Gender perspective: working together for disaster risk reduction: good practices and lessons learned

The Hyogo Framework for Action requires the full, active and balanced participation of both sexes, yet gender issues are often overlooked in the implementation of disaster risk reduction. This report from the UN/ISDR seeks to increase understanding of the gender vulnerabilities and risks, and to highlight women’s valuable contribution to disaster risk reduction. In doing so, it aims to trigger more action towards gender-inclusive disaster risk reduction process.

The report was produced in cooperation with GROOTS International, a network of grassroots women's organizations, and is based on contributions from community-based organizations, NGOs and UNDP country offices in a range of countries. Drawing on these experiences, it presents a collection of 15 practices that advance gendered resilience building, which relate to women’s role in a number of areas.

These areas include:

• awareness-raising and capacity-building
• building safe communities and households
• equal access to information

Based on the evidence provided, the authors argue that disaster recovery and rehabilitation provide good opportunities for women to play public roles with the support of their families and communities. They argue that more effort needs to be made to promote gender-inclusive disaster risk reduction, by strengthening, scaling up and empowering grassroots women to build resilient communities.