Despite advances in disaster risk reduction research, the intersection of gender and social capital remains unevenly examined (Enarson, 2016; Zaidi and Fordham, 2021). While scholarship shows that access to resources, information, and support during disasters is unequally distributed and shaped by gender (Fordham, 1999; Enarson et al., 2007, 2017), most studies rely on binary gender categories. This leaves significant gaps in understanding how non-binary, transgender, and other gender-diverse individuals engage with and benefit from social capital in crisis contexts. This study systematically analyzes how the literature conceptualizes gender identity and examines the relationship between gender and social capital across disaster phases.
Using a PRISMA-guided systematic review, this study examines how research on gender identity, social capital, and disaster affects access to social capital across disaster phases. This review also assesses where conceptual, geographic, and empirical gaps persist.
Findings highlight the need for intersectional, gender-inclusive approaches to disaster risk reduction that recognize how social capital operates differently across diverse gender identities. Understanding how gender identity shapes access to, mobilization of, and benefit from social capital is essential for developing equitable and inclusive disaster management policies and plans.
This study examines how gender affects access to social capital across disaster phases and identifies where conceptual, geographic, and empirical gaps persist, emphasizing the need for gender-inclusive approaches that account for diverse identities in disaster risk reduction research.
