Gender in disaster risk reduction before a disaster: case studies from Fukuoka, Japan
Abstract as pdf
Corresponding Author:
Irene Petraroli
Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University Japan
irene.petraroli.87c@st.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Author(s):
Jane Singer1
1Kyoto University, JPN
Until the early 2000s, Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) strategies did not properly recognise gender vulnerabilities (Enarson and Morrow, 1998). Following the first reports showing the effects of gender-unequal or gender-bling DRR strategies like unequal access to house subsidies (Masai et al, 2009), an international consensus on the importance of gender equality in disaster management and reconstruction developed (Asia-Pacific Gender and Disaster Management Forum, 2009). Currently, gender is integrated in disaster policy design through international reports, official guidelines, and online series for policymakers and international organisations (IRF, 2009; UNISDR, UNDP and IUCN, 2009; IFCR, 2011).
Although these are remarkable advances, reports and guidelines only address gender-based risks after a disaster happens and are based on the assumption that all the stakeholders share the same understanding of gender-based disaster risk (Enarson and Pease, 2016). Thus, there is a need to analyse critically different conceptualisations of gender in DRR education strategies before the emergency.
I propose a comparative study of four conceptualisations of gender in DRR education strategies: gender as women empowerment, gender as motherhood, gender as equality between men and women, and gender as genderblind. I analyse each variant through case studies of gender-sensitive disaster education in Fukuoka City (Japan): the Mini-Book for the disaster prevention for mothers by the Gender Equality Affairs Office, the family-oriented simulation organised by a local NPO, and the Citizen’s Disaster Prevention Centre, managed by the Fire and Disaster Prevention Department. The study aims to compare gender-based disaster education based on inductive versus deductive educational system, goals, priorities, and challenges.
The study contributes by informing a complex notion of gender in DRR education strategies and gives practical recommendations to include gender-perspective in DRR.
Enarson, Morrow (1998) ‘Why gender? Why women? An introduction to women and disaster’, in The gendered terrain of disaster. Praeger, pp. 1–10.
Enarson, Pease (2016) Men, Masculinities and Disaster. Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge.
IFCR (2011) A practical guide to Gender-sensitive Approaches for Disaster Management. Geneva: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and Asia Pacific Zone Office.
International Recovery Platform (2009) Knowledge For Recovery Series: Info Kits.
Masai, Kuzunishi, and Kondo (2009) ‘Women in the Great Hanshin Earthquake’, in Women, Gender and Disaster: Global Issues and Initiatives. Panchsheel Enclave, pp. 131–41.
UNISDR, UNDP and IUCN (2009) Making Disaster Risk Reduction Gender-Sensitive Policy and Practical Guidelines. Geneva: UNISDR, UNDP and IUCN.
How differences matter in emergency, risk and crisis management