A comparative study reveals that womxn and young girls are evidently and usually more vulnerable to disasters as compared to men. One of the main reasons for this, apart from their certain physical limitations such as pregnancy and menstruation, is the socially-constructed roles of womxn normalised by patriarchal forces in society. These limitations imposed on womxn play a major role in facilitating this vulnerability. Such norms are usually framed by the male head of the family to limit womxn’s access to knowledge, awareness, information, their capacity to respond to an emergency situation, and exclude the concerns of womxn.
It was reported that 42% more females died in the 1991 Cyclone in Bangladesh because their husbands had the decision-making power and “did not allow” womxn to leave their habitations without their husbands’ permission. In the 2004 disaster of Tsunami in the Indian ocean, 80% of the 300,000 deaths were womxn and children from 13 nations.
Figures from States of India including Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat and Bihar replicate somewhat the same kind of gendered power relations and gendered roles in the post-disaster period. In case of man-made disasters such as riots or emergency situations, the security of womxn and children is much likely to be at stake, as they are much more vulnerable to the dangers unleashed as compared to men.
Be it violent riots, a sudden outbreak of communal violence, or a natural disaster such as floods, womxn should be trained properly with enough resources, equipment, technology, information and techniques to overcome the aftermath and consequences of such sudden unfortunate outbreaks. Muslim womxn and the entire Muslim community who were the targeted victims of the North-East Delhi pogrom in February 2020 and communal hatred, must be given urgent assistance and accessibility to improve their respective situation. There have been reports of biased treatment at hospitals because of religious, caste or other social identities.
Lack of local womxn or even womxn who reside in disaster-prone areas in policymaking has somewhere failed the Disaster Risk Reduction policies to meet the special needs of womxn going through different biological changes. There is no special healthcare, special task womxn force or womxn officials located in relief camps or areas of riots to look after pregnant or sick womxn. Due to this, there have been reported deaths of womxn, miscarriages and lack of nutrition. Apart from that, in the post-disaster period, it has been reported that womxn also tend to suffer tantrums and violence by their husbands due to their alcohol abuse, sexual abuse and lack of employability.
Clearly, this is patriarchal domination and frustration in private spheres of life that is functionally imposed on womxn. Female heads of the family hardly play any role in decision-making with respect to responding to a disaster. In some cases, when the womxn is a widow, they are even more vulnerable to disaster risk reduction rebuilding process because of social restrictions.
It is only now that differential needs of womxn such as sanitary napkins, fresh undergarments and hygiene are being acknowledged in the relief initiatives of the ongoing 2020 Delhi Riots. It took our society years to acknowledge these differential needs of womxn.
The role of training centres to educate and train womxn to respond to emergency situations will be valuable, helpful, and would make them independent from their male counterparts and feel self-sufficient to a certain degree. They would even act as a supplement/helping hand to the male groups. The NGOs and Man-Made Disaster Management Acts/Natural Disaster Acts should uphold a more gender-inclusive approach to policymaking, keeping in mind the special needs of womxn.
Initiatives such as the Gender Strategy Program of UNDP play a significant role in addressing the concerns of womxn. Equal participation of womxn in policymaking, decision planning, planning and monitoring Disaster Risk Reduction policies cannot be overlooked or avoided at any cost as it might lead to the unsuccessful implementation of policies causing catastrophic consequences, which is something we can’t afford at the moment keeping in mind the already vulnerable situation of the country.