IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jresou/v5y2016i3p25-d73838.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Economic Efficiency or Gender Equality: Conceptualizing an Equitable “Social Framing” for Economic Evaluations to Support Gender Equality in Disaster Risk- and Environmental-Management Decision-Making

Author

Listed:
  • Cheney Shreve

    (Geography Department, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST, UK)

Abstract

It is unlikely that cost–benefit approaches will be effective in identifying investments that support gender equality without a relevant “social framing”. Criteria for a “social framing” are lacking, yet cost–benefit approaches often guide investment decisions for disaster risk and environmental management. Mainstream approaches typically do a poor job identifying and characterizing costs and benefits, and often fail to address distributive concerns (i.e., how costs and benefits may be distributed throughout society, to whom, etc.). Gender-blind investments may project responsibility for equality “problems” onto one sex, potentially augmenting gender inequalities and disaster risk. This article examines evidence from the gender, disaster, and development literature to identify distributive concerns and criteria for an equitable “social framing” for economic evaluations. Primary distributive concerns identified regard assumptions of women’s homogeneity, agency, “active” participation, and the influence of customary practice and displacement on disaster vulnerability. The need for a “gender-responsive” “social framing” that considers the needs of men and women in relation to one another is evident. Second, cost–benefit studies focused on gender equality concerns are reviewed and the “social framing” is critiqued. Results show most studies are not “gender-responsive”. Women’s health concerns, often exacerbated by disasters, are sidelined by assumptions regarding distributive concerns and reductive outcome measures.

Suggested Citation

  • Cheney Shreve, 2016. "Economic Efficiency or Gender Equality: Conceptualizing an Equitable “Social Framing” for Economic Evaluations to Support Gender Equality in Disaster Risk- and Environmental-Management Decision-Making," Resources, MDPI, vol. 5(3), pages 1-16, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jresou:v:5:y:2016:i:3:p:25-:d:73838
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/5/3/25/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/5/3/25/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Oriana Bandiera & Niklas Buehren & Robin Burgess & Markus Goldstein & Selim Gulesci & Imran Rasul & Munshi Sulaiman, 2020. "Women's Empowerment in Action: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial in Africa," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(1), pages 210-259, January.
    2. Duflo, Esther & Dupas, Pascaline & Kremer, Michael, 2015. "School governance, teacher incentives, and pupil–teacher ratios: Experimental evidence from Kenyan primary schools," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 92-110.
    3. Sen, Amartya, 2000. "The Discipline of Cost-Benefit Analysis," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 29(2), pages 931-952, June.
    4. Eric Tate & Aaron Strong & Travis Kraus & Haoyi Xiong, 2016. "Flood recovery and property acquisition in Cedar Rapids, Iowa," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 80(3), pages 2055-2079, February.
    5. Oriana Bandiera & Niklas Buehren & Robin Burgess & Markus Goldstein & Selim Gulesci & Imran Rasul & Munshi Sulaiman, 2014. "Women's empowerment in action: Evidence from a randomized control trial in Africa," CSAE Working Paper Series 2014-30, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    6. Eric Tate & Aaron Strong & Travis Kraus & Haoyi Xiong, 2016. "Flood recovery and property acquisition in Cedar Rapids, Iowa," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 80(3), pages 2055-2079, February.
    7. Martha Nussbaum, 2003. "Capabilities As Fundamental Entitlements: Sen And Social Justice," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(2-3), pages 33-59.
    8. De Brucker, Klaas & Macharis, Cathy & Verbeke, Alain, 2013. "Multi-criteria analysis and the resolution of sustainable development dilemmas: A stakeholder management approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 224(1), pages 122-131.
    9. Frank, Robert H, 2000. "Why Is Cost-Benefit Analysis So Controversial?," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 29(2), pages 913-930, June.
    10. Sen, Amartya Kumar, 2000. "The Discipline of Cost†Benefit Analysis," Scholarly Articles 3444801, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Heidi Peterson, 2023. "Cost–Benefit Analysis (CBA) or the Highway? An Alternative Road to Investigating the Value for Money of International Development Research," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 35(2), pages 260-280, April.
    2. Ayat Al Assi & Rubayet Bin Mostafiz & Carol J. Friedland & Robert V. Rohli & Arash Taghinezhad & Md Adilur Rahim, 2023. "Cost-effectiveness of federal CDBG-DR Road Home Program mitigation assistance in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 117(2), pages 1291-1319, June.
    3. Mouter, Niek & Annema, Jan Anne & Wee, Bert van, 2013. "Attitudes towards the role of Cost–Benefit Analysis in the decision-making process for spatial-infrastructure projects: A Dutch case study," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 1-14.
    4. El-Mallakh, Nelly & Maurel, Mathilde & Speciale, Biagio, 2018. "Arab spring protests and women's labor market outcomes: Evidence from the Egyptian revolution," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 656-682.
    5. de Silva, Tiloka & Tenreyroa, Silvana, 2017. "Population control policies and fertility convergence," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 86158, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Shubha Chakravarty & Sarah Haddock & Ioana Botea, 2016. "Providing Out-of-School Adolescent Girls with Skills," World Bank Publications - Reports 24571, The World Bank Group.
    7. Buvinic, Mayra & Furst-Nichols, Rebecca, 2014. "Promoting women's economic empowerment : what works ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7087, The World Bank.
    8. Rahimi-Golkhandan, Armin & Aslani, Babak & Mohebbi, Shima, 2022. "Predictive resilience of interdependent water and transportation infrastructures: A sociotechnical approach," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    9. A. R. Siders, 2019. "Social justice implications of US managed retreat buyout programs," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 152(2), pages 239-257, January.
    10. Mayra Buvinic & Megan O’Donnell, 2017. "Gender Matters in Economic Empowerment Interventions: A Research Review," Working Papers id:11926, eSocialSciences.
    11. Ayesha Khan & Mupuwaliywa Mupuwaliywa, 2015. "Providing Out-of-School Girls with Skills," World Bank Publications - Reports 23868, The World Bank Group.
    12. Mouter, Niek, 2017. "Dutch politicians’ attitudes towards Cost-Benefit Analysis," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 1-10.
    13. Nelly EL MALLAKH & Mathilde MAUREL & Biagio SPECIALE, 2014. "Women and political change: Evidence from the Egyptian revolution," Working Papers P116, FERDI.
    14. Brudevold-Newman,Andrew Peter & Honorati,Maddalena & Jakiela,Pamela & Ozier,Owen & Brudevold-Newman,Andrew Peter & Honorati,Maddalena & Jakiela,Pamela & Ozier,Owen, 2017. "A firm of one's own : experimental evidence on credit constraints and occupational choice," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7977, The World Bank.
    15. Will, Matthias Georg, 2011. "Technologischer Fortschritt und Vertrauen: Gefahrenproduktivität und Bindungsmechanismen zur Überwindung von Konflikten," Discussion Papers 2011-19, Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, Chair of Economic Ethics.
    16. Ben Jones, 2018. "‘A More Receptive Crowd than Before’: Explaining the World Bank’s Gender Turn in the 2000s," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 18(3), pages 172-188, July.
    17. William Mobley & Kayode O. Atoba & Wesley E. Highfield, 2020. "Uncertainty in Flood Mitigation Practices: Assessing the Economic Benefits of Property Acquisition and Elevation in Flood-Prone Communities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-14, March.
    18. Anja Tolonen, 2019. "Endogenous Gender Roles: Evidence from Africa’s Gold Mining Industry," OxCarre Working Papers 209, Oxford Centre for the Analysis of Resource Rich Economies, University of Oxford.
    19. Noury, Abdul G. & Speciale, Biagio, 2016. "Social constraints and women's education: Evidence from Afghanistan under radical religious rule," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(4), pages 821-841.
    20. Thomas Thaler, 2021. "Just retreat—how different countries deal with it: examples from Austria and England," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 11(3), pages 412-419, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jresou:v:5:y:2016:i:3:p:25-:d:73838. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.