degra-dation, pollution of freshwaters,shoreline erosion, flooding, loss ofwetlands, drought and desertifi-cation—impact directly on womenin their roles as providers of food,water and fuel. Climate change canalso impact on women’s productiveroles since the physical impacts ofglobal warming—rising sea levels,flooding in low-lying delta areas and increased saltwater intrusion—can jeopardize sustainable liveli-hood strategies. Food security andfamily well-being are threatenedwhen the resource base on whichwomen rely to carry out their criti-cal roles and obtain supplementaryincomes is under-mined. . . .Effective risk assessment and

management require the activeinvolvement of local communitiesand civil society groups to ensuredecreased occurrence of disastersand reduced losses and costs whenthey do occur. The knowledge, con-tributions and potentials of bothwomen and men need to be iden-tified and utilized.

_______Source: Carolyn Hannan, Director,United Nations Division for theAdvancement of Women. State-ment at a round table panel anddiscussion organized by theDivision for the Advancement ofWomen and the NGO Committeeon the Status of Women, UnitedNations Headquarters, 17 January2002 (www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/documents/Natdisas).

Women’s work and disaster risk management

April 2004 women2000 and beyond

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ple in hazardous environments as dis-aster victims and girls and women as“special populations” in special needof emergency relief. It balances analy-sis of women’s constraints and vulner-abilities in disaster contexts with a bet-ter understanding of their capacitiesand resources as environmental andsocial change agents.

Living in riskyenvironments

Large-scale natural disasters cap-tured the headlines in the first years ofthe twenty-first century: a massiveearthquake in India, widespread flood-ing and an urban flash flood in Bolivia,another unexpected volcanic eruption,persistent drought in some of theworld’s poorest lands, a major earth-quake compounding misery in northernAfghanistan. Less visible in the publicimagination were the recurring andlocalized landslides, floods and fiercestorms that also take a huge toll overthe long run. Called “small-scale” dis-asters by outsiders, these events carrysocial costs that are as high or higherthan catastrophic events emphasizedby the media.

Increasing risks and therising toll of disasters

Despite the development of newinformation and communication sys-tems, technological advances, increasedtechnical expertise, and sophisticatedemergency relief systems, most of theworld’s people are still at great risk ofharm due to natural disasters. But therisk of natural disaster such as poverty,pollution or epidemics is not equally dis-tributed among people or regions.4

Consider, for example, that: • During the 1990s, approximately

211 million persons were affectedor killed by natural disasters, seventimes as many as those hurt or killedin armed conflict;

• As many as 100,000 people die eachyear due to natural disasters;

• Though there has been some suc-cess in reducing the toll of majorenvironmental disasters, natural dis-asters kill an average of 1,300 peo-ple every week;

• The vast majority of disaster deathsoccur in developing countries;

• In most disasters, where sex-specific data are available, morewomen than men lose their lives;

• Quantifiable economic costs mayexceed $300 billion a year by 2050;and

• Extensive economic losses sustainedin developed nations between 1985and 1999 reached 2.5 per cent ofGDP while the world’s poorest coun-tries collectively lost 13.4 per cent ofGDP. Slow or sudden (drought versus

cyclone), small-scale or catastrophic(small landslide versus major earth-quake), disasters take a huge toll onpeople and places. Natural disasterscan create new opportunities, andsome groups may prosper economi-cally, but disasters first and foremostdamage and destroy lives, livelihoods,infrastructure and environments. Manysurvivors take disasters in stride, justas they do the challenges of poverty orwidowhood, but they may also experi-ence lingering effects on their health,security, psychological well-being,sense of place and cultural identity.

The vocabulary of riskand vulnerability

Familiar ecosystems may well havedeveloped through repeated exposureto the very forest fires or floods thatpeople may experience as disasters.Certainly, “not every natural distur-bance is a disaster, and not every dis-aster is completely natural”.5 Disastersarise squarely within the human expe-rience. Across the globe, it is humanaction that creates the conditions fortransforming naturally occurring events

such as earthquakes or volcanic erup-tions into human tragedies. Culturesand landscapes differ, so the “riskscape” of disaster is differently con-figured in every community.

To end the cycle of “disaster bydesign”,6 the complex impacts of globaldevelopment on natural ecosystemsand resources must be understood.This understanding must inform effortsto change the “normal” state of affairsthrough which extreme environmentalconditions or events become humandisasters in order to intervene in the disaster-development-disaster cycle.

The term disaster is understood verydifferently by those who use it. In someparts of the world, there is no one wordfor “disaster” but many words for whatmakes life “dangerous” or “risky”.7

Risk is always relative: it is a functionof people’s relative exposure to physi-cal or natural hazards (such as earth-quakes) and people’s social vulnerabil-ity to the effects of the hazard (peoplewith strong houses are less vulnerableto earthquake). Risk is also a functionof people’s relative ability to reducetheir own vulnerability to the hazard (forexample, through public education in allcommunity languages, using commu-nication outlets appropriate for personswith disabilities, different ethnic andage groups, etc.), and to reduce theeffects of hazards (for example, wherehospitals are retrofitted or constructedto withstand seismic motion, peopleare at reduced risk).

By disaster, people may refer to gen-ocide, epidemics, economic depres-sions, explosions and accidents, com-plex emergencies combining armedconflict and environmental stress—orsimply the routine social conditionsmaking everyday life a disaster. The fol-lowing discussion focuses on environ-mental disasters.

Environmental or natural disasterscan be meteorological, such as forestfires, windstorms, landslides, droughtsor extreme temperature events. Theycan also be based on geophysicalprocesses like earthquake and volcanic

eruption. While environmental or nat-ural disasters are set into motion bynaturally occurring environmental haz-ards, they are also social processesgrounded in the social organization ofpeople. The hazards people havealways faced (meteorological orweather-related, or geophysical, involv-ing earth movement) as well as newones (for example, global warming,toxic contamination) are often acceptedas inevitable aspects of everyday life.

Physical vulnerabilities may be struc-tural in nature, such as housing built inflood plains or earthquake zones. Socialvulnerabilities are based on differencesand inequalities among people. Theseinclude physical differences (consider, forexample, the mobility barriers of the veryyoung and very old), but especially reflectdifferences in social power structures(for example, based on sex, race or eth-nicity, social class or age). These inequal-ities put people in places, jobs, housesand situations, which either increase orreduce their ability to anticipate, preparefor, survive, cope with and recover fromthe effects of natural disasters.

It is important to note that vulnera-bility is not inherent in persons (for

example, the disabled, women, theelderly), but follows from systems andstructures of inequality, which convertdifferences to inequalities (for example,lack of attention in disaster contexts tothe capacities or needs of people withdisabilities, or constraints due to oldage). Nor are vulnerable people help-less people, though women in particu-lar are often seen only as needing“special” assistance. In other words,vulnerability to hazards is not given butcreated. “Vulnerability is consequentnot on hazard but on particular social,economic and political processes.Disaster is an extreme situation, whichresults from these processes.”8

Mitigation of risky environmentalconditions and events involves actionstaken to reduce risk and make peoplemore secure, for example, when defor-ested hillsides are terraced and rain-waters harvested in drought-proneareas. Some forms of structural miti-gation, such as levees and dams, canreduce flooding but may have negativeeffects downstream or on people’s cul-tural and economic survival. Buildingcodes can be strengthened and land-use planning implemented to prevent

development in areas exposed to theeffects of hazards such as flood plainsor known seismic zones.

Early warnings, evacuation centresand effective emergency relief andrehabilitation systems are other formsof mitigation as are preparednessmeasures at the household and neigh-bourhood levels. People make theirlives and livelihoods more securethrough mitigation but also by prepar-ing against the eventuality of small firesbecoming firestorms and stormsbecoming hurricanes. Practising emer-gency evacuation plans in homes andinstitutions, preparing and storingreserves of food and water, and edu-cating children about the need to beprepared are only the most obviousexamples. Mitigation and preparednessare not ad hoc activities before andafter disaster occurrences but ongoingactivities of daily life in communitiesconstructed around ecologically sounduse of resources, sustainable eco-nomic growth, human developmentand social justice.

Mitigation and preparedness needto be complemented by vulnerabilityreduction. The risk of disaster can bereduced by identifying hazards, takingprecautions and preventing evidentharm, but disasters cannot be pre-vented without identifying and address-ing the root causes of people’s sociallyconstructed vulnerability to natural hazards. Despite significant advancesin emergency preparedness andresponse in many parts of the world,people continue to be at very great riskof harm from the effects of natural dis-asters. Global development patternscarry some of the root causes of thevery hazardous living conditions thatshape the lives and futures of increas-ing numbers of people. Megacities andover-development of coastal areas, forexample, are phenomena that put mil-lions of people in risky living conditions.Development priorities which do notprovide for sustainable use of naturalresources or promote social develop-ment and the enjoyment of human


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A natural disaster is the resultof the impact of a natural haz-ard on a socio-economic sys-tem with a given level of vul-nerability, which prevents theaffected society from copingadequately with this impact.Natural hazards themselvesdo not necessarily lead to dis-asters. It is only their inter-action with people and theirenvironment that generatesimpacts, which may reachdisastrous proportions.

A disaster is usually definedas a serious disruption of the

functioning of society, caus-ing widespread human,material or environmentallosses which exceed the abil-ity of the affected society tocope using only its ownresources.

________Source: International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, Count-ering Disasters, Targeting Vulner-ability (Information Kit, 2001). The Centre for Research on theEpidemiology of Disasters alsooffers a glossary of core con-cepts (www.cred.be/emdat/glossary.htm).

What is a natural disaster?


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rights deprive millions of people of goodhealth, income, secure housing, infor-mation, social networks and otherresources vital to surviving a devastat-ing cyclone or flood. The number of peo-ple in water-stressed countries, forexample, is expected to rise from 1.7billion to 5 billion by 2025. Growingreliance on highly integrated “lifeline”infrastructures of communication,power and transportation also increasesvulnerability to the effects of disruption,whether from accidental failure, sabo-tage or an ice storm or earthquake.

Grounded both in mitigation and invulnerability reduction, disaster resili-ence (the “bounce back” factor) existsat the individual, household, organiza-tional and institutional levels. Risk-reducing approaches to disastersenhance people’s disaster resilience,but no clear separation of resiliencefrom vulnerability exists. People andplaces can be highly vulnerable in somerespects (a wealthy family in a seasidemansion, for example) and highlyresilient in other respects (the family

will have savings, income and insur-ance to rebuild or relocate). Disaster-resilient communities are areas wherepeople have identified local risks, tak-ing into account all relevant hazards aswell as social vulnerabilities to them,assessed local resources and capaci-ties and organized steps to reducethese risks. Such efforts cannot beundertaken successfully without appre-ciating the differential impacts of dis-asters on girls and women, as com-pared to boys and men, or without thefull use of the skills, knowledge andcommitment of both women and menin building disaster-resilient societies.

Girls and women are affecteddirectly and indirectly by disaster-causing trends and patterns, in waysthat can be similar to those on menand boys, but also in substantially dif-ferent ways. Too often, girls’ andwomen’s vulnerability is misunder-stood as derivative (for example,women are disproportionately poor,hence disproportionately vulnerable todisaster) or subsumed under othercategories (for example, illiteracyincreases vulnerability, and women aredisproportionately illiterate). In these

instances, the critical aspect of genderrelations and the persistent subordina-tion of and discrimination againstwomen, and the relevance of suchinequalities for disaster prevention andmitigation, remain unexamined.

Development of capacities andresources—skills, knowledge and abil-ities, including sound environmentalpractices, strong community ties andproactive community organizations—which are needed in the face of haz-ards and disasters requires a gender-specific approach that explicitlyaddresses women’s needs, prioritiesand constraints as well as those ofmen to achieve optimum results.Women’s groups and networks oftenplay a critical role in developing suchcapacities.

New approaches tohazards and disasters

Disasters are still more likely to beseen as isolated occurrences rather thancomplex social processes. Taking thisnarrow view fosters an ad hoc, event-focused approach based on “managing”

While we cannot do awaywith natural hazards, wecan eliminate those thatwe cause, minimize thosewe exacerbate and reduceour vulnerability to most.Doing this requireshealthy and resilient com-munities and ecosystems.Viewed in this light, disas-ter mitigation is clearlypart of a broader strategyof sustainable develop-ment—making communi-ties and nations socially,economically and ecologi-cally sustainable.

