Women are Disproportionately Affected by the BP Oil Spill

Dear Actors, Directors and The Way of Water participants:

In my conversations with Cindy Cooper, Managing Editor for On the Issues Magazine, she directed me to the research efforts of Jacqui Patterson. As you will see from her article below, women have been disproportantly affected by the BP Oil Spill. If you are playing the roles of Rosalie and Neva, we hope you find her article particularly moving.---Heather Helinsky, dramaturg

Gulf Oil Drilling Disaster: Gendered Layers of Impact 
by Jacqui Patterson

The Deepwater Horizon Oil Drilling Disaster of April 20, 2010 (the “BP Oil Spill”) is, as the news sometimes tells us, causing grave damage to the waterways and shores, marshlands and bayous of the Gulf of Mexico. Far more hidden is the devastation wrought on the women in scores of coastal communities.

My research and investigations in the Gulf region indicate that while all were affected, the women of the coast experienced differential impacts and unique issues during the disaster and in its aftermath. In this regard, the Gulf disaster fits in with the experiences of disasters worldwide, in which, across the board, women are disproportionately affected.

In the case of the Deepwater Horizon incident, women’s experiences were different from men in four main areas: 1) Care-taking and health; 2) Economic health; 3) Abuse in the home 4) Family stability.  In many ways, women were required to take on new family responsibilities in the wake of the Gulf disaster. From a gender perspective, these are many lessons to bring forward.

Challenged with Family Health and Welfare

In the aftermath of the disaster, people reported many health concerns: respiratory issues, digestive problems, skin reactions and other conditions. With these new health issues on the rise, women’s care-taking experienced a corresponding increase. As is typical in many families, women in the Gulf took on the role of caregiver when husbands, children or other family members became sick.

Furthermore, women faced risk to their own health, especially because of differential effects on reproductive health, as is frequently true in situations of environmental exposure. Veteran toxicologist Dr. William Sawyer, in his analysis of the risks resulting from toxic exposures arising from the Gulf Oil Drilling Disaster, pointed to Toluene and aromatic hydrocarbons as risks for women because they are known to cause spontaneous abortions and severe birth defects in humans and other mammals.

Mental health issues increased, and women reported having to be the pillars of stability and leadership in the family so that members could continue to function.

In addition, women became the spokespersons for families that needed to share their stories and advocate for justice. Recovery workers – most of those who were hired were male -- had to sign contracts saying that they wouldn’t “speak out” about their experiences as part of clean-up crews or other parts of the recovery, leaving the women to carry community voices.

Reliance on public assistance increased significantly in the region due to the disaster.  Women were left responsible for accessing public assistance -- whether it’s because women are viewed as being in charge of household matters, or because of gender based “pride” differentials.  As Mary McCall of Coden, Alabama, shared with me, “And then I’m trying to help fishermen without jobs. I would get in line to get groceries, but them -- being men -- they didn’t want to do that. They didn’t want to say ‘I’m going to stand in line for them to give me groceries’; I did it for (the men).”

Economic Access and Opportunities Shunted

Women’s access to economic opportunities was limited and their experiences in the workplace were compromised because of the Deepwater Horizon incident. The gender of workers in the affected region influenced the degree of economic devastation, the ability to find new work, the percentage of compensation for loss of work in the claims process and experiences in the recovery process.

Jobs that women occupied before the disaster were more vulnerable to being obliterated. Oyster shuckers, crab pickers and chambermaids who I interviewed in my investigations were predominantly women, and they lost their employment. Some boat owners were able to gain revenue from being a part of the “Vessels of Opportunity” program that utilized boats in the clean up, and hotels continued to operate even when occupancy was low. But, employees on the lower rungs of the employment ladder – especially women -- suffered the greatest impact to their earning ability.

Many of the recovery jobs involved manual labor, and women were excluded from these opportunities. At one worksite, managers reported that out of the 300 workers, only 10 were women. Women reported being trained and then not being hired when mass recruitment of crews took place. Several women reported their concerns and were only hired after the NAACP called contractors expressing concern for discriminatory hiring practices. Clearly, the Department of Labor needs to increase oversight in ensuring that contractors do not discriminate based on gender.

In addition, many women reported numerous accounts of workplace sexual harassment by both co-workers and supervisors on various clean- up operation sites.  Contractors must adopt zero-tolerance policies on sexual harassment in the workplace.

Women were also under-represented in the contracts awarded in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon Incident. An analysis of BP Supplier/Contractor Diversity data shows that a total of $181.4 million in small business contracts was awarded; women-owned businesses received only $4.9 million in contracts, less than three percent of the total.  In the future, agencies offering contracts must be intentional about outreach to women owned-businesses.

Please read Jacqui Patterson's article further by clicking on this link to On the Issues Magazine! There's more!