Gender and disasters: women and men experience disasters in different ways, challenging employers to design disaster preparedness strategies that meet the needs of both genders.

Around the world, in disaster after disaster, studies and reports find that disasters hit some groups harder than others. The recent tsunami in Asia, which killed more than 200,000 people, caused higher losses among children, persons with disabilities, and women. In the village of Lampuuk, Indonesia, the tsunami killed all of the women.

We don't have to look to developing nations, though, to understand the dynamics of gender and disaster. After Hurricane Andrew struck Florida in 1992, studies found that low-income households headed by women were less able to evacuate or prepare their homes than higher-income households or those headed by men. (1) Further, female-headed households took longer to recover from the hurricane's destruction.

The workplace is no exception to this pattern. Researchers are finding gender-based differences in disasters that are relevant to the workplace. For example, women are more likely to head small businesses than large corporations, and studies have found that small businesses have a harder time surviving after disasters than their larger counterparts. (2)

Because these differential risks can result in additional loss of life, workplace injuries, employee turnover, and business loss, we need to pay attention to and act on these findings. In the long run, preparing and assisting employees helps businesses survive workplace disasters or events that affect the personal lives of individual workers. If employers want to retain trained, valuable employees, they must understand the relationship between gender and disaster and design disaster-resilient programs for the entire workforce.

WOMEN, MEN, AND DISASTER

All women do not experience disasters the same way, especially in terms of their private lives. A secretary in her 60s who loses her home has significantly less time to recover financially, and perhaps physically, than a younger counterpart. A female employee who bears the burden of child care and elder care will face increased family responsibilities at home, especially if the disaster affects multiple, inter-related households. Finally, research shows that women of color and persons with disabilities face higher rates of injury, death, and property damage.

It is not enough for employers to simply reach out to women presumed at risk, but to understand that women's situations vary. Workplace efforts to reach across gender divides must take these varying circumstances into account.

Employers must also consider how gender is affected by other circumstances. For example, imagine the situation of a female employee who cannot read or who does not speak English well. Neither employee is as likely as a male co-worker, even one who also cannot read or speak English, to receive emergency information from the workplace or from public warning sources.

The broader social realities of women's lives also matter. Although women have made considerable economic, social, and educational progress in recent years, long-established gendered roles continue to influence the workplace as well as employees' home lives. For example, although many workplaces provide parental leave, women are more likely to take such leave and to retain primary responsibility for child care. The "double shift" of work and home duties, though changing, continues to permeate women's lives. After a disaster, this double shift frequently is exacerbated, with women shouldering responsibilities for household and/or workplace recovery.

Economic factors affect working women as well. Women earn, on average, less than men, rendering them less able to retrofit their homes, purchase flood insurance, or take other steps to mitigate the impact of disasters. Earning less money also means women are more likely than men to face a long, difficult recovery if a disaster strikes.

Finally, although women are breaking the glass ceiling, they are not always well-represented in decision-making venues and remain under-represented as contingency and emergency planners. Experts agree that involving women broadens the range of ideas proposed for and incorporated into disaster planning initiatives, heightens employee buy-in to the disaster planning process, and results in a more disaster-resilient workplace and workforce.

Men, too, are influenced by long-established gendered roles. We see this most clearly during disasters in the division of labor. Men are more likely to hold emergency planning and response positions and more likely to be the local emergency manager as well.

At the neighborhood level, men tend to take on physical tasks associated with response and recovery, such as engaging in search-and-rescue operations and clearing debris. Many of these tasks are fraught with danger--when Hurricane Mitch hit Honduras in 1998, for example, many men were killed as they tried to save their family homes and resources. Post-disaster injuries, such as electrocution during clean-up operations, appear to occur more frequently among men than women.

Within families, gender also influences decision-making and risk-taking. Men are less likely to want to evacuate than women and may delay the family's departure; women, meanwhile, are likely to double-check the warning message with neighbors and friends and urge their spouses to get the family on the road to safety. These and other differences suggest that employers trying to disseminate disaster information must take care to reach out equally, but often differently, to women and men.

INVOLVING EMPLOYEES

The most important thing employers can do is involve their employees, particularly those at highest risk, in the emergency planning process. Specifically, employers can take the following steps:

Involve employees from all levels of the workplace. Do not assume that only top-level employees should plan for catastrophe. Janitors, for example, know a lot about the buildings they maintain and can be a good source of planning information. They also may be at greater risk from disaster than other workers--they arrive early, often work alone, and typically have few resources to help them recover at home.

