Women, who are vital to disaster plans, make up 8.5% of Tohoku’s paintings

A study by the Asahi Shimbun showed that women made up a tiny 8.5 percent of the members of local disaster management committees in areas devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in March 2011.

The survey asked 42 cities, towns and villages in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures about their board formations in fiscal year 2020. Twelve municipalities said they had no female members on the commission.

Local governments establish regional disaster preparedness committees under the Basic Disaster Management Act and municipal ordinances. They compile, review and implement disaster preparedness plans for specific areas.

The number of members has gradually increased over the past ten years after complaints emerged that women’s needs were neglected in post-disaster evacuation shelters.

But the survey showed that less than one in 10 members of the committee are women.

Women made up 1.4 percent of the disaster management committee’s members in the 2010 fiscal year before the 9.0-magnitude earthquake. At that time, there were no women on its committees in 16 municipalities.

The ratio improved to 5.7 percent in fiscal 2015 while the number of all-male committees decreased to 10.

The 12 male-only committees in fiscal year 2020, included the 40-member committees in Nami, Fukushima Prefecture, and Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture.

Matsushima in Miyagi Prefecture did not have female members of the Disaster Management Committee in fiscal year 2010, 2015 and 2020.

“We don’t have women serving as senior officials in the police, firefighting, river improvement, construction, and other departments,” one official explained.

Five local governments said they did not hold disaster committee meetings during fiscal 2020, so no new members were appointed.

If those municipalities are excluded, the non-participation rate for women is over 30 percent.

According to Cabinet Office data, the average proportion of females on disaster preparedness committees nationwide was 8.8 percent in 2020, and there were no women on committees in 348 cities, towns and villages, or 20 percent of the total.

Leaders are indispensable

Etsuko Sugawara, 67, a professor emeritus of domestic sciences at the University of Iwate, said an increase in the number of women leaders is essential in times of emergency.

A month and a half after the 9/11 disaster, Sugawara met women who had fled coastal devastation in Iwate Prefecture and were staying in an evacuation center. They complained about different things.

One said she felt “reluctant to receive feminine hygiene products handed out by male staff,” while another was upset after being criticized for “what they described as a stupid request for emergency cosmetics.”

Sugawara also received reports from the university’s Department of Gender Promotion as well as students who toured the shelters.

“Everyone’s comfortable places have strong women,” Sugawara said.

Dedicated spaces for crying children at night have reportedly been set up in evacuation centers where both men and women are involved in the decision-making process. These shelters are equipped with changing rooms and hanging laundry areas to give women some privacy.

“Women have traditionally played the main role in raising and nursing children, so they have deeper insights into everyday life,” Sugawara said. “Women can sometimes notice details that men rarely discover.”

Kiko Ikeda, a professor of area studies at Shizuoka University, who is familiar with disasters and gender issues agrees.

“A survey showed that a certain number of disabled individuals, the elderly, infants and their family members stayed in their damaged homes after the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami,” Ikeda said. “That’s because shelters that are mainly run by men did not have adequate systems to deal with the demands of people in need of care.”

Ikeda continued, “The participation of women is indispensable to motivate these people to flee and to meet their needs, as women are often involved in the care.”

The Asahi survey asked local governments what measures they include in shelter management manuals to prevent sexual violence and better respond to women’s needs.

Of the 39 municipalities that responded, 26 said they were taking concrete countermeasures with a focus on evacuees.

Koji, Iwate Prefecture, said her guidelines show “examples of shelter schemes” and explain “how to create a dedicated breastfeeding space and separate changing areas for men and women.”

Shichigahama in Miyagi Prefecture said her guideline states that “gender differences, such as when female employees distribute sanitary ware and underwear to women, should be considered.”

The municipality has signed agreements with ryokan and inn operators to prioritize pregnant and nursing mothers as well as infants in accommodating guests in emergency situations.

Twenty women who completed the FY20 Women’s Leadership Development Program presented their achievements on February 2 at Aoba Ward in Sendai. (Sakiko Kondo)

Specific goals for more women

Sugawara is currently serving as a special chair for increasing women’s participation in the Iwate District Committee discussing recovery from the 9/11 disaster.

Sugawara expressed concern about the decline in the number of women on municipal disaster management boards, and called for the ratio to be increased to 30 percent during a prefectural committee meeting on February 10.

She said the different opinions from women must be taken into account when developing disaster preparedness plans, drawing on lessons learned from the disaster a decade ago.

“Women have diverse views depending on their generations and backgrounds,” Sugawara said. “One female member of the disaster management committee is not enough, and women must represent at least 30 percent.”

Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, had no women on the Disaster Preparedness Board in fiscal year 2010. But in fiscal year 2020, 13 were women, or more than 30 percent of all 39 members, the highest among municipalities in the survey.

Kamaishi City has set a goal of raising the female proportion to over 40 percent for all of its committees. It created a list of female candidates in 2016 as part of this endeavour.

“We succeeded in increasing the number of female members to 13 in fiscal 2017 through efforts such as reaching out to women on the list,” said an official with the Disaster Preparedness Committee. “Gatherings of women were held to exchange opinions, and their voices were reflected in the guide to shelter evictions and the choice of goods to be purchased for storage.”

The central government’s Fifth Basic Gender Equality Plan, which took effect in April, specifies that the female member rate should improve to 30 percent by 2025, and that all municipalities should have at least one member of the committee by then.

(This article was written by Azusa Mishima, Kazuki Uichi, and Mari Fujisaki.)

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This article is part of the Asahi Shimbun’s special coverage of the “Think Gender” series on gender equality and diversity and was originally published in Japanese in March 2021.

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