Primary Area of Expertise
- Gender segregation in the labor force
- Exploitation of women
- Domestic violence
Also qualified to speak on topics in the following areas:
- Social construction and distribution of disaster risk
Background
Elaine Enarson’s professional interests and activities have changed over time, from an earlier focus on gender segregation in the labor force (case study of woods-working women in the USFS) to ethnographic studies of underground family day care providers and the exploitation of women in the gaming industry. She has coordinated the Nevada Network Against Domestic Violence and helped develop the first women’s studies program at the University of Nevada-Reno.
After moving to Miami in 1992, Enarson became an accidental disaster sociologist, developing a keen interest in the social construction and distribution of disaster risk when Hurricane Andrew destroyed her house. Enarson’s background in women’s studies and sociology and community work around domestic violence networks invited gender analysis and the gaps in this area at the time were huge. The first book she coedited was titled“The Gendered Terrain of Disaster: Through Women’s Eyes” (E. Enarson and B. H. Morrow, Greenwood, 1998), the second is on global gender issues and the third on “Women of Katrina: The Gender Dimensions of Disaster Recovery.”