Click the star to add/remove an item to/from your individual schedule.
You need to be logged in to avail of this functionality.
Log in
- Convenor:
-
Jenna Murray de Lopez
(The University of Manchester)
- Stream:
- C: Development cooperation and Humanitarianism
- Location:
- D1
- Start time:
- 27 June, 2018 at
Time zone: Europe/London
- Session slots:
- 1
Short Abstract:
This panel discusses the established critiques of GAD to interrogate how gender is conceptualised in disaster management settings, with the aim of pressing pause and reflecting upon how the reproduction of inequalities and the feminisation of disaster response can be avoided.
Long Abstract:
Inclusion of gender specific guidelines into disaster risk management policies is increasingly orthodox and normative. This policy agenda has been shaped by an increasing amount of gender-focused research within disaster studies, which draws upon the history of gender inclusive frameworks in development (Enarson 1998, Drolet et al 2015, Gaillard et al 2017). However, whilst aiming to address inequalities both existing and brought about in disaster settings, an uncritical adaptation of the GAD approach threatens to make similar mistakes of diverting or reproducing inequalities amongst genders. This panel invites papers to consider the well documented critiques of gender and development (GAD) (e.g. Chant 2008) that broadly argue a) women are essentialised, b) existing gender inequalities are capitalised upon, and c) the experiences and needs of different genders must be sufficiently contextualised. Taking inspiration from the call in anthropology, by Vincanne Adams and colleagues for Slow Research, this panel aims to explore what knowledge can be taken from lessons already learnt in GAD as a way to advance more effective gender-centric frameworks in disaster management. We invite papers to consider pressing pause on the enthusiasm to include gender in disaster risk management, and momentarily reflect upon what has previously been learnt about gender through critical GAD studies. We particularly welcome papers that utilise interdisciplinary approaches to thinking and research including (though not exclusive to): human geography; anthropology; development studies; sociology, and particularly those that draw from theories of the Global South.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Paper short abstract:
This article selectively utilize the field findings and narratives of the study that has been conducted in one of the highly vulnerable coastal zones in south India and discusses how the small-scale fisherwomen are differentially impacted and vulnerable to climate stress and coastal hazards.
Paper long abstract:
Small-scale fishers of Tamil Nadu are increasingly facing the effects of global environmental change, its localized climate stress impacts and the resulting coastal hazards. Globalization since the 1990s and the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami disaster have had multiple impacts on gender and social relations of women in the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu. However, most studies generally discussed about social vulnerability of fishers to coastal hazards in a 'whole' but did not consider the social vulnerabilities of women and their inadequate resilient capacities to face the disasters. Studies about social vulnerability of fishermen to disasters are considerably less in the disaster literature of South India. Considering the research gaps, this paper sets to discuss two research questions. i) How the small-scale fisherwomen are differentially impacted and highly vulnerable to the broad impacts of coastal stress? ii) How fisherwomen are 'placed' in local disaster risk reduction efforts and decision-making authorities? This study has been conducted in the highly vulnerable coastal villages of Tamil Nadu to climate stress and coastal hazards. Drawn from the selected qualitative findings, this paper shows that women have weak-roles in local decision making authorities and local disaster risk reduction efforts. Highlighting the 'weak' positions of fisherwomen in the local social systems this paper argues the need of more 'gender' mainstreaming in disaster risk reduction efforts.
Paper short abstract:
The Munda indigenous community has been dwelling in the village of Kalinchi at the coastal district of Satkhira since 250 years ago. The cyclone Aila (2009) severely affected the Munda community's gendered livelihood and traditional ecological bonding with the forest and Kalinchi itself. Utilising an auto-ethnography, this paper primarily examines cyclone Aila's long-term effects on the gendered livelihood activities in the Sundarbans forest.
Paper long abstract:
The Munda indigenous community (Adivasi) has been dwelling in the village of Kalinchi at the coastal district of Satkhira since 250 years ago. This untouchable adivasi community has undergone severe threats of climatic disasters (such as, tropical cyclones, flooding, salinity intrusion and river erosion) for a significant period of time since 1980. Research studies (Dey 2013, Mallick 2017, Perucca 2013, Nasreen 2011) clearly indicate that socio-ecological consequences of climatic disasters have been impacting upon the livelihoods (harvesting honey, cutting woods, gathering juvenile crabs, and fishing in the forest-adjacent rivers and channels) of the Munda community in the Sundarbans forest (the largest mangrove forest in the world) for the recent past. Particularly, the cyclone Aila (2009) severely affected the Munda community's gendered livelihood in the Sundarbans forest and traditional ecological bonding with the forest and Kalinchi itself. In addition, the immediate consequences of Aila and associated flood damaged the local infrastructures (such as, roadway, mud-built houses) of Kalinchi hindering livelihood opportunities (working for agriculture) of the Munda people in Kalinchi. Utilising an auto-ethnography, this paper primarily examines cyclone Aila's long-term (since 2009 to date) effects on the gendered livelihood activities in the Sundarbans forest. In doing so, the present study documents the existing critiques (e.g., Chant 2008, Guhathakurta and Banu 2017) of gender and development studies, and thereafter shows how gender equality in terms of accessing livelihoods in the Sundarbans and allocating of cash income (gained from the gathered forest resources) is conceptualised among males and females of the Munda community in the post-Aila Sundarbans context.
Paper short abstract:
This paper will reflect on what we don't know about gender and development, but we assume we do know, and what this means for 'engendering' disasters.
Paper long abstract:
The policies of mainstream actors to engender development have resulted in women being included in development projects and programmes, but for twenty five years gender academics and activists have highlighted how women's inclusion can be as problematic as their exclusion. Despite this, and despite twenty years of research specifically on gender and disasters, those responsible for disaster response and risk reduction generally borrow from gender and development to 'engender' their own policies and programmes. Chant's (2008) 'feminisation of responsibility and obligation' thesis highlighted the heavy costs to women of their inclusion in development programmes, and authors have suggested this feminisation applies in the context of climate change (Arora-Jonsson 2011) and disasters also, leading to the suggestion that 'engendering disasters should proceed with caution' (Bradshaw 2013). While five years ago this cautionary tone arose from problematizing what we knew from processes to engender development, more recent research (Bradshaw, Chant and Linneker 2017a, b) problematizing what we think we know suggests more reasons to be cautious. This paper will highlight some of the assumptions underpinning 'gendered' development policies aimed at reducing poverty and improving wellbeing and draw attention to the lack of evidence to support them. It ask what this means for processes to engender development, and disasters.