_________Source: Janet Abramovitz,“Averting unnatural disasters”,State of the World 2001(New York, Worldwatch Institute, W. W. Norton, 2001), p. 137.

Emergency managementapproach:

• Focus on the emergencyitself and actions carriedout before and after;

• Objectives are to reducelosses, damage and disrup-tion when disasters occurand to enable rapid recovery.

_________Source: S. Jeggilos, “Fundamen-tals of risk management”, Risk,Sustainable Development &Disasters: Southern Perspectives,Ailsa Holloway, ed., (Cape Town,University of Cape Town, PeriperiPublications, 1999), p. 9.

Disaster risk managementapproach:

• Focus is on the underlyingconditions of risk, whichlead to disaster occurrence;

• Objective is to increasecapacity to manage andreduce risks, and thus theoccurrence and magnitudeof disasters.

What is the risk management approach to disasters?

catastrophic events, generally throughmale-dominated “command and con-trol” emergency management systemsbased on technological expertise andthe easy assumption that outside helpis needed for disaster “victims”.

With growing recognition of the lim-ited effectiveness of this approach, newavenues are being explored in devel-oping and developed nations alike. Inthis new framework, disasters areviewed as a social process that unfoldsin a particular political, economic, his-torical, social and cultural context. Fromthis perspective, reducing the risk of dis-asters, rather than managing disastrousevents, is the top priority. This beginswith understanding risk factors in par-ticular places and times.

Local knowledge is the first elementfor effective disaster reduction.Communities that are knowledgeableabout mitigating local hazards and reduc-ing their own social vulnerabilities andhave an appreciation of indigenous andhistorical coping strategies as well asoutside emergency preparedness andresponse resources are better able toprevent extreme environmental eventsfrom becoming human disasters. Whenthe next flood occurs, as it surely will,people will rebuild in ways that reduce,not reinforce or recreate, their exposureto hazards—for example, by relocatinghomes or planting trees to restoredenuded hills causing landslides.

Where disaster managementapproaches perpetuate a view thatwomen have “special” needs that cre-ate additional difficulties for reliefworkers, women’s subordination isreinforced. The alternative approachnow emerging invites attention to gen-der relations, the priorities and needsof women as well as men, and thedivision of labour in households, com-munities and in the public sphere. Thisapproach highlights women’s criticalroles as resource users and managers,and takes advantage of their role insocial change and of their contributionthroughout the disaster process orcycle. Recognizing that neither sus-

tainable development nor disasterreduction can be realized without theempowerment of women, women andmen are treated as full and equal part-ners in the hard work of building disaster-resilient communities.

Women at riskin disasters

Far from unmediated “natural”events arising from human settlementin an inherently uncertain environment,natural disasters are social processesprecipitated by environmental events,but grounded in historical developmentpatterns and social relations, of whichgender relations are a core component.Though not uniformly or universally,women are often both uniquely vul-nerable to the effects of degraded envi-ronments subject to natural hazardsand uniquely positioned as “keys to dis-aster prevention”.

Gender roles put women in

hazardous positions

Effective management of naturalresources and effective policies toreduce risks or respond to natural dis-asters require a clear understanding ofgender-based differences and inequali-ties. Lack of such understanding canlead to the perpetuation or reinforce-ment of such gender-based inequalitiesand other dimensions of social vulner-ability in the provision of emergencyrelief and in long-term reconstructionprocesses.

Women tend to be over-representedin highly vulnerable social groups,whose ability to prepare for, survive andcope with disasters is severely limited.Such groups include rural populationsthat remain behind when men migrateto urban centres for work—the frail,elderly, refugees and displaced per-sons, single heads of poor households,and those living with chronic health

problems. Gender-based inequalitiesand disadvantages are often com-pounded by factors such as race, class,ethnicity or age, which lead to great dif-ferences in women’s experiences indisasters.

While gender roles vary culturallyand historically, they often create riskyliving conditions for women both in “normal” and extreme periods.Women who are poor or economicallyinsecure are less resilient to disasters.Earning an income and providing fortheir families puts women on the frontlines of hazardous work on a daily basis.Other factors, such as elevated levelsof malnutrition and chronic illness, lowlevels of schooling and literacy, lack ofinformation and training, inadequatetransportation, and cultural limitationson mobility, can also reduce women’sresilience to disaster. Caring for otherstakes many women’s lives when sud-den choices must be made about self-preservation or rescue of children andothers. Because their lives are so oftenconfined to the home, girls and womenare correspondingly more exposedthan men to death and injury whenbuildings collapse. Lack of secure hous-ing and land rights and relative lack ofcontrol over natural resources, risk ofdomestic and sexual violence, and bar-riers to full participation in decision-making affecting environmental man-agement and public policy are otherfactors that can increase women’s vul-nerability to natural disasters, andreduce their ability to prepare for, sur-vive and recover from devastating mud-slides or fires robbing them of liveli-hood, health, security and community.

Degraded environments and theirgender-specific impact

Not universally, but often, it iswomen’s relationship to the naturalworld that most directly puts them atrisk and motivates their efforts to makelife safer and more secure.


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Girls and women have significantopportunities as resource users andmanagers as well as environmentalconsumers, producers, educators andactivists to impact on their natural envi-ronment. That impact may be no morebenign than men’s—and sometimeswhat women do makes natural disas-ters more likely. For instance, like land-less men, women are less likely toadapt sustainable farming practiceswhen they do not own their land. Inmany parts of the world, “women’sfood crops are relegated to rented,steeply sloped land with erosive soils.Because tenure is not secure, womenhave little incentive to invest in soil con-servation”9 which might, in turn, mini-mize erosion and landslides. Driven intorefugee camps by disasters or armedconflict, or forced onto fragile lands bydestitution, women can also make mat-ters worse by overutilizing localresources to sustain life.

Degraded forests, polluted waters,eroded soils and other symptoms ofenvironmental stress impact on girls’and women’s time, educational oppor-tunities, economic status, health andhuman rights in a way that is frequentlygender-specific and based on societalexpectations about the roles of womenand men. Denuded forests, to chooseone example, force women or girls towalk long distances to gather justenough fuel wood for one spare meala day, preventing them from engagingin income-generating or educationalactivities. Overburdened and poorlynourished girls and women are corre-spondingly less able to resist thehunger, illness and despair that a cata-strophic flood will bring.

The environmental impacts ofwomen’s work, their roles as familyeducators and the significance of theirdecisions as consumers have madesustainability a key issue for womenand women’s movements around theworld. With respect to resource-dependent employment, women areon the front lines of environmental con-servation and stewardship as their

livelihoods and the health and well-being of their families and communi-ties depend upon it.

As key environmental actors,women’s priorities, values, abilities andactivities increasingly shape the move-ment to prevent environmental disas-ters and toward environmental sus-tainability.

Natural disasters and their

gender-specific impact

When women and men confrontroutine or catastrophic disasters, theirresponses tend to mirror their status,role and position in society. Accountsof disaster situations worldwide showthat responsibilities follow traditionalgender roles, with women’s work car-rying over from traditional tasks in thehome and household, and men takingon leadership positions.

Gender-based inequalities can putwomen and girls at high risk and makethem particularly vulnerable during nat-ural disasters. There are many casual-

ties among women in disasters, forexample, if they do not receive timelywarnings or other information abouthazards and risks or if their mobility isrestricted or otherwise affected due tocultural or social constraints. Fieldaccounts repeatedly demonstrate howunwritten or unexamined policies andpractices disadvantage girls andwomen in emergencies, for example,marginalizing them in food distributionsystems, limiting their access to paidrelief work programmes and excludingthem from decision-making positions inrelief and reconstruction efforts.Emergency relief workers’ lack ofawareness of gender-based inequali-ties can further perpetuate gender biasand put women at an increased disad-vantage in access to relief measuresand other opportunities and benefits.

The direct and indirect impact of dis-asters on women’s lives and liveli-hoods extend to their aftermath.Gender-based attitudes and stereo-types can complicate and extendwomen’s recovery, for example, ifwomen do not seek or receive timelycare for physical and mental trauma


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. . . The deterioration of nat-ural resources displaces com-munities, especially women,from income-generatingactivities, while greatlyadding to unremuneratedwork. In both urban andrural areas, environmentaldegradation results in nega-tive effects on the health,well-being and quality of lifeof the population at large,especially girls and womenof all ages. Particular atten-tion and recognition shouldbe given to the role and spe-cial situation of women liv-ing in rural areas and those

working in the agriculturalsector, . . . Environmentalrisks in the home and work-place may have a dispropor-tionate impact on women’shealth because of women’sdifferent susceptibilities tothe toxic effects of variouschemicals. These risks towomen’s health are particu-larly high in urban areas, aswell as in low-income areaswhere there is a high con-centration of pollutingindustrial facilities._________Source: Beijing Platform forAction, para. 247.

Effects of environmental degradation on women

experienced in disasters. Domesticwork increases enormously when sup-port systems such as childcare,schools, clinics, public transportationand family networks are disrupted ordestroyed. Damaged living spaces aredamaged working spaces for allwomen. For those whose income isbased in the home, the loss of hous-ing often means the loss of work-space, tools, equipment, inventory,supplies and markets. In addition tofarmers, whose small land plots, live-stock, tool, seeds and supplies may be

lost, waged farm workers, migrantworkers and women employed as con-tingent labour in the informal sector,lose work and income. Assetsintended to provide for girls’ educationor marriage are likely to be sold—per-haps even girl children themselveswhen no other alternatives can befound. Domestic violence appears toincrease in the aftermath of disastersand lack of alternative housing after aflood or earthquake makes it evenmore difficult for women wanting toleave violent relationships.

Women reducing riskand responding

to disasters

The critical link between genderequality, sustainable development anddisaster reduction is not women’s vul-nerability or even what happens togirls and women in fierce storms orlong droughts, but women’s roles longbefore and even longer after suchoccurrences. Women’s social positionidentifies them as “keys to preven-tion” of natural disasters, to borrowthe language of the United NationsInternational Decade for NaturalDisaster Reduction (IDNDR). Buildingon their strengths—women’s knowl-edge of local people and ecosystems,their skills and abilities, social net-works and community organizations—helps communities mitigate hazardousconditions and events, respond effec-tively to disasters when they do occur,and rebuild in ways that leave peoplemore, not less, resilient to the effectsof subsequent disasters.

The case studies below showwomen acting in ways that promotewise use of the environment andmore egalitarian social relationshipsand institutions. In this sense, womenand women’s empowerment areindeed central to the development ofan integrated global social movementtoward sustainable development andnatural disaster reduction. The casestudies cover examples wherewomen are mitigating environmentalhazards; take local action to assessdisaster vulnerabilities and copingcapacities; raise awareness about,and prepare for, disasters; andrespond to urgent needs. They alsoillustrate the many types of situations,constraints and opportunities that are specific to women’s social, eco-nomic or cultural roles and responsi-bilities, but that need to be factoredinto, and taken advantage of in effec-tive, gender-sensitive disaster pre-vention and mitigation planning.

Because rural women’s workis so highly resource-dependent, they sufferimmediate unemploymentand indirect loss from theripple effects of degradednatural resources. Waterresources are a case in point.Already undependable watersources were rendered use-less in some cases by theearthquake, while elsewherethe quality of water deter-iorated. As women areresponsible for water gather-ing, more limited water sup-plies translates into less timefor income-generating work.Lack of water also obviouslyreduces women’s opportuni-ties to earn money throughwaged labour on local farms.When alterations in hydro-logic systems salinized water,women whose incomedepends on water may lose areliable, if limited, source ofincome. Women salt farmers,who are 50 per cent of themigratory labour force to theLittle Rann, are at risk oflong-lasting economic stress

under these conditions,which may force them out ofvillages and into informalwork in cities. Women’s localknowledge and historicalperspective on naturalresource-based employmentis an essential asset to eco-nomic planners working atthe community level. Theirwork as guardians, users andmanagers of scarce naturalresources positions them asexperts in the decisions tocome about how to rebuild inways that mitigate damagefrom future disasters. Acrosscastes, classes and ages,women’s “inside out” per-spectives on environments,disasters and developmentmust be brought to bear onthe question of reconstruct-ing Gujarat’s economy. _________Source: Elaine Enarson, “Wewant work”, Rural Women in theGujarat drought and Earthquake.Quick-Response Research GrantReport to the Natural HazardsResearch and Information Center(www.colorado.edu/hazards/qr/qr135/qr135.html).


