Pressing Pause on the gender agenda in disaster studies: Learning from critical gender and development studies
https://nomadit.co.uk/dsa/dsa2018/conferencesuite.php/panels/6375
Development Studies Association Annual Conference, Manchester, June 2018
Short abstract
This panel discusses the critiques of gender and development (GAD) to interrogate how gender is conceptualised and operationalised in disaster management, with the aim of avoiding similar errors in the new trend to include gender inequalities in disaster management contexts.
Long abstract
Inclusion of gender specific guidelines into disaster risk management policies is increasingly orthodox and normative. For instance, the Hyogo Framework for Action: 2015-2030 (United Nations 2015), explicitly aims to build the resilience of both women and men. This policy agenda has been shaped by an increasing amount of gender-focused research within disaster studies, which draws upon the history of gender inclusive frameworks in development (Enarson 1998, Drolet et al 2015, Gaillard et al 2017). This panel invites papers which draw on the well documented critiques of gender and development (GAD) (e.g. Chant 2008) that broadly argue a) women are essentialised, b) existing local gender equalities must be considered, and c) the experiences and needs of different genders must be sufficiently contextualised. The panel aims to explore what aspects of these critiques can contribute to the development of gender-centric frameworks in disaster studies and practice. We invite papers to consider pressing pause on the enthusiasm to include gender in disaster risk management, and to consider what has previously been learnt about gender through critical GAD studies, with the aim of avoiding the reproduction/reinforcement of gender inequalities in disaster contexts. We particularly welcome papers that utilise interdisciplinary approaches to thinking and research including (though not exclusive to): human geography; anthropology; development studies; sociology, and particularly those that draw from theories of the Global South.
Convenors
Jenna de Lopez (University of Manchester) and Gemma Sou (University of Manchester)
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