Emerging gender issues in the tsunami aftermath

1. Emerging gender issues in the tsunami aftermath Knowledge Sharing on tsunami 9-10 May, 2005 Reiko Tsushima, Gender Specialist, SRO Delhi

2. Why it is important to adopt a gender perspective. • What were some sex specific effects of tsunami? • What could be done in response? • How will gender equality contribute to long term crisis resistance?

3. Gender lens : why is it important • Human toll results in demographic changes: information available point that 60-80 % deaths were female. Different gender needs of survivors emerging • Crisis magnifies existing inequalities: • Need to avoid reinforcing existing inequality in access to safety and health, to jobs, credit, land ownership, information, decision making, • Enables us to look at impact on both productive and care work and their implications (risk of CL, early marriage etc). • To arrive at the real situation of men and women’s work, beyond assumptions • Women’s contributions to the local economy and community well being are often overlooked in policies for reconstruction

4. Issues specific to women and girls • Although legislation allows equal land ownership, traditional bias / practices may still exclude women • Lack of voice in decision making, which affects level of benefits they see • Women were engaged in productive activity as much as men, in the same sectors…but their jobs were lower paid • More households will start to rely on woman's earnings - needs for livelihood counseling and skills to secure better jobs • Increase in care work, especially as they may now be called to assist single parent/ male relatives • Sexual violence and physical abuse • Early marriage • Indebtedness, trafficking, child labour • Women’s SHGs weakened

5. Issues specific to men and boys • Easily overlooked in psycho social counseling • Depression, alcoholism and abuse • Need to start coping with non-traditional role of “care giver” for the household • Limited skills to find new jobs • Indebtedness • Trafficking, bonded and child labour • Recruitment into armed forces

6. Targeted action • Livelihood counseling, skills training and job matching (mainly for women but attention needs to be paid to the casual labourer, those to be relocated) • Need to move from a “welfare” approach to one that sees women as economic agents • Focus on non traditional skills training • Supporting institutionalization of care work • Involve men actively in counseling, as well as coping with new reality • INFORMATION on their entitlements, job opportunities, gov. policies

7. Mainstreaming • Needs assessments that collect information disaggregated by sex and analyzes gender differences • Include performance indicators that can track whether benefits reached men and women equitably • Periodic evaluations that include gender equity as assessment criteria

8. In summary… how will this lead to crisis resistance? • By empowering women, they will be better equipped to claim benefits in post crisis situations, also be better able protect themselves from sexual violence • Working with men to develop positive masculinity values that shun gender based violence will lead to women’s empowerment • Increase in women’s income benefits entire household and helps to build the family’s asset base • Economic independence of women makes them less vulnerable at widowhood

9. Thank you