Gender & CPR in Europe & CIS

Gender and Crisis Prevention and Recovery

Disasters and crises, whether natural or man-made, affect men and women very differently. Yet, if these gendered affects are discussed at all, they are usually done so in generalized terms that reinforces stereotypes of masculinity and femininity. Women are cast as a “vulnerable group,” and they are put into this category with the majority of humanity, i.e., female, children, disabled, elderly, chronically ill, and traumatized people. Little space is left to recognize the great variety of women’s active participation in disasters and conflicts. Their roles as combatants or their efforts to protect and restore their community and environment are often overlooked. In contrast, there remains a strongly held belief that “men” as a category are invulnerable, even though it is clear that post-traumatic stress makes many men vulnerable to a continued reliance on interpersonal violence or violence against the self in the form of suicide, alcoholism, and drug abuse. Such stereotypes result not only in the marginalization of men with special needs, but it reduces the options of men to protest militarization, and it hides their suffering and vulnerability from view.

Gender approach in crisis prevention and recovery recognizes how men and women are affected differently by natural disasters and armed conflict. Actually, crisis prevention and recovery, in the areas of both disaster and conflict, require the involvement of women, attention to women’s specific concerns, and commitment to gender equality, if they are to be fully inclusive and sustainable. Conflict and disaster risk prevention, reduction, mitigation and recovery tools, frameworks and instruments therefore benefit from a strong gender component. Therefore UNDP believes it is necessary to make ensure that women participate in all dialogue and actions on the generation of solutions for disaster risk management and conflict prevention, and that men and boys needs are addressed appropriately in those frameworks and instruments.

To explore more on Eight Point Agenda for Women's Empowerment and Gender Equality in practice, follow on Country Examples on CPR webpage: http://www.undp.org/cpr/we_do/8_pa_country_examples.shtml