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Impacts of drought and earthquake on rural women in Gujarat, India


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Women mitigate environmental hazards

As providers and producers, womenare often able to help make their house-holds, neighbourhoods and communi-ties less vulnerable to the effects of nat-ural hazards and disasters. Strategiesrange from collaborative action toactivism at the grass-roots level.

Women’s collaborative action,women’s skills and knowledge aboutlocal conditions can form the basis forbetter preparedness for environmentalstress. This is apparent in a northerndistrict of Gujarat, India, where womenorganized a collective to ensure amplesupplies of fodder to maintain their live-stock during drought periods, therebyalso securing continuous milk suppliesfor women and more secure householdincome.

Women’s technological innovationscan bring solutions to environmentalproblems. Women “char-dwellers” inBangladesh increase food security bycomposting kitchen waste to produce

soil-enriching fertilizer. They prepare forfloods by securing fodder for their live-stock, planting trees around the lowhouses they build with local materialswith cross-supports against strongwinds and selecting fast-growingseedlings to make char soils more sta-ble. To preserve rainwater, they coatthe pits they dig with cow dung.10

Since women earn their living fromplants and materials, they havebecome active players in a multi-stake-holder forum researching sustainabilityproblems. After studying local prob-lems, the Jinga Urban Women’sWetlands Project in Uganda waslaunched to promote alternativeincome-generating strategies, includingalternatives to farming techniques thathad contributed to the loss of wetlands.Wetland preservation is a vital strategyfor managing recurrent floods in theregion.11

Women community workers andnetworkers often take the initiative topromote hazard mitigation at the locallevel. In the aftermath of a destructivebushfire in Australia, for example,

mainly women responded when a localwoman put out a call for fire preven-tion volunteers. The women then maderegular personal visits at the start ofthe fire season to all families in thearea, helping people clear brush aroundtheir homes and otherwise reduce theirvulnerability to fire. Local authoritiesopposed the programme, which ransuccessfully for a number of years, andeventually appointed a male bushfireeducation and prevention officer.“Since his appointment, no pamphletshave been distributed, no one calls toremind or help people clear their land,and no one calls on the frail or elderlyto work out evacuation plans.”12

Women can be resource conserversto meet the needs of their families, ani-mals and crops. The community-basedDisaster Mitigation Institute (DMI) andthe Self-Employed Women’s Associ-ation (SEWA) (a labour union and socialnetwork for low-income women) werealready well known in the regions hithardest by the January 2001 earth-quake in the state of Gujarat, India,which also suffered from years ofsevere drought. Water conservationwas all the more important after theearthquake as seismic changesdestroyed or damaged many wells,ponds and storage tanks and, in someplaces, rendered fresh water too saltyfor use. The work of SEWA and DMIwith local women before the earth-quake to promote rainwater harvestingthrough household containers andcommunity wells and ponds was aninvaluable resource in drought-strickencommunities struggling to recoverfrom this highly destructive earthquake.

In nearby Banaskantha, the UnitedNations Development Programme(UNDP) is working with local women’sassociations in 75 villages on projectsaimed at “developing a sustainableapproach to combat desertificationthrough integrated water resourcemanagement and economic empower-ment. About 40,000 women areinvolved in this programme and are tak-ing action to combat desertification

The fodder security system forthe women of Banaskanthaputs people at the centre of itsstrategy. It moves away fromone-off relief measures andprovides a long-term develop-ment solution to mitigatingthe effects of drought and tostrengthening a community’scapacity to prepare for theonset of the disaster. Womenhave the responsibility for fod-der security and for maintain-ing the family during drought.They have benefited from thesystem in several ways. Foddersecurity has given them foodsecurity and increased their

opportunities for earning income. Reduction in migra-tion has reduced the pressureof their responsibilities as menbegin to remain in the villagethroughout the dry season. Ata more strategic level, womenare participating in the publicsphere alongside men in thedecision-making relating tothe scheme._________Source: Mihir Bhatt, “Maintainingfamilies in drought India: thefodder security system of theBanaskantha women”, in P.Fernando and V. Fernando, eds.,South Asian Women FacingDisasters, Securing Life, p. 44.

Women increase food security

through building and lining ponds, har-vesting rain water and reviving tradi-tional irrigation systems.”13

The resourceful women farmers ofKathaka, Kenya, where soil erosion isa serious problem, are another exam-ple of resource conservation. Voluntaryself-help groups consisting mainly ofwomen from the same farm neigh-bourhood were organized into 12 dif-ferent groups to build terraces, damsand drains, which help stabilize soils,and, thus, reduce the exposure ofwomen farmers to erosion in stormsand floods.14

Women are survivors with copingskills whose knowledge helps protectfragile environments and people at risk.As primary providers and caregivers,women historically have struggled tosustain life during wars, economiccrises, epidemics, civil disturbance—and in the face of hazards and disas-ters. Their skills and knowledge are amajor resource in hazard-prone com-munities subject to extreme weatherevents and environmental occurrences.Their labour in home gardens and smallplots of land provides more nutritiousfood and increases local self-sufficiency,for example through seed banks andthe preservation of indigenous species.Women may also diversify their incomein this way as a hedge against the con-stant threat of extreme disaster losses.It follows that disaster recovery pro-grammes should, though they often donot, “help to re-build [women’s homegardens], with tools and seed distribu-tion, irrigation systems, credit, seedlingbanks, and other resources in the sameway that similar resources are providedfor cash-crop production.”15

During the drought in southernAfrica during the early 1990s, Oxfam16

helped increase food security and dis-aster resilience by working only withelected committees comprised equallyof women and men. Soon known as“the Oxfam women”, these electedrepresentatives worked very effectivelyin small groups to distribute relief foodand share labour, land and tools. “That’s

when we found out our developmentwork with these women’s groups hadnot just given them an opportunity togrow more food, but an opportunity togain insight into their problems, to gainself-confidence, and to articulate that inpublic and really take on anybody. Sothese women were, if you like, the van-guard leaders of the moment.”17

Women are grass-roots activistswhose mobilization against destructiveand short-sighted development projectsis recognized around the world. Theirrole in the Chipko movement againstdeforestation in India is the most vividexample. Women were also at the fore-

front of passive resistance to the Nar-mada Dam, believed by many tothreaten cultural and economic survivaland create long-term water manage-ment problems in India. In 1998,women took the lead in massivedemonstrations which shut down workon the dam, if only temporarily. “Pro-tests against the damming of theNarmada began more than 10 yearsago, and thousands of women havesaid they are prepared to drown ratherthan move”, it is reported.18

A women’s resource centre inZimbabwe organized a local-level com-munity workshop to consider strategies


10

Some of women’s copingstrategies are:

• Women put more time,effort and energy intowork.

• Women start specific activ-ities aimed at makingavailable more naturalresources and increasingthe supply. Examples ofthese include . . . treeplanting and reforestationand forest conservationactivities. Women estab-lish kitchen gardens neartheir houses, install waterpoints, and regeneratedegraded land . . .

• Women economize on theuse of resources. A com-mon strategy is, for exam-ple, shifting to other foodproducts which need lesscooking time (often theseproducts are less nutri-tious), limiting the num-ber of cooked meals or theboiling of water (with allits health consequences).Another possibility is the

use of energy/resources-saving devices . . .

• Another issue which hasbeen taken up by groupsof women is recycling. In situations of waterscarcity, for example, theymanage to recycle andreuse water for several pur-poses.

• Women also look intousing alternatives such assolar and wind energy forcooking, switching toalternative crops, orchanging planting pat-terns or technology.

• Women organize to pre-vent pollution or theyclean up waste sites.

_________Source: Irene Dankelman, Gender and environment:lessons to learn. Observer paper prepared for the expertgroup meeting organized by theDivision for the Advancement of Women, Ankara, Turkey,November 2001 (www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/env_manage/index.html).

Women cope with environmental degradation


11

for mitigating drought conditions. Thiseffort highlighted the significance ofwomen’s insecure land rights. In short,women lacking ownership or securetenure were much less likely to partici-pate in aforestation projects and otheractivities useful for coping with drought.The link between women’s right to land,disaster mitigation and sustainabilitywas evident to the people withoutwater: “Women should enjoy the samerights to arable land as men, the sameaccess to extension services, and agri-cultural credit, and equal control of agri-cultural produce and income. This willincrease women’s ability to plan for andmaintain greater food self-sufficiency at[the] household level, with cumulativeeffects at [the] local level. While noth-ing can prevent drought, such reformswould enable women to plan for foodproduction and make provision for a pos-sible drought in the following season.”19

Women assess disaster vulnerabilities and capacities locally

“All mitigation is local.”20 Althoughcommunity assessments are generallyconducted by outside researchers orrelief agencies, it is local people whohave specific knowledge about the par-ticular vulnerabilities of individuals,social groups and institutions and aboutparticular coping strategies traditionallyadopted by local people. Women’s par-ticipation in such assessments is criti-cal: “Women’s indigenous knowledgeand practice of environmental manage-ment increases the coping capacity ofcommunities in environmentally fragileand hazardous areas and thus con-tributes to their survival.”21 The follow-ing examples illustrate this point.

Grass-roots women know local peo-ple’s needs and strengths, for example,in the Caribbean basin. Four women’scommunity-based organizations (CBOs)in the Dominican Republic and St. Luciaare winding up the first phase of a two-year project to map risk in their com-

munities, including the daily disastersthat characterize low-income women’slives, and the hurricanes, landslides andfires, to which they are exposed. Withtraining in basic research methods, thecommunity women conducted inter-views, recorded life histories, devel-oped photo essays and drew risk mapsto assess their own strengths and thedangers they face. This information isbeing compiled into CommunityVulnerability Profiles to be used by com-munity leaders and shared with localemergency managers. A set of practi-cal Guidelines for Working with Womento Assess Disaster Vulnerability hasbeen produced to help guide women’scommunity groups, as well as emer-gency agencies, in assessments of thiskind.22

Women learners and educatorsincrease capacity to cope with naturaldisasters. Working from an adult edu-cation model, two women researchersand activists produced a set of gender-sensitive participatory learning activitiesfor disaster mitigation for use in south-ern Africa. Assessing women’s liveli-hood in disaster contexts is a core com-ponent of the training. Workshopparticipants are provided with informa-tion about how gender relates to disas-ter risk, and helped to recognize genderdynamics within the small work groupsas they are being trained in risk man-agement.23

Women enhance community healthby taking the initiative in many contextsto identify and address communityhealth problems arising from environ-mental pollution and contamination. Thiswas evident in Malabon in thePhilippines, for example, followingextreme flooding. The local club of theSoroptimists International organizedtwo well-attended workshops with theparticipation of all stakeholders. In thefirst workshop, Soroptimist women andothers worked with participants toaddress the structural causes of flood-ing; in the second, they outlined a num-ber of possible short- and long-termresponses.24

Women increaseawareness about, andprepare for disasters

Risk assessments are the basis forlocal emergency planning and pre-paredness projects. Women’s partici-pation in these efforts is critical as theirknowledge, social position and roleswill ensure a more comprehensiveapproach to preparing for disasters.

