Meeting the challenge of gender inequality through gender transformative research: lessons from research in Africa, Asia, and Latin America

ABSTRACT

While the global development agenda has prioritized gender equality, many challenges remain, and the COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated inequalities. Gender transformative approaches to social change have the potential to address the underlying causes of inequality. This paper draws insights from studies funded by Canada's International Development Research Centre to understand how integrating gender transformative approaches to research can support social change. The findings suggest that gender transformative research is most successful in supporting change when it analyzes and addresses the multiple causes of inequality, takes an intersectional and structural approach, embeds the research in local contexts, and engages power holders and perpetrators of inequality.

RÉSUMÉ

Si les objectifs de développement mondial ont donné la priorité à l’égalité des genres, il y a encore de nombreux défis à relever dans ce domaine et la crise de la COVID-19 a exacerbé les inégalités. Les approches transformatrices du genre nous permettent de faire face aux causes sous-jacentes de ces inégalités. Cet article base son analyse sur des études financées par le Centre de recherches pour le développement international, au Canada, et vise à mieux comprendre comment l’adoption d’approches transformatrices du genre dans le contexte de la recherche peut appuyer le changement social. Nos résultats suggèrent que la recherche se basant sur une approche transformatrice du genre a de meilleurs chances d’inciter des changements sociaux lorsqu’elle analyse et répond aux différentes causes des inégalités, lorsqu’elle adopte une approche intersectionnelle et structurelle, lorsqu’elle intègre la recherche dans des contextes locaux et lorsqu’elle confronte les détenteurs du pouvoir et les responsables des inégalités.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender equality
• transformative change
• research
• women
• girls

Acknowledgements

This paper draws on the findings of an external review of IDRC's gender programming carried out by Sisters Ink under the leadership of Nanci Lee.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 IDRC is part of Canada's foreign affairs and development efforts. It works with researchers in developing countries and invests in high quality research and innovation, shares knowledge with researchers and policymakers for greater uptake and use, and mobilizes global alliances to drive global change to build a more sustainable and inclusive world. Research priorities include Climate-Resilient Food Systems, Global Health, Education and Science, Democratic and Inclusive Governance, and Sustainable Inclusive Economies.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jemimah Njuki

Jemimah Njuki is a Gender and Development Specialist. She is a recognized leader on gender equality and women’s empowerment, having directed global initiatives promoting women’s economic empowerment. She is currently Chief for Economic Empowerment at UN Women.

Martha Melesse

Martha Melesse is a Senior Program Specialist at IDRC, where her work focuses on policies and innovations that promote inclusive and sustainable economies. Her research interests include women’s economic empowerment, progressive trade, financial inclusion, and inclusive climate action.

Chaitali Sinha

Chaitali Sinha is a Senior Program Specialist working with the Global Health Division at IDRC. She has 20 years of experience with research for development in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, with a particular focus on global health, sexual and reproductive health and rights, health information systems, gender analysis, and digital innovation.

Ruhiya Seward

Ruhiya Kristine Seward is a Senior Program Officer at IDRC focusing on the governance of digital technologies, in particular gender equality online and on-ground. Her most recent publication is Making Open Development Inclusive: Lessons from IDRC Research (MIT Press 2020), co-authored and edited with Matthew L. Smith. She is based in the Middle East Regional Office in Amman, Jordan.

Marie Renaud

Marie Renaud is an Advisor within the Climate Finance Division of Global Affairs Canada. Marie previously worked at IDRC where she specialized in Knowledge Translation, Monitoring and Evaluation and gender equality. She has lived in multiple countries where she held different roles, among which director of a children care center in Niger.

Shannon Sutton

Shannon Sutton is an international gender equality and inclusion advisor residing in Morocco. She spent seven years as a Senior Program Officer with IDRC’s Think Tank Initiative and currently leads global consulting teams with Gender at Work, working with individuals and organizations to build cultures of equality and inclusion.

Tavinder Nijhawan

Tavinder Nijhawan is a Senior Programs Advisor in the Strategy, Regions and Policy Branch of IDRC focusing on research and program management. Her research interests include intersectionality and gender transformative research, building democratic societies, pluralism, and access to information.

Katie Clancy

Katie Clancy is a Program Officer at IDRC focusing on Artificial Intelligence for Development. Her research interests include digital innovation, artificial intelligence, digital rights, and open data, with particular interest in how gender transformative approaches can transform innovation systems.

Ramata Thioune

Ramata Thioune is a rural economist and environmentalist by training. She currently oversees research in IDRC’s Democratic and Inclusive Governance focusing on West and Central Africa. Her wide range of expertise includes citizen security, women’s and girls’ sexual and reproductive rights; sexual and gender-based violence and citizen participation with a special interest on women and youth.

Dominique Charron

Dominque Charron is the Vice-President, Programs and Partnerships at IDRC, previously director of IDRC’s Agriculture and Environment program, where she supervised research focused on increasing agricultural productivity and food security, reducing vulnerability to climate change, and protecting the public against infectious diseases and non-communicable diseases.