Paper short abstract:

Drawing upon qualitative data (2016~2020) of post-disaster relief and support activities performed by women of Sōka Gakkai and GLA (God Light Association), results show that religious organizations capitalize women's capacity to transform a condition of vulnerability into a source of resilience.

Paper long abstract:

Disaster risk reduction (DRR) global initiatives as well as the Japan's Basic Plan for Disaster Risk Reduction include gender-sensitive and gender-inclusive approaches into their disaster management strategies. Such DRR guidelines recognise that in the context of persistent social norms that assign women responsibility for the domestic domain, they are primarily responsible of family caregiving and safety of domesticity. Such role requires a tremendous amount of physical and emotional strength in case of disaster in that it implies the capacity of coping with the event, re-establishing a routine and reconstructing the normality of daily living activities in the post-disaster phase. Drawing upon qualitative data (2016~2020) of religious-based post-disaster relief and support activities performed by women of Sōka Gakkai and GLA (God Light Association) in the aftermath of the two Kumamoto earthquakes in April 2016, this study shows that the persistent gender blindness within Japanese institutional post-seismic intervention measures intensifies women's vulnerability. Respondents point out that DRR planning, policies and practices have been male-centred and men-managed, and in many cases they do not reflect the needs and voices of women and other vulnerable social groups. On the other hand, they value their local faith community for the way it quickly responded to their needs and demands: the prompt safety assessment via SNS; the availability of gender-sensitive shelters, goods and food; gender-specific services; and emotional support. The local faith communities' understanding of the complexities of their issues and women's situatedness within the community ― often combined with an existing track record of care and welfare service volunteering ― has served as a strong foundation for provision of support and resilience. Even conservative religious groups such as Sōka Gakkai have become source of successful gender-sensitive responsive activities where women's agency combines both the needs-based and the equality right-based views. Such findings highlight the need to develop official procedures encompassing more adaptive and inclusive models of disaster management to harness women's capacities and faith-based resilience that exist within and across communities in Japan. This research is funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, grant number 16K040640.