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Abstract
Typhoon Haiyan, known locally as Yolanda, lashed the Philippines on November 8, 2013 affecting more than 10 percent of the country's population. Although exploitation of the environment and unequal distribution of wealth in disaster situations are widely discussed among scholars, activists, humanitarian workers, and public intellectuals, issues pertaining to women and girls must be addressed as important as well. Thus, this paper problematizes the impact of typhoon Haiyan in the lives of women and girl survivors. It sees the effect of this calamity on the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of women and girls and how further marginalization of women and girls during disasters increases their vulnerability to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). Making such an analysis, this paper responds to the call for solidarity among women, which will enable the demand for the fullest attainment of the SRHR needs of women and girls and the elimination of SGBV.
Keywords
Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV); sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR); typhoon Haiyan
Introduction
Every year, there are new stories of natural disaster, which terrify us. In the Philippines, an archipelagic country that experiences an average of 20 storms per year, each calamity leaves a scar of pain and, at the same time, lessons of hope, unity, and struggle. "As the world learns from each fresh tragedy, gender relations are part of the human experience of disasters and may under some conditions lead to the denial of the fundamental human rights of women and girls in crisis" (Enarson et al" 2006: 130).
When super typhoon Haiyan landed and ravaged the Philippines on November 8, 2013, different issues were raised by the people, such as climate change, government neglect, corruption in use of calamity funds and donations, and many more. However, the problems that women and girls experience include their reproductive health, safety, and security. They are at most risk also as violence, exploitation and abuse, remain the concerns in the aftermath of natural disasters.
It is seen that "one underlying argument put forth by vulnerability theorists on disaster literature is that in the disaster context, gender is typically rendered an unimportant component of the many stages leading up to, during, and in the aftermath of the natural disaster" (Bankoff...