Increased pressure to conform to binary gender stereotypes is one of the drivers of increased domestic violence during and following disasters. This presentation unpicks the complex ways in which gendered community expectations and cultural norms in Western countries like Australia are damaging to women’s and men’s health and wellbeing and contribute to the increase in domestic and family violence. These norms are pushed to the extreme under disaster conditions revealing some of the hidden operations of gender and gender inequality. This involves not only pressure to conform to gendered expectations but also the costs to men and women who fail to meet these gendered expectations during and following disasters.

It is recognised that to prevent all forms of violence against women before it occurs, we need to address the determinants of men’s violence against women from different angles; timely societal sanctions and gender inequalities including adherence to rigidly defined roles. It will require organisational leadership and significant culture change for Emergency Service Organisations to be an influential contributor to the prevention of gendered violence. We must improve our ability to collaborate and coordinate our approach, so that we can become a meaningful contributor to the violence reduction strategies outlined in the National Plan to Prevent Violence Against Women and Children 2022 - 2032.

The two presenters will guide a discussion of the gendered dynamics at play in disasters, and strategies for those who work in emergency services to challenge the pressures we are all under to conform to rigid, gender roles.

Key Learnings:

1. Gendered community expectations and cultural norms in Western countries like Australia are damaging to women’s and men’s health and wellbeing and contribute to the increase in domestic and family violence.

2. Organisational leadership and significant culture change for Emergency Service Organisations to be an influential contributor to the prevention of gendered violence.

3. We must improve our ability to collaborate and coordinate our approach, so that we can become a meaningful contributor to the violence reduction strategies outlined in the National Plan to Prevent Violence Against Women and Children 2022 - 2032.