Faces of women in the tsunami
Faces of women in the tsunami
Posted 01:57am (Mla time) Mar 11, 2005
By Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A15 of the March 11, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
NEW YORK -- The major initiative of the Philippine delegation to the 49th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), which is reviewing governments' compliance with the Beijing Platform for Action, is a proposed resolution calling for "integrating a gender perspective in post-disaster recovery and rehabilitation efforts, particularly in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster."
In her statement read at the high-level plenary Monday, delegation co-chair Mely Nicolas, who is also secretary general and lead convenor of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC), expounded on the rationale for such a resolution.
"The Philippines has had its share of natural disasters and thus can empathize with our neighbors regarding the horror caused by the devastating tsunami," said Nicolas. "While we offer our prayers and support to the victims, we strongly urge that all relief, recovery and long-term reconstruction efforts be imbued with a gender perspective that protects women and children, who make up the majority of the victims, from further violence and abuse, that they be allowed to participate actively in the decisions and actions that determine their future."
As of this writing, many country delegations had already expressed willingness to either co-sponsor or support the Philippine initiative, one of them being Thailand, which as everyone knows was one of the countries heavily affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami.
* * *
PUTTING a "human face" to the tsunami disaster was a panel discussion of women involved in post-tsunami relief and rehabilitation efforts, sponsored by the UN Fund for Population, with resource persons from Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, and Aceh in Indonesia.
Debra Yatin, who is Unifem gender advisor for relief and recovery efforts in Aceh, pointed out that the disaster has had "different impacts on men and women." Culture and socialization played a big part in making women and girls particularly vulnerable, she said. In a conservative Islamic society, said Yatin, girls are "not encouraged to engage in physical activity." Thus, many of those killed by the huge waves were women and girls who didn't know how to swim or even how to climb trees. But even if they were fortunate enough to survive the water, so many women, said Yatin, were seen "running back to the water to look for babies, the aged and the disabled members of the family."
In the wake of the disaster, when time came to count the number of fatalities, the gender dimension of the crisis came out in stark relief. Yatin cites the count in one district which had 5,500 inhabitants before the tsunami struck, and only 750 survivors afterwards. But of these, only 40 were women and girls.
Other factors contributed to this lopsided death toll. "The tsunami struck on a Sunday," said Yatin, "so most of the women and children were left at home while the men were out in the coffee shops. Thus, when the waves struck, the men were able to help each other while the women and children were isolated at home, without recourse to rescue."
* * *
ABOUT the most heart-rending aspect of the tragedy in Aceh, said Yatin, were the judgments rendered on those who perished.
The women victims, pointed out Yatin, were dressed mostly in dresses and saris of flimsy material that could easily be torn off their bodies. Thus, in the aftermath of the tsunami, "many of the bodies of women that were found on the ground up to weeks afterward were naked."
Muslim clerics later preached that the tsunami was an "act of God," with some pointing out that it was a punishment on women who were wearing "loose clothing." These conservative clerics then began to fulminate on their view of "woman as the original sinner who brings tragedy down upon society."
The injustice applied even long after the disaster. Women, said Yatin, "were out of the radar screen of relief efforts."
To reach women and address their specific needs, relief efforts "need to focus on the nature of women" in a particular setting. For instance, while spiritual solace would go a long way towards easing the trauma of the disaster, many women feel they cannot properly pray unless they are in "prayer clothes," special white robes that need to be primarily clean. "But many of the survivors have only one set of clothes, and they cannot even get them to be clean enough for praying," said Yatin.
* * *
A SPEAKER from Thailand, representing the community of Burmese migrants, many of whom died in the tsunami, pointed out the need to count as well minority populations who have remained invisible to authorities and to the international community.
Of the more than 1.8 million migrants from Burma in Thailand, more than 25,000 of them were living and working in the tsunami-affected areas, she said. But only about 18 percent of them are registered, with the majority keeping a low profile in an attempt to evade being traced by authorities.
"There has been no news about the migrants in the tsunami," the speaker said. "There is no system (in place) to identify and help the migrant victims," she added. In most cases, the fear is justified, for migrants who surface to avail themselves of relief and rehabilitation are often arrested on the spot.
"It's as if there's another disaster in the aftermath of the tsunami," noted the migrant representative.
As these accounts prove, relief and rehabilitation efforts are not "one size fits all," for not only do men and women and children have different and unique needs, their needs may also vary according to circumstance and culture. A measure such as the Philippine initiative would certainly go a long way toward giving women the help they really need as they start to rebuild their lives after the tsunami.
