Online edition of Daily News - Lakehouse newspapers: "BY MANEL Abeysekera
President, Sri Lanka Women's Confernce
IN the urgency of action demanded by the suddeness and shock of the tsunami devastation, we may have overlooked the need for disaggregated data and its gender dimension which is essential for the effectiveness of the action itself; however, even after the first phase of providing immediate relief, let us note this for future emergencies as well as for the medium and long-term task that has to follow.
The gender dimension revealed in the disaggregated data needs to be catered to now that the CNO's work has devolved on the Task Force for Relief (TAFOR) and the Task Force for Rebuilding the Nation (TAFREN).
While the CNO must be commended for its performance in an extremely difficult and unprecedented situation, it is no surprise that, in a country where the gender dimension is hardly taken into account, it appears to have not been in the CNO. This is all the more reason for it to be incorporated into TAFOR and TAFREN at the very start of their work.
Engendering assistance to tsunami IDPs should be done and the following concerns met:
1. In camps
1.1 Security against abuse of women, girls and children within shelter; provide escorts where necessary.
1.2 Segregate from males other than husbands / sons
1.3 Privacy for sleeping and toilet / bathing facilities
1.4 Special attention to pregnant women and nursing mothers
1.5 Provide menstrual needs
1.6 Women to be placed in charge of needs and welfare of women and girls; she should organise the women in the camp for self protection and for obtaining relief being provided and for their special needs
2. Outside camps.
2.1 Women relief workers to check on special needs of women and procure them for IDPs.
2.2 Pay special attention to women - headed households: {a} help women who have been earners to resume earning.
{b} help those who were not earners to obtain traditional / non-traditional employment or skills for earning and provide them support till then.
{c} help women and older girls to form themselves into cooperatives in order to benefit from micro-credit schemes.
2.3 Provide infant needs {milk foods, feeding bottles, nappies etc,}, clothes, protection against mosquitos. Provide underwear and clothes
2.4 Health
{a} Test women and older girls for HIV/AIDS and separate them and provide treatment
{b} Pay special attention to women, girls and children who have been abused - some women may need the "morning after" pill - and provide the necessary treatment.
{c} Cater to reproductive and family planning needs.
{d} Cater to ante/post natal care including provision of nutritional supplements.
{e} Cater to gender differences in psychological needs of disaster trauma.
{f} Cater to women carers who may be very young and very old.
3. Empowerment
3.1 Utilise women's stamina and resilience to survive and rise above tragedy and make them participants in the rehabilitation process.
3.2 Utilise their domestic, local and environmental knowledge to advantage and encourage female leadership and gender co-leadership.
3.3 Consult women on housing for them and their families since they are the housebound/home makers and know the housing/household facilities required.
3.4 Link up women with local GO/NGO catering to women.
3.5 Utilise women's concern and capacity for economic use of natural resources and finance to their advantage.
3.6 Facilitate women's access to economic rehabilitation packages.
3.7 Include women in community rehabilitation discussions and hold them at times when women are free from family chores and at places accessible to them.
3.8 Facilitate and ensure legal recognition of women who are heads of households and ensure that new title deeds are in the name of both husband and wife.
3.9 Provide support for women care givers.
3.10 Pay special attention to vulnerable women - single mothers, widows, those below the poverty line and socially marginalised women {e.g. caste-wise} in targetting rehabilitation measures.
3.11 Prevent women being overburdened with their multiple role responsibilities and supply them with support services.
3.12 Provide advisory services to women in short, medium and long-term economic planning in terms of their aptitude and family responsibilities.
3.13 Utilise women in immediate rehabilitation activities such as construction and related projects like cement brick making etc.
3.14 Urge employers to be "women and family friendly" and exercise patience with women workers who may well be employed for the first time./ new to their jobs.
3.15 Ensure that women are participants in planning, implementing and monitoring rehabilitation measures , not only for their benefit but also for their capacity building, and that they are beneficiaries of them.
4 Gender resource material
4.1 Gender disaggregated data on IDP's.
4.2 Gender monitoring {including women participants in the rehabilitation process} to ensure gender balance in rehabilitation measures and activities including participation in them.
