Gender

The relationship between gender, disaster exposure, and the Protective Action Decision Model (PADM) is explored through a survey administered to 326 GulfCoast residents following the Deep-Water Horizon oil spill. Structural Equation Modeling was used to find that disaster exposure demonstrated a significant negative effect on PADM, such that greater exposure was associated with lower scores (g =−3.09, p < .001). Similarly, gender was a significant covariate in the model, such that being female was associated with an increase in scores (g=0.33, p<.05).

Natural disasters do not affect people equally. In fact, a vulnerability approach to disasters would suggest that inequalities in exposure and sensitivity to risk as well as inequalities in access to resources, capabilities, and opportunities systematically disadvantage certain groups of people, rendering them more vulnerable to the impact of natural disasters. In this article, we address the specific vulnerability of girls and women with respect to mortality from natural disasters and their aftermath.

Large-scale emergency assistance programmes in Somalia use a variety of transfer modalities including in-kind food provision, food vouchers, and cash transfers. Evidence is needed to better understand whether and how such modalities differ in reducing the risk of acute malnutrition in vulnerable groups, such as the 800,000 pregnant and lactating women affected by the 2017/18 food crisis.

Cash and voucher assistance is an efficient way to deliver assistance in emergency settings, and evidence demonstrates that cash programmes have consistent positive impacts on food security and other health and economic outcomes in these contexts. Nevertheless, while evidence from development settings shows that cash has the potential to reduce intimate partner violence and increase empowerment for women and girls, there is a dearth of rigorous evidence from acute humanitarian settings.