How Can Promoting Women’s Participation (And Agency) And Responding to Their Needs Improve Disaster Risk Reduction? Case from Post-Disaster Reconstruction (Operations and Measures) in the Philippines and Sri Lanka

For gender-responsive disaster risk reduction (DRR), the most essential step to be taken might be the translation of DRR into an opportunity to transform unequal gender relations which are root causes of women’s vulnerability and exclude them from decision-making processes for DRR. Women and other marginalized groups of people are often regarded as more vulnerable to a risk of disasters because of their limited access to resources and decision-making power, necessary for coping with disasters. However, they are not helpless victims or passive beneficiaries, but active agents for DRR, if they are evaluated from non-gender-bias lens and given proper opportunities. In this light, it is essential for the government and external organizations to promote the agency of women and other marginalized groups of people, while reducing their risk, within relevant interventions.