Gender and leadership in conflict settings

Meagher, Kristen; Elliott, Iris; Patel, Preeti

doi:10.2471/blt.21.287528

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…These barriers include Fig. 2 Barriers and enablers to women's leadership at the nexus of health and peacebuilding conflict settings prevailing patriarchal societal attitudes encompassing gender norms, biases, and assumptions that exclude women from areas of influence and power; shifting power dynamics with the presence of militarised and external actors; insecurity; sexual harassment; lack of capacity building and unequal access to resources; discriminatory organisational or donor related policies, all of which were also mentioned by our informants [24,46,[63][64][65][66]. This demonstrates that such are beyond a specific field, domain or context, and that they are exacerbated in conflict, thus requiring drastic changes to tackle their root causes at the societal, organisational, and systemwide levels, by implementing actionable policies [46,47].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strengthening health systems and peacebuilding through women’s leadership: a qualitative study

et al. 2023

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Background Active and protracted conflict settings demonstrate the need to prioritise the peace through health agenda. This can be achieved by reorienting attention toward gender diverse leadership and more effective governance within health systems. This approach may enable women to have a greater voice in the decision-making of health and social interventions, thereby enabling the community led and context specific knowledge required to address the root causes of persistent inequalities and inequities in systems and societies. Methods We conducted a qualitative study, which included semi-structured interviews with 25 key informants, two focus group discussions and one workshop with humanitarian workers in local and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs), United Nations (UN) agencies, health practitioners, and academics, from Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and Latin America. Findings were then applied to the peacebuilding pyramid designed by John Paul Lederach which provides a practical framework for mediation and conflict resolution in several conflict-affected settings. The purpose of the framework was to propose an adapted conceptualisation of leadership to include women’s leadership in the health system and be more applicable in protracted conflict settings. Results Five interrelated themes emerged. First, perceptions of terms such as gender equality, equity, mainstreaming, and leadership varied across participants and contexts. Second, armed conflict is both a barrier and an enabler for advancing women’s leadership in health systems. Third, health systems themselves are critical in advancing the nexus between women’s leadership, health systems and peacebuilding. Fourth, across all contexts we found strong evidence of an instrumental relationship between women’s leadership in health systems in conflict-affected settings and peacebuilding. Lastly, the role of donors emerged as a critical obstacle to advance women’s leadership. Conclusion Continuing to empower women against social, cultural, and institutional barriers is crucial, as the emerging correlation between women’s leadership, health systems, and peacebuilding is essential for long-term stability, the right to health, and health system responsiveness.

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