Listening to women’s needs
With wisdom, device and experience
Listening to women in women only meeting
It is difficult for affected people to speak out
about their concerns and relief supply needs
when in evacuation centers. Women and
elderly people can be especially shy and may
not easily voice their concerns. It is therefore
not easy to always grasp their needs. There
are some methodologies which make it easier
to grasp their needs and concerns.
Staff members at women’s grassroots groups,
and public officials at the gender equality
section of the local government, understood
the difficulty of assessing women’s needs so
they first talked to leaders at the evacuation
centers and ward chiefs of the area (mostly
men) in order to arrange for women to meet in
a separate private room for their consultation.
At the beginning, these women hesitated to
speak up, but after one woman broke the
silence, they spoke out, one after another.
Gaining understanding from men
Sometimes there is opposition from men
towards women’s needs assessment; they
say that men also have been experiencing a
difficult time. The problem was resolved when
an explanation was added by public officers.
These men came to understand and were
relieved when they found smiles on the
women’s faces after their hearing in separate
rooms.
Utilizing a request checklist
It is sometimes difficult for women to speak in
public about the size of their undergarments
and the kind of sanitary goods that a woman
uses even at normal times, not to mention
during an evacuation. One women’s
organization devised a request form, which
only requires checking off a list of concerns
and missing supplies so that women at
evacuation centers can easily fill it out.
Many women filled this form out since it only
required them checking a list. The forms were
collected by folding the checking side inside
and taping both edges like an envelope in
order to maintain privacy.
Efficient and effective assistance
This method made it possible to provide
assistance by responding to individual needs.
Accurate assistance was possible thanks to
totalling up the request lists and identifying
the exact amount and size of goods required,
which also reduced waste in the procurement
thereof. The women’s organization divided the
totalled results into “missing supplies” and
“needs”, and submitted these to the city
officials. The city mayor was surprised at this
result that showed the situation of the female
evacuees. This grassroots women’s
organization was able to gain support from
the municipal office. It helped the group’s
activities by making it easier to rent a
warehouse or to collect donations.