Women have environmental scienceexpertise and managerial skills in largerproportions than ever before, althoughtheir representation in emergency man-agement and in environmental scienceprofessions and organizations varieswidely between organizations andacross regions. An emergency man-ager from the western United States,for example, noted the need for cul-turally appropriate and inclusive pre-paredness materials in her region, writ-ing, “We can make a difference inpeople’s lives when we empowerwomen of other cultures with theknowledge to mitigate, respond andrecover from a disaster.”25 Gender bal-ance in risk reduction projects and inemergency management is a neces-sary first step.26

Women’s experience as effectivecommunity educators, especially thoseinvolved in family education and theschool system, enhances their capac-ity for awareness raising and disasterpreparation. In the Caribbean, to takeone example, it was observed thatolder women’s views about risk arecredible because children have greatrespect for what their “grandmotheralways said.”27

In Hawaii, women involved in ElNiño task forces in the late 1990sdeveloped public education pro-grammes targeting local villages to pro-mote water conservation and publichealth measures. Campaigning to treatsuspect groundwater before drinking,they helped reduce the incidence ofreported diarrheal disease significantly.By targeting women with forecasts and


12

warning information, the effects of thishazard were significantly reduced.28

Eking out a living on the fringes ofgreat cities, poor women have littleauthority but much responsibility formeeting urgent family needs, includingwaste disposal and water conservation.The World Health Organization (WHO)collaborated with local tenants’ com-mittees in urban slum areas aroundAlexandria, Egypt, to identify youngwomen for training. Environmental sci-entists from area universities taughtthem for six weeks about sound envi-ronmental practices, including waste-water management. Known as “envi-ronmental promoters”, the youngwomen earned new respect from local,male-dominated municipal authorities,and built on their environmental know-ledge to lobby municipal authorities forimprovements in the informal settle-ment, such as paving roads subject toflooding.29

When the town of La Masica,Honduras, reported no deaths afterHurricane Mitch, women’s extensiveinvolvement in community educationprogrammes undertaken by the localCentral American disaster reductionagency six months earlier was praised.“Gender lectures were given and, con-sequently, the community decided thatmen and women should participateequally in all hazard management activ-ities. When Mitch struck, the munici-pality was prepared and vacated thearea promptly, thus avoiding deaths . .. [Women] also took over from menwho had abandoned the task of con-tinuous monitoring of the early warn-ing system.” Some 20 years earlier, asimilar pattern developed in Hondurasafter Hurricane Fifi when womenstepped in to carry on soil conservationmeasures abandoned by men.30

Women volunteer more in pre-paredness projects before disasters

occur rather than after disasters hap-pen, when men may be freer to leavethe household and offer assistance tostrangers.31 For example, women arehighly active in neighbourhood-basedemergency preparedness programmesin Canada and the United States, espe-cially among middle-class women withgreater control over their personal timeand other resources.32

Women respond tourgent needs

Much of women’s work in disastersis socially invisible, undervalued andunacknowledged. However, women’sresponses to emergencies through theirlocal organizations, such as labourunions, cultural associations, anti-violence networks and communitydevelopment groups, as well as throughaccessing international relief resources,make a real difference in realizingspeedy and effective relief in a disaster.

Following earthquakes in India andTurkey, women’s groups were veryproactive in assessing relief needs andhelping women receive equitableshares of supplies.33 The Foundationfor the Support of Women’s Work(FSSW), a Turkish non-governmentalorganization (NGO), built on theresources of its many women and chil-dren centres to respond to earthquakesurvivors. These centres, which sup-port local women’s savings groups,childcare, income-generation projectsand other activities, proved invaluableafter the catastrophic earthquake of1999. Significantly, women’s earth-quake response efforts also inspiredtenant women to organize housingcooperatives. The women and devel-opment group Swayam ShikshanPrayog (SSP) helped construct housingand community centres in Gujarat.34

In the Dominican Republic, for ex-ample, Ce Mujer, a non-governmentalorganization, was very involved secur-ing outside assistance for villagers hitby Hurricane George. Observers

We recognize that risks andimpacts of environmentalcrises and natural disasters areexperienced by women andmen differently and are medi-ated by their differentialaccess to and control overresources . . . We also recog-nize that development policiesand practices in the AsiaPacific region often ignore theneed for preserving theintegrity of the environmentwhere people and communi-ties can sustain and improveupon their livelihoods. Thishas contributed to unprece-dented environmental vulner-ability leading to more fre-quent recurrence of naturalevents that are more extensivein impacts . . . We stronglybelieve that a human rightsbased approach is particularly

important for a genderedanalysis of environmentalcrises and natural disaster sit-uations. We urge memberStates to recognize the impactof development policies andprojects on environmentalcrises and natural disastersthat manifest themselves in anaggravated and differentiatedmanner for women, causingthe loss of their income, work-space and livelihoods; and,often, leading to destitutionand denial of women’s humanrights._______Source: Nilufar Matin, Asia PacificForum on Women, Law and Devel-opment, “Women’s human rightsconsiderations in environmentalmanagement and mitigation ofnatural disasters”. Presented to theUnited Nations Commission on theStatus of Women, 6 March 2002.

Women at risk in the Asia Pacific region


13

reported that “community members,especially males, changed their viewsof women . . . Women created betterrelationships with local authorities andthis experience proved women’s capac-ity for leadership.”35 In 1999, women’scentres affiliated with the NicaraguanWomen’s Network against Violenceresponded immediately to HurricaneMitch by distributing basic supplies.Working in cooperation with the localcouncil and mayor, the women’s cen-tres took responsibility for house con-struction “because of the previousexperience in this area and their net-works in the affected communities.”Women from the United Kingdom par-ticipated in a women’s reconstructionbrigade to Nicaragua to assist the cen-tres.36

Recognizing women’s urgent needfor income following the Gujarat earth-quake, the Self-Employed Women’sAssociation (SEWA) not only helpeddirect and deliver emergency suppliessuch as food, clothing and water butalso provided craft kits to women intents.37 Working with the DisasterMitigation Institute, SEWA representa-tives also visited rural women to assessthe indirect economic impacts of thedrought and the earthquake, ensuringthat the livelihoods of these womenwere clearly addressed in governmentrehabilitation programmes. In oneregion of Gujarat, a team of five womenoperating independently of municipalauthorities managed the local watersystem that brought water to four vil-lages in the arid lands of Surendranagar.A reporter described their efforts in acrisis: “When the quake damaged thepipe connecting the overhead waterstorage tank, of 4.5 lakh litres capacity,it was these women, along with SEWAmembers (mostly salt workers), whomustered the courage of climbing atopthe structure and repaired the damage.The mason simply fled and refused todo anything as there were frequenttremors.”38

Local women’s organizations can beinvaluable partners for outside organi-

zations responding to natural disasters.The International Labour Organization,for instance, was able to capitalize onits strong relationship with SEWA inrehabilitation efforts for craft workersand other earthquake-affected women.The United Nations DevelopmentProgramme (UNDP) partnered with theGovernment of Norway and women’sassociations in 180 impacted villages inthe region to develop livelihood reha-bilitation projects targeting womencraft workers.39

National and international women’sorganizations, including business andprofessional women’s associations,microcredit and savings groups andwomen’s banks, faith-based women’sgroups, and women organized aroundpolitical and feminist goals frequentlyhelp women in disaster situations.40

National organizations may workthrough local membership chapters. Inthe wake of Miami’s Hurricane Andrew,for example, the National Associationof Women Business Owners started anew relief fund to raise money for localmembers and sent new office equip-ment and other needed supplies.41

A World Food Programme staffer inNicaragua during Hurricane Mitchobserved the multifaceted contribu-tions of individual women during andafter disasters, such as the following:“After the storm subsided, interna-tional aid began entering the area nearher village. She saw that the villageleader, a man who lost his farm, wasmore concerned about his own needsthan those of other village members. . . So she travelled to the mayor’soffice, where she had never beenbefore. She visited the Peace Corpsvolunteer in town, whom she did notknow. Through her dedication, persis-tence, and patience, she had sevenhouses built and legally put in thewife/mother’s name. She insisted thatlatrines be built for all families. She ral-lied for 10,000 trees to be planted onthe deforested hills that surrounded hervillage. She learned about water diver-sion tactics, and found an engineer to

teach her village to build gavion-walledchannels.”42

Communication between disasterrelief agencies and stricken communi-ties was impossible after HurricaneMitch. In Tegucigalpa, Honduras, thecoordinator of a sustainable develop-ment project used new informationtechnologies such as LISTSERVs ande-mail to match needy communitiesand outside agencies. Eventually, acore group of 100 volunteers wasformed to analyse and circulate infor-mation about pressing needs and avail-able resources. Recognizing the lack ofInternet access in poor areas, the groupthen obtained outside funding to pro-vide computers and training to nearly800 people, “convinced these skills willreduce the vulnerability of Honduransto future disasters.”43

Women’s informal leadership is avital part of political life in most com-munities, as it certainly was when thecity of Manzanillo, in the Mexican stateof Colima, suffered the effects of a1995 earthquake. An existing neigh-bourhood organization, led mainly bywomen, was soon reborn as theCommittee of Reconstruction. “Theyassessed the damage to each houseand developed a plan to restore the dis-trict. They organized a neighbourhoodwatch to prevent theft, replaced thestreet signs themselves, and workedto get the water supply returned . . .The women in the neighbourhoodassociation have worked hard to solvethe problems that emerged after theearthquake. They affirm that their strug-gle is not political but rather for ‘thefamilies’ ’ well-being . . . According tothe women interviewed, women orga-nize more effectively than men todemand help. Men, in general, declineto participate, either because they areconvinced the Government has toserve them after paying their taxes orbecause they don’t want to be seenwith a group of women.”44

Increasingly, women also respond tonatural disasters in their role as emer-gency managers in public and private

agencies. While gender bias continuesto be a concern in most disaster orga-nizations and NGOs working on disasterissues, opportunities for women in male-dominated aspects of formal emergencymanagement work are expanding. In a1990 Caribbean study, just two of 22countries had female heads of nationalemergency management offices.45

Increasing these proportions is impor-tant, but no more so than bringing grass-roots women into all aspects of disasterreduction and response.46 Focusing onwomen’s skills, knowledge and abilitiesin key emergency management areas,such as health, can facilitate women’sparticipation.

How disaster resilience is strengthened by

gender equality

Capitalizing on the “window of opportunity”

during reconstruction

Disasters are complex socialprocesses. Their effects may be dif-fused, and difficult to anticipate or meas-ure. Economic gains and losses arecommon. Solidarity can increase ordecrease. Conflicts arising in the wakeof disasters quite frequently galvanizepeople and lead to calls for politicalchange, for example, in campaignsagainst governmental inefficiencies andinequalities. Once the short-lived periodof social unity (“therapeutic commu-nity” of disaster) has ended, however,social inequalities based on class,caste, race or ethnicity, age, physicalabilities and gender can quickly reap-pear.

As destructive as they are, naturaldisasters clearly offer many opportuni-ties for social change. Too often, how-ever, opportunities to address genderinequalities are overlooked in the rushto return to “normal” life, including“normal” gender norms, values and

stereotypes. Women’s work in theinformal sector, for example, is rarelyfactored into post-disaster economicrecovery measures, just as the specificemotional needs of boys and men areneglected in post-disaster mentalhealth programmes.

At the same time, though, there issome evidence that old rules can loseforce—if only temporarily—when peo-ple respond to the kinds of emergencyconditions produced by armed conflictand natural disasters. FollowingHurricane Mitch in Central America, forinstance, it was observed that moremen did more cooking and took moreresponsibility for childcare.47 During adrought period in Sri Lanka, as peoplebecame more dependent upon government-supplied water, men tookon more responsibility for providingdrinking water, ferrying home five-gal-lon plastic containers on push bicyclesor tractors.48 Women protestingagainst gender bias in relief and recov-ery programmes in Miami laid thegroundwork for ensuring that in futuredisasters gender perspectives wouldnot be ignored.

