The Guardian: Disadvantage begins at birth for women caught up in conflict
David Miliband, chief executive officer of the International Rescue Committee

“…Women and girls caught up in conflict suffer many inequalities. Their gender makes them a target and gender norms make them more vulnerable. What’s more, they are too often overlooked by the actions of the international institutions that respond to humanitarian crisis. … Covid-19 exacerbates the problem. … If we are serious about creating a better world for all women and girls, we must do so consciously and act on what we have learned in the past 25 years. Women and girls need to be counted in gender-disaggregated statistics. There needs to be accountability for aid donors and implementing agencies for how they serve women and girls (the IRC’s gender action plan, for example, and our progress to meeting its goals are on our website). … The voices of women need to be heard from program design to peace negotiations. A feminist approach means taking structures of power seriously and seeking to remove imbalances of power in the design of humanitarian programs. Women and girls caught up in conflict deserve nothing less” (10/4).