4.3 Gender budgeting to ensure gender fairness in allocation of funds.
It is clear that, with the enunciation of the 100 meter rule, alternate land for building would need to be alienated by the government for housing, The Lands Act, dating, I believe, from British times, did not make it possible for women to be eligible for such alienation because it was only granted to males; while I understand that it is now gender fair, if it is not, this would be a timely opportunity to make it so as there must surely be several women - headed IDP families and it is important for their sake as well as for gender fairness that this be ensured.
The aftermath of the tsunami tragedy and the tremendous effort the country has to make to change it into a victory by creating a better Sri Lanka in terms of people's livelihood and standard of living as well as of infrastructure, is the moment to recognise a gender dimension in our human rights, political and socio-development activity by establishing a Gender Unit in the Planning arm of the Ministry of Finance; one may ask: what about the existence of the Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Social Welfare?
There has been, for many years, a Ministry mandated with issues relating to women-their equality and equity-whether as an independent Ministry or in combination with another portfolio.
Yet, one has to admit - as was my experience during my association over several years with the National Committee on Women appointed by the President to implement the Women's Charter of Sri Lanka, which the Ministry overlooks with regard to finance and administration - that no government authority, despite instructions from the Secretary to the President, sends proposed legislation, policies and programs to it for engendering: during my time we received just one relating to fisheries which we engendered and returned to the Ministry of Fisheries.
On the other hand, all such proposals are referred to the Finance Ministry for assessing their financial implications, their place in the totality of government policy and planning and finally for allocation of funds: so, there is no circumventing this procedure.
Therefore, on behalf of all Sri Lankan women, who are more than half our population [and perhaps even of the IDP's too], I hope that a Gender Unit will be established accordingly, without delay, not only for engendering purposes but also for monitoring implementation; it may wish to work in coordination with the Ministry mandated to ensure women's human rights; but whatever mechanism is evolved, we need this gender unit to be established immediately as a matter, not only of urgency, but of principle, policy and good faith."
President, Sri Lanka Women's Confernce
IN the urgency of action demanded by the suddeness and shock of the tsunami devastation, we may have overlooked the need for disaggregated data and its gender dimension which is essential for the effectiveness of the action itself; however, even after the first phase of providing immediate relief, let us note this for future emergencies as well as for the medium and long-term task that has to follow.
The gender dimension revealed in the disaggregated data needs to be catered to now that the CNO's work has devolved on the Task Force for Relief (TAFOR) and the Task Force for Rebuilding the Nation (TAFREN).
While the CNO must be commended for its performance in an extremely difficult and unprecedented situation, it is no surprise that, in a country where the gender dimension is hardly taken into account, it appears to have not been in the CNO. This is all the more reason for it to be incorporated into TAFOR and TAFREN at the very start of their work.
Engendering assistance to tsunami IDPs should be done and the following concerns met:
1. In camps
1.1 Security against abuse of women, girls and children within shelter; provide escorts where necessary.
1.2 Segregate from males other than husbands / sons
1.3 Privacy for sleeping and toilet / bathing facilities
1.4 Special attention to pregnant women and nursing mothers
1.5 Provide menstrual needs
1.6 Women to be placed in charge of needs and welfare of women and girls; she should organise the women in the camp for self protection and for obtaining relief being provided and for their special needs
2. Outside camps.
2.1 Women relief workers to check on special needs of women and procure them for IDPs.
2.2 Pay special attention to women - headed households: {a} help women who have been earners to resume earning.
{b} help those who were not earners to obtain traditional / non-traditional employment or skills for earning and provide them support till then.
{c} help women and older girls to form themselves into cooperatives in order to benefit from micro-credit schemes.
2.3 Provide infant needs {milk foods, feeding bottles, nappies etc,}, clothes, protection against mosquitos. Provide underwear and clothes
2.4 Health
{a} Test women and older girls for HIV/AIDS and separate them and provide treatment
{b} Pay special attention to women, girls and children who have been abused - some women may need the "morning after" pill - and provide the necessary treatment.
{c} Cater to reproductive and family planning needs.