Addressing social inequalitiesdirectly after disasters is frequently part of women’s reconstruction work.When violence against womenincreased following Hurricane Mitch,Puntos de Encuentro, a non-governmental organization, integratedanti-violence education directly intopost-disaster recovery work. Workingthrough various media outlets, theorganization developed a communityeducation campaign to transmit thismessage: “Violence against women isone disaster that men can prevent.”One observer recalled, “It is clear fromthe looks on participants’ faces that thisworkshop is not only enabling them towork through the emotional difficultyof post-traumatic stress but also to con-sider the need for transforming genderroles in their community.” Like otherNGOs and women’s groups, Puntos deEncuentro was highly involved in hur-ricane relief and recovery but went

much further. Its proactive work aroundviolence against women promises tohelp limit violence against women infuture disasters and is a model for tak-ing advantage of the “window ofopportunity” to challenge structuralinequalities that undermine communitysolidarity in the face of disaster.49

The initiatives taken by Pattan, anon-governmental organization, inresponse to flooding in Pakistan in theearly 1990s is another example wheresocial inequalities were addresseddirectly in the aftermath of a disaster.Pattan workers ensured that women aswell as men were represented on vil-lage committees that advised on floodrelief projects. Observing women’s lackof security of housing, the NGOdeeded new homes constructed afterthe flood jointly in the names of womenand men and assisted illiterate womenin accounting procedures for makingloan repayments, in support of theirnew role as co-owners. A researcherwho studied Pattan’s work concluded:“It was the beginning of the processof empowerment in women’s lives.Now they are taking collective respon-sibility in many other projects and learn-ing how to perform new tasks well.They are gaining in confidence and self-esteem, which is an important steptoward women’s ability to take controlof their own lives, decreasing their vul-nerability in times of crisis.”50

Women increasingly take advantageof solidarity built in the midst of acalamity, and organize after disasters.Over 40 ethnic, cultural, social, religiousand economic women’s organizationsin Greater Miami came together as acoalition called Women Will Rebuild inthe wake of the l992 hurricane. Theymet regularly throughout the relief andrecovery period to reduce gender biasin measures taken. These organizationsworked with local media to highlightwomen’s and children’s needs and lob-bied for distributing donated and gov-ernment relief funds accordingly. Theirgoals of redirecting just 10 per cent ofavailable funds to women and children


14


15

and increasing the proportion ofwomen on the grant-making commit-tee of the male-dominated relief groupWe Will Rebuild were not met.However, Women Will Rebuild dideventually influence decisions to usemore relief funds for youth services andbrought more women into We WillRebuild. Working in coalition after a cri-sis helped Miami’s very dividedwomen’s community unite aroundshared goals, and raised hopes that theneeds and priorities of women and chil-dren will get due attention when thenext hurricane hits Miami.51

Nine years after Armenia’s destruc-tive 1988 Spitak earthquake, a smallgroup of women scientists organizedthe NGO Women for Development tohelp reduce social vulnerability to futureearthquakes. One of their importantprojects was the initiation of training forprimary- and middle-school teachersand pupils in seismic protection steps(“don’t be scared, be prepared!”). Thegroup also helped local and regionalgovernments in planning coordinatedearthquake response, and designedmass media campaigns highlighting therole of women in disaster prepared-ness. The group’s efforts conveyed “anew positive type of woman, who isnot only silently carrying the heavyresults of the disasters but is also readyto provide her knowledge and ability fordisaster mitigation.”52

Reconstruction efforts can also facil-itate the breaking down of barriers thatrestrict women’s full participation inmitigation, preparedness, responseand recovery activities, and help chal-lenge social divisions generally. Forinstance, when the German Red Crossand the Bangladesh Red Crescentcommitted to responding to the 1991cyclone in gender-sensitive ways, theentire community benefited. Gender-balanced village disaster preparednesscommittees were formed to providetraining to women. With men often outof town or engaged in fieldwork,women were trained how to save foodand belongings, and what items to take

to shelters. The relief committee alsosought to increase awareness amongwomen and men about the importanceof gender equality, and affordedwomen increased opportunities forexchanging ideas with other women.53

In the wake of natural disasters,opportunities for non-traditional skillsbuilding and employment oftenincrease, though existing gender-specific divisions of labour defines thebroad contours of both women’s andmen’s emergency response work. InIndia, women received skills training insafe housing construction techniquesafter the Latur and Gujarat earthquakes,working through community-basedwomen’s groups, mitigation agenciesand government recovery pro-grammes. They also helped designnew homes that better served theirwork-related as well as their residentialneeds. Some accounts from the UnitedStates suggest that after a flood or hur-ricane, women may manage home con-struction, organize work crews, learnand practise new home repair skills andnegotiate with insurance agents torebuild their homes. Others work in dis-tribution facilities, landscaping and con-struction during the recovery period.54

When half the population was dis-placed due to widespread volcaniceruption, women in Montserrat starteda new group called Women on theMove, which assisted women dis-placed from their homes and work-places by offering skills training in bothtraditional areas and non-traditionalfields such as information technologies.Through their efforts, more workbecame available for women on male-dominated construction sites, andwomen gained self-confidence andeconomic independence. The group’sconsensual decision-making processreportedly helped unite women trau-matized by the unfolding disaster thatdeprived them of their way of life. Notonly did Women on the Move advancewomen’s long-term recovery, it alsofostered faith in women’s “own abilityto shape and direct their lives” and

encouraged women to “enter into newrelationships with their men and thesociety in which they live.”55

Aftermaths of disasters have encour-aged new political campaigns. Whenbuilding facades were destroyed byMexico City’s 1985 earthquake, theworking conditions of costureras (gar-ment workers) were vividly exposed.Two days after the earthquake, womenfrom 42 factories created the Sep-tember 19 Garment Workers Union,which became the first independentunion to be recognized by the MexicanGovernment in over a decade. Oneobserver recalled the scene: “In thedays following, women came togetherto deal with the immediate problems offood, water, shelter, health care; theywere joined by family members whohad lost a wife, mother, sister or lover.The response of government officialsand the “patron”, the factory owner,fueled their grief into rage and createda popular movement that has rallied thesupport of women’s organizationsthroughout Mexico. While the costur-eras and family members begged gov-ernment officials to move in heavyequipment and personnel to search forsurvivors and recover the bodies, theowners had hired people to removeequipment and raw materials whilewomen were still buried in the rub-ble.”56

Women can gain greater influenceon government and emergencyresponse agencies when they areactively engaged throughout the disas-ter process. Following the 1993 earth-quake in northern India (Latur), a net-work of women’s groups and ruralassociations organized by SwayamShikshan Prayog (SSP) became “com-munity consultants”, interfacingbetween impacted communities andgovernment officials to promote disas-ter relief that advanced long-term com-munity development. Most signifi-cantly, they took on the role ofmonitoring the housing reconstructionprocess, training local women asobservers and technical consultants to

increase accountability and help ensureequitable redevelopment.

In addition to emergency relief,Turkish women working through theFoundation for the Support of Women’sWork (FSWW) mobilized in smallgroups to conduct post-disaster hous-ing surveys to document shortages andtenant needs. They visited local officialsto share this information and makeknown women’s housing and relatedneeds. They achieved increased levelsof public financing for childcare, moreopportunities for women in construc-tion work, and regular consultationsbetween affected women and otherstakeholders during the recoveryprocess.

International solidarity betweenwomen can also increase in the wakeof a major disaster. Following the 1999Marmara earthquake, personal visitsbetween disaster survivors in Turkeyand in India allowed women to ex-change valuable lessons about gender-sensitive disaster response and recon-struction. With support frominternational funders, representativesfrom the Swayam Shikshan Prayog(SSP) in India traveled to Turkey toshare their experiences with theFoundation for the Support of Women’sWork (FSWW) and other women’sgroups there. Back in India, over 100women leaders involved in the SSPresponse to the Latur earthquake trav-elled to Gujarat following the 2001earthquake, where they demonstratedthe technical and political skills they hadgained as reconstruction experts.

Promotion of gender-sensitive andpeople-centred reconstruction wasenhanced when these and otherwomen’s groups worked acrossnational boundaries. In Turkey, theFoundation for the Support of Women’sWork (FSWW) was a catalyst forincreased participation of grass-rootswomen in decision-making, activelypromoting local women’s interests andparticipation in the reconstructionprocess.57 Their efforts also helpednudge post-disaster activities from

emergency assistance to long-termdevelopment goals.58 The interventionof women also resulted in the birth ofDisaster Watch, a new initiative tomonitor disaster response for genderbias and to use the findings to increasegovernment accountability to genderequality throughout disaster responseand reconstruction.59

Women can be powerful advocatesfor safety when they are viewed asexperts and skilled communicators.This was the case in India when theGovernment of Norway and the UnitedNations Development Programme(UNDP) proposed to fund a radio pro-gramme produced and broadcast bywomen’s groups to “ensure access toinformation at all levels, which [is]essential to the community-led andcontrolled process of recovery andreconstruction being envisioned.”60

Where women’s radio is well estab-lished (as it is in Brazil, for example), itcan be a critical link to illiterate womenand a means for women’s networkingaround sustainable developmentissues and disaster reduction. Whenwomen control the medium and themessage, early warning systems aremuch more likely to reach all people.

Linking women’s empowerment,

sustainable development

and disaster reduction

“Pursue gender equality and gender-sensitive environmental managementand disaster reduction, response andrecovery as an integral part of sustain-able development.” This recom-mendation, included in the agreed con-clusions of the United NationsCommission on the Status of Women(CSW) of its 46th session in 2002, wasadopted by the Economic and SocialCouncil (ECOSOC) as a resolution andencouraged all social actors to makethe connection.61

How can a community in whichwomen are not safe to walk alone toan emergency cyclone shelter, nottrained to conserve the resourcesneeded to sustain daily life in disastersituations, not able to read and helpwrite useful emergency preparednessguides, or not free to attend a localworkshop on emergency relief or speakin a public meeting on land-use plan-ning be called either sustainable or disaster-resilient?

When women act to restore, pro-tect and enhance the ecosystems,upon which all life ultimately depends,they are helping to prevent disasters.When they identify hazards and reducevulnerability to natural disaster, they arehelping to promote sustainable devel-opment. And when the gender equal-ity goal is central to all efforts towardsustainability and disaster resilience,the creativity and commitment of allpeople can be harnessed. Conversely,when women and men are not equalpartners in these joint ventures, thegoals of sustainability and disasterresilience cannot be achieved.

Making connections

Many opportunities for linking dis-aster reduction, gender equality andsustainable development are missed.While the Beijing Platform for Action,for instance, reiterated that women“have an essential role to play in thedevelopment of sustainable and eco-logically sound consumption and pro-duction patterns and approaches of nat-ural resources management”,62 the linkto disaster reduction was not articu-lated. Much the same can be said ofthe many strong declarations, conven-tions and agreements resulting fromglobal conferences on disaster reduc-tion and on environmental, economicand social development themes, whichhave not, or have insufficiently, articu-lated the link to gender equality.

At the same time, the basis for mak-ing the connections is there. Similar to


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other global conferences on develop-ment, the Fourth World Conference onWomen acknowledged, “sustainabledevelopment policies that do notinvolve women and men alike will notsucceed in the long run. [These con-ferences] have called for the effectiveparticipation of women in the genera-tion of knowledge and environmentaleducation in decision-making and man-agement at all levels. Women’s expe-riences and contributions to an eco-logically sound environment musttherefore be central to the agenda forthe twenty-first century. Sustainabledevelopment will be an elusive goalunless women’s contribution to envi-ronmental management is recognizedand supported.”63

The World Summit on SustainableDevelopment, held in Johannesburg,South Africa, in 2002, reiterated a com-mitment to ensuring the integration ofwomen’s empowerment, emancipa-tion and gender equality into all activi-ties encompassed within Agenda 21,the Millennium Development Goalsand the Plan of Implementation of theSummit. More specifically, the Planalso makes the connection betweenpromotion of gender equality and anumber of priority areas, such aspoverty eradication, protection andmanagement of the natural resourcebase, and health for sustainable devel-opment.64 In May 2003, when elabo-rating its multi-year programme of workto implement the Summit Plan over thenext 12 years, the United NationsCommission on Sustainable Develop-ment decided that gender equalitywould be one of the cross-cuttingissues to be addressed in relation toeach of the thematic clusters theCommission would consider.65

Recognizing where and how theconcerns of gender equality, sustain-able development and disaster reduc-tion intersect will strengthen progressin each of them and also help trans-form visionary goals into practical andcoordinated steps toward safety, sus-tainability, gender equality and social

equity. Some of the connections thathave to be made are addressed below.

Gender equality, sustainability anddisaster reduction are intersectinggoals. Action to pursue goals and objec-tives specific to any one of them whilealso addressing the others in an inte-grated manner will build stronger andmore comprehensive advocacy andsocial change networks. When organi-zations active in any of these threeareas work together, they can moreeffectively advance the agenda of thethree movements. At present, theseareas remain compartmentalized andimportant connections are missed: theenvironmental justice movementsneglect gender perspectives andwomen’s disaster experiences; male-dominated disaster organizations paylittle attention to gender equality andsustainability; gender equality has notyet become a central aspect in thework of environmental groups andorganizations, though women areincreasingly involved; and women’smovements have failed to analyse thesocial construction of women’s vulner-ability in natural disasters.

