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Winter 2005-2006 |
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Natural Disasters through the Gender Lens
The following narrative is an excerpt from an oral interview
with a woman named Antoinette. This interview comes from the
project, Alive in Truth. Alive
in Truth is an all-volunteer,
grassroots effort to record history about the lives of displaced
New Orleanians, in their own words. Reprinted by permission
of Alive in Truth: The
New Orleans Disaster Oral History and Memory Project. |
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Antoinette, September
5, 2005
I walked from water up to my neck to get to the Convention
Center. Every day they was moving us around, go here, go
there, the busses is gonna meet you here, meet you there.
They was lying. There was never no busses, they was lying.
They was just making us tired. They had us in there to kill
us. I saw babies, two month old babies, piled up in the bathroom
dead. People was screaming, "The
water coming, the water coming." I saw a girl raped and her throat cut.
The mens found the man that did that and cut his throat. He had come over from
the Superdome where he was raping babies and started doing it there, so the mens
hunted him down and they slit his throat. All this time the police locked us
in there and pointed guns at us. They made us kneel and then lie face down while
they held the guns over us. Kids was screaming and saying, "Mommy, why they
doing this to us?" All the news was just watching. I'm on the news, I was
screaming at the news, just begging, on my knees. Babies was dying and I couldn't
help. Old people was falling down dead. We told the police babies was dying and
they said "So what? What ... can we do? They're dead." The news got
us out. Not the National Guard, not the Mayor, not Blanco, the news people is
the only ones who got us out. Channel 26 got me out. They got me out in they
helicopter. Channel 26. The rest of them was there to kill us. I died there,
I died.
Antoinette,
September 13, 2005
To answer those that would ask, well why didn't they leave? We didn't have no
money. We didn't have no cars. After they was lying to us for four days telling
us the bus was coming, people was getting scared that they wasn't going to never
come and get us .... They was telling us the place was on fire. They was setting
certain places on fire. So people were scared that they wasn't coming to get
us—that's why they started to steal the cars. The trucks, the vans, the
RTA buses. They stole all the rental cars, they stole RTA buses .... The only
thing I didn't see these people trying to find was a fire truck and a police
car. |
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Natural disasters affect everyone in
their paths regardless of age, race or gender. However, intersecting
variables further displace women and children when it comes
to disaster response. These variables include gender-biased
structures and responses that do not include women in rebuilding.
This Threads of Justice issue raises these issues and
contains resources on how to counter gender discrimination
before, during and after an environmental disaster. Our hope
is this issue will generate dialogue beyond the walls of the
church and the voice of those often silenced in natural disasters
and response will be heard through you. |
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"The women who lost all their
... belongings and their life savings in India after the
recurrent floods of the monsoons ... have not been able
to compensate their losses even after decades. This situation
has threatened their security within the family relationship.
Children (both girls and boys) dropped out of school. And
young girls, whose families lost their savings and jewelry
... which were to provide their dowry in marriage, either
lost the opportunity or had to delay getting married, which
has serious implications for their social status, psychology
and survival."
—Madhavi Ariyabandu, Programme
Manager for Disaster Mitigation of Intermediate Technology
Development Group-South Asia (NGO based in Sri Lanka) |
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The Problem
Natural disasters and the ensuing relocation and reconstruction
efforts present unique challenges to women and children.
According to the International
Labour Organization (ILO),
women in particular are disproportionately hurt by the social
impacts of environmental disasters. The ILO researched five
areas as to why this is:
- Post-disaster mortality, injury
and illness rates are higher for girls and women;
- Economic
losses disproportionately impact economically insecure women
(plus limited access to post-disaster aid);
- Work load
changes suggesting that disasters increase women's responsibilities
in the "domestic sphere, paid workplace and community
through the disaster cycle of preparation, relief, reconstruction
and mitigation;"
- Post-disaster stress symptoms are
reported more frequently by women; and
- Increased rates
of sexual and domestic violence against girls and women in
disaster contexts.
With the 2004 Tsunami Crisis, 2005
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Pakistan's mammoth earthquake,
plus the numerous other disasters shaking Mother Earth, women
are being shoved aside not only by the environmental disaster,
but also by the pre-existing conditions of gender inequality.