{d} Cater to ante/post natal care including provision of nutritional supplements.
{e} Cater to gender differences in psychological needs of disaster trauma.
{f} Cater to women carers who may be very young and very old.
3. Empowerment
3.1 Utilise women's stamina and resilience to survive and rise above tragedy and make them participants in the rehabilitation process.
3.2 Utilise their domestic, local and environmental knowledge to advantage and encourage female leadership and gender co-leadership.
3.3 Consult women on housing for them and their families since they are the housebound/home makers and know the housing/household facilities required.
3.4 Link up women with local GO/NGO catering to women.
3.5 Utilise women's concern and capacity for economic use of natural resources and finance to their advantage.
3.6 Facilitate women's access to economic rehabilitation packages.
3.7 Include women in community rehabilitation discussions and hold them at times when women are free from family chores and at places accessible to them.
3.8 Facilitate and ensure legal recognition of women who are heads of households and ensure that new title deeds are in the name of both husband and wife.
3.9 Provide support for women care givers.
3.10 Pay special attention to vulnerable women - single mothers, widows, those below the poverty line and socially marginalised women {e.g. caste-wise} in targetting rehabilitation measures.
3.11 Prevent women being overburdened with their multiple role responsibilities and supply them with support services.
3.12 Provide advisory services to women in short, medium and long-term economic planning in terms of their aptitude and family responsibilities.
3.13 Utilise women in immediate rehabilitation activities such as construction and related projects like cement brick making etc.
3.14 Urge employers to be "women and family friendly" and exercise patience with women workers who may well be employed for the first time./ new to their jobs.
3.15 Ensure that women are participants in planning, implementing and monitoring rehabilitation measures , not only for their benefit but also for their capacity building, and that they are beneficiaries of them.
4 Gender resource material
4.1 Gender disaggregated data on IDP's.
4.2 Gender monitoring {including women participants in the rehabilitation process} to ensure gender balance in rehabilitation measures and activities including participation in them.
4.3 Gender budgeting to ensure gender fairness in allocation of funds.
It is clear that, with the enunciation of the 100 meter rule, alternate land for building would need to be alienated by the government for housing, The Lands Act, dating, I believe, from British times, did not make it possible for women to be eligible for such alienation because it was only granted to males; while I understand that it is now gender fair, if it is not, this would be a timely opportunity to make it so as there must surely be several women - headed IDP families and it is important for their sake as well as for gender fairness that this be ensured.
The aftermath of the tsunami tragedy and the tremendous effort the country has to make to change it into a victory by creating a better Sri Lanka in terms of people's livelihood and standard of living as well as of infrastructure, is the moment to recognise a gender dimension in our human rights, political and socio-development activity by establishing a Gender Unit in the Planning arm of the Ministry of Finance; one may ask: what about the existence of the Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Social Welfare?
There has been, for many years, a Ministry mandated with issues relating to women-their equality and equity-whether as an independent Ministry or in combination with another portfolio.
Yet, one has to admit - as was my experience during my association over several years with the National Committee on Women appointed by the President to implement the Women's Charter of Sri Lanka, which the Ministry overlooks with regard to finance and administration - that no government authority, despite instructions from the Secretary to the President, sends proposed legislation, policies and programs to it for engendering: during my time we received just one relating to fisheries which we engendered and returned to the Ministry of Fisheries.
On the other hand, all such proposals are referred to the Finance Ministry for assessing their financial implications, their place in the totality of government policy and planning and finally for allocation of funds: so, there is no circumventing this procedure.
Therefore, on behalf of all Sri Lankan women, who are more than half our population [and perhaps even of the IDP's too], I hope that a Gender Unit will be established accordingly, without delay, not only for engendering purposes but also for monitoring implementation; it may wish to work in coordination with the Ministry mandated to ensure women's human rights; but whatever mechanism is evolved, we need this gender unit to be established immediately as a matter, not only of urgency, but of principle, policy and good faith."
said...
I returned from my first trip to Lanka more than a week ago and am doing research for an article on women's recovery from tsunami. And I'd say you are quite right, the specific needs of women need to be addressed! thanks for your helpful essay