Create an employee-based safety team with male and female representatives from each department.

Cross-train employees in each other's jobs in case someone needs to take unpaid leave to help family members devastated by a disaster.

Remember women's diversity when sending information to employees. Disseminating the same message in the same way every time may miss some employees. Use written, spoken, and visual information and prepare emergency messages in multiple languages.

Integrate disaster training into workplace literacy programs or as part of trainings for recent immigrants and temporary employees or in offshore facilities, which often employ large numbers of women. Understand that different cultures expect men and women to play varying roles and that these roles will be more pronounced after disasters.

Promote awareness of disaster preparedness during disaster-specific times of the year. For example, conduct tornado awareness activities during March and hurricane preparedness events in June. Bear in mind that disasters also provide a "window of opportunity" to raise awareness. When media coverage alerts employees to disasters in the country or around the world, make use of this heightened awareness to conduct safety training.

Provide information or safety items on days that celebrate or promote a specific gender. Mother's Day, Father's Day, Bring Your Daughter to Work Day, Women's History Month, and Women's Equality Day all present opportunities for EA professionals to promote workplace disaster preparedness. Even events dedicated to topics such as workplace and/or domestic violence may provide such opportunities, as it appears that violence against women may increase after disasters.

Provide comprehensive workplace training for disasters, being sure to address topics such as how and where to access information, what to do when faced by a specific hazard, how to conduct search-and-rescue operations, and how to provide first aid. Consider developing a community emergency response team in the workplace (see http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/CERT/for information) or link your employer's Web site to useful preparedness information, such as that found at http://www.fema.gov/areyouready/.

Review and disseminate information about gender and disaster and contact knowledgeable persons, either in your community or via e-mail through the Gender and Disaster Network (http://online.northumbria.ac.uk/ geography_research/gdn/).

MAKING HARD CHOICES

What happens at home can influence not only an employee but the workplace as well. For example, gender studies reveal that women link their families to recovery agencies and may face additional care responsibilities for injured or traumatized loved ones. The subsequent time demands may compel female employees to make hard choices between their work and their family.

Furthermore, disasters usually hit some segments of the community more frequently and with more impact than others. Lower-wage employees, who are more likely to be women, may have no choice but to live in higher-risk buildings or areas.

To support all valued employees, workplaces might consider taking the following steps:

Provide child care, which is often a critically needed resource after disasters. Child care is especially needed during evenings and weekends, when employees (often women) may need to attend recovery meetings or seek aid through recovery agencies.

Offer flex-time, job sharing, or virtual work options to employees to help them manage the often conflicting demands of work and family during disasters. Allow employees to use comp time during disasters.

Use online conferencing and have laptop computers available for employees who are unable to come to work.

Pre-establish an emergency relief fund with guidelines that are targeted to the needs of women, low-income employees, and single parents.

Support nonprofit organizations providing aid to your employees through grants or in-kind donations, by extending onsite child care facilities, or providing support personnel.

Workplaces are more effective when people establish and maintain effective working relationships. In times of disaster, these relationships become especially valuable resources for single mothers, older workers living alone, or persons with disabilities.

To help employees when disaster strikes, consider establishing a workplace "Response and Recovery Team" designed to provide a variety of support services, from shuttering homes facing hurricanes to providing child care to removing debris. Remember that an abundance of aid reaches victims during the immediate response, but help is most often needed and least frequently available--during the long-term recovery process. This is especially true for working women and for men raising families alone. Employers can make a difference for these employees and can reap corresponding benefits.

References

(1) Morrow, Betty and Elaine Enarson, editors. 1998. The Gendered Terrain of Disasters: Through Women's Eyes. Florida International University: International Hurricane Center.

(2) Webb, Gary, Kathleen Tierney, and James Dahlhamer. 2000. "Businesses and Disasters: Empirical Patterns and Unanswered Questions." Natural Hazards Review (1): 83-90.

Brenda Phillips is a professor in the Fire and Emergency Management Program at Oklahoma State University. She also serves as secretary-treasurer of the International Research Committee on Disasters. She can be reached at [e-mail].