Considering the male dominance in disaster decision-making,
women are undermined in their willingness to assuage the
effects of known hazards. Since they have universally higher
economic insecurity due to higher poverty rates, working
at home, etc, women need more post-disaster financial assistance.
Since a gender lens is not applied to it, most post-disaster
legislation is heterosexist in origin, it places women outside
the norm (e.g. widows, single women, lesbians, single mothers)
at a greater risk when relief programs are designed
to reach women through male-headed households. The facts
from previous natural disasters show just how women are at
risk.
Some Facts
- The International Federation
of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies points out in figures that sexual
and domestic violence are issues for women refugees in
temporary camps.
- The
Division for the Advancement of Women states that after
Hurricane Andrew in Miami, spousal
abuse calls to the local community helpline increased
by 50 percent.
- According to the United
Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR),
increased violence against women is often an affect of
post disaster stress all over the world; and because of
this, UN/ISDR worked with community organizers after Hurricane
Mitch hit Nicaragua in order to educate men on the message "violence
against women is one disaster that men can prevent."
- The international media picked up the stories of several
thousand Pakistani girls and boys being bought after the
earthquake orphaned them (Nelson, The
Australian, Oct. 24, 2005).
- After Hurricane Katrina, U.S. media brought to the public's
attention the stories of the many women being raped in and
around New Orleans.
- Oxfam's
report after the tsunami states more women were killed
for a variety of reasons including women staying behind
to look after children and women being less likely to know
how to swim or climb palm trees.
- According to the Women's
Edge Coalition, a dramatic rise in violence against
women consistently follows the advent of natural disasters.
In Nicaragua, 27 percent of female survivors and 21percent
of male survivors of Hurricane Mitch reported increased
violence within the family. Similar trends were reported
in the Philippines after the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo.
Even in developed countries, violence against women increases
in the wake of a natural disaster. Following the Loma Prieta
earthquake in California, reported sexual assault rose
by 300 percent.
Action
According to the Gender and Disaster Network, in the immediate aftermath of a
disaster women and girls need representation in decision-making about relief.
This includes all meetings about emergency shelters and temporary housing. Women
need culturally appropriate clothing and sanitary supplies and privacy. Reproductive
services need to be on call post disaster for new mothers and pregnant women.
Women need security against sexual assault, extortion and trafficking.
Now is the time to talk to policymakers and community workers, recruit local
women for assessments and other response work. Gender issues must be effectively
integrated into disaster research, planning and organizational practice. Policymakers
should be required to take gender into account when rebuilding and researching
disaster-resistant communities. With massive disasters only just months past,
now is the time to contact your congressperson and insist gender is an important
issue. Now is the time for prayer and action on our part. Use the resources
below or contact
the Office of Women's Advocacy on what you can
do to make a difference.
More Resources on Women in Disasters
Learn more, reflect, study and act with these
supplementary materials on women and natural disasters. |
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Mark your calendar!
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
217th General Assembly (2006)
June 15–22, 2006
Birmingham, Alabama
So great a cloud of witnesses (Hebrews
12:1–2)
This will be an historic assembly—the first-ever
biennial assembly in the denomination's history will also,
for the first time, be held concurrently with the general assemblies
of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and the Cumberland Presbyterian
Church in America.
Some women-related GA events to look forward
to:
Women's Orientation Breakfast
Thursday, June 15
7:00–10:00 a.m.
Women
of Faith Awards Breakfast
Sunday, June 18,
8:00 a.m.
Advocacy Committee for Women's
Concerns (ACWC) Consultation
Tuesday, June 20
8:00 a.m.
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2006
Churchwide Gathering of Presbyterian Women
July 7–11, 2006
Louisville, Kentucky
Creation! Celebration! God's
Word—Light for the Journey
(Genesis 1:1a, 3, 31a and John 1:1,
3-4)
This is a time for celebration of many things:
creation; 100 years of ordaining women as deacons, 75 years
as elders and 50 years as ministers of Word and Sacrament;
and the 50th anniversary of the Least Coin Offering. It is
also a time for being inspired, nurtured and educated; a time
for making new friendships and renewing old ones.
