Disaster Resilience: Addressing Gender Disparities

• Author: Kristi Koenig,Lisa Moreno‐Walton
• Date: 01 March 2016
• Published date: 01 March 2016
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/wmh3.179

Disaster Resilience: Addressing Gender Disparities

Lisa Moreno-Walton and Kristi Koenig

This article explores the impact of gender on disaster resilience and survival within diverse

populations. Through a review of the relevant literature, f‌ive categories of gender-related disparities

are identif‌ied: biology, responsibility for dependents, development of skills, clothing, and vulnerabil-

ity to assault and traff‌icking. Identif‌ication of gender disparities is a f‌irst step in building resilient

communities, and enhancing survival across a wide range of disaster scenarios when future events

occur.

KEY WORDS: disaster, women, gender, survival disparities

Introduction

The World Health Organization def‌ines a disaster as “any occurrence that

causes damage, ecological disruption, loss of human life or deterioration of health

and health services on a scale suff‌icient to warrant an extraordinary response from

outside the affected community” (World Health Organization, 1999). The effects of

disasters and humanitarian crises on populations have become common globally,

with the lifetime exposure risk estimated at one in six for those living on the

Australian continent (Women’s Health Goulburn North East, 2011), prolonged

displacement experiences for survivors of Hurricane Katrina, and extended periods

of civil unrest and war in Bosnia and several African nations. In almost every crisis

situation, data demonstrate that disasters reinforce, perpetuate, and increase

gender inequalities (UN Interagency Group on Gender Equality and Women’s

Empowerment for Latin America and the Caribbean, 2014). Statistics conf‌irm

gender disparities in disaster-related morbidity and mortality (Figure 1). Despite

the common myth about chivalry at sea, the survival rate of women is half that of

men in maritime disasters over the past three centuries (Elinder & Erixson, 2012).

This article serves to raise awareness about gender disparities in disaster

resilience, a topic that is underemphasized in the disaster literature and in current

disaster planning.

Gender disparities extend beyond the acute phase of the disaster to the

recovery period. Evidence from worldwide literature supports the fact that

increased violence against women is characteristic of postdisaster recovery. The

World Medical & Health Policy, Vol. 8, No. 1, 2016

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1948-4682 #2016 Policy Studies Organization

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