Wed Jun 14, 2000 11:59:16 AM: Avagene Moore: Welcome to the EIIP Virtual Library! Wed Jun 14, 2000 11:59:24 AM: Avagene Moore: Before introducing our speaker, I would like to inform any newcomers that URLs used in the session are live links (show in blue.) Such as today's background page at http://www.emforum.org/vlibrary/000614.htm . Wed Jun 14, 2000 11:59:33 AM: Avagene Moore: If you click on the URL, the page will come up in your browser window. You may lose the chat screen on the first one; if so, you will find a bar at the bottom of your desktop screen with EIIP Virtual Forum on it. Click on it and the chat screen will come back to your screen. Wed Jun 14, 2000 11:59:42 AM: Avagene Moore: Please do not send Direct Messages to the Speaker or Moderator. The direct messaging system is distracting and hinders the flow of our discussion. Wed Jun 14, 2000 11:59:52 AM: Avagene Moore: After our Speaker completes her formal presentation, I will briefly remind everyone of the protocol for Q&A so we don't talk all over each other. Avagene Moore: And now to introduce today's Speaker: Elaine Enarson, Ph D, is very involved in disaster management issues. Currently, Elaine is working as an external consultant for the International Labour Organization's InFocus Programme on Crisis Response & Reconstruction. Avagene Moore: Later this summer, Elaine plans to join the adjunct faculty, Women's Studies Department, University of Colorado at Boulder, and Metropolitan State College Institute for Women's Services and Women's Studies. Avagene Moore: Please see the background page referenced earlier for full bio and other information related to today's topic. Avagene Moore: Elaine has been with us before to discuss issues related to women and children in disasters. A recent conference (June 4-6) devoted to the topic is the reason we invited Elaine to be with us today. Avagene Moore: Elaine, I will turn the floor to you now to tell us about the conference and some of the outcomes of your very important meeting. Welcome back, Elaine! Elaine Enarson: Thanks! And my thanks to all for tuning in. I'm eager to get to the 'chat' section, but will begin by uploading a conference summary. Elaine Enarson: Reaching Women and Children in Disasters: What are the issues and how can we best address them? Over 70 practitioners, policy-makers, and researchers from North America and around the world met recently in Miami to try to answer these questions. Elaine Enarson: Thanks, EIIP, for this opportunity to let others learn about the event and thanks, too, to our funders whose support made it a truly global conference. Elaine Enarson: The conference was convened by Betty Hearn Morrow at the Florida International University's International Hurricane Center and by me with the help of many volunteers and funders, including USAID and FIU's IHC. Representing regions and countries with different patterns of development, at risk of very different hazards, and where women and children lead very different lives, participants were united that in disaster events women and children have unique capacities and needs. Elaine Enarson: We began by asking what disaster mitigation, planning, and response might look like if we acted 'as if women and children mattered'? Elaine Enarson: Speakers urged an inclusive, bottom-up approach addressing the root causes of disaster vulnerability and linking disaster relief to social and economic development. Elaine Enarson: The knowledge, skills, insight, and experience of women, children, and adolescents are essential to this new paradigm. in which gender equality is at the center both of disaster mitigation and sustainable development. Elaine Enarson: Reflecting the global dialogue, many speakers linked the increasing vulnerability of women and children to gendered macroeconomic forces in the process of globalization and unsustainable development, as well as to broad cultural patterns. Elaine Enarson: To move quickly to a general discussion, today I'll simply summarize some of the issues raised by speakers and alert you that the full conference proceedings will soon be available on-line. Elaine Enarson: Regarding Vulnerability and Impacts Elaine Enarson: *the higher exposure of women and children to malnutrition and famine, sexual violence, displacement, land mine injury and other effects of sustained complex emergencies; Elaine Enarson: *the gendered divisions of labor following hurricane Mitch in Central America and masculinity norms increasing men's risky decisions and actions in disaster contexts; Elaine Enarson: *mobility barriers, illiteracy, poverty, limited access to land, employment, and survival assets among South Asian women, as well as cultural restrictions restricting their access to information and to public disaster resources; Elaine Enarson: *the impacts of international debt repayment policies on women and their families; Elaine Enarson: *racial/ethnic, economic, and age divisions among women in affluent societies like the U.S. and demographic trends increasing women's representation among the elderly, the poor, and those who live alone; Elaine Enarson: *rising numbers of female-headed households in the aftermath of many disasters, and the often conflicting needs and interests of women and men within households; Elaine Enarson: *weakened family structures supporting children after prolonged crises in Africa and the extreme vulnerability of street children around the world to violence, abuse, illness, and death; Elaine Enarson: *women's risk of unemployment and loss of income- generating work after disaster and restricted access to nontraditional jobs, credit, control over their own or others' labor and time; Elaine Enarson: *increased levels of violence after disasters, for example in Nicaragua following hurricane Mitch, and impacts on women's reproductive