Another connection can be madearound similar change strategies pur-sued in all three areas. Sustainabledevelopment, disaster reduction andgender equality are all promotedthrough (related but discrete) networksof NGOs and, at the international level,through negotiated conventions, trea-ties, and global agreements and decla-rations. Though disaster reduction hasnot yet galvanized an international socialmovement similar to the environmentalmovement or women’s mobilization, ithas a large and growing constituencycutting across regions and nations.Seeing risk broadly and through a gen-der lens makes evident the need forgender-responsive and community-based strategies for change.

A third connection can be madearound the root causes of natural dis-asters and unsustainable development,and their effects on gender equality.Deteriorating environments and reduc-tion in natural resources lead to dis-placement of communities, especiallywomen, from income-generating activ-ities, additional women’s unremuner-ated work and reduced capacity to

In Bangladesh, like in so manyother countries, women are nothelpless victims as so oftenportrayed. Since they have tosurvive in a hostile environ-ment throughout their lives,they have developed particularstrengths, determination andcourage. As well, when they areallowed to do so, they have amajor role to play in the plan-ning and implementation ofdisaster relief and rehabilita-tion. Their contribution to thehousehold income, for exam-ple, frequently keeps the wholefamily alive . . . There is nodebate nowadays that in anydisaster, women’s marginalposition in society makes

them more vulnerable to nat-ural disasters. Yet they are thekey to addressing disaster pre-paredness and rehabilitation.Correcting the inequitable distribution of resources andpower between men andwomen is the only way toachieve sustainable develop-ment and reduce the effects ofnatural disasters. Unleashingthe latent potential of womenshall become an integral partof disaster preparedness andmitigation.

_________Source: Royeka Kabir, “Bangla-desh: surviving the cyclone is notenough”, IDNDR Stop Disasters,vol. 24 (1995), p. 6.

Unleashing the potential of women


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cope with natural disasters. Climatevariations that affect subsistence agri-culture particularly threaten womenfarmers’ livelihoods and hence under-mine their capacity to prepare for,respond to and recover from naturaldisasters.

Gender-responsivedisaster reduction: the way forward

Gender is a significant factor in theconstruction of social vulnerability inrelation to risk of natural disasters, thedifferential impact of disasters andpotential for developing adequateresponses to hazards and disasters.66

Gender-based differences and inequali-ties put some women and girls in par-ticularly vulnerable situations. On theother hand, women should not only beseen as victims. Women are agents ofchange, actors and contributors at all levels. Full understanding of theroles, contributions and knowledge of women and men in relation to thenatural resource base is an essentialstarting point in working with naturaldisasters, particularly in terms of riskassessment and management. Emer-gency response and management mustexplicitly target women as well as menin all areas of support, based on therecognition that women’s involvementis essential to adequate recovery andpotential for sustainable developmentand reduction of natural disasters.

The United Nations Commission onthe Status of Women, at its 47th ses-sion in 2002, put forward for the firsttime a comprehensive set of global pol-icy recommendations, contained in theAnnex, to enhance women’s empow-erment and promote gender equality in situations of natural disasters.Implementation of these actions, by allconcerned stakeholders, is critical inaccelerating achievement of the mutu-ally reinforcing goals of gender equal-ity, sustainable development and dis-aster reduction.

In implementing these actions, sig-nificant impacts could be achievedthrough the following steps: • Policies, strategies and methodolo-

gies for disaster reduction should bepeople-centred and be based on con-sultative and participatory processes,that include all stakeholders, bothwomen and men. The particular con-straints to consultation and partici-pation in areas of great povertyshould be identified and addressed,including the gender-specific con-straints.

• The value-added of including socialdimensions, including gender per-spectives, in work on natural disas-ters needs to be made explicit. Thisrequires moving beyond a focus onwomen as victims to an approachthat recognizes the contributions andpotential of women as well as men.

• The research, experiences and goodpractices that exist on gender andenvironmental management, riskassessment and management andemergency management andresponse should be more systemat-ically compiled in a form that is use-ful to policy makers and administra-tors. Key areas where more researchis needed should be identified andresources made available for initiat-ing research projects based on par-ticipatory processes where both localwomen and men can be involved inidentifying vulnerabilities and sug-gesting remedies.

• One critical area of research shouldbe developing a better understand-ing of the linkages between gender,environmental management and dis-aster reduction, and the policy impli-cations of this knowledge.

• Generic guidelines need to be devel-oped on the types of gender-specificquestions that should be raised inrelation to environmental manage-ment, risk assessment and manage-ment and emergency response andmanagement. These guidelinesshould then be adapted in each spe-cific disaster context to ensure thatadequate attention is given to theneeds and priorities of both women

and men and that women as well asmen are consulted and given oppor-tunities for participation.

• Collection of sex-disaggregated datashould be obligatory in all areas ofwork on natural disasters. Wheresuch statistics are not available, thisshould be clearly pointed out as animportant gap to be rectified.

Annex

Agreed Conclusions onEnvironmental Managementand the Mitigation of NaturalDisasters, proposed by theUnited Nations Commissionon the Status of Women,forty-sixth session, 4-15 and25 March 2002, and adoptedas ECOSOC resolution 2002/5

1. The Commission on the Status ofWomen recalls that in the BeijingDeclaration and Platform for Action, itwas recognized that environmentaldegradation and disasters affect allhuman lives and often have a moredirect impact on women and that it wasrecommended that the role of womenand the environment be further inves-tigated. The twenty-third special ses-sion of the General Assembly (2000)identified natural disasters as a currentchallenge affecting the full implemen-tation of the Platform for Action andemphasized the need to incorporate agender perspective in the developmentand implementation of disaster pre-vention, mitigation and recovery strate-gies. The Commission also recalls theresolve in the United Nations Millen-nium Declaration (General Assemblyresolution 55/2) to intensify cooperationto reduce the number and effects ofnatural and man-made disasters, aswell as General Assembly resolution46/182, which contained the guidingprinciples on humanitarian assistance.2. Deeply convinced that economicdevelopment, social development andenvironmental protection are interde-


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pendent and mutually reinforcing com-ponents of sustainable development,which is the framework for our effortsto achieve a higher quality of life for allpeople.3. The Commission reiterates thestrategic objectives and actionsadopted by the Fourth World Con-ference on Women, held in Beijingin 1995, and in the outcome docu-ment of the twenty-third special ses-sion of the General Assembly, heldin New York in 2000, entitled“Women 2000: gender equality,development and peace for thetwenty-first century”.4. The Commission recognizes thatwomen play a vital role in disasterreduction (prevention, mitigation andpreparedness), response and recoveryand in natural resources management,that disaster situations aggravate vul-nerable conditions and that somewomen face particular vulnerabilities inthis context.5. The Commission also recognizesthat women’s strengths in dealing withdisasters and supporting their familiesand communities should be built uponfollowing disasters to rebuild andrestore their communities and mitigateagainst future disasters.6. The Commission recognizes theneed to enhance women’s capacitiesand institutional mechanisms torespond to disasters in order toenhance gender equality and theempowerment of women.7. The Commission urges Govern-ments and, as appropriate, also urgesthe relevant funds and programmes,organizations and the specialized agen-cies of the United Nations system, theinternational financial institutions, civilsociety, including the private sector andNGOs, and other stakeholders, to takethe following actions to accelerate im-plementation of these strategic objec-tives to address the needs of all women:(a) Pursue gender equality and gender-

sensitive environmental manage-ment and disaster reduction,response and recovery as an inte-

gral part of sustainable develop-ment;

(b) Take measures to integrate a gen-der perspective in the design andimplementation of, among otherthings, environmentally sound andsustainable resource and disastermanagement mechanisms andestablish mechanisms to reviewsuch efforts;

(c) Ensure the full participation ofwomen in sustainable developmentdecision-making and disaster reduc-tion management at all levels;

(d) Ensure the full enjoyment bywomen and girls of all humanrights—civil, cultural, economic,political and social, including theright to development-including indisaster reduction, response andrecovery; in this context, specialattention should be given to the pre-vention and prosecution of gender-based violence;

(e) Mainstream a gender perspectiveinto ongoing research by, inter alia,the academic sector on the impactof climate change, natural hazards,disasters and related environmentalvulnerability, including their rootcauses, and encourage the applica-tion of the results of this researchin policies and programmes;

(f) Collect demographic and socio-economic data and information dis-aggregated by sex and age, developnational gender-sensitive indicatorsand analyse gender differenceswith regard to environmental man-agement, disaster occurrence andassociated losses and risks and vul-nerability reduction;

(g) Develop, review and implement, asappropriate, with the involvementand participation of women’sgroups, gender sensitive laws, poli-cies and programmes, including onland-use and urbanization planning,natural resource and environmentalmanagement and integrated waterresources management, to provideopportunities to prevent and miti-gate damage;

(h) Encourage, as appropriate, thedevelopment and implementationof national building standards thattake into account natural hazards sothat women, men and their familiesare not exposed to high risk fromdisasters;

(i) Include gender analysis and meth-ods of mapping hazards and vul-nerabilities at the design stage ofall relevant development pro-grammes and projects in order toimprove the effectiveness of disas-ter risk management, involvingwomen and men equally;

(j) Ensure women’s equal access toinformation and formal and non-formal education on disaster reduc-tion, including through gender-sensitive early warning systems,and empower women to takerelated action in a timely and appro-priate manner;

(k) Promote income-generating activi-ties and employment opportunities,including through the provision ofmicrocredit and other financialinstruments, ensure equal accessto resources, in particular land andproperty ownership, including hous-ing, and take measures to empowerwomen as producers and con-sumers, in order to enhance thecapacity of women to respond todisasters;

(l) Design and implement gender-sensitive economic relief and recov-ery projects and ensure equal eco-nomic opportunities for women,including both in the formal andnon-formal sectors, taking intoaccount the loss of land and prop-erty, including housing and otherproductive and personal assets;

(m)Make women full and equal part-ners in the development of safercommunities and in determiningnational or local priorities for disas-ter reduction and incorporate localand indigenous knowledge, skillsand capacities into environmentalmanagement and disaster reduc-tion;


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(n) Support capacity-building at all levelsaimed at disaster reduction, basedon knowledge about women’s andmen’s needs and opportunities;

(o) Introduce formal and non-formaleducation and training programmesat all levels, including in the areasof science, technology and eco-nomics, with an integrated andgender-sensitive approach to envi-ronmentally sound and sustainableresource management and disasterreduction, response and recoveryin order to change behaviour andattitudes in rural and urban areas;

(p) Ensure the implementation of theircommitments by all Governmentsmade in Agenda 21 and the BeijingPlatform for Action and the out-come document of the twenty-thirdspecial session of the GeneralAssembly, including those in theareas of financial and technicalassistance and the transfer of envi-ronmentally sound technologies tothe developing countries, andensure that a gender perspective ismainstreamed into all such assist-ance and transfers;

(q) Document good practice andlessons-learned, particularly fromeffective community-based strate-gies for disaster reduction,response and recovery, whichactively involve women as well asmen, and widely disseminate thisinformation to all stakeholders;

(r) Improve and develop physical andmental health programmes, serv-ices and social support networks forwomen who suffer from the effectsof natural disasters, includingtrauma;

(s) Strengthen the capacities of min-istries, emergency authorities, prac-titioners and communities to applya gender-sensitive approach to envi-ronmental management and disas-ter reduction and the involvement ofwomen professionals and fieldworkers;

(t) Forge constructive partnershipsbetween Governments, interna-

tional organizations and civil society,including the private sector andNGOs, and other stakeholders inintegrated and gender-sensitive,sustainable development initiativesto reduce environmental risks;

(u) Encourage civil society, includingNGOs, to mainstream a genderperspective in the promotion of sus-tainable development initiatives,including in disaster reduction;

(v) Ensure coordination in the UnitedNations system, including the fulland active participation of funds,programmes and specialized agen-cies to mainstream a gender per-spective in sustainable developmentincluding, inter alia, environmentalmanagement and disaster reductionactivities.

