The reason women and girls experience disproportionately greater impact from disease outbreaks, natural disasters and other life-threatening hardships has little to do with biology — and much to do with gender roles. In Liberia, as in many countries, women and girls are the primary caregivers, and therefore more vulnerable to infection when family members get sick. More females died in the tsunami because they lacked basic survival skills such as the ability to swim and climb trees, and were more likely to be caring for others when the wave hit. And in the Sahel, women typically will eat less during difficult times to make sure their husbands and children are fed first.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 20:18:17 +0000
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