In Bangladesh, women play a central role in every community. Often, women provide the family’s primary source of income, along side raising children and caring for the elderly. 

However, as experienced through the eyes of Ms. Jubdaida Khanam, it is atypical for these same women to double their role as community emergency responders. Emergency response often requires
not only trained skills, but physical ability to extinguish fires, rescue drown victims, and assist with lifting stretchers, to name a few of the CADRE volunteers’ roles in times of emergency.

In this Case Study, CADRE volunteer Jubaida recounts a story where she was delayed with emergency response due to the fact the victims could not accept that she, the responder, was a woman – and more importantly, how she broke through this particular stereotype’s glass ceiling.

Recommendations learned from this Case Study focus on integrating gender equity into CADRE
course materials and strategizing on how to convince woman volunteers to continue volunteering, even after marriage and having children.

Courses like CADRE reportedly empower women to
take-on non-traditional roles in their community, promoting gender equity through emergency response.