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Hurricane Katrina

Coastal Women for Change, More Women Talking on Crisis in Mississippi

Women from Mississippi talking about the importance of education and how working and helping each other improves the society.

Coastal Women for Change, Oxfam Video from Sisters on the Planet Series

Sharon Hanshaw helps women speak out and prepare for future storms in post-Hurricane Katrina Biloxi, MS. Find out how you can help at http://www.oxfamamerica.org/sisters. 

Grantee Spotlight: Gulf Coast Women's Center for Nonviolence

After Hurricane Katrina, the Foundation provided operations funding to help the Center expand its services to women and children and to help it meets its budget challenges due to declining federal and state support as well as lost revenue from local sources affected by the hurricane. The Center's approach is comprehensive and aimed at ensuring women are emotionally healthy, better caregivers, and prepared to gain a quality job, a home, and financial security.

Still Waiting: Life After Katrina

Still Waiting: Life After Katrina is a remarkable story of resilience, family, and attachment to place. The documentary focuses on an African-American/Creole family of 155 people from the New Orleans area.

Sunni Patterson Interview and Poetry

Sunni talks about the conditions of New Orleans 5 years post Hurricane Katrina. She speaks forth resilience and empowerment through spoken word.

Swimming Upstream: Eve Ensler Marks 5th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina

The award-winning playwright Eve Ensler plans to mark the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina by staging performances of her new work "Swimming Upstream" in New Orleans and New York City. The piece was written by 16 women from New Orleans who describe surviving the flood and living through the aftermath of the storm which permanently changed their city and many of their lives.

Women in New Orleans: Post Katrina

Sara Gould, President and CEO of the Ms. Foundation for Women discusses the barriers to economic security and mobility that women in New Orleans face as they try to rebuild their lives and their city. Video by Diana Nikkhah Harfouche.

Climate Change

Turning Down the Heat – Gender and Climate Change 

"Women's voices are largely absent from policy discussions and negotiations over global warming", explains Wangari Maathai, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Yet women are powerful agents of change. In the face of disasters, historic disadvantages — restricted access to resources, information, and decision-making — result in women having to work harder to secure resources, leaving them more vulnerable to climate change risk. Incorporating a gender perspective in all climate change policies and initiatives is critical to solving the climate crisis.

Women’s Role in Climate Change

U.S. Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs Maria Otero discusses women's role in climate change at COP15 (Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) in Copenhagen, Denmark December 10, 2009. Go to http://www.state.gov/video for text transcript and more video.

Gender and Disaster Initiatives

Audubon Rachel Carson Awards/Women in Conservation- SIGOURNEY WEAVER

The National Audubon Society honored Sigourney Weaver and Maya Lin with the Rachel Carson Award at the eighth annual Women in Conservation Luncheon at The Plaza in New York on May 23. Also, 43 women at the forefront of the last summer's oil disaster rescue response were honored as "Women of the Gulf, " including Melanie Driscoll, Audubon's director of bird conservation for the Gulf of Mexico and Mississippi Flyway, and Anne Thompson, Chief Environmental Affairs Correspondent for NBC News, who emceed the event.

The Business of Emergency Management

Barbara Childs-Pair, former Director of the District of Columbia Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, shares with EMPOWER Associates her most memorable experiences over her 36 year career.

EMPOWER at IAEM

Emergency Management Professional Organization for Women's Enrichment™ (EMPOWER) was created to build a platform where professionals can come together to share experiences, build skills, and expand and deepen industry knowledge. This vision will facilitate the advancement and enrichment of women in emergency management.

EMPOWER Girl Scouts Public Service Announcement

Girl Scout Troop 5127 of Potomac, Maryland knows a thing or two about being prepared. They recently earned the "Be Prepared" patch and created a public service announcement (PSA) to spread the message throughout the Greater Washington Region. The Girl Scout "Be Prepared" patch program provides critical emergency preparedness information and activities for children of all age levels. The patch program was developed by the Girl Scout Council of the Nation's Capital (GSCNC) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"Girl Scouts are taking the lead in preparing and educating their families and other young people about potential disasters," said Lidia Soto-Harmon, GSCNC Acting Executive Director. "We want to empower youth of all ages to act with confidence in an emergency situation."

Girl Scout Troop 5127 took the patch program further and not only earned their Emergency Preparedness patch, but also their Bronze Award. The girls created the slogan, "Don't Be Scared, Be Prepared", and produced and starred in their own public service announcement with the help of EMPOWER, an emergency management organization for women. The Girl Scouts were able to professionally record their PSA for television, radio and online distribution channels.

"People are drawn to the emergency management field for a variety of reasons: a strong desire to help others; a sense of civic duty; an opportunity to manage a wide range of responsibilities; and a passion to improve how we respond to and recover from disaster events," noted EMPOWER President Kelly Discount. "Troop 5127 demonstrated all four of these characteristics, plus an energy and exuberance that made the initiative fun for everyone involved. By engaging with groups like the Girl Scouts, we hope to empower kids to live the motto of "Be Prepared," and possibly inspire the next generation of emergency managers."

For additional information regarding EMPOWER or the Girl Scouts Chapter of the Nation's Capital please visit www.empower-women.com or www.gscnc.org.

Findlay Women Volunteer for Relief

The flights are booked and the mountains of paperwork have been filled out. Ruth Bordner and Helen Sanders are all set for a three week long disaster relief trip to Hurricane Irene stricken Tinton Falls, New Jersey.

Why gender-sensitive disaster risk reduction should also include LGBTs

Before, during and after disasters, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people are often discriminated. Nonetheless, like other marginalised groups, LGBTs display significant capacities in facing hardship and frequently take a lead in responding to disasters. This presentation draws on evidences from an exploratory research in the Philippines and Indonesia.