What men in disaster response should do to promote gender equality

Currently, the majority of disaster response staff are men. They have a large role to play in creating safer and more supportive work environments for women in disaster response roles — both on the ground and at headquarters. Last year, ActionAid and CARE International came together to compile a report on what holds women back from disaster response positions. In a two-part series, Devex spoke with the authors of the report to provide advice on how to encourage more female staff in disaster response and why having more women can reduce incidents of sexual assault. Following allegations of sexual misconduct in Haiti by Oxfam, Save the Children, and staff from other aid organizations, one NGO reported its solution was to hire fewer single men. Allison Burden, head of gender equality at CARE International, responded, “I struggle with that. I would prefer that men are socialized in ways that mean that they act respectfully, in ways that promote safety and equality. I find the assumption that a single man is the problem when referring to the use of prostitutes a bit troublesome.” Devex spoke with emergency preparedness staff focused on diversity inclusion from CARE International and ActionAid to get their advice on what men in disaster response can do to create a more inclusive environment and work toward gender equality. While some of the best practices they suggest seem simple, it’s clear that they are often not implemented. From recruiting more diverse teams, breaking down “bro-culture,” and knowing when to take a step back, here are eight tips from experts. 1. Ask women questions and take the time to listen To become aware of the challenges facing women, men need to start by asking more questions. They need to “be curious,” Burden explained, “to ask women about their experiences with real, genuine curiosity and to listen — very deeply — to women’s experiences.” Men in disaster response roles need to be aware that “things are different for women in the field than they are for men,” said Debbie Santalesa, emergency preparedness and planning manager. Every individual experiences life differently depending on “the body they were born into,” whether that means their gender, ethnicity, age, or anything else. In development work, “it might be the way that a woman is feeling sitting in a tent in a refugee camp,” she added. The things female staff members are conscious of “are perhaps really different from the things that men are conscious of.” 2. Take a step back Having female staff on the ground can result in a very different response. Women aid workers tend to have more conversations with women affected by a disaster. Often, male staff speak primarily with male community members and leaders, meaning women’s needs might not be fully considered until later. Men also need to be aware that sometimes, “culture or religion mean that women are not actually allowed to engage with strangers who are men,” Burden explained. When she worked in Sudan, there was a wall dividing men and women in the home, “and you heard completely different things on different sides of the wall,” she said. In a case like this, only female staff can get the access to really understand the insights and needs of women affected on the ground. Sonya Ruparel, deputy humanitarian director of ActionAid International, advises men to realize that in situations like these, “it might be more appropriate right now for the women to take lead of this particular moment, to have this conversation, to lead it.” And when you are in the field, men need to “encourage and support — with the women — an environment where it's OK to talk about some of the challenges that they’re facing,” in terms of both the women in the community affected by the disaster, as well as female aid workers. 3. Breaking down the bro-culture: Involve women in non-work activities The bro-culture present in many humanitarian deployment teams has frequently been criticized as exclusionary toward women. Santalesa said the fact that men in the field often come together after work to drink or play a sport together can — even if unintentionally — exclude women, and ultimately negatively affect their careers. Santalesa said this is because that exclusion causes women to “lose that opportunity to network and bond.” Many discussions about projects or programs often occur during this downtime, and “next thing you know, ‘Bob from logistics’ gets it” — and women may lose out on professional opportunities because they aren’t present at these non-work activities, as she put it. Become more aware, realize when you’re excluding women, and be more inclusive, Santalesa advises. John Crownover, senior advisor for gender diversity and inclusion at CARE, also added that bro-culture “also puts all staff at risk — not just in terms of within the organization, but externally as well.” 4. Prioritize diversity in recruitment Disaster response teams are “working with men, women, and children,” said Crownover, and the response staff “should reflect the people that we’re trying to serve.” All of our experts noted that achieving diversity and a gender balance requires implementation from the very beginning during recruitment. And women need to be represented in senior positions. “We definitely need to have more women in leadership within [disaster response]” in order to “address the imbalances that have been ongoing for a long period of time,” Crownover expressed, including “these hyper-masculine images of surge,” the industry term for teams that are “surged” into a crisis. Recruiters need to recognize the particular obstacles to gender equality within their organization and address them. He advised asking: “What are the barriers to recruiting? How are we identifying possible staff? Are we going to the possible places where we might be able to find more women? How are we supporting women to progress within the field?” In their current recruiting efforts in Kenya, CARE is “building new networks and relationships where we can identify women applicants,” rather than “just relying on old networks that generally produce the same kind of applicants,” Crownover explained. During recruitment, they also work with HR to develop and structure the interview processes “to account for any potential unconscious biases” and “target groups who are typically marginalized.” Within the organization, they also look to provide a supportive environment to women at various levels with the aim of promoting more women into senior positions. 