Halfway humanitarianism : the gender agenda's potential and the deficiencies of policy and practice

Abstract

The importance of considering gender in the effective delivery of international humanitarian assistance (IHA) is well appreciated by the international humanitarian community. Yet evidence suggests that the translation of this appreciation into effective policy and practice remains elusive. This thesis investigates the conceptualisation and implementation of gender policy across the international humanitarian system. It argues that global humanitarian responses continue to fail in consistently addressing gender-based issues and remain ad hoc despite a relatively constant global discourse on the issue. The thesis pursues this argument in three parts. Part One reviews the theory, ethics and policy that drive IHA, including its gender work. It explores the theories of cosmopolitanism and communitarianism in international relations and the place of feminist theories within these. Drawing on this analysis, the thesis then moves on to discuss the history and contemporary expression of the international humanitarian system, considering its effects for gender work. Part Two examines humanitarian response in the field, exploring three case studies where humanitarian organisations responded to different types of emergencies in disparate parts of the globe. These case studies focus on responses to the ongoing displacement crises in South Sudan (2011 onwards), the cholera outbreak in Papua New Guinea (2009-2011) and the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami (2011). Through analysis of interviews and organisational documents, this section reveals that the implementation of gender policy is subject to the fulfilment of several conditions related to organisational mandate, emergency type, and pre-existing gender structures in the particular context. Together, these conditions suggest that the liberal feminist framework guiding gender work is inappropriate for, and ineffective in, the current international humanitarian system. Drawing together the arguments of Parts One and Two, Part Three elaborates that a deficit exists in the policy and practice of gender work in IHA as a result of its fundamental theoretical underpinning. To address this deficit, the thesis concludes by advocating for a change in prevailing approaches to gender in IHA. The thesis suggests that attention to a critical feminist ethics of care may be able to reform gender work to make it compatible with the various conditions of particular humanitarian contexts. Show more