亚开行-法律和政策如何支持孟加拉国对性别问题有敏感认识的灾害风险管理（英）-2025.7_6页_819kb

How Laws and Policies Support Gender-Responsive Disaster Risk Management in Bangladesh

Key Points

• Gender-Responsive DRM strengthens overall resilience and ensures equitable recovery.
• Bangladesh has a policy framework recognizing women's roles in DRM, with constitutional base and a national plan integrating gender equality.
• Opportunities exist to further integrate gender equality into DRM laws and plans.

Background

• Bangladesh is highly exposed to natural hazards (cyclones, floods) due to geography, exacerbated by climate change.
• Disasters disproportionately affect women and girls due to social norms, restricting access to resources, decision-making, and increasing care burdens.
• Gendered impacts highlight the need for specific DRM policies addressing women's vulnerabilities.

International & National Legal/Policies Framework

1. Constitution: Enshrines significant rights for women (Articles 27-44) relevant to DRM, though reservations exist under CEDAW.
2. Disaster Management Act 2012: Establishes NDMC but lacks specific gender mechanisms. Can be strengthened for gender-responsive risk reduction.
3. Standing Orders on Disaster 2019: Mainstreams gender equality at national/local levels by including MoWCA in committees and mandating safety/security training. Identifies the need for more female agency heads.
4. National Plan for Disaster Management (2021-2025): Strongly integrates gender and social inclusion.
5. Climate Change Gender Action Plan (ccGAP revis.2023): Aims to ensure gender equality in climate policies and has become a detailed action plan.
6. Gender Policy 2016 (Ministry of Environment): Provides practical guidance in environmental management relevant to climate-related hazards.

Strengths & Gaps

• Strengths: Progressive integration of gender issues into DRM, climate change, and environmental policies. Explicit mechanisms in some policies (SOD, ccGAP) support gender-responsive actions.
• Challenges/Gaps:
  • Insufficient women's representation in high-level DRM committees (NDMC lacks MoWCA).
  • Need for more robust mechanisms ensuring financial tracking and monitoring of gender equality in DRM budgets (beyond 2009 start).
  • Incomplete implementation of gender equality goals in some core DRM legislation (DM Act 2012).
  • Potential gaps in sex-disaggregated data collection and use.

Recommendations

1. Institutional: Explicitly include MoWCA in the highest DRM coordination bodies. Ensure adequate resourcing and capacity for MoWCA.
2. Early Warning: Develop gender-responsive multi-hazard early warning systems incorporating indicators and inclusive dissemination.
3. Budgeting/Finance: Move beyond basic budget tracking to ensure robust planning, budgeting, monitoring, reporting, and evaluation supporting gender equality principles and DRM.
4. Legal Integration: Leverage the existing legal framework (Constitution, DM Act, ccGAP) to:
   • Explicitly integrate CEDAW obligations into DRM planning and practice.
   • Strengthen operational collaboration between MoWCA, Ministry of Planning, and Ministry of Disaster Management.
   • Ensure systematic collection and use of sex-disaggregated data and gender analysis.
5. Consider adopting and adapting the Sendai GAP (2024) for national DRM planning.

Conclusions

Bangladesh has a solid foundation for DRM and increasingly for gender-responsive DRM. Strengthening the integration of gender considerations into legislation, institutions, policies, planning, finance, and data collection is crucial for achieving resilience and aligning with international commitments (CEDAW, Sendai Framework, Paris Agreement). This offers an opportunity to further lead in DRM implementation.