ENGENDERING DISASTER MANAGMENT AND RESILIENCE BUILDING: LESSONS FROM THE SEMIPERIPHERY
ENGENDERING DISASTER MANAGMENT AND RESILIENCE BUILDING: LESSONS FROM THE SEMIPERIPHERY

Author(s): Marina Hughson, Višnja Baćanović
Subject(s): Gender Studies, Security and defense
Published by: Institut za strategijska istraživanja
Keywords: gender; disaster; resilience; risk managment; vulnerability
Summary/Abstract: In this paper we exhibit how gender roles and gender regimes are being manifested in disastrous situations, on different levels (individual, group). The influence of gender is visible in exposure to the risks, as well as on institutional level, and in risk management. We claim that the semiperipherial social context, such as the Serbian context, determines the specificity of gender regimes, as well as the potential of good practices, which were and are present due to the recent historical past and a high level of previously achieved gender equality (during socialism). However, the problem is in a discrepancy between a high level of women’s resources and their actual use and recognition in the public sphere. On the other hand, we offer examples to show how women’s specific needs were not recognized during the process of risk management. While we insist on a gender dimension, we also understand the risk of oversimplified approaches, which is why we advocate the intersectional approach as more open and sensitive to individual and human differences in reality. In this text we offer arguments in favor of higher an inclusion of women and their capacities into the process of risk and disaster management. We believe that it would help a better grounding, higher sensibility and a higher efficiency of the whole process of risk and disaster management, as well as a higher level of general resilience of local communities. As we also advocate a transformative approach to gender inclusion, we claim that taking into account gender would lead to the empowerment of women, but also to the transformation of gender roles, which would translate into a higher quality of life, of individuals as well as of communities.

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