In this interview, I speak with Emily Ragus on the impact of disasters on women. Emily is a General Sir John Monash Scholar and PhD candidate at the University of Amsterdam, where she is researching the effects of climate change-induced disaster situations on female populations. Emily has a Bachelor of Nursing from the Queensland University of Technology, an International Diploma in Humanitarian Assistance (IDHA) from Fordham University in New York City, and received the university medal for academic excellence when completing her Masters of Global Development at Griffith University in Brisbane. In 2016, Emily was part of a large-scale aeromedical retrieval response that was activated for a mass casualty event that occurred in the Indo-Pacific. During this mission, she noted the need for improved aeromedical cohesion with other responding agencies within a disaster. This led Emily to pursue, and subsequently be awarded the 2018 Winston Churchill fellowship. Emily was also previously based in Jordan with the International Committee of the Red Cross, Emily teaches Mass Casualty Management as a Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Delegate in Amman, Jordan.
In the convesation we unpack the issue around the impact of disasters on women and the political, social, and economic constructs of such. We also speak about intersectionality and the factors of advantage and disadvantage within a disaster. We then examine gender norms and gender labour disparity & female agency within the family unit and the resultant fall out of health disparity. We look at disaster planning and the adverse effects on women, poor town planning, urbanization, deforestation, and pollution. We look at Haiti as an exmaple of a critical infrastructure rebuild and how political manipulation of disasters occur from a framing and impact perspective. We also exmaine the disproportional access to healthcare and burn care (reconstructive surgery, burn demographics and the impacts of burns).
Please enjoy this wide ranging conversation with a facinating and insightful guest.