Gender disaster nexus: Toward an intersectionality approach
Bangladesh is highly susceptible to natural and human-induced disasters due to its geophysical location, land characteristics, and anthropogenic causes. Over the last three decades, the region has developed disaster risk reduction (DRR) and mitigation mechanisms to address the adversities that populations frequently experience. However, there are inclusion challenges in risk management in the region as, in most cases, exclusion cuts across intersectional groups and contexts. Physical, economic, and social factors of vulnerability are closely linked with people's age, gender, (dis)abilities, and other identities. Intersectionality refers to the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as ethnicity, caste, aging, disability, mental health, sexual and gender identity, class, religion, indigeneity, membership to certain groups, etc. as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage.
The increasing rate of frequency and intensity of disasters, along with different impacts have identified Bangladesh as one of the most vulnerable countries. Living with hazards have contributed to develop disaster coping and adaptation mechanisms based on the affected people experiences.
Gender and disaster
Although a disaster affects all segments of the population, there are gender variations to vulnerability and resilience during disasters. Women and girls in disaster prone areas face number of problems due to their gender identity. As a result, women and girls in poor and marginal households become more vulnerable and distressed. All of the human population become vulnerable to time management and efficient productivity due to absence of employment opportunities. Pioneering study (Nasreen, 1995) argues that "disaster affects both women and men but the burden of coping falls heavily on women". For example, during an aftermath of a disaster, men in rural areas lose their places of work while women shoulder the responsibilities to maintain households' sustenance. However, even if poor and rural women have very few options open to them to overcome their problems, their role in disasters are certainly not simple: they relate to a complete range of socioeconomic activities. During a disaster, such as floods, women continue to be bearers and care givers to children, collectors, and providers of flood, fuel, water, medicinal herbs, fodder, building materials and keeper of household belongings: they also represent a productive potential which was not discussed earlier. Despite challenges, women have proven an incredible potential to respond to disasters effectively, which often go largely unrecognized (Nasreen, 1995; 2019). It is women's strategies, developed over the years that are vital in enabling the rural people to become resilient to disaster (Nasreen, 2019). To build gender-sensitive resilient strategies in the disaster risk reduction process, it is necessary to address the gender needs of all using an intersectional lens.
Is the pandemic a disaster?
The COVID-19 pandemic-an unexpected disaster, calls for a new preparedness for Bangladesh as one of the affected countries around the world. Now, the question arises: can a pandemic be termed as a disaster? Several reasons have been identified for linking COVID 19 pandemic with a disaster: Firstly, from the perspective of the concept of disaster ("a relatively sudden event which causes threats for lives, properties and go beyond the capacity of a community or society to manage such crises"); secondly, the pandemic is triggering risk and shocks for existing social structure on which the system has no firm control; thirdly, the pandemic also urges for managing risk and improve social safety net supports for the vulnerable people during a frequent disaster in a pandemic situation and finally, the experiences of managing the Covid 19 pandemic has inaugurated rooms for redressing the multi hazard, multi risk and emergency management activities through strengthening risk governance (Revet, 2020; Montano & Savitt, 2020; Nasreen, 2020).
Due to disasters, women face multiple challenges which have become more visible during the first and second waves of pandemic and are combined with i) increased burden of unpaid work; ii) increased domestic violence; iii) Increased rate of unemployment. Accompanying current health crisis, pre-existing health conditions, healthy practices, social behaviors, norms, and gender inequalities embedded in various sectors, compel to scrutinize pandemic impacts through gender lens. Gender-inclusive pandemic study is the demand of time as re-enforced gender roles often make gendered division of labor critical where violation of one party (especially women considering Bangladesh context) more vulnerable and victim to domestic violation, economic stress (Nasreen, 2008). Policy response mechanisms do not always necessarily incorporate gender analytical data or gender-responsive plans for COVID-19 (Dutta, 2020). To understand the broad picture of the relational analysis between COVID-19 and gender-based resilience and intersectionality, more in-depth research needs to be executed.
