• Gender in disaster risk reduction before a disaster: case studies from Fukuoka, Japan, Irene Petraroli, Jane Singer
• Women's invisible work in disaster contexts: Gender norms in speech on women's work after a forest fire in Sweden, Erna Danielsson, Kerstin Eriksson
• Gender difference in risk perception of public health crisis, Robin Chark
• Oil, Religion, Manuel and Emergency Management: about 7 exercises showing that difference matters, Luc Rombout
• Expressions of gender – in a mono gendered setting, Nina Blom Andersen, Mikkel Bøhm

Panel description

Today, research on social differentiation has a relatively coherent starting point in deeming social categories like e.g. gender, ethnicity, class, age as culturally constructed and not something that exists only by itself (cf. Enarson, Fothergill & Peek 2006; Giritli Nygren & Olofsson, 2014) This panel addresses how this kind of differences are understood and handled during emergencies, risk and crisis management. Crisis management is strongly linked to social norms and to the definition of what constitutes a crisis were masculinity play a crucial role (Danielsson, 2016 Ericsson, 2011; Ericsson & Mellström, 2016). Crises are constructed in the definition of what is a crisis, in the organizing of crisis management and crisis preparedness, in the language and story of crises and in which stories are important to pass on (Ericson and Mellström, 2016; Öhman et al., 2016). Understandings of the concepts risk and crisis have also often been based on patriarchal and Eurocentric schemes in research as well as practice (Bradshaw & Linneker 2017; Hervik, 2019; Giritli-Nygren et al., 2017). This, in turn, has contributed to the fact that crisis management in various forms has traditionally been associated with men and masculinity and European white supremacy, whereas vulnerability have rather been seen in relation to women and 'the Other', which are being rationalized and ethnized (Ericson 2011; Ericson & Mellström 2016; Giritli Nygren & Olofsson, 2014; Hervik 2019; Olofsson & Rashid, 2011). In addition, the gendered dimensions of dealing with risk (Wester, 2012) and especially how the perspective of social differences is part of the profession of emergency management still needs more considerations (Olofsson & Rashid, 2011; Olofsson et al 2014).

In this panel, we welcome critical analytical perspectives in order to move this field forward.

References

Bradshaw, S. and B. Linneker (2017) ‘Gender Perspectives on Disaster reconsruction in Nicaragua: Reconstructing Roles and Relations?’ In E. Enarson and P. G. D. Chakrabarti (eds) Women, Gender and Disaster. Sage, New Delhi. pp. 75-88.

Danielsson, E. (2016) ‘Framing Crisis’. Paper presented at the SRA-E Open Chapter, Göteborg.

Enarson, E., & Morrow, B. (1998). The Gendered Terrain of Disaster: Through Women's Eyes. Praeger, Westport Conneticut.

Enarson, E., & Meyreles, L. (2004). International perspectives on gender and disaster: differences and possibilities. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 24(10/11), 49-93.

Enarson, E., Fothergill, A., & Peek, L. (2006). Gender and disaster: Foundations and directions. In H. Rodriguez, E. L. Quarantelli, & R. Dynes (Eds.), Handbook of disaster research (pp. 130-146). New York: Springer.

Ericson, M. (2011) Nära inpå : maskulinitet, intimitet och gemenskap i brandmäns arbetslag. Göteborg, Department of Sociology, University of Gothenburg.

Ericson, M. and U. Mellström (2016) ‘Firefighters, technology, masculinity in the micro-management of disasters: Examples from Sweden’. In E. Enarson and B. Pease (eds) Men, masculinities and disaster. Routledge, pp 165-174.

Giritli Nygren, K., & Olofsson, A. (2014). Intersectional approaches in health‐risk research: A critical review. Sociology Compass, 8(9), 1112-1126.

Giritli Nygren, K., Öhman, S., & Olofsson, A. (2017). Doing and undoing risk: The mutual constitution of risk and heteronormativity in contemporary society. Journal of Risk Research, 20(3), 418-432.

Hervik, P. red. (2019) Racialization, racism and anti-racism in the Nordic countries. London: Palgrave.

Olofsson, A., & Rashid, S. (2011). The white (male) effect and risk perception: Can equality make a difference?. Risk Analysis: An International Journal, 31(6), 1016-1032.

Olofsson, A., Öhman, S., & Giritli-Nygren, K. (2014). (O)avsiktliga konsekvenser av riskkommunikation vid extraordinära händelser: Skogsbranden i Västmanland 2014. Östersund, Sweden: Forum för Genusvetenskap, Mittuniversitetet.

Wester, M, (2012). Risk and Gender: Daredevils and Eco-Angels. In Handbook of Risk Theory: Epistemology, Decision Theory, Ethics, and Social Implications of Risk. Roeser, S., Hillerbrand, R., Sandin, P. & Peterson, M. (eds.). Dordrecht: Springer, p. 1029-1048

Öhman, S., Giritli Nygren, K., & Olofsson, A. (2016). The (un) intended consequences of crisis communication