ReliefWeb

Women who make up about 49 percent of the Fijian population, are the most disadvantaged and negatively affected by Tropical Cyclone Winston.

This is according to the Government’s Post Disaster Needs Assessment Report.

The report states the high burden of reproductive work confines women to the poorly remunerated informal sector, which leaves them with no income security to respond to the disaster.

Tropical Cyclone Winston affected approximately 540,400 people.

This included 264,000 women and girls, equivalent to 40 percent of Fiji’s population.

The report states women’s subsistence activities and earnings contribute directly to nutritional security and household economic welfare and foster human welfare.

The impact of the cyclone on women may, therefore, result in increasing dependency on subsistence economic activity, increasing time poverty, deepening their poverty and widening gender inequality. It said that while women have been disproportionately impacted by the cyclone, simply viewing them as victims only increases their vulnerability.

Instead, recognising that they have knowledge, social capital and skills critical for recovery is important. The report states recovery interventions in housing and productive sectors present an opportunity to start redressing some of the inequalities that put women in a disadvantageous position.

The gender gap of 34.9 percent points in labour force participation rates suggests significant opportunity to engage more women in recovery and reconstruction to rebuild their livelihoods, increase their asset base and achieve long-term resilience.

Ensuring that no discrimination exists based on sex, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation or disability at all stages of the recovery process is also crucial.

Meanwhile, feminist based women’s NGO Femlink Pacific has reiterated the need for the involvement and consultation of women before, during and after natural disasters.

“We’re looking forward to the outcomes of the official consultative process through the National Disaster Council and then of course cabinets approval so that there can be a wider public engagement in these 3 pieces of policy and legislation because we have a lot of lessons learned. We have a lot of communities who may not have been the direct beneficiaries of the humanitarian response and we certainly want to make sure that in the recovery phase everyone’s accountable for”

“One of the vital roles of collaborating with civil society and women groups is to make sure that reach in terms of assessments are more harmonized and can reach a wider audience so its not just limited to the Government process, making sure Turaga ni Koro’s and advisories counsellors are looking at gender” said Sharon Bhagwan Rolls – Coordinator FEMLINK Pacific.

SOURCE: FIJI TV/PACNEWS