5. Safety and security: Think from a woman’s viewpoint “Security is sort of framed as quite a masculine environment,” Burden said, and “the people involved in security are often men.” Security staff, people involved in the briefings, and the content of these briefings are “often quite focused on the general experience of ‘people,’ and ‘people’ … often means ‘men.’” Santalesa said this a problem because “men security officers and the guys on the team … look at security and safety different than women do.” “I think they need to be more conscious of that,” she said. When considering accommodation, for example, rather than thinking from the perspective of “a big, burly, 6-foot, ironman type of guy,” they need to consider, “if I was a 5-foot 80-pound woman, would I feel safe walking down that street to get to the hotel?” She added, “some security guys are good at that; some are not.” Men in security need to ask themselves: “am I assuming that my advice on security is relevant to all? How do other people feel about that?” Burden added. Burden also called on men to take action when security issues affect women. They should “have the readiness to step in and work on solutions.” She said women face additional threats when working alone, particularly in remote areas, and organizations can address that through planning safe transport, providing communications equipment, and planning for emergencies. It may take extra resources, but “you have to invest extra to ensure that people are protected. And often, men are making those decisions. So men need to be able to prioritize those issues and act on them,” Burden said. 6. Provide diversity and equity training As part of her role, Burden engages men to understand the challenges specific to being a woman in the industry. One exercise is to separate men and women and have each group write a list of things they do every day to protect themselves. She said, “I’ve done this in a number of countries around the world [and] it is always the case that the women’s group has not finished when the men’s group has.” The women’s list is always far longer, and they talk about very personal safety, whereas men talk about general safety — such as ensuring security lights are working. Santalesa added that generally, “we do a terrible job about diversity training in NGOs.” People assume that, at humanitarian aid agencies, “they’re not discriminatory and they’re gender equal … but I’ve been realizing lately, that’s so not the case.” Santalesa transitioned to development from the private sector. “Within that 10 years [in the private sector], I must have had at least 10 trainings on diversity awareness … The number of times I’ve had [training] since I moved into the humanitarian sector on diversity awareness? Zero.” CARE provides gender equity and diversity training for all staff to promote these values. You can find an overview of their guide here. UN Women also provides a number of resources for gender training, which can be found here. 7. Separate living quarters and delegate domestic duties Burden and Santalesa both advocate dividing male and female staff into separate accommodation in the field. Organizations don’t always think about the “cultural implications” of having the sexes live together. Often, in the local context where disaster response teams are deployed, this is unacceptable. If women are put with men, they can “lose credibility on the ground” and the respect of the communities they serve. “Your acceptance in the community is your safety,” Santalesa explained. If female staff aren’t accepted, they are made more vulnerable. Housing men and women together can even mean the women are perceived to be sex workers, she said. While working in the Middle East, Santalesa has heard men comment that their accommodation was “like a harem.” When she goes into country offices, she’s adamant that they provide separate accommodation. “The men don’t think about it because they’re not impacted. But I know the women are.” Another issue reported is that in some instances where male and female staff are housed together, men expect women aid workers to take care of needs such as cooking and cleaning. “It’s sad that we’re still having to address these issues,” Crownover said. Burden highlighted that many humanitarian staff come from cultures that “fall on the lowest scores around the gender index,” where this would be “totally normative — it’s normal for the women to do the washing up.” So, if there is a situation where men and women set up housing together, all parties should “instigate questions about: how do we want this space to be? And how are we going to work together, as a team, to make it that space” and to dedicate tasks and ensure everyone is comfortable and happy in that environment? “It’s simple stuff, but people actually have to do it,” Burden stressed. Burden said she has heard of experiences where women “feel extremely uncomfortable, and have been unable to surface and voice that ... So men need to be asking those questions.” 8. Demonstrate zero tolerance for sexist jokes, disrespect, and engaging with sex workers Burden said men simply have to “behave properly.” Don’t partake in “sexist jokes, misogynistic jokes,” she said. “Men need to know what acceptable behavior is, and they need to act that way.” She continued, “don’t use prostitutes, don’t go to places where women are objectified and treated with disrespect, don’t treat your colleagues in those ways … don’t look at pornography on your computers. Those are some simple things they can do to make women feel safer.” Crownover said in terms of recruiting, “we don’t want to even attract people who display that kind of behavior.” So, “it’s really critical” for those in HR and involved in the recruitment process to be “loud and clear in your job description,” and to really “send the message that this is a zero-tolerance employer.”