8 H umanitarian agencies and their multi-million pound interventions have enormous power to challenge gender discrimination, perpetuate it, or even exacerbate it. The use of gender analysis to determine a gender- fair response is a critical factor in determining the outcome. A review of the literature on gender in humanitarian response reveals very little use of comprehensive gender analysis. The information available is anecdotal rather than analytical, and the inability to identify specific impact in terms of gender relations is a result of the fact that few programmes set out to challenge gender inequity. It is no wonder that achieving gender-equitable outcomes remains one of the great unmet challenges of humanitarian work. How humanitarian interventions shape gender relations Until quite recently, disaster-affected women have been viewed and portrayed primarily as passive and needy victims, a ‘vulnerable group’. This limited view has almost always resulted in humanitarian responses focusing solely on meeting women’s immediate practical needs. Good practice on gender in emergencies has come to mean paying attention to the role of women in food distribution, providing sanitary towels, and ensuring adequate lighting and health services for women. These are important steps, but they remain rooted in an approach that is oblivious to social relations and power dynamics. It is true that gender inequality is a root cause of vulnerability, creating or contributing to particular risks for women. However, focusing on women’s vulnerability – to the neglect of their capacities and resources, and their longer-term interests – misrepresents the actual experiences of women and men and negatively affects the culture and practice of emergency management (Enarson 1998). Gender analysis recognises women’s work and decision-making influence as central to preparing for, responding to, Saving and protecting lives by empowering women Deborah Clifton and Fiona Gell Women and men face different risks and vulnerabilities during disaster, and they bring different resources to preparing for and coping with disaster. Less well recognised are the ways in which humanitarian interventions themselves influence the nature of gender relations during crises. A gender-blind humanitarian response which does not address gender-specific issues and does not pay particular attention to the situation of women can worsen both the immediate survival prospects for women and their families, and women’s long-term position in society. This article contends that the process of providing humanitarian aid and the institutions that deliver it tend to be inherently male-biased and thus discriminatory against women, and that a commitment is needed both to understanding how institutional bias works against women, and to challenging the status quo. 1 Gender and Development Vol. 9, No. 3, November 2001