8. The Commission on the Status ofWomen calls for the integration of agender perspective in the implementa-tion of all policies and treaties relatedto sustainable development and in thereview of the implementation of theYokohama Strategy for a Safer World:Guidelines for Natural Disaster Pre-vention, Preparedness and Mitigationand its Plan of Action, scheduled for2004. 9. The Commission on the Status ofWomen welcomes the InternationalStrategy for Disaster Reduction effortsto mainstream a gender perspective inthe mitigation of disasters.10. The Commission on the Status ofWomen welcomes the policy state-ment of the Inter-agency StandingCommittee for the integration of a gen-der perspective in humanitarian affairsof 31 May 1999.11. The Commission on the Status ofWomen welcomes the convening ofthe International Conference onFinancing for Development29 and takesnote of the recognition contained in thedraft Monterrey Consensus of the par-ticular needs of women and the impor-tance of gender equality and theempowerment of women, as well asthe recognition of the impact of disas-ters.

12. The Commission on the Status ofWomen also welcomes the conveningof the World Summit on SustainableDevelopment, to be held in Johan-nesburg, stresses the importance ofgender mainstreaming throughout theprocess and urges gender balance inthe composition of delegations as wellas the involvement and full participa-tion of women in the preparations,work and outcome of the WorldSummit, thus renewing the commit-ment to gender equality objectives atthe international level. The Commissionon the Status of Women further reit-erates that all States and all people shallcooperate in the essential task of erad-icating poverty as an indispensablerequirement for sustainable develop-ment, in order to decrease the dispar-ities in standards of living and bettermeet the needs of the majority of thepeople of the world.

Suggested readings

Piers Blaikie and others, At Risk:Natural Hazards, People’s Vulnerability,and Disasters (London, Rutledge,2002).Susan Cutter, “The forgotten casualties:women, children, and environmentalchange”, Global Environmental Change:Human and Policy Dimensions, vol. 5,No. 3 (1995), pp. 181-194.Patricia Delaney and Elizabeth Shrader,Gender and Post-disaster Recon-struction: The Case of Hurricane Mitchin Honduras and Nicaragua (Washing-ton, D.C., World Bank, 2001). Availablefrom www.anglia.ac.uk/geography/gdn. Department of Humanitarian Affairs,DHA News Focus: Women in Emergen-cies, vol. 22, No. 22 (April/May 1997).Elaine Enarson, Responding to Do-mestic Violence in Disaster: Guidelinesfor Women’s Services and DisasterPractitioners (University of British Columbia, 1997). Available fromwww.anglia.ac.uk/geography/gdn. Elaine Enarson, A Gender Analysis ofWork and Employment Issues in


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Natural Disasters, InFocus Programmeon Crisis and Reconstruction (Inter-national Labour Organization, 2000).Available from www.ilo.org orwww.anglia.ac.uk/geography/gdn.Elaine Enarson and Maureen Fordham,“From women’s needs to women’srights in disasters”, EnvironmentalHazards, vol. 3, No. 3/4 (December2001).Elaine Enarson and Betty HearnMorrow, eds., The Gendered Terrain of Disaster: Through Women’s Eyes(Westport, Greenwood, 1998). Avail-able through the International HurricaneCenter of Florida International Uni-versity, Miami, FL (www. fiu.edu/~lsbr).Priyanty Fernando and Vijitha Fernando,eds., South Asian Women FacingDisasters, Securing Life, (Colombo,Intermediate Technology Publicationsfor Duryog Nivaran, 1997).Maureen Fordham, “Making womenvisible in disasters: problematising theprivate domain”, Disasters, vol. 22, No. 2 (1998), pp. 126-143.Alice Fothergill, “Gender, risk, and disas-ter”, [literature review] InternationalJournal of Mass Emergencies and Disas-ters, vol. 14, No. 1 (1996), pp. 33-56.Kenneth Hewitt, Regions of Risk: AGeographical Introduction to Disasters(Essex, Longman, 1997).Ailsa Holloway, ed., Risk, SustainableDevelopment and Disasters: SouthernPerspectives (Cape Town, University ofCape Town, Periperi Publications,1999).International Decade for NaturalDisaster Reduction, Stop Disasters—Special feature: Women and Children:Keys to Prevention, vol. 24 (1995) and“Prevention pays: success stories fea-turing women and children”, FactSheet #1 1995.Andrew Maskrey, Disaster Mitigation:A Community Based Approach (Oxford,Oxfam, 1989).Betty Hearn Morrow and BrendaPhillips, eds., “Special issue on Womenand Disasters”, International Journal ofMass Emergencies and Disasters, vol.17, No.1 (1999).

Anthony Oliver-Smith and SusannaHoffman, eds., The Angry Earth:Disaster in Anthropological Perspective(New York, Routledge, 1999).PanAmerican Health Organization,Gender and Natural Disasters.Spanish/English Fact Sheet 2001. Alsoavailable from www.paho.org.Walter Gillis Peacock and others, eds.,Hurricane Andrew: Race, Gender andthe Sociology of Disaster (London,Routledge, 1997).Dianne Rocheleau and others, eds.,Feminist Political Ecology: GlobalIssues and Local Experiences (NewYork, Routledge, 1996).John Twigg and Mihir Bhatt, eds.,Understanding Vulnerability: SouthAsian Perspectives (Colombo, Inter-mediate Technology Publications forDuryog Nivaran, 1998).US AID, “Unsung heroines: womenand natural disasters”, GenderMatters, Information Bulletin, No. 8(2000).United Nations, “Environmental man-agement and mitigation of natural dis-asters: a gender perspective”, chapterII, Thematic issues before the Com-mission on the Status of Women,Report of the Secretary-General,(E/CN.6/2002/9). Available fromwww.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/46sess.htm#documents.United Nations Division for theAdvancement of Women, Environ-mental Management and the Mitiga-tion of Natural Disasters: A GenderPerspective. Documentation takenfrom the expert group meeting held inAnkara, Turkey (November 2001), andfrom discussions during the 46th ses-sion of the Commission on the Statusof Women (4-15 and 25 March 2002),including panel discussions, papers andsummaries. Documents are availablefrom www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/46sess.htm. Astrid Von Kotze and Ailsa Holloway,Reducing Risk: Participatory LearningActivities for Disaster Mitigation inSouthern Africa (Cape Town, Universityof Natal, 1996).

Bridget Walker, ed., “Women andEmergencies”, Focus on Gender, vol.2, No. 1 (London, Oxfam, 1994). Raymond Wiest, Jane Mocellin and D.Thandiwe Motsisi, The Needs ofWomen in Disasters and Emergencies,report prepared for the UNDP(Winnipeg, the University of ManitobaDisaster Research Institute, 1994).Available from www.anglia.ac.uk/geography/gdn.

Related Web Sites

GDN: Gender and Disaster Networkweb site including downloadablepapers and conference proceedings,bibliography and contact information formembers (www.anglia.ac.uk/geogra-phy/gdn)CRID: The Regional DisasterInformation Centre maintains an inter-national collection of Spanish- andEnglish-language documents, with agrowing collection of gender and dis-aster writing (www.crid.or.cr/)DAW: Web site of the United NationsDivision for the Advancement ofWomen (www.un.org/womenwatch/daw)


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Endnotes

1 Statement contributed to Internet conference,cited in Elaine Enarson, Gender Equality, Environ-mental Management and Natural Disaster Reduc-tion. Results of the Online Discussion on GenderEquality, Environmental Management and NaturalDisaster Mitigation from the online conferenceconducted by the United Nations Division for theAdvancement of Women (DAW) in preparationfor the expert group meeting on environmentalmanagement and the mitigation of natural disas-ters: a gender perspective, Ankara, Turkey (No-vember 2001). Available through the DAW(www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/env_manage/documents.html).2 Sávano Briceño, Gender Mainstreaming inDisaster Reduction, statement for the UnitedNations Commission for the Status of Women(46th session, 2001) panel discussion on “Envi-ronmental management and mitigation of naturaldisasters: a gender perspective”. Availablethrough DAW (www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/csw46/panel-briceno.pdf).3 Intermediate Technology Group, “Zimbabwe—beating the drought”, in Living With Disaster,John Twigg, ed. (Rugby, United Kingdom,Intermediate Technology, 1998), pp. 7-9.4 See the ISDR Information Kit (www.unisdr.org/unisdr/camp2001.htm); International Federationof Red Cross and Red Crescent’s annual WorldDisaster Report (www.cred.be/emdat/intro.html);and the database maintained by the Centre forResearch on the Epidemiology of Disasters inBelgium (www.cred.be). Two United Nationspublications provide useful introductions. SeeDisasters: Acts of Nature, Acts of Man? andDisasters and Development (Series No. 4 andNo. 5) from DHA Issues in Focus.5 Janet Abramovitz, “Averting unnaturaldisasters”, State of the World 2001 (WorldwatchInstitute, New York, W.W. Norton, 2001), p. 127.6 Dennis Mileti, Disasters by Design: A Rea-ssessment of Natural Hazards in the UnitedStates (Washington, D.C., John Henry Press,1999). 7 Astrid von Kotze, “A new concept of risk?”,in Risk, Sustainable Development and Disasters,Ailsa Holloway, ed. (Cape Town, South Africa,Periperi Publications, 1999), p. 36. Disaster socialscientists debate the concept in What is a

Disaster?: Perspectives on the Question, E. Quarantelli, ed. (New York, Routledge, 1998).8 Andrew Maskrey, Disaster Mitigation: A Community Based Approach. (Oxford, Oxfam,1989), p. 3.9 Justine Sass, Women, Men, and Environ-mental Change: The Gender Dimensions ofEnvironmental Policies and Programmes (Popu-lation Reference Bureau, 2002), p. 3, availableonline (www.prb.org).10 See Mahjabeen Chowdhury, “Women’stechnological innovations and adaptations fordisaster mitigation: a case study of charlandsin Bangladesh”. Prepared for the Expert GroupMeeting in Ankara, 2001.11 Cited in WEDO Primer: Women and Sus-tainable Development, Local Agenda, May 2001(www.wedo.org/sus_dev/sectrion3.htm). 12 See Helen Cox, “Women in bushfire terri-tory”, in The Gendered Terrain of Disaster:Through Women’s Eyes, Elaine Enarson andBetty Hearn Morrow, eds. (Westport, Green-wood, 1998). 13 See SEWA and DMI web sites for more infor-mation. UNDP’s work is reported in pressrelease No. 209, 21 April 2001(www.undp.org.in/news/press/press209.htm).14 Cited in the IDNDR Fact Sheet (No. 1),“Prevention pays: success stories featuringwomen and children” (1995). 15 See Monica Trujillo, “Garden farming and foodsecurity”, Oxfam newsletter on gender (October1997), p. 3. For gender-sensitive materials onhome gardening and food security, see the FAOweb site (www.fao.org/news/2001/brief/BR0106-e.htm#garden).16 A group of non-governmental organizationsworking worldwide to fight poverty and injustice.17 Interview with K. Pushpanath, Oxfam RegionalRepresentative for Malawi and Zambia, 1988-1993, Focus on Gender, vol. 12, No. 1 (1994).18 John Vidal, “Women power halts work onIndian dam”, Guardian Weekly (18 January 1998),p. 4. Also see Arundhati Roy, The Cost of Living(New York, Modern Library, 1999).19 Wilfred Tichigawa, “The effects of drought on the condition of women”, in “Women andEmergencies”, Focus on Gender, Bridget Walker,ed., vol. 2, No. 1 (London, Oxfam, 1994), p. 25.


