Climate change is already increasing the intensity and magnitude of natural hazards such as floods,
storms, droughts and other severe weather events. These impacts are expected to worsen in the future.
Sea levels may rise, low-lying delta areas might be flooded and salt-water intrusion may increase.
Although natural disasters happen all over and they have a much greater impact on all communities.
Economies are less powerful and therefore less able to prevent disasters or to cope with the losses.
Natural disasters are especially likely to affect parts of the population that lack the ability to prepare for
the impacts of disaster because of economic limitations or cultural factors. This holds true for both
industrialized and less industrialized cities. It is generally the poor parts of society that are most
affected by natural disasters.
Gender dimensions
It is widely understood that women and men are affected differently by disasters in a number of
respects, depending on cultural and socio-economic contexts.
Men and women are clearly both affected by disasters, but biological, social, cultural and economic
differences mean that they are affected differently. The gendered impacts of disasters affect emergency
response, reconstruction and recovery efforts after disaster events, and are also relevant to the
prevention and mitigation of disasters.
Natural disasters directly impact women in their roles as producers and providers of food, water and
fuel, income earners, household managers and care givers. Food security and family well-being are
threatened when the resource base upon which women rely to carry out their roles and to obtain
supplementary incomes is undermined. Pregnant and lactating women are particularly at risk due to
their limited mobility and heightened needs for water and food. Disasters can also affect women’s social
role by reducing their autonomy and decision-making power. Increased care-giving responsibilities may
double or even triple women’s workloads. Men, on the other hand, have a higher risk of morbidity and
mortality during natural disasters because of their social role as protector and defender of family and
household, while women are more at risk due to cultural restrictions. Due to their lack of financial
resources, women – who make up the majority of the poor – are can find themselves in particularly dire
circumstances during and after disasters. When disasters damage or destroy the local environment,
women can lose the materials, resources and spaces they depend on to live and work.
Although women’s home-based businesses are often destroyed, they tend to be less supported than
men in post-disaster phases. They have less access to post-disaster reconstruction initiatives such as
jobs, credit programs and facilities. Several studies have pointed out that women’s suffering after
disasters has more long-term consequences than men’s.
Post-disaster migration can increase women’s burden. Migration may lead to demographic changes in a
population and a higher share of female-headed households with limited provision of adult labour and
more responsibilities for caring for family, participating in the community and generating income.
Women may also be less mobile, and thus less able to participate in migration, due to their caring
responsibilities.
Forecasting information networks or early warning systems oriented towards males often don’t take
into account women’s opportunities and channels to access information. Accordingly, due to their
limited access to information, women are less able to minimize risks.
Women are key to the prevention of disasters: their local knowledge is useful during and after disasters,
and they have survival and coping skills in emergencies, including food preservation and physical and
mental health care skills.
Natural disasters sometimes provide women with unique opportunities to challenge and change their
gendered status in society. As a result of their disaster response efforts, women might be able to
develop new skills and take an active role in what are traditionally considered ‘male’ tasks. This can have
the effect of changing society’s conceptions of women’s capabilities.
Our Response
There is a significant amount of knowledge about the gendered impacts of disaster management and
risk reduction. To ensure that gender considerations are mainstreamed into disaster preparation and
response, it should be mandatory for gender and disaster experts to be involved in the development of
national and local adaptation plans.
New ways of thinking about disaster risk are needed which support democratic, environmentally and
socially sustainable, and disaster-resilient communities. A greater reflection of the differences between
women’s and men’s everyday realities will promote an integrated and holistic approach and enhance
community involvement, mitigation, disaster prevention and social equality.
There are valuable skills and lessons to be learnt from the varied women’s initiatives that exist – from
local level adaptation and coping strategies to political advocacy, policy intervention and political
organizing. These concerns must be integrated into women’s movements.
Women who live in different high-risk environmental, political, cultural, and economic contexts, and
therefore have differing access to resources like energy and water, should be regularly consulted about
climate policy and disaster response. Specific attention should be paid to the inclusion of non-
indigenous and indigenous women.
Gender-sensitive training modules targeting a range of audiences and focusing on risk communication,
mitigation, socially just reconstruction policies and others related issues could help to raise awareness
among planners, politicians and practitioners.
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