Understanding the link between climate disasters and gendered violence

While summer in Australia is often associated with beach and holidays, it is also a time when we are prepared for bushfires. In Victoria, communities have their emergency plans in place, and many have already enacted them.  

As the climate crisis intensifies, natural disasters are increasing in frequency, severity, and duration. Climate disasters - like bushfires, droughts, floods or severe storms - can kill people and destroy homes and livelihoods.  

These disasters, however, can impact different people in different ways. Women, children, elderly people, people living with disabilities, and Indigenous communities are often the most affected. The UN Development Programme found that women and children are 14 times more likely to die than men in climate disasters, and an estimated 4 out of 5 displaced people are women and girls.

This is because climate disasters can make existing inequality - like gender inequality, racism, ableism or ageism – worse. In doing so, they can also make it more likely that violence against women and other forms of gendered violence will occur. 

What is happening?

Research shows that family violence and violence against women increase after climate disasters:

• After the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria, domestic violence increased. For some victims, this was the first time their partner had used violence.  
• In New Zealand, police reported a 53% rise in domestic violence after the 2011 Canterbury earthquake.  
• In the United States, studies showed a 98% rise in violence against women after Hurricane Katrina.
• A study in three South Asian countries found that a 1°C rise in average temperature increases violence against women and families by 4.5%.

Why are times of climate disaster particularly risky for gendered violence?  

It’s important to understand that climate disasters themselves do not cause violence. Instead, the conditions created by bushfires, floods, storms and other disasters can make it more likely someone will choose to use violence for the first time, or increase how often they’re using violence, or how severe that violence is.  

Harmful ideas of what it means to be a man in times of disaster  

We know that one of the drivers of men’s use of violence is the pressure to conform to stereotypical gender roles.  In times of disaster, this pressure intensifies. For example, men may take on heroic roles, like defending property. Emergency management roles like firefighters are themselves often male-dominated.  

There’s nothing wrong with typical masculine traits, like being strong for your family and your community. The problem is when men are expected to uphold that pressure, no matter what. Similarly, women are often expected to lead community and family response tasks in disasters, like evacuating and providing relief, returning to paid work later. The idea that women should bear the burden of care without complaint is equally destructive.  

This ‘hero vs caretaker’ narrative of disaster sets damaging expectations, including that men should be stoic and unemotional in response to danger. When men feel they’re not ‘allowed’ to express distress and trauma in healthy ways, they may lash out in unhealthy ways, like using drugs or alcohol or violence, including against their loved ones.  

Afterwards, that violence may be dismissed by individuals or the wider community as not as important as the disaster itself. This is especially true for violence used by first responders and others seen as traumatised by the disaster. Indeed, after the Black Saturday fires, many victims felt a need to deny or forgive men's violence due to the trauma they’d experienced. 

Practical risk factors for violence

Natural disasters also create very specific contexts that can worsen someone’s risk of experiencing violence, including:

• having partners or family members in control of essentials for survival, including transportation, water, money, emergency plans, and access to health and support services, and key documents like medical prescriptions or insurance papers.
• coming into contact with the person whose used violence after or during a disaster, for example at an evacuation centre or community hub. 
• difficulty of enforcing protection orders in times of disaster.

What can I do?

As individuals, it can feel impossible to make a difference to something as big and overwhelming as the climate crisis. Indeed, it’s critical that governments, emergency planning bodies and others in key decision-making roles understand the gendered nature of the climate crisis and take action to prevent gendered violence before, during and after disasters.

But there are actions each of us can take to lessen the risk of violence during disasters. First off, raise awareness by talking to the people around you about the risk of gendered violence in times of emergency. It’s a conversation that started more broadly as a community during the COVID-19 pandemic, and something we should continue to do during all emergencies and disasters.

The more people know about the increased risk of violence, the more friends, families, and communities will look out for each other during tough times. There is never an excuse for violence. So, next time you hear "they're just stressed" when referring to someone being abusive or controlling, you’ll know how to respond. For more information visit how to respond when someone tells you they’ve experienced violence.

Learn more  

You can also play a leadership role in your own community, by keeping yourself and your colleagues informed about the importance of preventing gendered violence – before, during and after disasters and emergencies occur. Check out these resources to help you:   

• Women’s Environmental Leadership Australia (WELA) is a community of women working to improve Australia’s response to environmental and climate crises.  
• Women's Health Goulburn North East’s Care Through Disaster project has a toolkit to support communities to care for each other before, during and after disaster.  
• Gender and Disaster Australia is a national organisation offering evidence-based education, training and resources to address the harmful impacts of gendered expectations in disaster.