Navigating crisis: addressing the needs and vulnerabilities of women and girls in the aftermath of natural disasters

Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) results from structural and individualised discrimination embedded in social institutions. Evidence confirms that the adverse impacts of climate and environmental challenges exacerbate women and girls’ vulnerability to discrimination and violence overall, and especially in settings of crisis such as those resulting from natural or man-made disasters. This chapter reviews empirical research to uncover both individual and systemic barriers to accessing sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services, as well as to evaluate gaps in programme responses to climate-related disasters with respect to VAWG. The authors conclude that SRH challenges, including VAWG, often remain the invisible consequences of climate induced crises, despite significant public health implications. Heightened risks faced by women and girls during crises and crisis-response are increasingly acknowledged. Yet programme responses to both temporal disaster response and chronic settings of environmental and livelihoods degradation remain severely limited due to poor political prioritisation and entrenched cultural barriers.