Plan now to attend the next Triennial Churchwide
Gathering of Presbyterian Women! |
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2006 Leadership Event
of the National Network of Presbyterian College Women
(NNPCW)
July 7–11, 2006
Louisville, Kentucky
Women Among Them Astounded Us! A Celebration in All Generations
How
do we break down the barriers of ageism to unite as women
against injustice? What can women learn from one another about
our victories of the past and our challenges for the future?
Where is the space for fruitful dialogue that leads to change?
Learn the answers to these questions and more at the NNPCW
Leadership Event which has teamed up with the PW Gathering!
Contact
Kelsey Rice for more information. |
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Tending the Flame: Women Called to Lead
A Celebration of the Ordination of Women in
the Church
March 9–11, 2006
First Presbyterian Church
Atlanta, Georgia
Spirit
Flames
Sisters
...
Celebrating
our witness
Claiming
our ministries
Sharing
the sacred table
Discerning
our way into the future
For more information contact:
Tania Easley
Greater Atlanta Presbytery
1024 Ponce de Leon Ave. NE
Atlanta, GA 30306
(404) 898-0711, x132
A Celebration of the Ordination of
Women in the Church
October 6–8, 2006
San Francisco Airport Marriott Hotel
The West Coast conference will be a culmination of a
two-year long celebration celebrating the ordinarily
extraordinary lives and stories of women called to lead!
For more information contact:
Sarah Reyes
Bethel Community Presbyterian Church
14235 Bancroft Avenue
San Leandro, Calif. 94578
Stephanie
Croom
San Francisco Theological Seminary
105 Seminary Road
San Anselmo, Calif. 94960
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The Rebel
When I
die
I'm sure
I will have a
Big Funeral ...
Curiosity
seekers ...
coming to see
if I
am really
Dead ...
or just
trying to make
Trouble ...
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Mary Evans |
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Just so you know...
The 2006 Women
of Faith Awards will honor Presbyterians who
are serving or have served as deacons, elders or ministers
of Word and Sacrament. Nominate an extraordinary woman whom
you know.
Interested in the reproductive rights
debate in America? A
great place to get updates and action alerts on the biggest
issues in the courts is on the NARAL
Pro-Choice America Web site.
The Office of Women's Advocacy is thinking about changing Threads
of Justice into an e-newsletter! If you have any ideas, drop
us a line.
Welcome Molly Casteel to the staff of Women's Ministries!
Molly joined us in September as the associate for Women's
Advocacy.
Welcome Heather Grantham to the staff of Women's Ministries! Heather joined us in September as the Young Adult Intern for Women's Advocacy. |
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Sign Up for Action Alerts!
The Office of Women's Advocacy, in partnership with Presbyterian
Women, periodically sends out email action alerts on women's
health, economic justice, child advocacy, war and HIV/AIDS. Subscribe
by topic or for our general list. |
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Resources from Women's Ministries
Problem Pregnancy
Series
- When No Choice Is Easy: For the Pregnant Woman
- When You Need the Wisdom of Solomon: Helping Others
Face Problem Pregnancies
- There's Always a Father: Does the Father Have a Problem
Too?
- When Pregnancy Involves Loss: Helping Others Face Problem
Pregnancies
Well
Chosen Words, 2005 version
Clergywomen's
Experiences in Ministry: Realities and Challenges (2005)
2002 Sisters of Mercy, Daughters of Grace: Presbyterians and Prostituted Women
Stories
of Women in Our "HerStory" |
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... Loose Threads
For more copies of Threads
of Justice, to subscribe, send
submissions or feedback, contact Leigh
Harper or
call (888) 728-7228, x5385.
Published by: The Office of Women's
Advocacy Women's Ministries, National Ministries Division,
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), 100 Witherspoon Street , Louisville,
Ky. 40202. A Ministry of the General
Assembly Council. Printed twice a year on recycled paper. |
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We are not responsible for material on any Web site other than our own. |
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