Women of the Asian tsunami (2007)
In the Asian tsunami that struck in December 2004, entire
communities - families, homes and infrastructures - in Indonesia,
Sri Lanka and India were swept away and destroyed by the powerful
waves.
As the world witnessed via the media the scale of human life and
the relief efforts that followed in rebuilding these coastal
villages, the most devastating effects of the tsunami were borne by
the disproportionately few women that survived it.
In 2005 Oxfam issued a series of reports and briefing notes on
the efforts being made to rebuild communities, citing gender as one
of the differences in determining consequent effects.
Structures of inequality that existed before the tsunami were
exacerbated after the tsunami struck.
There are a number of reasons why up to four times as many women
perished than men. As the predominant industry is fishing,
most of the men were away at sea. Alternatively, they had
gone to trade or sell their wares in towns that were inland.
Men were more likely to know how to swim or climb trees as this was
associated with their daily work. Women were more likely to
be in the home caring for children and elderly family
members. When the tsunami struck, they were more likely to
have stayed with the children, either slowing or weighing them
down.
In the aftermath, women have had to face a number of challenges
and a number of abuses have surfaced. Because women were so
outnumbered by men, there were fears for their safety in the
overcrowded resettlement camps. Domestic violence, already a
big problem before the tsunami, became more prevalent and there
were reports of sexual assaults and harassment. The camps
were not built with gender differences in mind, which resulted in
poor lighting and washing facilities located far from a woman's
living quarters. Washing facilities for menstrual sanitary
cloths - a cultural taboo - were also inadequately provided.
Where there were still women in the family, many had the added
burden of looking after children from extended family members that
had either been completely orphaned or left without a mother.
Women that had also lost their children suffered post traumatic
stress and depression. The prevalence of forced marriage
escalated, especially within extended families keen to marry off
orphan girls. Oxfam predicted that, in order to rectify the
gender imbalance, girls would be encouraged to marry earlier and
have more children to increase the population, thus impacting her
educational attainment and reproductive health. Official
studies have yet to confirm this prediction.
As the income of men is dependent on seasonal activities, such
as fishing and farming, it is up to the women to bolster the
family's income when the men are not working. Women work in
industries such as coir weaving (a fibre derived from coconuts) as
well as number of industries surrounding fishing, such as drying
the fish and preparing it for market. After the tsunami the
Sri Lankan government focused its efforts on replacing the boats
and equipment of registered fisherman, and even though the entire
coir industry was destroyed, women did not receive compensation to
create new livelihoods.
In the Indonesian town of Banda Aceh, teenage prostitution
thrived. Across the affected areas, orphans became targets
for traffickers. Many mothers too, that had lost their
husbands and consequently their family incomes, turned to
prostitution as a means of providing for their children and their
children's education.
NGOs, such as Oxfam, are working in the affected areas to help
the most vulnerable rebuild their lives. For example, Oxfam
has worked with women in Tamil Nadu, India, to form a coir
marketing federation, providing training, stipends and
facilities. In addition, all of Oxfam's cash for work
programmes pay men and women the same wage.
Whilst the aftermath of natural disasters often served to
reinforce the role of women as primary carers within the family and
their low social status reflected in compensation packages, the
process of rebuilding a community serves to remind everyone of
their strength, courage and resilience. Too often, women are
overlooked in this process and their input should be sought and
valued as it often falls to them to pull the community back
together.
POLICY & RESEARCH RESOURCES
Briefing
note - The tsunami's impact on women (PDF, 116kb)
Oxfam, 2005
Briefing paper - Back to work: how people are recovering their
livelihoods 12 months after the tsunami (PDF, 152kb)
Oxfam, 2005
Briefing note - Targeting poor people: rebuilding lives after the
tsunami (PDF, 152kb)
Oxfam, 2005
One Year Later: A Report
Card (PDF, 400kb)
UNIFEM Responds to the Tsunami Tragedy
NEWS ARTICLES
Hope rises in the east
The Guardian, 15 May 2007
Survivors face long struggle
Gulf News, 27 June 2005
Teen prostitution is thriving in Aceh
Gulf News, 26 June 2005
http://archive.gulfnews.com/indepth/tsunami/more_stories/170374.html
Four
times as many women died in tsunami
The Guardian, 26 March 2006
Court to rule on fate of tsunami baby after nine women claim
him
The Guardian, 2 February 2005
