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MADRE

Prioritizing Women's Human Rights in Times of Disaster: Problems & Solutions

When we examine "natural disasters" from the perspective of survivors, we see that disasters are ultimately not a force of nature, but a failure of government—a failure to ensure safe infrastructure, social services, and human rights for all. Indeed, the term "natural disaster" is misleading. While a hurricane or earthquake occurs in nature, a disaster's impact on people's lives depends enormously on their access to resources and their power to make decisions.

Related Materials

• The MADRE Model of Emergency and Disaster Relief
• A Women's Rights-based Approach to Climate Change

Gender refers to the different social roles assigned to women and men. These roles are usually unequal; men's qualities and contributions are more highly valued and women have less power and less access to resources. Women are therefore put at greater risk when disasters strike. Yet, because women play a primary role in sustaining families and communities, their leadership in times of disaster is critical.

MADRE's disaster relief and recovery programs identify the specific threats that women face and the unique contributions that women make in efforts to address the following problems associated with disasters.

The Problem: Urgent Need for Food, Water, and Basic Necessities

How are women affected?

• People hardest-hit by disaster may lose all of their possessions and access to the resources that sustain life, including water, food, and fuel sources. Gender discrimination means that women's needs are the first to be sacrificed when resources are made scarce.
• Moreover, because women are traditionally responsible for securing water, food, and fuel, they often must trek great distances after disaster to acquire these necessities, increasing their workload and making it more difficult to care for children and other dependents.

The Conventional Approach

Who Gets Aid?

• Relief operations often assume that disasters are gender-neutral, which puts women at risk. When the distribution of emergency aid does not challenge gender discrimination, women are marginalized in their access to aid.
• Too often, aid reaches those who yell the loudest or push their way to the front of the line. When aid is distributed through the "head of household" approach, women-headed families may not be recognized, and women within male-headed families may be marginalized because aid is controlled by male relatives.

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