S3E7 Women in crisis: Is conflict and disaster sexist? - with Nazanin Boniadi

Media Storm

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Aid budgets have been hit hard by Covid and economic upheaval. But the hardest hit of all are women and girls. Just last week, UK headlines revealed the government’s slashes to humanitarian aid mean hundreds of thousands more women will face unsafe abortions and deaths from pregnancy - by their own assessment.

Why are women worse affected?

Because crisis is sexist. When disaster strikes, women are 17 times more likely to die than men. But they are underrepresented in decision-making about how aid is distributed, and so the solutions rarely reflect this.

For World Humanitarian Day, Media Storm has partnered with the International Rescue Committee to platform the lived experience of women in disaster zones— not just as victims, but as leaders of solutions. The IRC makes a conscious effort to place women at the centre of emergency responses, and has connected us with pioneers in Yemen, Pakistan and the world’s biggest refugee camp: Kakuma, in Kenya. We also hear voices from Afghanistan, Nigeria and North American indigenous communities, who reveal how conflict and climate change disproportionately impact women and girls.

We are joined in the studio by Amnesty ambassador Nazanin Boniadi (who also fights for justice in Middle Earth - see The Rings of Power), to look at how a male-dominated mainstream media and Eurocentric headlines can hide the realities facing women of the world. We look at the unique case of Iran, where women have revolted following the state murder of Jina Mahsa Amini, and the press’ crucial role in fighting for human rights for everybody.

Buy the team a coffee on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/MediaStormPodcast

The episode is created by Mathilda Mallinson (@mathildamall) and Helena Wadia (@helenawadia). The music is by Samfire (@soundofsamfire).

Featured

• Shabnam Baloch, IRC country director in Pakistan (@Shabnambalouch1)
• Rachel Heaton, Mazaska Talks (@MazaskaTalks)
• IRC (@RESCUEorg)
• Amnesty (@AmnestyUK, @amnesty)
• Nazanin Boniadi (@NazaninBoniadi)

Sources

• Intro: https://www.undp.org/blog/women-are-hit-hardest-disasters-so-why-are-responses-too-often-gender-blind
• Kakuma: https://data.unhcr.org/en/country/ken/796
• UK aid cuts: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9663/ ; https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/climate-and-people/uk-g7-country-cut-aid-covid-pandemic/

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