Over the last decades Bangladesh played crucial role in strengthening women and men's indigenous knowledge-based disaster response and provided support to build resilience of different categories. Government, non-government and development actors, academia and other actors unitedly contributed to make the country a resilient one.
REDRESSING GENDER AND DISASTER: WHY INTERSECTIONALITY MATTERS?
To build gender-sensitive strategies and initiatives in the disaster management process, it is crucial to address the needs and interests of different categories of people adopting intersectional approaches. Intersectionality offers a way to understand and respond to the ways different factors, such as gender, age, disability, and ethnicity, intersect to shape individual identities, thereby, enhancing awareness of people's needs, interests, capacities, and experiences. Intersectionality is extensively documented as one of the important and distinct contributions of feminist theory to critical thinking (The Intersectionality theory originates from Kimberle Williams Crenshaw, 1989), to understand how different forms of discriminations and power relations have impacts on individual's experience in an event of disaster). It is an open-ended calling to theorists and pedagogues, practitioners and policy makers to recognize the various vectors of power that operate on identity. A woman in lower income category with disability, for instance, will not experience discrimination "separately" or "chronologically" for being a woman, or for being lower income group, or for being a person with any disability. The interlocking nature of oppression (Collins, 1989) is an important feature of intersectional thought.
Attempts in reducing disaster risks and vulnerabilities
Over the last decades, Bangladesh played a crucial role in strengthening women and men's indigenous knowledge-based disaster response and provided support to build resilience of different categories. Government, non-government and development actors, academia and other actors unitedly contributed to makeing the country a resilient one. The National Plan for Disaster Management (NPDM 2021-2025) focuses on the 'whole of society' in managing disaster risks and response initiatives. It adopts gender responsiveness and disability-inclusive approach for resilience as well as promotes mainstreaming of climate change adaptation and mitigation to reduce risks for all categories of people. However, to implement the strategies and plans for reducing disasters and building resilience in facing the challenges of disasters and pandemic, the voices from the intersectional communities and/or their representatives need to be on the centre of discussion.
The increasing rate of frequency and intensity of disasters, along with different impacts have identified Bangladesh as one of the most vulnerable countries. Living with hazards have contributed to develop disaster coping and adaptation mechanisms based on the affected people experiences. Disasters have also enhanced the management capacities of the government and other actors to device policies including regulatory frameworks over the time. However, it is crucial to have gender-inclusive intersectional disaster management strategies as there are significant differences amongst and within a single category. It must be mentioned that disaster risk is socially constructed, and thus, who will be most at risk should be understood by context and characteristics, such as gender, class, and age. It should also be noted that vulnerability is constituted by the combination of specific economic, social and cultural characteristics in any given context (Bradshaw and Nasreen, 2023). This notion of the combination of characteristics and the context in which they occur as key, must be the major focus of intersectionality approach in disaster risk reduction mechanism.
A global project Gender Responsive Resilience and Intersectionality in Policy and Practice (GRRIPP, 2020-2023) led by University College London, UK has been implemented in South Asia, Africa, Latin America and Caribbean countries. Under the leadership of the author, the GRRIPP- South Asia (implemented by the Institute of Disaster Management and Vulnerability Studies, University of Dhaka) has awarded several research on disasters, violence against women, reproductive health of women during the pandemic, people with disability, realities of elderly, curriculum development and others adopting gender and intersectionality approach. Based on the research findings and workshops at various levels, a framework for gender, disaster and intersectionality has been adopted and validated with government, non-government and relevant other actors. This framework has the potential to revolutionize disaster response and recovery strategies. By integrating these principles into every aspect of disaster management, it is expected that it will increase resilience, reduce vulnerability, and establish a more inclusive, and equitable society. However, the success of the framework depends on the cooperation and dedication of academia, governments, non-government actors, and communities. The gender and intersectionality in disaster risk reduction framework, essentially will provides a visionary path to disaster resilience in achieving goals, plans and policing alignment with international drivers.