The Foreign Service Journal, June 2006

tion and development efforts. Now consider the alternative: a vision of community aid that encompasses this tremendous untapped potential, with programs gender-savvy enough to plan, strategize and manage relief efforts with women rather than for them. “Gender is a central organizing principle of every soci- ety. We need to make smart decisions to meet the needs of everyone, not just half of society,” observes Elaine Enarson, Ph.D., a noted author on gender in disasters and assistant professor of disaster and emergency studies at Brandon University in Manitoba, Canada. (Enarson’s per- sonal catalyst for her research was surviving 1992’s Hurricane Andrew.) As she says, “Some policy-makers and practitioners today are willfully ignorant; they don’t want to challenge their way of thinking. Too often, raising the issue of gender is seen as divisive.” In order to mobilize entire populations and NGOs, relief agencies and the Foreign Service community need to first address the role of gender equity in disaster and relief programs, looking specifically at differential power struggles, issues and needs (medical care, protection from sexual and domestic violence, etc.), rights (fair resource distribution), and vulnerabilities and strengths (caregivers, peacemakers and community mobilizers) in these arenas. Fortunately, this is not a new concept. In April 2003, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell sent the following guidance to all State Department officials: “Women's issues are human rights issues, health and education issues, and development issues. They are ingredients of good government and sound economic practice. … Women must play prominent roles in relief, reconstruction and development efforts if these undertakings are to succeed.” “We’ve recognized the need and positive contributions that women can bring to disaster planning and recovery,” says Katherine Blakeslee, director of USAID’s Women in Development office. “The U.S. is the largest supporter of humanitarian aid and development and where disasters go, we go. And in our own preparedness, we are trying to incorporate concern for the differential impacts that disas- ters and conflicts have on women and men.” The WID office “promotes a stronger and more pro- ductive role for women in development” through gender integration, outreach and gender-equity training, address- ing issues such as trafficking, legal rights, violence and edu- cation. A Human Rights Issue The 20th century witnessed many international accords and declarations testifying to women’s equality under human rights laws. In 1945, the newly established United Nations set the goal of eliminating gender-based discrimi- nation, and in 1948 the Universal Declaration of Human Rights abolished any “laws, customs, regulations and prac- tices that are discriminatory to women” (Article 2). In 1979, the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Elimination of all Discrimination Against Women, which 180 of the world’s 192 countries have ratified (the U.S. is the only industrialized country that has not ratified it). CEDAW defines what constitutes discrimination against women and sets up an agenda for national action to end such discrimination, which includes “... any distinc- tion, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field.” Global conferences like 1995’s “Beijing Plus 10” have attempted to empower and improve the lives of women by establishing a guide for national governments to set public policy. That conference’s Platform for Action provided benchmarks through which citizens could measure their government’s implementation of the Beijing commitments. Regrettably, those fine words have not been fully matched with action. According to theWorld Bank, one of the reasons it’s been so difficult for NGOs and government agencies to do so is the dearth of gender-disaggregated data. Incredibly, there is no gender-specific data on mor- talities in 90 percent of developing nations or on unem- ployment in 75 percent of the global population. Half of F O C U S 42 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U N E 2 0 0 6 A certified National Registry Emergency Medical Techni- cian, Roxane Richter worked with numerous female Hurricane Katrina evacuees who fled to her native city of Houston in 2005. Those experiences provided the cata- lyst for her research on gender issues in disasters and development. She has served in several disaster relief programs and humanitarian aid organizations, traveling to over 50 countries. For 15 years she worked as a pro- fessional writer and is currently vice president of World Missions Possible (www.worldmissionspossible.org), a nonprofit organization that assists the underprivileged with medical services, humanitarian aid and disaster reconstruction efforts.