How should the new international disaster risk framework address gender equality?

The document argues that while international policies have increasingly adopted gender mainstreaming, a significant gap remains in national and local implementation of disaster risk reduction (DRR). It highlights that women are often incorrectly viewed as a homogenous vulnerable group, overlooking their specific capacities and leadership in disaster recovery. The brief provides evidence of gender-differentiated impacts from events like the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, and recommends that the next international framework include independent monitoring and the systematic collection of gender-disaggregated data.

• Disasters frequently result in higher mortality rates for women than men, often due to gendered roles and social expectations. For instance, during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, female deaths reached 77% in North Aceh and 72% in Aceh Besar, Indonesia, and 62% in Cuddalore, India, partly because women stayed to care for children and relatives or had less access to survival skills like swimming.
• Natural disasters can widen existing gender-based economic inequalities. Following Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, the wage gap increased as median earnings for most men rose while earnings for Black/African American and Hispanic/Latina women fell, which, combined with a 46% increase in rents, limited women's access to affordable housing.
• There is a heightened risk of gender-based violence in the aftermath of disasters, particularly in relief camps. This was observed after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and following typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, where women and girls faced increased risks of sexual exploitation, trafficking, and violence.
• Women possess distinct capacities and leadership roles in disaster preparedness and recovery, such as maintaining kinship links and mobilising survival skills. Examples include women in Jakarta, Indonesia, organising emergency kitchens, and women in Vietnam engaging in technical DRR training and community-based early warning systems.
• A significant gap exists between international policy and national practice; most governments do not systematically collect gender-disaggregated data. Analysis of 40 HFA National Progress Reports from 2013 revealed that only 11 countries conducted gender-disaggregated vulnerability and capacity assessments.
• Gender mainstreaming in DRR is hindered by two primary assumptions: the tendency to view women as a homogenous group of passive victims, and the belief in industrialised countries that gender equality has already been achieved, which leads to the omission of gender-specific components in DRR plans.
• To improve accountability and effectiveness, the second Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA2) should assign the responsibility for monitoring gender mainstreaming to an independent institution and mandate the systematic collection of data disaggregated by gender and other forms of social exclusion.

APA

Le Masson, V., & Langston, L. (2014). How should the new international disaster risk framework address gender equality? Climate and Development Knowledge Network. http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/How-should-the-new-international-disaster-risk-framework-address-gender-equality.pdf

Chicago

Le Masson, Virginie, and Lara Langston. How should the new international disaster risk framework address gender equality? Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2014. http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/How-should-the-new-international-disaster-risk-framework-address-gender-equality.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Le Masson |first1=Virginie |last2=Langston |first2=Lara |title=How should the new international disaster risk framework address gender equality? |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |date=March 2014 |url=http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/How-should-the-new-international-disaster-risk-framework-address-gender-equality.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{lemasson2014how, author = {Le Masson, Virginie and Langston, Lara}, title = {{How should the new international disaster risk framework address gender equality?}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2014}, month = mar, url = {http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/How-should-the-new-international-disaster-risk-framework-address-gender-equality.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }