South Asia Women's Resilience Index: examining the role of women in preparing for and recovering from disasters

The Women's Resilience Index (WRI) assesses countries capacity for risk reduction in disaster and recovery, and the extent to which women are considered in national efforts. It measures and compares the disaster resilience of South Asian countries: focusing particularly on women's resilience.

It shows that Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, India, the Maldives and Bangladesh are half as resilient as Japan - which was included in the research as a developed-country benchmark. Pakistan ranks last on the index of eight countries, and stands out significantly as the country that is least progressed in regard to women's resilience. The research finds that economic and sociological barriers to women's empowerment are key reasons that women's resilience in emergencies is not included in disaster risk reduction and recovery.

The Women's Resilience Index (WRI) was produced by ActionAid, in partnership with The Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) and the Australian Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade.