Women's needs and protection in disasters

 

Participants in the Syrian Wednesday Dialogue agreed that women are the group most affected by disasters and the most in need throughout the response period, but their opinions varied in reasons and proposals. Some indicated that the absence of any women’s entity in decision-making centers had a negative impact and appeared strongly in the earthquake disaster, while others indicated the necessity of launching a real national dialogue to get out of the current reality and agree on the features of a new phase in which women are not absent in form or content.

In the session entitled “Women’s Needs and Protection in Disasters,” which was held on the evening of Wednesday, March 15, 2023, the Nation Building Movement reviewed, in its first pillar, the reality of responding to women’s needs. In it, the participants agreed that the needs of women and the most vulnerable groups were not among the priorities of the governmental, societal, and civil response during the recent earthquake disaster, and that these needs are not limited to the health aspect and its requirements, but rather include several issues that naturally increase during any disaster or crisis, such as issues of protection from harassment and exploitation.

Participants described the performance of civil society organizations in general and women’s organizations in particular as chaotic, despite the experience they have accumulated in various sectors over the long years of war. They pointed out that societal awareness of the needs of women or any other group requires efforts at all cultural, educational, health and legal levels to become a culture and then be reflected in procedures and performance. Some of them saw that the enormity of the disaster, the lack of resources and the absence of a national plan and strategy in government institutions or non-governmental organizations did not allow associations and teams to work within their specializations, but rather pushed everyone to drown in meeting the same needs, which caused a large gap in relation to women’s needs.

While the second pillar of the session addressed the proposed mechanisms to include women's needs and requirements in disaster response, the participants agreed on the need for a body concerned with women's affairs that works to improve their presence in Syrian society, whether this body is governmental or civil, especially in light of the great void left by the dissolution of the Women's Union despite its weak role in recent years, and that the gap in responding to women's needs is not only borne by women's entities, but also the absence of feminist women from decision-making centers, parliament seats and ministries. They agreed on the need for associations and teams to adhere to their competencies when responding to avoid creating gaps as happened in the response to the February 2023 earthquake, and the need to launch a real national dialogue as a necessity for Syrians to emerge from their reality and re-agree on the features of a new phase in which women and their voices are present without any marginalization of them or their interests.


More details about the session can be found in the photo reports below.

Video

Gallery