'Women are responsible for cooking': Japan disaster manuals show gender-biased burden

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In Japan, it is not uncommon to see community disaster manuals stating, "Women are responsible for cooking" in times of such emergencies.

In areas stricken by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and other disasters, men were paid for debris removal work while women provided meals free of charge, leading to numerous problems such as female disaster victims lagging behind in rebuilding their lives.

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Mizuguchi [Ayaka Mizuguchi, head of NGO] has had various people, regardless of gender, experience preparing meals during evacuation drills by local neighborhood associations. This is aimed at communicating the importance of not assigning fixed roles based on gender.

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To address the situation, it is an urgent task to increase female leaders in government bodies and disaster prevention organizations.

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During disasters, it is said that burdens are disproportionately borne by the socially vulnerable, such as women, children, the elderly and people with disabilities. Many disaster victims struggle with problems they find difficult to share with those around them, such as sex crimes and domestic violence at evacuation shelters and temporary housing, as well as the burden of unpaid labor such as cooking and caregiving.

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