Gender and livelihoods in emergencies

The increasing recognition that responses to humanitarian crisis must work to avoid long term dependency on relief aid guides this briefing. Approaches to Early Recovery (ER) aim to support the early recovery of affected populations and create a stable basis for future development. In this way ‘windows of opportunity’ can be identified at the time of crisis in order to analyse how best to rebuild and reshape society for the better.

Gender equality is a key area in which ER can support development interventions that promote long term change. Livelihoods programmes in emergency situations can provide important opportunities to promote higher standards of gender equality in economic life, by affirming women’s role as economic agents and by promoting equal access to productive resources and to decision-making mechanisms. The livelihoods approach can be used as a key tool in promoting ER as well as greater gender equality in the post crisis context.

The briefing explores the following issues to be considered when designing and implementing gender sensitive livelihoods programmes in emergency contexts:

• women and men have different resources and survival strategies available to them in crisis situations
• women may be more vulnerable to forms of abuse and exploitation where a crisis compounds women’s pre-existing lack of access to assets and land
• women’s economic vulnerability will be worsened by loss of access to productive resources and family members, spouses in particular
• women may have a greater burden for caring for the sick and injured
• programme interventions such as skills training must help women adapt to the needs of post crisis contexts. For example by training them in non-traditional skills for women such as carpentry and plumbing
• livelihoods interventions should pay attention to women’s existing household responsibilities and help promote forms of alleviation such as crèches for women undergoing training.

Methods for ensuring equal participation of men and women in livelihoods planning are also considered, often utilising participatory methodologies. These include conducting separate meetings for women and men in order to avoid potential difficulties around expressing opinions, which might be difficult in the context of mixed gender meetings. Women’s full participation must be actively encouraged and not simply take the form of token representation. The briefing concludes with a checklist for assessing livelihoods programming for gender equality in crisis situations.