GGCA Gender and Climate Change Training Manual - Women's ...

of the household. Women, in contrast, were
most likely to say that husbands and wives
made decisions together. In reality, if women’s
priorities are different from those of their
menfolk, their priorities are less likely to prevail
because they have less social and economic
power.
Most women knew that when a disaster
warning was heard it was necessary to store
food, fuel and water. However, when it came to
the practicalities of how would enough of these
commodities be obtained to last a week or two,
where and how they could be safely stored,
and how household possessions could be best
secured, there were few answers. Knowledge of
health risks and how to deal with them seemed
limited. People in Kiribati died of dysentery,
yet a simple and inexpensive treatment of oral
rehydration therapy was available and few
people had heard of it.
Recommendations based on this study
included:
• Men must be encouraged to recognize the
need, and to support shared decision making
on disaster preparedness with women;
• Women and men must both take part in
community disaster management planning;
• National disaster management committees
must include senior-level representation
from national women’s organizations, in
order to increase emphasis on prevention
and preparedness.
Adapted from:
South Pacific Disaster Reduction Programme (SPDRP).
2002. Gender, households, community and disaster
management: case studies from the Pacific Islands. (SOPAC
Technical Report 282). Resource presented at Gendered
Dimensions of Disaster Risk Management and Adaptation
to Climate Change in the Pacific Islands, AusAID and UNDP
Pacific Centre Workshop, 20–21 February, 2008, Fiji.
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As summarized in the figure below, women’s
lesser social power increased household
vulnerability to disaster.
Case study 2 / Module 4