CEDAW/C/GC/37 4. Mortality and morbidity levels in situations of disaster are higher among women and girls. 7 Owing to gender-based economic inequalities, women, and women heads of household in particular, are at a higher risk of poverty and more likely to live in inadequate housing in urban and rural areas of low land value that are vulnerable to such impacts of climate-related events as floods, storms, avalanches, earthquakes, landslides and other hazards. 8 Women and girls in situations of conflict are particularly exposed to risks associated with disasters and climate change. The higher levels of mortality and morbidity among women during and following disasters are also a result of the inequalities that they face in gaining access to adequate health care, food and nutrition, water and sanitation, education, technology and information. 9 In addition, failure to engage in gender-responsive disaster planning and implementation often results in protective facilities and infrastructure, such as early warning mechanisms, shelters and relief programmes, that neglect the specific accessibility needs of diverse groups of women, including women with disabilities, older women and indigenous women. 10 5. Women and girls also face a heightened risk of gender-based violence during and following disasters. In the absence of social protection schemes and in situations in which there is food insecurity combined with impunity for gender-based violence, women and girls are often exposed to sexual violence and exploitation as they attempt to gain access to food and other basic needs for family members and themselves. In camps and temporary settlements, the lack of physical security, as well as the lack of safe and accessible infrastructure and services, including drinking water and sanitation, also result in increased levels of gender-based violence against women and girls. Women and girls with disabilities are at particular risk of gender-based violence and sexual exploitation during and following disasters, owing to discrimination on the basis of physical limitations and barriers to communication and the inaccessibility of basic services and facilities. Domestic violence, early and/or forced marriage, trafficking in persons and forced prostitution are also more likely to occur during and following disasters. 6. As the higher vulnerability and exposure of women and girls to disaster risk and climate change are economically, socially and culturally constru cted, they can be reduced. The level of vulnerability may vary according to the type of disaster and the geographical and sociocultural contexts. 7. The categorization of women and girls as passive “vulnerable groups” in need of protection from the impacts of disasters is a negative gender stereotype that fails to recognize the important contributions of women in the areas of disaster risk reduction, post-disaster management and climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. 11 Well-designed disaster risk reduction and climate change initiatives that __________________ 7 8 9 10 11 18-03824 Eric Neumayer and Thomas Plümper, “The gendered nature of natural disasters: the impact of catastrophic events on the gender gap in life expecta ncy, 1981–2002”, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, vol. 97, No. 3 (2007). United Nations, Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction 2015: Making Development Sustainable–The Future of Disaster Risk Management (New York, 2015); Disasters without Borders: Regional Resilience for Sustainable Development: Asia -Pacific Disaster Report 2015 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.15.II.F.13). C. Bern and others, “Risk factors for mortality in the Bangladesh cyclone of 1991”, Bulletin of the World Health Organization, vol. 71, No. 1 (1993). Tripartite Core Group, “Post-Nargis joint assessment”, July 2008; Lorena Aguilar and others, “Training manual on gender and climate change” (San José, International Union for Conservation of Nature, UNDP and Gender and Water Alliance, 2009). United Nations, Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction 2015 ; UNDP, “Clean development mechanism: exploring the gender dimensions of climate finance mechanisms ”, November 2010; UNDP, “Ensuring gender equity in climate change financing” (New York, 2011). 3/24