Hegemonic masculinity and the gendering of men in disaster management: implications for social work education

Abstract

Disaster studies have been slow to address gender issues in the management of disasters. Given the neglect of gender in the previous scholarship on disasters, most of the recent writing on the gendering of disasters has understandably focused on women\u27s experiences in relation to risk management, emergency responses, post-disaster recovery and reconstruction. There has been little interrogation of the ways in which hegemonic masculinity and men\u27s privileged positioning in patriarchal gender regimes impact on the various stages of disaster management. In this paper I draw upon my experience in researching men and masculinities in Australia to draw connections between men\u27s privilege, rural masculinities, men\u27s experiences of trauma, men\u27s violence and men\u27s gendered experience of disasters, especially in relation to bush fires. The paper relates insights arising from these studies to men\u27s responses to disasters, their involvement in disaster management and their post-disaster experiences. The implications of this analysis for a disaster curricula in social work education is outlined