Disasters and natural calamities do not affect all members of society equally. The damages and divisions in human society, including gender and sexual inequalities, economic, social, and cultural challenges, systematically push certain parts of society to the margins, resulting in greater harm and heavier losses in these areas.

Women and girls, due to the existence of a patriarchal structure in human societies, are economically and socially disadvantaged and suffer much greater losses in natural disasters. Although in the early research on crisis management and natural disasters, this issue was not given much attention, in recent years, it has become a central focus in the field of preparedness, response, reconstruction, resilience, and effective solutions in emergency situations.

During the 1991 Gorky cyclone in Bangladesh, which claimed the lives of 140,000 people, for every man who lost his life, 14 women lost their lives. Similarly, in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, 70% of the 230,000 fatalities

In this meeting, it was emphasized that in order to effectively manage natural disasters, the following solutions should be considered within the framework of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international treaties.

• The practical use of international laws in the field of government responsibility for “preserving life” of citizens and holding governments accountable for negligence, inattention, and lack of policies that endanger the lives of citizens.
• The practical use of international agreements such as “CEDAW”, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the final document of the 1995 Beijing World Conference on Women, sustainable development goals, especially regarding gender equality, and other documents and commitments, international resolutions for holding governments accountable in the areas of social, economic, and cultural security for women and considering and including the preservation of women’s lives in natural disasters, ensuring economic and social security for women in the reconstruction and recovery phase after natural disasters.
• The use of international laws and resolutions, even “soft laws”, and holding governments accountable in the areas of displacement, homelessness, failure to respond to basic needs such as food and shelter, education for children, and social and economic security for women,

Iran

Iran, located in Asia, is one of the regions in the world that is most affected by natural disasters and has a growing trend in this area. Naturally, it is more exposed to disasters and natural calamities. Is the frequency of natural disasters the only reason for the losses and damages experienced by the people of Iran? Should the deaths of three-year-old Fatemeh Pa and two-year-old Yahya Gorgij, who were trying to fetch water from the edge of the Hootag River, be attributed to natural disasters and the rage of the river, or to the lack of sustainable infrastructure? Research shows that in addition to the natural disaster factor, profit-driven strategies of those in power and unsustainable development, lack of political will and direction in national policies reflected in budget allocation all contribute to the damages caused by natural disasters. The responsibility of governments to protect the lives of citizens and provide for their human rights can undoubtedly answer this question.

Moreover, in countries where sexual and gender discrimination is more