GENDER-AWARE DISASTER PRACTICE:
A Self-Assessment Tool for Disaster Responding Agencies
This checklist is a tool to help disaster planning and response agencies identify and assess
gender issues impacting women in organizational culture and practice. It was originally
developed in 1999 by Dr. Elaine Enarson of the Disaster Preparedness Resources Centre,
University of British Columbia. Your feedback is welcome: eenarson@earthlink.net
Staff and Training
Y/N
___ ___ Are opportunities available in your agency for women and men interested in
nontraditional positions ?
___ ___ Do staff and volunteers represent the local population in terms of ethnicity,
income levels, language skills, etc?
___ ___ Does your agency recruit female and male volunteers to nontraditional roles?
___ ___ Do volunteers have opportunities to train or apply for staff positions relevant to
their skills and experience?
___ ___ Do staff receive training about how gender issues impact disaster planning and
response?
___ ___ Are agency activities such as training or social events offered in times and places
accessible to those with family responsibilities?
___ ___ Does the informal culture of your agency support women in nontraditional
decision-making roles?
Program Development
Y/N
___ ___ Are women actively involved in developing as well as carrying out programs?
___ ___ Are agency programs evaluated in terms of how they impact local women, for
example in their roles as disaster survivors, risk communicators, or caregivers?
___ ___ Is programming based on knowledge of local women’s economic status, housing,
family size and structure, health concerns, and other relevant living conditions?
___ ___Do planning, relief, and recovery programs target such at-risk groups of women as
recent immigrants, low-income single mothers, and women living alone?
___ ___ Does your agency work with local women representing vulnerable populations
when new programs are designed and implemented, for example with social
housing residents, seniors, or migrant worker families?
___ ___ Are relief centres and evacuation sites culturally accessible to all local women and
safe for those with special needs, such as disabled women and those needing
relocation from a battered women’s shelter?
___ ___ Do emergency housing and temporary housing arrangements meet women’s needs
for child care, personal security, transportation, reproductive and other medical
care, etc.?
___ ___ Are women receiving emergency food and other assistance also involved in the
distribution and management of relief as much as possible?
___ ___ Are all family units within a single household registered independently for relief?
___ ___ Do relief registration procedures allow for more than one family unit in a single
household?
___ ___ Do agency personnel policies address work/family conflicts during crisis?
Community Outreach
Y/N
___ ___ Are disaster-vulnerable women included by your agency as partners in disaster
planning and response?
___ ___ Does agency planning reflect the resources of women’s educational, voluntary,
civic, religious, professional, political and other associations?
___ ___ Are these local women’s groups or organizations incorporated appropriately in
agency exercises, events, or training?
___ ___ Are government and nonprofit women’s services included in agency
communication, networks, and events?