Mainstreaming gender in disaster reduction: why and how?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of gender mainstreaming into disaster reduction decision making as a way of reducing disaster vulnerabilities of women, a highly vulnerable group to disasters.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper builds a discussion around disaster reduction, the importance of gender mainstreaming in disaster reduction and the ways of mainstreaming gender based on a literature review. It reviews academic literature as well as papers and reports produced by the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR) and various other institutions.

Findings – The paper highlights the importance of the role of gender mainstreaming in disaster reduction as a means of reducing disaster risk through considering women’s needs and concerns in particular. Further, on the basis of the literature reviewed, the paper emphasises the need for enhancing gender balance in disaster reduction decision making in order to understand the possible effects of policies and measures developed for disaster reduction on gender roles.

Practical implications – The paper paves the way forward to identify how gender mainstreaming could be achieved in the context of construction as construction has a significant relationship with development that could create or reduce disaster risk.

Originality/value – The paper attempts to contribute to disaster reduction through emphasising the need for mainstreaming gender into the disaster reduction decision-making process and also towards reducing disaster vulnerabilities of women. In this context, the paper brings an insight into the necessity for mainstreaming gender in disaster reduction in construction.