Gender mainstreaming efforts in disaster management plans: Case study West Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia

Abstract

Women are significantly vulnerable to disasters due to gender inequality. Many studies suggest that gender mainstreaming can help minimize women's vulnerability in a disaster. While national policies stipulate that disaster documents should be women-sensitive, no study identifies how local policies integrate gender-mainstreaming strategies within. This research identifies whether the current disaster management plans from seven regencies and municipalities in West Nusa Tenggara Province, one of the disaster-prone provinces in Indonesia, have included gender mainstreaming strategy in all disaster risk management (DRM) phases. Content analysis, a widely used qualitative research technique, was performed in the study. It revealed that every region had adopted at least one gender mainstreaming strategy in each DRM phase, except for West Lombok and East Lombok Regency. The result shows that there are commitments to mainstream gender within the system and to encourage equal access. However, relevant strategies supporting women's participation in DRM were absent in all investigated regions.