health when Elaine Enarson: disaster-related economic change forces their migration or relocation. Elaine Enarson: Regarding Women's and Children's Capacities and Resources Elaine Enarson: *women's knowledge of water resources in the Pacific region yet their invisibility in emergency management; Elaine Enarson: *the self-organization of women after disasters, for example, in the Caribbean, to increase small loans to women and to promote gender equity in access to construction jobs during reconstruction; Elaine Enarson: *women's initiative in fostering disaster relief which furthers community development, e.g., in Nicaragua after hurricane Mitch or in the Dominican Republic after hurricane Georges, where poor rural women worked through an existing NGO to assess damages and needs, involve the schools, and make sense of the event through music and drama; Elaine Enarson: *women's central roles as front-line responders in schools and other institutions, as caregivers to family dependents and others, as community activists and political leaders; Elaine Enarson: *the resilience of children in extreme events and their capacity for self-organization, for example among the displaced or homeless; Elaine Enarson: *children's significance as emergency communicators with parents. Elaine Enarson: Regarding Planning and Policy Elaine Enarson: *the striking absence across regions of specific regulations, policies, laws, and practical guidelines incorporating gender analysis and the particular needs and interests of women and children into disaster planning and response; Elaine Enarson: *the need to recognize the household as a complex and variable social arrangement with no presumed male head and no presumed unity of need or long-term interest between adult partners or between adults and children; Elaine Enarson: *women's need not only for access to key resources (e.g. seeds for replanting) but for control over key resources (e.g. waged agricultural labor); Elaine Enarson: *the age-specific needs of young people and models for including child care in disaster relief; Elaine Enarson: *the need to fully involve teachers and students in light of their roles as informal family educators and disaster communicators; Elaine Enarson: *the exploitation of women's and children's 'free' labor (as 'non-workers') during the rebuilding period, for example in Nicaragua; Elaine Enarson: *lack of planning in sex-segregated societies and others for women who are widowed, displaced, unemployed, and/or impoverished by disasters and subsequently left even more vulnerable to future events; Elaine Enarson: *lack of integration of women's issues (e.g., domestic violence) into emergency management studies--and strategies from British Columbia for mainstreaming (e.g., integrating life safety issues in battered women's shelters into evacuation courses); Elaine Enarson: *women's under-representation in emergency management programs, organizations, and institutions (especially of women representing highly vulnerable groups) and the need for more 'female-friendly' workplace and study environments in disaster work; Elaine Enarson: *forging links between women, disaster planners, and media representatives to increase the visibility of women and children in disaster contexts; Elaine Enarson: *the clear need for sharing expertise, cross- training between development, relief, and gender organizations, and minimizing the 'tyranny of the urgent' by proactive planning for women and children; Elaine Enarson: *lack of integrated services and coordination between emergency management and groups serving highly vulnerable groups (e.g. street children, the landless, senior women); Elaine Enarson: *the unanticipated consequence of increasing social divisions when programs or services target particular groups. Elaine Enarson: In addition, a multidisciplinary group of researchers raised such issues as the present lack of relevant institutional data disaggregated by sex and publicly available, Elaine Enarson: the lack of basic research on gender as a factor in women's and men's lives in disaster contexts, and the need for more participatory research employing a range of methods. Elaine Enarson: The utility of a research protocol for comparative gender analysis in disaster research was discussed, as was the need for collecting and sharing multilingual resources on women, gender, and disaster, for example through a university-based clearinghouse. Elaine Enarson: What next? Elaine Enarson: Stay tuned! We met in small groups to formulate action recommendations for research, practice, and policy. These are now being formalized for circulation through electronic networks, at professional meetings, in conference publications, and on the Gender and Disaster Network website (www.anglia.ac.uk/geography/gdn). Elaine Enarson: The full proceedings of this conference will also be posted on the GDN website along with a revised international Gender and Disaster bibliography, papers, and other resources. Elaine Enarson: Good news! To sustain the energy of this critical mass, we hope to meet again at the regional level. Thank you Kay Goss, of FEMA's Preparedness, Training & Exercises Directorate, for taking the initiative and proposing--among many good ideas--a follow-up FEMA conference next year on Reaching Women and Children in Disasters. Elaine Enarson: And now I'm eager to hear from you. Do these issues raised by women around the world seem remote from your own experience or are there parallels here? What has your own experience been in the US and countries like it? What do you think we need more research on, and what changes do you think are needed? Elaine Enarson: (whew--I never trust computers but there you go!) Avagene Moore: Thanks, Elaine for that fine overview of the conference and the issues surrounding women and children