Background: On 6 February 2023, two devastating earthquakes measuring 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude struck Kahramanmaraş, Türkiye. According to the latest information from the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD), more than 50,000 people in Türkiye lost their lives. The surrounding provinces, especially Hatay, Osmaniye, Adıyaman, Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, Diyarbakır, Malatya, Kilis, Elazığ and Adana have been impacted the most from the earthquakes.
Although earthquakes affect everyone in the earthquake area, the disproportionate impact on women and girls in all their diversity are significant. According to the TurkStat(1) (TUIK), Türkiye had an almost equal numbers of males and females across affected eleven provinces before the earthquake. Women and girls faced preexisting inequalities before the earthquake, which have been exacerbated by the current humanitarian crisis. As shown by global lessons learned and evidence across earthquake natural disasters and demonstrated in current assessments taking place in the earthquake impacted provinces in Türkiye, the experiences of women and girls following the earthquake are distinct and need for strengthened prioritization in humanitarian programming. Initial assessments in the crises have illustrated the different priority humanitarian service needs of women and girls, and the specific challenges and barriers they continue to face in accessing information on available services, as well as accessing services; and their limited participation in the planning, implementation and monitoring of the humanitarian response, when compared to men and boys.
The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Policy on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and Girls (GEEWG) in Humanitarian Action , has been updated and endorsed by the IASC Working Group in January 2024, commits the IASC to the goals of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in humanitarian action. The 2024 Policy states that “By identifying and addressing the specific needs of women, girls, boys and men in all their diversities, by promoting and protecting their human rights, and by redressing persisting and even deepening gender inequalities, the IASC will ensure more equitable and effective humanitarian outcomes for all crisis affected populations.“. This entails making provision to meet the specific needs of women, girls, men and boys in all their diversity, promote and protect their human rights, and redress gender inequalities. The Policy is accompanied with the IASC Gender Handbook for Humanitarian Action, the IASC Gender with Age Marker (GAM) and an Accountability Framework that elevates the accountability of the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) and sector leads in ensuring implementation of the Policy, by demonstrating leadership on women’s empowerment in all aspects of the planning and programming of humanitarian action.
Efficient, equitable and participatory humanitarian action can only be achieved by understanding and responding to the specific needs, priorities and capacities of diverse women, girls, men and boys in different age groups. Mainstreaming equality in humanitarian action is a prerequisite for successful and sustainable humanitarian strategies and interventions. Moreover, women are change agents and they play a critical role in humanitarian action, as responders, community mobilizers and leaders. Women’s participation in the crisis preparedness and humanitarian response is the key for reinforcing the accountability to the affected population in the humanitarian action. The UN Secretary General in his 2020 report (S/200/946) articulated five goals on women, peace and security (WPS) for the decade ahead and emphasized, 5 goals “the protection and leadership of crisis affected women and girls is essential for effective and sustainable humanitarian action, when all women are meaningfully engaged, and their needs are directly addressed, humanitarian action is more efficient and effective, the transition to recovery is accelerated, and community-wide resilience is enhanced.”
Purpose: According to the IASC Policy “The empowerment of women and girls is a critical component of achieving effective and life-saving humanitarian action, and is a responsibility to be owned by all actors. It is not optional or additional.”(2) In Türkiye, as a step to translating this policy into reality, the Women Empowerment in Humanitarian Action Working Group (WEHA WG) was established in March 2023. WEHA WG is an inter-sectoral coordination mechanism that offers technical and advisory support to UN CT and sectors to ensure the humanitarian response is tailored to address the specific needs of women and girls and strengthen the dimensions of women’s empowerment across the sectorial earthquake response, with specific focus on leave no one behind. The WEHA WG is accountable to and reports to the UN CT on strategic issues.
(1) TurkStat data in Turkish, last visit on 15 August 2024.
(2) Policy: Gender Equality and The Empowerment of Women and Girls in Humanitarian Action, IASC, January 2024, can be accessed here.
