Book 2 - Ebu

Guidelines on gender-ethical reporting
The story highlights the lack of security for women in evacuation sites. It covers
sexual harassment and domestic violence in shelters. The story exposes the crucial
role played by women’s groups to support female survivors of the disaster such
as offering training and emotional care. The article points to examples of the lack
of proper means of livelihood for women living in devastated areas as the work
opportunities created to provide survivors with an income were in fact jobs physically
suitable for men, such as clearing debris.
While the story focuses centrally on women and highlights gender inequalities in the
distribution of resources, as well as inequities arising from the government’s response
to creating work that, in fact, benefitted men over women, some shortcomings in the
journalism approach are evident.
Had the reporter consulted more than one source, the story would have been richer
and more informative. The illustrations of domestic violence cases are told in the
sole interviewee’s voice. No other voices are heard, nor are the many surveys carried
out initially at evacuation sites cited. The reporter could have generated a multidimensional
story had he sought interviews from women who were contributing
to the recovery, for instance those providing care, those who had been elected into
leadership positions, or the activists who were lobbying to gain access to official
recovery platforms.
Special focus: A journalist’s personal experience in reporting
disaster through a gender lens
Growing evidence of devastation during a disaster indicates the poor are affected
disproportionately with women and children representing the most vulnerable
sectors. 3 So how can journalists approach disaster reporting using a gender lens
Below is a journalist’s experience covering two landmark disasters.
Covering the Indian Ocean tsunami (2004) in Sri Lanka and the earthquake and tsunami
(2011) in Japan.
Suvendrini Kakuchi
The tsunami devastated one-third of Sri Lanka’s coasts wiping out lives and livelihoods
of the low-income fishing communities that had lived on the beaches for generations. A
month post disaster, I set out to write reports focused on the impact on women who were
forced on to the sidelines during the massive media coverage of the major disaster at that
time.
3. Social Scientists Association of Sri Lanka, 2009.
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