In the midst of emergencies, aid agencies perform a delicate balancing act; ensuring that those we know are traditionally the most vulnerable after a catastrophic event receive the aid they so desperately need, while not ignoring, or presuming, the needs of the wider community.Targeting women for emergency aid has been part of a aid agencies' "best practice" for some time. Photo: AFP
Empowering women to end poverty, the theme of this year's International Women's Day, is not a new concept to aid organisations. Whether it is a massive disaster of the magnitude of the Haiti earthquake, or in any poor community throughout the world, there is one thing we know for sure; women are both most affected by, and the most effective solution to, poverty.
The mandate of any humanitarian organisation is to help those who are the most vulnerable and least likely to be able to help themselves. History has shown us that in emergencies it is women who are disproportionately affected.
When Cyclone Nargis tore through Myanmar's Irrawaddy Delta in 2008, killing 130,000 people, 60 per cent of the dead or missing were women and children; the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami killed three women for every man. When the dust finally settles in Port-au-Prince after the recent disaster, experience responding to earthquakes in Pakistan and India tells us that, in Haiti too, more women are likely to have died.
In the days, weeks and months after any emergency, women and children are more vulnerable; they are less mobile, less able to defend themselves against looting or sexual violence and consequently face additional burdens as they struggle to rebuild their lives. In an emergency the magnitude of the Haitian earthquake, this effect is amplified with tragic results.
Aid agencies in Haiti, in collaboration with the World Food Program, embarked on a massive food distribution to 1.2 million people at the height of the earthquake disaster relief. Only women were allowed access into the distribution sites to collect this vital aid.
This is not discrimination. It is simply a means of ensuring the most effective and far-reaching delivery of humanitarian aid. We know, from experience and from research, that when women are targeted, the entire community will benefit. Giving women the ability to manage the aid they receive makes sure it will reach the entire family — including the men.
Targeting women with emergency aid has been part of a "best practice" response to emergencies for some time. The current distributions in Haiti remind me of the distributions I attended during CARE's emergency response to Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, where all major food and non-food distributions were attended almost exclusively by women. Post-disaster reports from Myanmar indicate that this was the most successful way of ensuring those most in need were not overlooked.
Emergencies can see women taking on added roles of both sole caregiver and provider. To be effective in their assistance, aid agencies must operate in a manner that ensures this is understood and accommodated. Putting distributions into women's hands is the first step to ensuring that these and other basic needs are met.
This principle holds true not only in emergency situations, but also in long-term development projects. From years of experience CARE has learnt that investing in women and girls is one of the most effective ways to help communities overcome poverty. Women, more than men, tend to translate improvements in their own lives into the lives of their children and communities. For example, when women and girls earn income, they reinvest 90 per cent of it into their families, compared to only 30 to 40 per cent for men.
People in Haiti, in Chile and any vulnerable community living through a humanitarian disaster, need help in the weeks, months and years after disaster strikes to rebuild their lives and livelihoods. At every step, aid agencies will continuing their balancing acts, working within well-practised frameworks to deliver aid to everybody who is in need.
At each of these steps it will be women who will ensure every single person in their families and communities gets the help they so desperately need.
Dr Julia Newton-Howes is the chief executive of CARE Australia.
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