Gender and Disasters: Human, Gender and Environmental Security
Publisher: UNU Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS)
Author(s): Úrsula Oswald Spring
Date: 2008
Topics: Economic Recovery, Gender
The core query in this paper revolves around a few questions concerning the different meanings of nature, environment, disaster, risks, and vulnerability. How is the established Cosmo-vision affecting gender security? Why is this perception a result of thousands of years of identity processes, and how does this perception create and increase social vulnerabilities? Why is a woman’s vulnerability always sub-estimated or not taken into account before, during, and after a disaster? What concrete mechanisms can women develop to increase their resilience and develop coping capacities, allowing them to deal better with recurrent dangers and disasters by mitigating their effects? What kind of multi-resilience building is required for women to deal with the complexity of social, psychological, physical and gender vulnerabilities? How can an integrated Human, Gender, and Environmental Security (HUGE) help women reduce their vulnerability and increase their resilience? How can HUGE reduce fatal outcomes and strengthen a community-based preparedness to improve living conditions and support Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)?
The paper starts with a conceptual analysis of gender perception, which creates identity processes leading to specific gender insecurity.These processes are the result of thousands of years of social praxis, and the outcome of this social construction leads to high social vulnerability. Gender security is a broad concept interlinked with human and environmental security concerns, gender equity, and human rights. Taken a step further, one can analyze the longstanding identity processes that lead to ever increasing social vulnerabilities and limited self-reliant responses. Thousands of years of gender discriminations have created social representations able to trigger adverse situations and confront people with extreme living conditions.This triggering discrimination process should be analyzed,in turn reinforcing social vulnerability and the personal negative identity-building that creates structural dependency. As a result of the preceding analyses, one may examine how social construction of different representation building blocks can reinforce resilience and reduce social vulnerability. In conclusion, pledging for a widening and deepening understanding of gender security confronts the increasing risks and uncertainty in a world threatened by Global Environmental Change (GEC), disasters, marginalization, terrorism, violence, migration, and refugees. Changes in consciousness, identity, and social representation processes create elements sustainable for bottom-up decision-making and resilience-building dynamics.When reinforced with top-down participation and democratic support from governments, international organizations, and NGOs one might be able to challenge the present security factors facing mankind.