- Nancy Mock Presents NCCROW Gender and Disaster Research at APHA 2008 San Diego
- Session abstract and poster
- Gender and Disasters: Theoretical Considerations
- First chapter of "Katrina and the Women of New Orleans"
- Posted August 27, 2008
"Gender and Disasters: Theoretical Considerations"
Chapter co-authored by Shirley Laska, Betty Hearn Morrow, Beth Willinger and Nancy Mock
This is the first chapter of the report "Katrina and the Women of New Orleans," forthcoming from Newcomb College Center for Research on Women and partners.
While feminist theory and disaster research have evolved independently, a growing number of scholars are using feminist theoretical perspective to study and respond to disasters. Feminist scholarship demonstrates that gender serves as a primary organizing principle of all societies and is therefore an essential lens through which to view the experience of a disaster such as a hurricane; disaster research suggests both vulnerability and capacity for women experiencing disaster. In this chapter, we examine the research and theoretical work on gender and disasters and apply this knowledge to the conditions prevailing in New Orleans before and after the 2005 hurricane season. The goal of this examination is to better understand the ways the 2005 hurricane season affected the lives of women and girls in New Orleans, and to use this understanding to expand knowledge about women and disasters in the United States, particularly in the Gulf South.
Read the first chapter:
GENDERandDISASTERS_NCCROW082008.pdf
