UN calls for empowering women to address tsunami’s gender-specific needs

The Indian Ocean tsunami may have made no distinction between men and women in the grim death toll it reaped with its waves but it has produced some very gender-specific after-shocks, ranging from women’s traditional role in caring for the sick to increased cases of rape and abuse, a United Nations agency reported today.

“Understanding and measuring these differences is essential for an effective response,” the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a news release, stressing the need to raise awareness on gender issues among decision- and policy-makers to ensure that women’s and men’s different needs are reflected in policies, practices and resource through the phases of relief, rehabilitation and development.

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