Women's Empowerment in Post Disaster Reconstruction: Perspectives on Policies and Frameworks

• Authors: Nirooja Thurairajah , David Baldry

Title variants

LT

Didesnių teisių suteikimas moterims po nelaimių atstatant vietoves: požiūriai į politikos kryptis ir gaires

Abstracts

EN

There has been an increase in the occurrence of natural disasters and their impact has aroused the interest of many stakeholders to incorporate different strategies on disaster management. Although disasters may end many opportunities and lives, the lives of survivors do not cease in the disaster affected areas. The impact of natural disasters and the consequent partial reconstruction efforts have specifically presented many challenges to women. In this context, the main research investigates the empowerment of women during post disaster reconstruction particularly in Sri Lanka.Among the factors that influence women's empowerment, existing policies and frameworks is one of the important factors that can play a major role within the post disaster reconstruction in Sri Lanka. Hence, in order to gain an understanding of the existing framework of women's empowerment, this study investigates the national and international policies and frameworks that exist within the post disaster context in Sri Lanka. The study found that even though polices are gender neutral, they are not gender sensitive. In addition, it was found that having a single policy or framework for the whole country is unlikely to be a success, therefore, any frameworks should have room to be adopted to the local situation.

LT

Stichinių nelaimių padaugėjo, taigi dėl jų poveikio daug interesų grupių susidomėjo, kaip nelaimėms valdyti pasitelkti įvairias strategijas. Nors nelaimės atima daug galimybių ir gyvybių, išlikusieji tebegyvena nelaimės nuniokotose teritorijose. Dėl stichinių nelaimių poveikio ir po jų vykstant daliniams atstatymo darbams, ypač daug sunkumų kyla moterims. Atsižvelgiant į tai, pagrindiniame tyrime nagrinėjamas didesnių teisių suteikimas moterims vykstant atstatymo po nelaimių darbams, ypač Šri Lankoje. Be kitų veiksnių, kurie daro įtaką suteikiant didesnes teises moterims, svarbi yra politika ir gairės, o jų reikšmė Šri Lankoje atstatant nelaimės nuniokotas vietoves gali būti didžiulė. Taigi siekiant suprasti esamas didesnių teisių suteikimo moterims gaires, šiame tyrime nagrinėjama nacionalinė ir tarptautinė politika bei gairės, Šri Lankoje taikomos darbų po nelaimių kontekste. Tyrime nustatyta, kad net jei politika pirmenybės neteikia nė vienai lyčiai, į lytims svarbius klausimus ji neatsižvelgia. Be to, nustatyta, kad visoje šalyje taikant vieną politiką arba gaires vargu ar galima tikėtis sėkmės. Taigi visose gairėse reikia numatyti galimybių jas priderinti prie vietinės situacijos.

Keywords

EN

Disaster; Empowerment; Frameworks; Sri Lanka; Women

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: International Journal of Strategic Property Management
• Year: 2010
• Volume: 14
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 347-361

Contributors

author

Nirooja Thurairajah

• School of the Built Environment, The University of Salford, Maxwell building - Room 346, Salford, M5 4WT, UK

