CHECKLIST 1: Individual or Community Member

Individual/Community Member Specific Actions

Before Disaster

Actions for Gender equity

• Run a community group on gender stereotypes, ideally tailored for disaster contexts, e.g. Gender equity training offered by Women’s Health Services, e.g. http://whe.org.au/what-we-do/gender-equity-for-health-outcomes/ (Gender equity in Disaster training available 2016)
• Remember, if you are fit and strong, you can apply for a physically demanding job, whether male or female.
• Celebrate the achievements of men and women in non-traditional roles, e.g. through media articles and community awards.

Surviving Disasters for Men and Women

• Run or attend (or lobby for) local classes for women in bushfires or floods, e.g. in S.A. http://www.cfs.sa.gov.au/site/prepare_for_bushfire/cfs_community_events/firey_women.jsp
• Source information on the web for women in disaster, http://www.whealth.com.au/work_through_womens_eyes.html, http://www.whealth.com.au/documents/work/its-up-to-you-for-72/WHGNE-72-Before-During-After%20Disaster-Checklist.pdf , http://www.security4women.org.au/today-womens-voices-from-the-floodplains-will-be-heard
• Join community emergency planning meetings and ensure they are inclusive to all groups, by, for example, attending to childcare, transport, timing and access issues.

During Disaster

• Enact disaster survival plans which have been developed collaboratively with relevant household, street or community members, and based on skills and abilities, not gender.

After Disaster

Actions for Gender Equity

• Resist stereotypes – men can be involved in caring responsibilities and women can do more than make sandwiches!

Surviving Disaster for Men and Women

• Host an alcohol-free street or community event to reconnect networks.

Domestic Violence

• Ask! Follow the 4-steps.
• Use or tell others about male help-lines.
• Set up or join a male support group.

Resources

General Actions

Actions for Gender Equity

• Recognise that the way men and women act is often the result of social conditioning and these gendered roles can leave women at a disadvantage both during and after disasters
• Resist stereotypes —base all initiatives on knowledge of difference and specific cultural, economic, political and sexual context, not generalisations (Gender and Disasters Network 2005 p. 159).

Surviving Disaster

• Before, during, and after disasters, challenge expectations that men will behave in a defined ‘masculine’ way – encourage expression of emotion.

Domestic Violence

• Be aware that women are at increased risk of violence. Understand that disaster is no excuse for DV.
• Name it: Say the word ‘violent’- not ‘stressed’ and ‘angry’.
• Follow the 4 steps to support someone suffering domestic violence after a disaster.
• Undertake training in identifying domestic violence after disaster, e.g. (provide Iink to our training on this site).