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Among refugees, women and children face large amounts of gender-based obstacles, stereotypes and violence. There is a large gap regarding humanitarian action, as female migrants are more prone to lack of sanitation, and sexual violence. For instance, at least 1 in 5 refugees or displaced women are estimated to have experienced sexual violence. Even regarding the access to shelter, women are at a disadvantage. The Norwegian Refugee Council in Iraq found that women were more likely to live in inadequate shelter, as well as have less of an ability to claim housing. In fact, women were 11 percent more likely to live in an overcrowded shelter than men.
However, while this is the case, only 4 percent of UN targeted humanitarian projects were targeted at women and girls. Most projects that do aim towards women, often kickstart at first, but then run out of steam. Regarding the issue of sanitation, we can see a vast imbalance. In India, there are 13 times more toilets available for men than women. It is due to this, women sometimes resort to defecating in the open without obvious privacy, leaving them more susceptible to rape and gender based violence. In an effort to stop the trend, India proposed an infrastructure project to build new bathrooms available to women, but the protests and projects quickly unravelled, as not a single toilet was built. More support and willingness to participate and speak out is needed in order to really succeed with these sorts of projects. Even regarding the idea of gender based violence and rape in humanitarian crises, nothing has beene to done to even vaguely address the issue. In these situations, there are various types of violence that take place : intimate partner violence, sexual violence and even deprivation of nutrition and education. Armed conflict, natural disasters and humanitarian crises increase the likelihood of violence as they weaken the society’s ability to protect women and girls. Even after these events, they are often ostracised for their actions and conditions, forming conditions such as depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
While this is the case, it doesn’t mean that we have no place to begin. There are various initiatives and projects globally that are starting a kindling to address the problem. For instance, in Jordan, Syrian refugees in the Zaatari refugee camp are increasing wages, improving diets, and improving the household situations for women. This has had a large impact globally, as millions of refugees are able to now have access to a self-sustainable lifestyle. Additionally, during the past and ongoing Ebola epidemic, there were informational radio programmes and UN women facilitated training to adopt new strategies to help and cope with the local and nationwide effects of Ebola on women. With women not having a disproportionate access to sanitation in developing countries, this aid is extremely impactful in providing aid and support from fellow women to form a coalition.
The basis of this gap is a lack of distribution and a lack of knowledge from people who aren’t firsthand experiencing the situation. Data education and accounting for the inequalities women experience is extremely crucial, as it allows us to better allocate funding and resources to where it is necessary. In addition, the above successful domestic coalitions in improving the unionization of women is what we need, as more support leads to more success.
