Spatial Analysis of Environmental Hazards

Spatial Analysis of Environmental Hazards

Analysis of Components Influencing the Women's Participation in Disaster Management Cycle in Tehran

Authors
Ali Saei
Seyed Ali Badri
Nasrin Kazemi
Fayezh Tajik
Abstract
Various community groups can play important role in disaster management. Countries with different segments of people directly participate in activities to reduce the risk. Therefore, regarding the role of women's participation in disaster management process and as a part of human society will have an important role in this process, identify and analyze the factors affecting women's presence is essential. However, the central role of women in families and communities remains unknown in most parts of the world specially in planning and managing the disaster. The purpose of this study is to identify and understand the different capabilities of women to participate actively in the cycle of disaster management and providing strategies for increasing women's participation in the prevention, preparedness, response and recovery of probable disasters. This study is an original and practical research. According to the theoretical research, a questionnaire was designed in four parts and it was completed through sampling. The sample population is women living in 22 districts of Tehran. This study implies that there is the low participation rate of women in disaster management among citizens of Tehran. To complete the data, proportional sampling was used and data were analyzed using factor analysis. Using this method, the data and the variables were summarized and the most effective factors were set in the partnership. These factors include disaster management, cultural factors and gender, fatalism, a feeling of power and confidence that the results of the factor analysis was performed using four dimensions. Based on tradition of social research and the findings of previous empirical research on women's participation in disaster management and the factors influencing voluntary participation, contextual condition of social variables (including socio-economic condition, occupation, marital status, number of children and age), as well as religious and fatalistic attitude would studied and evaluated the factors influencing the motivation and willingness to participate as a volunteer in the field of disaster management. The findings show that KMO value was equivalent to 0.74 in four factors of disaster management and the total values of the sector were defined 67.42% of total variance of the variables. KMO value in the sense of power and confidence variables was 0.72 and 65.27% of this segment can be explained by four factors the variability of the variables. In fatalism variable the KMO value was 0.599 and 59.56% of the four factors could explain the variability of variables. Finally, the KMO of socio-cultural norms was 0.71 and 70.52% of the variability of the variables was explained by five factors in this sector. Women cooperation alongside men play a major role in the use and implementation of policies and programs related to accidents. Thus, participation as one of the arguments in crisis management requires people involved in all processes related to the crisis management cycle. Since public participation opportunities and fields are different in societies and in different groups, so, to attract the participation in each group, identifying effective components is essential. Finally, after using factor analysis and extracting four factors, including knowledge of effective crisis management, cultural factors and gender, fatalism, a sense of power and self-confidence were classified. In general, most people do not do any activities in disaster management and their awareness and knowledge does not lead to disaster management needs. Thus, organizational barriers, structural, administrative and educational activities to promote social and cultural constraints are considering strategies promoting women's participation in disaster management cycle.
Keywords
Women participation
Earthquake
Disaster management
Strategies
Tehran
Anderson, Mary B. and Peter J. Woodrow .1989. rising from Ashes: Development Strategies in Times of Disasters; West view Press; UNESCO; Paris; pp.338.
Carballo, M., Heal, B., and Horbaty G. 2006. Impact of the tsunami on psychosocial health and wellbeing. International Review of Psychiatry, 18 (3), 217-223.
Carballo, M., Hernandez, M., Schneider, K., & Welle, E. 2005. Impact of tsunami on reproductive health. Journal of The Royal Society of Medicine, 98, 400-403.
Childs, M. 2006. Not through women’s eyes: photo-essays and the construction of a gendered tsunami disaster. Disaster Prevention and Management, 15 (1): 202-212.
Choo, P. S. 2005. Women in the December 2006 tsunami: how have they coped; how can we help. NAGA, Worldfish Center Newsletter, 28 (1 & 2): 13-16.
Enarson, E. 2008. Gender mainstreaming in emergency management: Opportunity for building community resilience in Canada. Retrieved from http://www.gdnonline.org/resources/Enarson_GenderMainstreamingCanada.pdf
Fisher, S. 2005. Gender based violence in Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami crisis. The national organizations and international NGOs in prevention and response to gender based violence, Leeds.
Fletcher, L. E., Stover, E., & H.M. Weinstein, (Eds.). 2005. After the Tsunami. Human Rights of Vulnerable Populations., CA: East-West Centre, University of California: Berkeley.
Galambos, C. 2005. Natural disasters: health and mental health consideration. Health and Social Work, 30(2: 83–6.
Global Action on Aging. 2004. as tsunami recedes, women’s risks appear. Retrieved from www.globalaging.org/elderrights/world/2004/tsunami.htm
Hyndmann, J. 2008. Feminist, conflict and disaster in post-tsunami Sri Lanka. Gender Technology and Development, 12 (1): 101-121.
Ikeda, K. 2007. How women’s concerns are shaped in participatory planning: a case study of community based disaster management in Bangladesh. Retrieved from http://homepage2.nifty.com/devgen/siryou/contents/ikeda_paper_e.doc.
Lalasz, R. 2005.. “The Indian Ocean tsunami: special challenges for women survivors”, Population Reference Bureau, Retrieved from www.prb.org.
Latha, M. K. 2007. Role of women in disaster preparedness. AuthorsDen. Retrieved from http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewArticle.asp?id=28077
MacDonald, R. 2005. How women were affected by the tsunami: a perspective from Oxfam. Plos Medicine, 2(6): 474-475.
Pikul, C. 2005. As tsunami recedes, women’s risks appear. Global Action on Aging (January) Retrieved from: http://www.globalaging.org/elderrights/world/2004/tsunami.htm (November 2008).
Pittaway, E., Bartolomei, L., & Rees, S. 2005. Gendered dimensions of the 2004 tsunami and a potential social work response in post-disaster situations. International Social Work, 50 (3): 307-319.
Tanesia, A. 2007. Women, community radio, post-disaster recovery process. Women In Action, 2: 68-76.
Yonder, A., Akcar, S., & Gopalan, P. 2005. Women's participation in disaster relief and recovery. SEEDS pamphlet series, 22. Retrieved from http://www.popcouncil.org/pdfs/seeds/Seeds22.pdf