Specifically, the issue of gender is important in humanitarian aid as well. A simulation conducted in 2006 in San Diego called Strong Angel III, that was attended by civilian defense contractors, members of the US government including DHS and representatives of US Armed forces, prompted me to observe in the first days itself the lack of any perceivable emphasis on gender in the responses to the simulated emergency (in terms of planning, team composition, mitigation, response and coordination). As I noted here http://ict4peace.wordpress.com/2006/08/30/strong-angel-iii-final-observations/:

“SA III was, most regrettably, not gender sensitive. It did not mainstream gender considerations in the design, adaptation, application and the monitoring and evaluation of solutions developed during the exercise. The rich textures of experience, valuable insights and interesting ideas of the women in the Executive Committee were hidden to the majority of participants at SA III. The majority of those developing solutions were male - some with absolutely no experience of humanitarian disasters and the special needs of women and children (including how even within conflict / disaster affected communities, how precarious their human security is).

While SA III lead Eric Rasmussen specifically mentioned the importance of gender during his briefing on the second day, much more could have been done to push the participants to recognise that gender is a vital consideration of any humanitarian and peacebuilding initiative.”

Best,

Sanjana