in disasters. As a reminder ... Avagene Moore: If you have a question or comment, please input a question mark (?) to the chat screen, compose your question but wait until I call upon you by name before submitting to the screen. Avagene Moore: With your cooperation, we will keep the Q&A session under control and make it as meaningful as possible. First question, anyone? Submit ? to the screen. Avagene Moore: First question of Elaine, please. Avagene Moore: ? I will ask one. .. Avagene Moore: Elaine, please expand if you will on your statement ... Avagene Moore: the "tyranny of the urgent" as relates to proactive planning for women and children. Elaine Enarson: One of the big issues that seems to arise across cultures is the invisibility of gender before the event, when...l Avagene Moore: (Please submit a ? to the screen, anyone.) Jose Musse: ? carrie barnecut: ? Elaine Enarson: it is most needed. In the emergency period, it's very difficult to suddenly integrate women's needs into vulnerability planning, for example. Avagene Moore: Jose, your question please. Jose Musse: you investigate over woman in child in Central America are available in Spanish? Avagene Moore: ? Elaine Enarson: One of the speakers was Enrique Gomariz from Costa Rica who has studied women's and men's experiences after Mitch for the InterAmerican Development Bank. His findings are available in Spanish, yes.... Elaine Enarson: and you can find contact information for him on the GDNetwork, or ask me later. He was great! Avagene Moore: Carrie, you are next. carrie barnecut: Could you say more about how a more female-friendly workplace would improve the situation? Elaine Enarson: This was a concept put forward by David Neal at the University of North Texas. He referred to increasing the critical mass of female students, for example. Avagene Moore: Elaine, I realize some of the studies are global in nature. Do you find the issues similar here in the states? Elaine Enarson: I think there are many key issues that are cross cultural, such as economic insecurity, women headed-households, violence, women's roles as caregivers, women's informal leadership... Elaine Enarson: but I'd prefer to throw that question to the audience. What do you think? Avagene Moore: Does anyone have a comment? Avagene Moore: If so, please feel free to input now. Avagene Moore: Elaine, I imagine the problems are worse in lower income women and children, right? leslie little HELPU: ! Avagene Moore: Leslie, Lynn Orstad: ? Elaine Enarson: Economics are certainly a factor, for example regarding access to affordable housing--a real problem for low- income moms maintaining homes after the Red River flood, for example. CSKing: ? Avagene Moore: Leslie, your comment, please. leslie little HELPU: Thank you Avagene. Elaine, in my work I find that many issues are not being addressed to women with special needs i.e. high-risk under educated, disabled, single family, etc. is this being addressed? CSKing: Elaine - re: cross culture - have you done anything with the First Nations Lynn Orstad: We have found that outside of Women's Services there is very little information in the "main stream" for emergency managers. Elaine Enarson: Leslie, you are so right to point out that women's needs are so very different. In my view, we have not done much, regarding either research or policy, with disabled women nor with migrant women, and certainly not with women heading households... carrie barnecut: ? Elaine Enarson: I'm a bit more positive regarding senior women, though I'd add that many women live outside nursing homes, where we usually work with senior women. Elaine Enarson: I'd add that women in public housing, for ex African-American women in South Dade Co, and women displaced by violence into battered... Elaine Enarson: women's shelters are other women with really acute needs but who are often invisible after... Elaine Enarson: events, just as they tend to be before. What do you think? leslie little HELPU: ? Elaine Enarson: ? Lynn Orstad: ? Avagene Moore: Elaine, did you see CSKing's question re: First Nations? Elaine Enarson: NO---could you repeat please? (that's the scrolling problem we were talking about) Avagene Moore: Cam, would you repeat your question. Elaine Enarson: ? CSKing: I was wondering if you had done any work with the First Nations people or know someone who has Avagene Moore: This is a first. I apologize to our audience. carrie barnecut: ? Lynn Orstad: Ava, Did the system just "go off line" and is Elaine still on? leslie little HELPU: ? Lynn Orstad: Well I see that some of us have returned. Elaine are you still out there. Lynn Orstad: Cam, We have done work in emergency management with First Nations here in BC carrie barnecut: How about American businesses. Can those who have emergency planners be encouraged to mitigate business/disaster related problems of their employees (and or spouses)? wayne blanchard: Yes carrie barnecut: I guess I should have said how could American business . .. Lynn Orstad: Yes, we have done that here in Vancouver, BC and it is raising the awareness and the needs Lynn Orstad: Elaine, have you talked about the GDN yet? carrie barnecut: I hope we reschedule, I'm only interested in hearing what my friends have to say. Elaine Enarson: Hi again--this has been really confusing--I think I missed most of the discussion. No, haven't mentioned the Gender and Disaster Network... Elaine Enarson: so let me just say quickly that it's a resource for information sharing, has a bibliography, will soon have... Elaine Enarson: a working paper series on gender and disaster...and, we hope... Elaine Enarson: also photos, narratives, research agendas, etc. Please Elaine Enarson: check it out and consider joining the listserve, too. [Note: the remainder of the session was cancelled due to intrusion by a hacker.]