Inter Press Service: Gender Equality Can Save Women’s Lives in Disasters — We must not miss the opportunity to set this right
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, under secretary general of the United Nations and executive director of U.N. Women, and Robert Glasser, U.N. secretary general’s special representative for disaster risk reduction and head of U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction

“Later this month, the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) will take place in Mexico. This meeting provides an important opportunity to reboot global progress on embedding gender equality in disaster risk management and redress deadly exclusion. Even though the quality of disaggregated data needs to be improved, research shows that women and girls die in much greater numbers in extreme disaster events. The inclusion of women’s perspectives and leadership is a necessary recognition both of the greater risks women experience and their unique roles in resilience building, disaster response, and recovery. … Fundamentally, resilience cannot flourish in an environment where those affected most by disaster and climate risk are excluded from participation in prevention and mitigation efforts. We must not miss the opportunity to set this right…” (5/11).