It is often assumed that all members of a population experience the impact of disasters in the same way. In the pre-disaster context, women’s and girls’ unequal access to social, political, and economic resources influences their access to post-disaster assistance and compensation for damage and losses. While the post-disaster context presents a host of challenges for women, it is important to recognize that women are not just victims of disasters. The strength of post-disaster recovery lies with how well it responds to the needs of both women and men. This guidance note aims to provide action-oriented guidance to local and national government officials and key decision makers who face post-disaster challenges and to assist them in incorporating gender-responsive recovery and reconstruction efforts across all sectors through robust gender assessments that lead to concrete needs identification and gender-specific recovery strategies and frameworks. Implementation of such actions will facilitate both a more resilient, sustainable recovery, and advances in reducing gender inequality. The note addresses the different challenges that women face in post-disaster recovery and reconstruction caused by underlying issues of inequality and marginalization. The note provides guidance on how to turn a post-disaster situation into an opportunity to enhance gender equality and women’s empowerment, with a focus on building back better, as the aftermath of a disaster can present opportunities for new and more progressive gender roles and relationships to emerge. The guidance note is structured around three key areas: identifying and prioritizing gender-specific recovery needs; protecting women and men from physical and psychosocial harm; and planning for gender-responsive recovery in the disaster recovery framework and empowering women for sustainable and resilient recovery. The final section of the paper provides a long-term outlook on strengthening gender responsive recovery systems.

It is often assumed that all members of a population experience the impact of disasters in the same way. In the pre-disaster context, women's and girls' unequal access to social, political, and economic resources influences their access to post-disaster assistance and compensation for damage and losses. While the post-disaster context presents a host of challenges for women, it is important to recognize that women are not just victims of disasters. The strength of post-disaster recovery lies with how well it responds to the needs of both women and men. This guidance note aims to provide action-oriented guidance to local and national government officials and key decision makers who face post-disaster challenges and to assist them in incorporating gender-responsive recovery and reconstruction efforts across all sectors through robust gender assessments that lead to concrete needs identification and gender-specific recovery strategies and frameworks. Implementation of such actions will facilitate both a more resilient, sustainable recovery, and advances in reducing gender inequality. The note addresses the different challenges that women face in post-disaster recovery and reconstruction caused by underlying issues of inequality and marginalization. The note provides guidance on how to turn a post-disaster situation into an opportunity to enhance gender equality and women's empowerment, with a focus on building back better, as the aftermath of a disaster can present opportunities for new and more progressive gender roles and relationships to emerge. The guidance note is structured around three key areas: identifying and prioritizing gender-specific recovery needs; protecting women and men from physical and psychosocial harm; and planning for gender-responsive recovery in the disaster recovery framework and empowering women for sustainable and resilient recovery. The final section of the paper provides a long-term outlook on strengthening gender responsive recovery systems.

Women, Gender and Disaster: Global Issues and Initiatives examines gender within the context of disaster risk management. It argues for gender mainstreaming as an effective strategy towards achieving disaster risk reduction and mitigating post-disaster gender disparity. Highlighting that gender inequalities pervade all aspects of life, it analyses the failure to implement inclusive and gender-sensitive approaches to relief and rehabilitation work. While examining positive strategies for change, the collection focuses on women′s knowledge, capabilities, leadership and experience in community resource management. The authors emphasize that these strengths in women, which are required for building resilience to hazards and disasters, are frequently overlooked. This timely book will be extremely useful to policy makers and professionals active in the field of disaster management and to academics and students in gender studies, social work, environmental studies and development studies.

Globally, women are disproportionately impacted by climate change and disasters due to gender inequalities and limited opportunities to participate in decision-making processes. To help address this imbalance, this publication provides guidance on how to integrate gender equality in laws and policies on climate change and disaster management in developing member countries of the Asian Development Bank. It provides a conceptual framework and good practice guide based on international norms and examples of national laws. It also demonstrates how gender-responsive laws and policies can contribute to women’s resilience to climate change and disasters. The publication was developed for the use of governments, policy-makers, organizations, and individuals engaged in gender-responsive legislative reforms.

Social workers are increasingly engaged in supporting individuals and communities in long-term disaster recovery. Rebuilding Lives Post-Disaster brings together an international team of social work researchers who have investigated the experiences, perspectives, challenges, and complexities in disaster recovery. It features country case studies drawing from field research undertaken in disaster-affected communities in Canada, the United States, Australia, India, Pakistan, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, and China. In so doing, the volume provides a comprehensive perspective on the realities of disaster recovery and explores key concepts such as resilience, community-based disaster risk reduction, and social and gendered construction of vulnerability and capabilities. Undergraduate and graduate students and professionals in the fields of social work, community development, international social work, emergency management, and related fields will find the text to be a helpful resource.

The Multi Donor Fund for Aceh and Nias (MDF) and the Java Reconstruction Fund (JRF) have played significant roles in the remarkable recovery of Aceh, Nias and Java, following some of the worst disasters in Indonesia in recent years. The MDF and the JRF, which is patterned after it, are each considered a highly successful model for post-disaster reconstruction. This paper presents lessons from the MDF and JRF's efforts to facilitate women's empowerment and gender equality during the reconstruction process. The reconstruction process presented opportunity to address gender issues and other social inequalities. Enhancing the role of women under the MDF and JRF programs saw significant results, such as improved and sustained outcomes in housing and infrastructure, faster economic and livelihood recovery and increased productivity, strengthening of women's legal rights, more representative decision making and enhanced resilience for women and communities.

This edited book was produced through a transnational and transdisciplinary UNESCO Chair Project on Gender and Vulnerability in Disaster Risk Reduction Support. Contributors come from five disaster-prone Asian countries, and the chapters reflect their rich knowledge and practical experience in disaster management and humanitarian assistance. The chapters, all with a focus on gender and vulnerability, illustrate that gender can make people, especially women, vulnerable. The chapters address the experiences of state and non-state actors responding to disaster and promoting recovery at the local level. However, while women and vulnerable people may be victims of disasters, they also serve as agents for recovery and voices for better disaster preparedness. In sharing both successes and failures, as well as suggestions for the future, this book speaks to the need for transdisciplinary knowledge and multilevel coordination, as well as full equality for all genders and respect for human rights, in order to cope with increasingly more frequent, intense, and complex emergencies. This book is of interest as a text to students in a variety of disciplines who are focusing on disaster and health emergencies, as well as to practitioners and others promoting disaster risk reduction and resilience.