Posted 01:57am (Mla time) Mar 11, 2005
By Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A15 of the March 11, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
NEW YORK -- The major initiative of the Philippine delegation to the 49th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), which is reviewing governments' compliance with the Beijing Platform for Action, is a proposed resolution calling for "integrating a gender perspective in post-disaster recovery and rehabilitation efforts, particularly in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster."
In her statement read at the high-level plenary Monday, delegation co-chair Mely Nicolas, who is also secretary general and lead convenor of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC), expounded on the rationale for such a resolution.
"The Philippines has had its share of natural disasters and thus can empathize with our neighbors regarding the horror caused by the devastating tsunami," said Nicolas. "While we offer our prayers and support to the victims, we strongly urge that all relief, recovery and long-term reconstruction efforts be imbued with a gender perspective that protects women and children, who make up the majority of the victims, from further violence and abuse, that they be allowed to participate actively in the decisions and actions that determine their future."
As of this writing, many country delegations had already expressed willingness to either co-sponsor or support the Philippine initiative, one of them being Thailand, which as everyone knows was one of the countries heavily affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami.
* * *
PUTTING a "human face" to the tsunami disaster was a panel discussion of women involved in post-tsunami relief and rehabilitation efforts, sponsored by the UN Fund for Population, with resource persons from Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, and Aceh in Indonesia.
Debra Yatin, who is Unifem gender advisor for relief and recovery efforts in Aceh, pointed out that the disaster has had "different impacts on men and women." Culture and socialization played a big part in making women and girls particularly vulnerable, she said. In a conservative Islamic society, said Yatin, girls are "not encouraged to engage in physical activity." Thus, many of those killed by the huge waves were women and girls who didn't know how to swim or even how to climb trees. But even if they were fortunate enough to survive the water, so many women, said Yatin, were seen "running back to the water to look for babies, the aged and the disabled members of the family."
In the wake of the disaster, when time came to count the number of fatalities, the gender dimension of the crisis came out in stark relief. Yatin cites the count in one district which had 5,500 inhabitants before the tsunami struck, and only 750 survivors afterwards. But of these, only 40 were women and girls.
Other factors contributed to this lopsided death toll. "The tsunami struck on a Sunday," said Yatin, "so most of the women and children were left at home while the men were out in the coffee shops. Thus, when the waves struck, the men were able to help each other while the women and children were isolated at home, without recourse to rescue."
* * *
ABOUT the most heart-rending aspect of the tragedy in Aceh, said Yatin, were the judgments rendered on those who perished.
The women victims, pointed out Yatin, were dressed mostly in dresses and saris of flimsy material that could easily be torn off their bodies. Thus, in the aftermath of the tsunami, "many of the bodies of women that were found on the ground up to weeks afterward were naked."
Muslim clerics later preached that the tsunami was an "act of God," with some pointing out that it was a punishment on women who were wearing "loose clothing." These conservative clerics then began to fulminate on their view of "woman as the original sinner who brings tragedy down upon society."
The injustice applied even long after the disaster. Women, said Yatin, "were out of the radar screen of relief efforts."
To reach women and address their specific needs, relief efforts "need to focus on the nature of women" in a particular setting. For instance, while spiritual solace would go a long way towards easing the trauma of the disaster, many women feel they cannot properly pray unless they are in "prayer clothes," special white robes that need to be primarily clean. "But many of the survivors have only one set of clothes, and they cannot even get them to be clean enough for praying," said Yatin.
* * *
A SPEAKER from Thailand, representing the community of Burmese migrants, many of whom died in the tsunami, pointed out the need to count as well minority populations who have remained invisible to authorities and to the international community.
Of the more than 1.8 million migrants from Burma in Thailand, more than 25,000 of them were living and working in the tsunami-affected areas, she said. But only about 18 percent of them are registered, with the majority keeping a low profile in an attempt to evade being traced by authorities.
"There has been no news about the migrants in the tsunami," the speaker said. "There is no system (in place) to identify and help the migrant victims," she added. In most cases, the fear is justified, for migrants who surface to avail themselves of relief and rehabilitation are often arrested on the spot.
"It's as if there's another disaster in the aftermath of the tsunami," noted the migrant representative.
As these accounts prove, relief and rehabilitation efforts are not "one size fits all," for not only do men and women and children have different and unique needs, their needs may also vary according to circumstance and culture. A measure such as the Philippine initiative would certainly go a long way toward giving women the help they really need as they start to rebuild their lives after the tsunami.
posted by Dante at 1:57 AM
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