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20 In the United States, for example, the FederalEmergency Management Agency developedProject Impact to showcase communitiesimplementing the agency’s new focus onmitigation (www.fema.gov/impact). 21 Women’s Environment and DevelopmentOrganization, Addendum No. 1, Dialogue Paperby Women. Prepared for the World Summit onSustainable Development, January 2002 (www.wedo.org/sus_dev/unpaper.htm).22 Adapted from Elaine Enarson, proposal to the Center for Disaster Management andHumanitarian Relief (Tampa, FL, University ofSouth Florida, 2001). Guidelines will be availableonline through the Gender and Disaster Network(www.anglia.ac.uk/geography/gdn). 23 Astrid von Kotze and Ailsa Holloway, ReducingRisk: Participatory Learning Activities for DisasterMitigation in Southern Africa. (Cape Town, SouthAfrica, IFRC and the Department of Adult andCommunity Education, University of Natal, 1996).24 Soroptimist International, “Disasters: thewoman’s perspective”, p. 6 (www.sorop.org).25 See posting by Cathy Diehl in Elaine Enarson,op. cit., report from the online conferenceconducted by the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women (November 2001)(www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/env_manage/index.html), p. 5.26 The case for gender-balanced emergencymanagement is evident in many accounts.Among others, see Doone Robertson, “Womenin emergency management: an Australianperspective, in Enarson and Morrow. eds., op. cit. (1998); Rashed Begum, “Women in environmental disasters: the 1991 cyclone inBangladesh”, Focus on Gender, vol. 1, No. 1,(1993); and Carolyn Oxlee, Beyond the Veil:Women in Islamic National Societies (mvmt.ifrc.org/magazine/en_2000_1/pages/voile_en.html).27 Cited in IDNDR Fact Sheet (No. 1), op. cit. 28 See posting by Cheryl Anderson cited inElaine Enarson, op. cit., report from the onlineconference conducted by the United NationsDivision for the Advancement of Women(November 2001), p. 12.29 From Mirvat Shabanah, Women Health andDevelopment Office of the WHO, Cairo.Personal communication, EGM, Ankara, 2001. 30 Adapted from Mayra Buvinic, Hurricane Mitch: Women’s Needs and Contributions, Inter-

American Development Bank, SustainableDevelopment Department, Technical PapersSeries, (1999).31 See Alice Fothergill, “The Gendered Terrain of Disaster”, in Enarson and Morrow, eds., op.cit., (1998).32 For examples from Canada and the UnitedStates, see Lynn Orstad, “Tools for change:emergency management for women”, paperprepared for the EGM in Ankara, 2001; andElaine Enarson, “What women do: genderedlabor in the Red River Valley flood”, Environ-mental Hazards, vol. 3, pp. 1-18. 33 For example, a relief worker in India trying toensure that four “untouchable” families in onevillage hit in the 2001 Gujarat earthquakereceived their share of supplies reportedly“struck a deal with the village elders to let amember of a local women’s development groupsupervise the handing out of blankets, tarps andwater bottles”. “Quake can’t shake castesystem”, The Indian Express, 9 February 2001.34 Adapted from Redesigning Reconstruction(April 2001), publication of the Swayam ShikshanPrayog, and from Prema Gopalan, “Responding to earthquakes: people’s participation inreconstruction and rehabilitation”, paper preparedfor the expert group meeting organized by theUnited Nations Division for the Advancement ofWomen, op. cit.35 Described by Lourdes Meyreles, FacultadLatinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO)in the Dominican Republic, at the 2000 Miamiconference, Reaching Women and Children inDisasters. 36 As reported online 25 March 1999 in “Women’sreconstruction brigade to Nicaragua”, posted bythe Central America Women’s Network([email protected]).37 The SEWA web site (www.sewa.org)describes members’ activities during and afterthe earthquake as well as their droughtmitigation projects. 38 “These unsung heroines belief in self-help”,Times of India, 8 March 2001, p. 5.39 See UNDP press release 209(www.undp.org.in/news/press/press209.htm).40 The international network of grassrootswomen’s organizations is a case in point(www.groots.org).


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41 See Elaine Enarson and Betty Hearn Morrow,“Women will rebuild Miami: a case study offeminist response to disaster”, in Enarson andMorrow, eds., op. cit., (1998). 42 See posting by Sarah Henshaw, in ElaineEnarson, op. cit., report from the onlineconference conducted by the United NationsDivision for the Advancement of Women(November 2001), p. 4. Available through theDAW (www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/env_manage/documents.html).43 Adapted from “Unsung heroines: women and natural disasters”, USAID Gender MattersInformation Bulletin, No. 8 (January 2000). 44 Carolina Serrat Vinas, “Women’s disastervulnerability and response to the Colima earth-quake”, Enarson and Morrow, eds., op. cit.,(1998).45 Gloria Noel, “The role of women in healthrelated aspects of emergency management”,Enarson and Morrow, eds., op. cit., (1998).46 See Richard Krajeski and Kristina Peterson,“But she is a woman and this is a man’s job:lessons for participatory research and partici-patory recovery”, International Journal of MassEmergencies and Disasters, vol. 17, No. 1(1999).47 Patricia Delaney and Elizabeth Shrader,“Gender and post-disaster reconstruction: the case of Hurricane Mitch in Honduras andNicaragua”, op. cit., (2001). 48 See posting by Madhavi Ariyabandu, in Elaine Enarson, op. cit., report from the onlineconference conducted by the United NationsDivision for the Advancement of Women(November 2001), p. 14. Available through theDAW (www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/env_manage/documents.html). There is a great needfor comparative and longitudinal research toidentify factors supporting sustained changetoward more egalitarian gender relations in thewake of disasters. 49 Patricia Delaney and Elizabeth Shrader, Gender and Post-disaster Reconstruction: the Case of Hurricane Mitch in Honduras andNicaragua (Washington, D.C., World Bank, 2001).Available from www.anglia.ac.uk/geography/gdn. 50 Farzani Bari Gender, “Disaster and empower-ment: a case study from Pakistan”, Enarson and

Morrow, eds., op.cit., (1998), p. 131.51 Elaine Enarson and Betty Hearn Morrow,“Women will rebuild Miami”, op. cit. 52 From Armine Mikayelyan, “Earthquake mitiga-tion from a gender perspective in Armenia”,paper prepared for the expert group meetingorganized by the United Nations DAW, op. cit. 53 Described by Hanna Schmuck in “Empoweringwomen in Bangladesh,” uploaded by ReliefWebon 25 February 2002 (www.reliefweb.int). 54 In the United States, see Elaine Enarson andBetty Hearn Morrow, “A gendered perspective:the voices of women”, in Hurricane Andrew:Race, Gender and the Sociology of Disaster,Walter Gillis Peacock and others, eds., (London,Routledge, 1997), pp.116-140; and Elaine Enarson,“What women do”, op. cit. For India, see PremaGopalan, “Responding to earthquakes”, op. cit.;and Maithreyi Krishnaraj, “Gender issues indisaster management: the Latur earthquake”,Gender, Technology and Development, vol. 1, No. 3 (1997). For Turkey, see Sengül Akçar,“Grassroots women’s collectives’ roles in post-disaster efforts”, paper prepared for the expertgroup meeting organized by United Nations DAW,op. cit. The SEWA web site (www.sewa.org)provides additional examples.55 Adapted from Judith Soares and A. Mullings,“As we run tings’: women rebuilding Mont-serrat”, in A Will to Survive: Volcanic impact and Crisis Mitigation in Montserrat, G. D. Howeand Howard Fergus, eds., (Jamaica, University of the West Indies Press, forthcoming).56 Carol Johnson, “When the earth trembled in Mexico. Quake exposes women’s work con-ditions”, New Directions for Women, vol. 15,No. 2, (1986), pp. 1 and 18.57 Sengül Akçar, “Grassroots women’s col-lectives’ roles in postdisaster efforts”, op. cit. 58 As reported in the summary by Fayiza Abbasof remarks by Jan Peterson, Huairou Com-mission on “Women, homes, and community”during the DAW Roundtable on The Dispropor-tionate Impact of Natural Disasters on Women,17 January 2002. 59 Reported by the Huairou Commission(“Findings from the Gujarat Disaster Watch”). 60 See UNDP press release 209 (www.undp.org.in/news/press/press209.htm). The network of

350 Brazilian women’s radio programmes is des-cribed in the WEDO Primer: Women and Sus-tainable Development, Local Agenda, May 2001.61 ECOSOC resolution 2002/5, Part B, para. 7,CSW recommendations address Governments atall levels, international organizations, includingthe United Nations system, donors, with theassistance of NGOs and other actors in civilsociety and the private sectors, as appropriate.62 Beijing Platform for Action, para. 246, BeijingDeclaration and Platform for Action with theBeijing+5 Political Declaration and outcomedocument, (New York, Department of PublicInformation, United Nations, 2001), pp. 137-138.63 Beijing Platform for Action, para. 251, op. cit.,p. 140.

64 Report of the World Summit on SustainableDevelopment, Johannesburg, South Africa, 26 August–4 September 2002 (United Nationspublication, Sales No. E.03.II.A.1).65 The text of the decision can be found atwww.un.org/esa/sustdev/csd/csd11/csd11res.pdf.66 The conclusions and recommendations are adapted from Carolyn Hannan, Director,United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women, statement at a round-table panel and discussion organized by the Division for the Advancement of Women and the NGO Com-mittee on the Status of Women, United NationsHeadquarters, 17 January 2002 (www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/documents/Natdisas).


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The cover design isadapted from “Tree oflife”, 1999, by EdwinaSandys.

This issue of Women2000 and Beyondwas compiled by the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women,

with Ms. Elaine Enarson, Consultant.


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Women Go Global CD-ROMThe United Nations and the International Women’s Movement, 1945-2000

An easy-to-use, interactive, multimedia CD-ROM on the events that have been shaping the international agenda for women’s equalityfrom the inception of the United Nations in 1945, to the year 2000. It offers women’s groups, non-governmental organizations, educa-tors, journalists and governments a compelling history of the struggle for gender equality through the United Nations.

Women Go Global describes milestones in the efforts of the United Nations and the international women’s movement to bring aboutgreater gender equality.

It offers extensive coverage of the four United Nations women’s conferences held in Mexico City (1975), Copenhagen (1980), Nairobi(1985) and Beijing (1995) and the parallel non-governmental forums. It discusses the important role of the UN Commission on the Statusof Women and provides up-to-date information on the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and on the outcome of Beijing+5.

This unique CD-ROM will allow you to:• Listen to Eleanor Roosevelt reading a Letter to the Women of the World at the first UN General Assembly in 1946• Meet women who served as architects of the women’s movement at the UN• Learn how the UN has become a place for women to lobby and network• Make a virtual journey to the four global women’s conferences and witness the excitement of the parallel activities organized by

the NGOs• Obtain final results of Beijing+5 and learn first-hand about women’s visions for the twenty-first century

Also included is a selective bibliography and hyperlinks to key web sites, such as “Womenwatch”, the UN Internet Gateway onwomen’s issues, as well as a list of country-based archives on women’s history and the profiles of more than 200 key persons parti-cipating in the global effort.

Sales No. E.01.IV.1 • ISBN 92-1-130211-0 • Price: $19.95

Women, Peace and Security: Study submitted by the Secretary-General pursuant to Security Council resolution 1325 (2000)

This study on women, peace and security was mandated by Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) and the preparation was coordi-nated by the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women in close cooperation with the Inter-agency Task Force onWomen, Peace and Security. It indicates that while women and girls share experiences with men and boys during armed conflict, theculture of violence and discrimination against women and girls that exists during peace times is often exacerbated during conflict andnegatively affects women’s ability to participate in peace processes and ultimately inhibits the attainment of lasting peace.

The study documents how, over the last 15 years, the UN system, Member States, regional organizations and civil society increasedefforts to better respond to the differential impact of armed conflict on women and girls and recognized women’s efforts in conflictprevention and conflict resolution. The study recommends the systematic integration of gender perspectives in all peace accords andmandates of peacekeeping and peace-building missions as well as in the programming and delivery of humanitarian assistance; repre-sentation of women at all stages and at all levels of peace operations, in humanitarian operations and in decision-making processes inpost-conflict reconstruction; as well as improved compliance with existing international legal norms.

The study draws on the collective experience of the UN system: it analyses the impact of armed conflict on women and girls; itdescribes the relevant international legal framework; and it reviews the gender perspectives in peace processes, peace operations,humanitarian operations, reconstruction and rehabilitation, and in disarmament, demobilization and the reintegration processes.

Sales No. E.03.IV.1 • ISBN: 92-1-130222-6 • Price: $25.00

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Handbook for Parliamentarians The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

and its Optional Protocol

This Handbook, produced by the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women in collaboration with the Inter-ParliamentaryUnion, offers a comprehensive and educational presentation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination againstWomen and its Optional Protocol. The Handbook presents the background to and content of the Convention and the Optional Protocoland describes the role of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, which secures implementation at thenational level. It provides examples of good practice and gives an overview of what parliamentarians can do to ensure effective imple-mentation of the Convention and encourage use of the Optional Protocol. It also proposes model instruments and reference materialas aids designed to facilitate the work of legislators.

The Handbook is available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.

Sales No. E.03.IV.5 • ISBN 92-1-130226-9 • Price $18.95

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