1 March 2023
Women and girls are key to recovery and reconstruction in areas where landmines, cluster munitions and other explosive ordnance threaten lives and livelihoods. This International Women’s Day serves as an urgent reminder that improving women’s participation in all levels of humanitarian mine action – from affected communities, to operations, to national and international frameworks – must remain a priority.
Understanding how mines and other EO affect women and girls differently
There are an estimated 60 million people living with the risk of mines and other explosive ordnance (EO), many in places where conflicts have officially ended years or decades ago. The issues presented by these hazards can affect women differently. When these impacts aren’t properly understood or taken into account, we risk exacerbating gender-based injustices and inequalities. This makes it essential to understand the realities faced by women and girls, as well as their priorities for how to address the problems posed by EO.
Ways that women and girls are affected by explosive ordnance often mirror the challenges and discriminations they face in time of peace, including restrictions from education and other aspects of public life. This means that women and girls often have different information about contamination by EO and less access to explosive ordnance risk education (EORE) on safe behaviors.
When priorities are chosen for clearing contaminated land, women’s livelihoods and public activities need to be considered at the same level as those of men. If this is not the case, land used by women and girls, for example areas around water sources, may remain contaminated longer, prolonging the dangers faced by women.
Lasting effects are not only related to women’s safety, but also to their health and wellbeing. Injuries from mines and other EO often result in lifelong impairments. Women who are injured may not have the same access to health care and rehabilitation services as men. In addition, when women are not directly injured, they are still affected. In most EO-affected areas, women and girls represent the majority of those who will have to care for survivors and take on the role of main breadwinner for the family.
Inclusivity in mine action starts with operations
“When women and girls are included in mine action, from getting their views to understand explosive contamination, to having them actively working in survey and clearance, efforts are more comprehensive and results are better,” explains Arianna Calza Bini, Head of Inclusive Risk Reduction at the GICHD. “Still, the sector remains male dominated. While there has been progress over the past years, it is slow,” she adds.
Recent research from the GICHD has debunked the myth that there is a difference in the efficiency or capacity of men and women deminers. The Centre continues to promote employment of women in all areas of mine action. Concretely, this is done through tailored assistance to national authorities and other partners to increase the representation of women, which contributes to more women being trained and employed in technical roles – for example the Danish Refugee Council’s Iraq programme saw an increase from 9% to 16% in women staff over the past year after receiving support from the GICHD. These policies and capacities support long-term change, over the course of several years.
Women and girls are essential to peace, reconstruction, and sustainable development
It is essential that mine action stakeholders apply a gender lens as part of an inclusive approach to planning, implementing, and monitoring operations – not only so no one is left behind, but rather so that sustainable development is possible in EO contaminated areas. In the framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the UN has shown that empowerment of women and girls is drives progress under all of the SDGs, including those like ending poverty, promoting food security and building peaceful societies.
Today the world is facing the highest number of violent conflicts since World War II, including new use of landmines and cluster munitions in Ukraine. This International Women’s Day is a key opportunity to spotlight that there is no time to waste in promoting the inclusion of women and girls in mine action efforts.
The GICHD reaffirms its commitment to inclusivity and achieving gender equality in mine action, humanitarian response, peacebuilding, and sustainable development globally. “Through efforts like the Centre’s Inclusive Leadership Course we are developing capacities in the mine action sector,” Calza Bini says, “that make the crucial link between leadership, diversity, inclusion, gender, inclusive governance, and safeguarding. By working together with leaders and decision makers in mine action, we support gender-sensitive policies and practices at national level, which change actions on the ground for years to come.”
Media Inquiries:
Laura Collier
Communications Manager
Email: l.collier@gichd.org