Approaching natural disasters through a gender-sensitive lens
Women around the world are more vulnerable than men to the effects of climate change and natural disasters. This, writes Ariel Smilowitz, can be attributed to “cultural, economic, and political constraints that prevent [women] from receiving access to the resources they need in order to survive and maintain their livelihoods”.
After the Indian Ocean tsunami on 26 December 2004, Oxfam International reported that up to four times as many women than men had died. There are reportedly many cases of women in Sri Lanka who have been unable to receive access to emergency relief, because “they were not registered as the head of the household in official population statistics”.