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Disasters continue to increase both in frequency and magnitude leading to human and economic losses globally. While disaster events by occurrence are not discriminatory, their impacts may vary significantly with disparities compounding indirect impacts of disasters on women. These gender issues then tend to permeate every aspect of build back better and cut across all the efforts for disaster recovery and reconstruction. Though reconstruction is seen as an opportunity to build back inclusively and enhance resilience, the infrastructure rebuilt rarely takes into consideration most aspects of inclusion.

For more gender-responsive infrastructure recovery efforts, upstream planning should consider the specific needs of all genders while drawing on their different skills and knowledge to build back better. Reconstructing infrastructure inclusively will significantly support women’s economic empowerment through increased access to a range of infrastructure facilities and services like improved mobility, adequate sanitation, access to healthcare, education, etc.

With the objective of deliberating on the need for integrating gender inclusive recovery and reconstruction in building disaster and climate resilience, the session will explore, consider, and discuss the following key questions:

1. In the context of infrastructure provision and services, what are some of the major challenges that women face in post-disaster recovery?

2. What is the global landscape of factors within infrastructure that contribute to gender differentiated vulnerabilities?

3. What gaps exist in the current disaster recovery system in context of building back better and inclusively in infrastructure?

4. What policies, governance measures and implementation mechanisms exist around the world that can be drawn upon to learn and create an enabling environment for mainstreaming gender inclusion in building resilient infrastructure.