author

David Baldry

• School of the Built Environment, The University of Salford, UK

References

• Acharya, S., Yoshino, E., Jimba, M. and Wakai, S. (2007) Empowering rural women through a community development approach in Nepal,Community Development Journal, 42(1), pp. 34-46. doi:10.1093/cdj/bsi064
• Ariyabandu, M. M. and Wickramasinghe, M. (2003)Gender dimensions in disaster management.Colombo: Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG) South Asia Publication.
• Centre for Women's Research (2006)A gender analysis of tsunami impact.Colombo: Centre for Women's Research.
• Childs, M. (2006) Not through women's eyes: photo-essays and the construction of a gendered tsunami disaster,Disaster Prevention and Management, 15(1), pp. 202-212. doi:10.1108/09653560610654347
• Delaney, P. L. and Shrader, E. (2000)Gender and post-disaster reconstruction: the case of Hurricane Mitch in Honduras and Nicaragua.Report prepared for the World Bank. Available at:www.anglia.ac.uk/geography/gdn
• Department for International Development (2000)Poverty elimination and the empowerment of women.London: DFID.
• Enarson, E. and Morrow, H. B. (1998)The gendered terrain of disaster, through women's eyes.London: Praeger.
• Eilperin, J. (2009) New analysis brings dire forecast of 6.3-degree temperature increase,The Washington Post.Available at:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/24/AR2009092402602.html
• Frank, T. M. (2002)Fairness in international law and institutions.Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Gomez, S. (2006)Guidelines for gender sensitive disaster management.Chiang Mai: Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development.
• Haigh, R. and Amaratunga, D. (2010) An integrative review of the built environment discipline's role in the development of society's resilience to disasters,International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, 1(1), pp. 11-24. doi:10.1108/17595901011026454
• Haghebaert, B. (2007) Working with vulnerable communities to assess and reduce disaster risk,Humanitarian Exchange, 38, pp. 15-16.
• Hall, D. and Hall, I. (1996)Practical social research: project work in the community.London: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Hancock, P. (2006) Violence, women, work and empowerment: narratives from factory women in Sri Lanka's export processing zones,Gender, Technology and Development, 10(2), pp. 211-228. doi:10.1177/097185240601000203
• Humphries, B. (1996) Contradictions in the culture of empowerment. In: Humphries, B. (eds.)Critical perspectives on empowerment.Birmingham: Ventures Press, pp. 01-16.
• International Labour Office (2006)A tool for organizational change.Available at:http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—dgreports/—gender/documents/publication/wcms_101030.pdf
• Intermediate Technology Development Group (2001)Gender issues in disasters.Colombo: ITDG - South Asia.
• Jeyantha, A and Gunesekara, R. (2006) Building capacity for sustainable and participatory posttsunami rebuilding.International conference on post-disaster reconstruction meeting stakeholder interests, 17-19 May 2006, Florence. Montreal: IF Research Group.
• Kim, J. C., Watts, C. H., Hargreaves, J. R., Ndhlovu, L. X., Phetla, G., Morison, L. A., Busza, J., Porter, J. D. and Pronyk, P. (2007) Understanding the impact of a micro-finance-based intervention on women's empowerment and the reduction of intimate partner violence in South Africa,American Journal of Public Health, 97(10), pp. 1794-1802. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2006.095521
• Kvale, S. (2009)Doing interviews.London: Sage publications.
• Lokshin, M. and Ravallion, M. (2005) Rich and powerful?: Subjective power and welfare in Russia,Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 56(2), pp. 141-172. doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2003.09.014
• McEntire, D., Crocker, C. G. and Peters, E. (2010) Addressing vulnerability through an integrated approach,International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, 1(1), pp. 50-64. doi:10.1108/17595901011026472
• Mosedale, S. (2005) Assessing women's empowerment: towards a conceptual framework,Journal of International Development, 17(2), pp. 243-257. doi:10.1002/jid.1212
• Moser, C. and Moser, A. (2003)Background paper on gender-based violence.Paper commissioned by the World Bank. Washington: Washington D. C.
• Parveen, S. and Leonhäuser, I. (2004) Empowerment of rural women in Bangladesh - a household level analysis.Conference on rural poverty reduction through research for development and transformation, 5-7 October 2004, Berlin: Deutscher Tropentag.
• People's Report (2007)Violence against women in the post Tsunami context.Colombo: Wave Network. December 2007.
• Lawther, P. M. (2009) Community involvement in post disaster re-construction - case study of the British Red Cross Maldives recovery program,International Journal of Strategic Property Management, 13(2), pp. 153-169. doi:10.3846/1648-715X.2009.13.153-169
• Prevention of Domestic Violence Act [Sri Lanka], No. 34 (2005) Colombo: Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. Available at:http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4c03ba2f2.html
• Roy, K. C. and Tisdell, C. A. (2002) Property rights in women's empowerment in rural India: a review,International Journal of Social Economic, 29(4), pp. 315-334. doi:10.1108/03068290210419870
• Thurairajah, N., Amaratunga, D. G. and Haigh, R. (2008) Post disaster reconstruction as an opportunity for development: women's perspective. In:CIB W89: International conference in building education and research, 10-15 February 2008, Kandalama, Sri Lanka.
• Tsunami (Special Provisions) Act, No. 16 [Sri Lanka] (2005) Colombo: Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. Available at:http://documents.gov.lk/Acts/2005/Tsunami%20Act%20No%2016%20of%202005/Tsunami%20Act%20No%2016%20of%202005.pdf
• CEDAW (1979)Convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women(CEDAW). United Nations General Assembly, Geneva: United Nations.
• Wang, C. and Burris, M. (1994) Empowerment through photo novella: portraits of participation,Health Education & Behavior, 21(2), pp. 171-186. doi:10.1177/109019819402100204
• Weinberger, K. (2001) What role does bargaining power play in participation of women? A case study of rural Pakistan,The Journal of Entrepreneurship, 10(2), pp. 209-221. doi:10.1177/097135570101000205

Identifiers

DOI

10.3846/ijspm.2010.26