Gender Dimensions in Disaster Management: Implications for Coastal Aquaculture and Fishing Communities in the Philippines

Aquaculture and small-scale fisheries play an increasingly important role in easing pressure of wild capture fisheries while also contributing to better nutrition and food security.  However, many nations that invest in aquaculture and fisheries are located in areas prone to tropical cyclones (typhoons). Research suggests that women are disproportionately affected at all stages of disaster, and these inequities contribute to inefficient recovery.  In 2013, the Philippines experienced one of the largest storms in recorded history to ever hit land – known internationally as Typhoon Haiyan – affecting an archipelago of low-lying islands populated by communities dependent on natural resources.  One year later, another typhoon made landfall –Typhoon Hagupit – making it paramount to update the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010 to include measures that consider gender integration in response to such disasters. We conducted 28 semi-structured interviews with professionals working in disaster management, fishing and aquaculture, and women’s organizations in the Philippines to better understand how gender integration in disaster management has changed over the past five years. These results will be analyzed alongside secondary data sources and relevant literature to inform managers and policy makers of current gender dimensions in Philippine disaster management.