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Gender and Disaster: Foundations and Directions

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Handbook of Disaster Research

Part of the book series: Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research ((HSSR))

Abstract

Gendered disaster social science rests on the social fact of gender as a primary organizing principle of societies and the conviction that gender must be addressed if we are to claim knowledge about all people living in risky environments. Theoretically, researchers in the area are moving toward a more nuanced, international, and comparative approach that examines gender relations in the context of other categories of social difference and power such as race, ethnicity, nationality, and social class. At a practical level, researchers seek to bring to the art and science of disaster risk reduction a richer appreciation of inequalities and differences based on sex and gender. As the world learns from each fresh tragedy, gender relations are part of the human experience of disasters and may under some conditions lead to the denial of the fundamental human rights of women and girls in crisis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Disaster and Emergency Studies, Brandon University, Manitoba, Canada

    Elaine Enarson

  2. Department of Sociology, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, USA

    Alice Fothergill

  3. Department of Sociology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA

    Lori Peek

Authors
  1. Elaine Enarson
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  2. Alice Fothergill
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  3. Lori Peek
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Enarson, E., Fothergill, A., Peek, L. (2007). Gender and Disaster: Foundations and Directions. In: Handbook of Disaster Research. Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-32353-4_8

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