To be a woman in Japan: Disaster vulnerabilities and gendered discourses in disaster preparedness in Japan

Abstract

In recent years the international community has acknowledged the importance of gender perspectives in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), arguing that social constructs of gender lead to structural inequalities, prejudices and biases that articulate people's disaster vulnerabilities and capabilities in all disaster phases. Studies showed that especially women are prone to gender-based disaster risks, and it is the responsibility of national governments not only to identify these vulnerabilities but also to develop disaster education and preparedness strategies to address them.To better understand gender-based disaster vulnerability in Japan, this study identifies factors of disaster vulnerabilities of women within a complex set of social and community norms and values, stressing the impact of public discourses of gender. Then, this paper addresses the questions: “What are the disaster vulnerabilities of women in Japan?” and “What is the impact of discourses of gender on disaster vulnerabilities of women in disaster preparedness Japan?“. To address the first question, factors of vulnerability were identified through Grounded Theory based on data collected from participant observations and stakeholder interviews. Then, the impact of discourses around gender was extracted from the literature on gender and DRR using Critical Discourse Analysis. The study results show that the main factors of gendered disaster vulnerability are inadequate disaster education, a lack of protection measures, and cultural issues. Moreover, public discourses of gender are shown to not only shape these factors but to be deeply embedded in Japan's disaster preparedness strategies at large affecting both the quality and quantity of disaster information available.