Women in Leadership: Amplifying Voices in Disaster Response

Last week, REACT Disaster Response was honoured to join Goldman Sachs’ Veterans Month celebrations, where REACT's Operations Training Manager Jill Hamlin participated in an inspiring Women in Leadership panel alongside influential figures from The HALO Trust, Lucy Reeve, Caz Fraser, and Pippa Wicks. The discussion focused on resilience, leadership, and the transformative role that women and veterans play across sectors.

At REACT, leadership goes beyond guiding teams—it’s about amplifying unheard voices and ensuring that no one is left to face a crisis alone. Women, in particular, often bear a disproportionate burden during disasters due to systemic inequalities.

The Stark Reality for Women in Disasters

Women are 14 times more likely than men to die in disasters, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Beyond mortality rates, women face heightened risks of violence, restricted access to shelters, and exclusion from recovery planning. These challenges demand urgent, targeted responses.

How REACT is Addressing the Need

At REACT, we prioritise supporting the most vulnerable through actionable strategies:

• Deploying Mixed-Gender Teams: Ensuring women’s voices and needs are recognised in crisis situations.
• Creating Safe Spaces: Designing rest centres with the safety and dignity of women and children in mind.
• Empowering Local Responders: Providing training and resources to enable communities to protect themselves inclusively.

The Role of Women in Leadership

The panel highlighted the vital importance of women’s leadership—not just in boardrooms but also in shaping disaster response strategies. Women leaders bring invaluable perspectives that enhance resilience and recovery efforts, particularly in complex and high-risk environments.

As Jill and her fellow panellists emphasised, empowering women isn’t just a matter of equality; it’s essential to building more effective and inclusive humanitarian systems.

How can disaster response systems evolve to better support and empower women? Join the conversation in our LinkedIn community.