Around the world, women living on the frontlines of conflict and disaster face a triple burden:
To survive, care for their families and communities, and avoid increased risk of violence. Yet despite being the most impacted, women are rarely given the opportunity to lead in humanitarian response. This means that women’s needs during an emergency are too often overlooked, jeopardising their rights and security and further adding to their burden of care work in crisis.
It also means the whole of a disaster-affected community is denied the best possible humanitarian response.
When women are supported to lead disaster response, they are not only effective and galvanising leaders, ensuring everyone in their community is protected, they also create new spaces for women to lead, taking important steps towards gender equality and social justice. In this way, emergencies can become catalytic moments for change.
