Gender & Disaster

By Henrietta Miers The UN's 'pre-zero draft' of the post-2015 framework for disaster-risk reduction calls for a marriage of science and community-level expertise. The final framework will set out what various sectors can do to reduce risks from catastrophes after the current framework expires in 2015.

Twenty years ago First Lady Hillary Clinton spoke in Beijing before the Fourth World Conference on Women and declared: "If there is one message that echoes from this conference, let it be that human rights are women's rights and women's rights are human rights, once and for all."

"If you educate a man, you educate one person. If you educate a woman, you educate a nation". It's an often heard quote in development circles, and the eve of the opening of the 69th session of the UN General Assembly is a good time to pause and consider what it really means.

Women are typically more vulnerable than men, especially in patriarchal societies.

Let's take a moment to consider the gendered components of global warming.

UPDATE MAY 12, 2015 “There are places where the people hear cries and weeping but no one can go there and rescue . That is really painful.